--- title: "Top 7 Alternatives to Recurly for usage-based Billing" url: https://getlago.com/blog/top-7-alternatives-to-recurly-for-usage-based-billing description: "Explore top Recurly alternatives for subscription management, metering and usage-based billing. Discover customizable and scalable solutions like Lago." authors: ["Anh-Tho Chuong"] tags: ["Pricing & Monetization"] published: 2024-11-01 updated: 2026-11-06 reading_time_minutes: 8 --- # Top 7 Alternatives to Recurly for usage-based Billing Recurly is a well-known subscription management software and recurring billing solution, offering a comprehensive platform with a mix of advanced subscription capabilities and a highly intuitive interface. Recurly was designed to help businesses increase their recurring revenue by focusing on pricing plans, subscription management, revenue recognition, and more. Recurly is a credible subscription platform. Its fit depends on your event volume, credit workflow, deployment needs, and pricing rules. Recurly now documents usage-based add-ons, hybrid plans, and prepaid balances. If your offer needs a different event pipeline, wallet behavior, or deployment model, compare the same plan, usage event, credit drawdown, and invoice in Recurly and each shortlisted alternative: ‍ ### 1. Lago ![](https://getlago.com/blog/images/c48ad68dbe597cd0-672d11fbc4f35af7cbe9525a-672d11d1ddd383b487f9512a-screenshot.webp) *Lago, the open-source usage-based billing and metering solution* [**Lago**](https://getlago.com/) (that's us!) is an open-source billing infrastructure tailored for businesses with complex, customizable billing needs. With Lago, companies can set up postpaid, prepaid credits, and progressive billing options. Lago's agnostic approach to payment processors and billing-adjacent applications means it has named integrations with Stripe, NetSuite, Salesforce, and Anrok, with setup and coverage varying by workflow, making it highly adaptable for various tech stacks. #### Key Features - **Open-Source Flexibility**: Fully customizable to fit specific business needs, provides an API, and a no-code user interface. - **Advanced Billing Models**: Supports postpaid and usage billing, prepaid credits, progressive billing, and entitlements. - **Integration-Agnostic**: Works with a variety of Payment Service Providers, CRM, and ERP systems. - Usage Tracking: Shows ingested usage and wallet balances; applications still enforce hard spend limits. #### Ideal For Lago is ideal for SaaS companies and businesses with complex billing requirements, looking for a developer-first solution, with maximum control and flexibility. #### Pros - **Open-source flexibility**: Fully customizable with API and a no-code interface for complex billing needs. - **Integration-agnostic**: Works with various PSPs, CRMs, and ERPs, making it highly adaptable. - **Developer-friendly**: Transparent usage tracking and flexible billing models like postpaid, prepaid, and progressive billing. #### Cons - **Self-hosting complexity**: Open-source tools may require setup effort and technical resources. That's why a cloud product: "Lago Cloud" has been launched. - **Limited support options**: Support for the open-source and free product is "Community-led" via Slack. Premium support options are available. - **Emphasis on the developer experience:** Lago provides a no-code interface, but their DNA lies in complex use cases managed by technical product managers or engineers, which might be overwhelming for non-technical billing teams. #### Pricing Lago offers a free open-source product. For details on premium plans, [book a demo](https://getlago.com/book-a-demo). ### 2. Stripe Billing ![](https://getlago.com/blog/images/00a2efec96c7d930-6838c15fbca55227797752c3-stripe-billing.webp) [**Stripe Billing**](https://stripe.com/billing) is part of Stripe's ecosystem, offering a straightforward billing solution with native payment processing integration. It supports subscription and usage billing; the fit depends on your pricing requirements and payment stack. ‍ #### Key Features - ‍**Subscription and Invoice Automation**: Basic subscription management with automated invoicing.**‍** - **Dunning Features**: Basic dunning tools to manage failed payments.**‍** - **Simple Integrations**: Seamless with other Stripe products and ecosystem.**‍** - **Customizable Pricing**: Tiered pricing options for flexibility. #### Ideal For Stripe Billing is best suited for small to mid-sized companies that use Stripe for payments and need subscription features. #### Pros - ‍**Seamless integration with Stripe**: A natural choice for businesses already using Stripe for payments.**‍** - **Basic dunning tools**: Automated reminders for failed payments.**‍** - **Simple setup**: Easy to start, particularly for small to mid-sized businesses. #### Cons - **Limited billing models**: Supports usage billing; test the exact credit, contract, and invoicing workflow you need. Read more [here](https://getlago.com/blog/is-stripe-using-stripe).**‍** - **Reliant on Stripe ecosystem**: Limited options if you wish to use different payment providers. Read more [here](https://getlago.com/blog/we-crunched-the-fees-of-stripes-21-products). #### Pricing [Stripe](https://getlago.com/blog/top-7-alternatives-to-stripe-billing-for-usage-based-billing) Billing fees start at 0.7% of billing volume for pay-as-you-go Billing; payment processing and other products may cost extra. Here's our [Stripe Calculator](https://stripe-calculator.getlago.com/), for more details. ‍ ‍ ### 3. Metronome ![](https://getlago.com/blog/images/d3319ceabc236285-6838c1929b0d37e1b95539bb-metronome.webp) **Metronome** is a key player in the usage-based billing and metering landscape, offering usage-based billing, credits, and enterprise contracts. It is a specialist option for teams evaluating complex usage and contract workflows, with implementation effort to validate in a pilot. ‍ #### Key Features - **Subscription and Usage-Based Billing**: Usage, subscription, and hybrid billing models. - **Customer Portal**: Check the available customer portal and self-service actions for your plan - **Revenue Recognition**: Review its current revenue reporting and finance workflow against your requirements. - **Pre-built Templates**: Offers pre-configured billing and pricing templates for quick implementation. #### Ideal For Metronome Billing is best suited for teams with substantial usage billing, credits, and contract requirements. #### Pros - **Ease of Setup**: Validate implementation work with your event and contract model. - **Customer Portal**: Review portal scope and setup for your customer workflow. - **Revenue Recognition**: Validate revenue reporting and reconciliation with finance. #### Cons - **Limited Customization**: Test how your specific pricing and contract rules are configured. - **Basic Metering**: Evaluate event ingestion, credit drawdown, and contract flexibility with a real workload. - **Reliance on Templates**: Compare the configuration and engineering work required for your pricing rules. #### Pricing Metronome now offers a free starting path and publishes a Starter tier at 0.8% of billing volume plus $0.04 per 1,000 ingested events. Enterprise terms are custom; check the current plan and other Stripe charges for your setup. ‍ ### 4. Zoho Subscriptions ![](https://getlago.com/blog/images/f479487bb52338e5-6838c1bb3b2cead912c59db1-zoho.webp) **Zoho Subscriptions** is part of the broader Zoho ecosystem, providing a straightforward subscription management solution with integrations across other Zoho products. It's ideal for smaller companies that benefit from the suite's interconnected applications. ‍ #### Key Features - ‍**Recurring Billing and Invoicing**: Automated subscription [billing and invoicing](https://getlago.com/platform/billing-invoicing).**‍** - **Multi-Currency Support**: Useful for businesses with an international customer base.**‍** - **Basic Integrations**: Works with other Zoho products, such as Zoho CRM and Zoho Books.**‍** - **Flexible Plans**: Customizable subscriptions with add-ons and upgrades. #### Ideal For Zoho Subscriptions is ideal for small businesses or those already using Zoho applications, offering essential subscription management with simple cross-platform integration. #### Pros - ‍**Integrated with Zoho suite**: Ideal for businesses already using Zoho CRM, Books, etc.**‍** - **International support**: Multi-currency billing for global operations.**‍** - **Affordable**: Cost-effective, especially for smaller companies or Zoho users. #### Cons - **Limited flexibility**: Check the fit of complex contract and event workflows. - **Basic features**: Test its metered, prepaid, and integration workflows against your requirements. #### Pricing Zoho now markets Zoho Billing, including metered and prepaid workflows. Check its current plan and regional pricing before comparing costs. ### 5. Paddle ![](https://getlago.com/blog/images/b5fa0f889014eeb5-6838c2063b2cead912c5d859-paddle.webp) **Paddle** is a full-service billing platform that handles not only billing but also payment processing and tax compliance. Its built-in tax compliance and fraud prevention tools make it particularly useful for SaaS companies with global operations. #### Key Features - ‍**Global Tax Compliance**: Simplifies tax management for international sales.**‍** - **Comprehensive Billing and Payments**: Manages billing, payments, and fraud prevention in one place.**‍** - **Flexible Billing Models**: Supports both subscriptions and usage-based billing. - ‍**End-to-End Solution**: Covers invoicing, revenue recovery, and payment processing. #### Ideal For Paddle is ideal for SaaS companies needing a unified billing solution with integrated tax compliance for global customers. Paddle is also a Merchant of Record. #### Pros - ‍**End-to-end solution**: Handles billing, payments, tax compliance, and fraud prevention.**‍** - **Global tax compliance**: Built-in tax handling simplifies international sales.**‍** - **Merchant of Record (MoR)**: Paddle acts as the Merchant of Record, handling compliance, taxes, and chargebacks on behalf of the business. This simplifies international sales, as Paddle manages VAT, sales tax, and other regulatory requirements, allowing businesses to focus on growth without the complexities of global compliance. #### Cons - **Less customizable**: Paddle's all-in-one model is great for simplicity but may limit flexibility. - **Primarily suited for digital products**: Not ideal for all SaaS companies. #### Pricing Paddle publishes pay-as-you-go pricing of 5% plus $0.50 per transaction, with custom pricing for larger businesses. ### 6. Zuora[**‍**](https://www.zuora.com/) **Zuora** is an enterprise-level billing platform that handles complex subscription management, making it a popular choice for companies with advanced billing workflows. With seamless ERP and CRM integration, Zuora supports large businesses transitioning to subscription-based models. ![](https://getlago.com/blog/images/20a8329a274ed101-6838c334ec9cd2b4b8cc74fc-zuora.webp) #### Key Features - **Advanced Subscription Management**: Supports multi-tiered and complex subscription structures. - **Revenue Automation**: Features for revenue recognition and multi-entity management. - **ERP and CRM Integrations**: Works with systems like NetSuite and Salesforce. - **Scalability**: Ideal for large enterprises needing a highly flexible billing infrastructure. #### Ideal For Zuora is best suited for enterprises with sophisticated billing needs, especially those requiring ERP and CRM integrations. #### Pros - **Enterprise-grade**: Scalable solution for large organizations with complex billing needs. - **Advanced features**: Multi-tiered pricing, revenue recognition, and ERP/CRM integrations. - **Customization**: Designed for businesses with sophisticated workflows #### Cons - **High cost**: Pricing may be prohibitive for smaller companies. - **Implementation complexity**: Requires significant setup and training, best suited for larger enterprises. Developer focused companies like Algolia rolled back from their initial decision to implement [Zuora](https://getlago.com/blog/top-7-alternatives-to-zuora-for-usage-based-billing) due to the complexity (read more about their billing journey [here](https://getlago.com/blog/pricing-billing-open-source-interview-with-algolias-co-founder)). #### Pricing Custom pricing, typically suited for mid-to-large enterprises with budget flexibility for enterprise-level features. ### 7. Building a Homegrown Billing System ![](https://getlago.com/blog/images/8c35b9d8be025ce5-6838c24f65fcc4708cce4bfa-build.webp) Some companies choose to build a custom billing system for complete control. While a homegrown solution allows for full customization, it comes with notable downsides, including high development costs, ongoing maintenance, and scalability challenges. #### Key Features - **Full Customization**: Design the billing system to match exact business requirements. - **Complete Control**: No reliance on third-party billing platforms. - **Direct Integration**: Custom integrations tailored to the existing tech stack #### Ideal For A homegrown billing system may be suitable for companies with unique billing requirements and the resources to support long-term development and maintenance. #### Pros - **Complete control**: Customizable to specific business needs with no reliance on third-party vendors. - **Direct integration**: Tailored to fit seamlessly into an existing tech stack. #### Cons - **High upfront costs**: Building and maintaining a system requires significant development resources. - **Ongoing maintenance**: Constant updates and security requirements can strain internal teams. - **Scalability challenges**: As needs evolve, scaling a homegrown system can become complex. #### Pricing Development costs vary significantly, often running into the tens of thousands for initial setup, plus ongoing maintenance expenses. The "cost of opportunity" of staffing engineering talent on a "non core" competency such as billing is also to be taken into account. Before building billing yourself, we'd encourage you to have a look at the hundreds of comments on billing nightmares that our post attracted on HackerNews (this is how Lago was born!).‍ Original article [here](https://getlago.com/blog/why-billing-systems-are-a-nightmare-for-engineers) HackerNews thread [here](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31424450) ![](https://getlago.com/blog/images/03d61fab547e6de3-6838c0f7c0ace03b4ce383d6-sc8.webp) ### Is Lago Right for You? If your business needs go beyond simple subscriptions, and you're seeking a billing solution that offers flexibility, scalability, and transparency, **Lago** may be a fit to compare with Recurly. [Here's](https://getlago.com/blog/5-essential-billing-features-for-baas-companies) an example of how Lago compares with Chargebee for a Banking as a Service company. As an open-source, integration-agnostic platform, Lago provides maximum control and adaptability, making it able to connect with supported payment, CRM, ERP, and tax systems, with custom work for other integrations. Lago's extensive support for advanced billing models—such as postpaid, prepaid credits, and progressive billing—ensures that your billing infrastructure can evolve alongside your business. With Lago, you gain a powerful, customizable billing solution that empowers your team to manage and scale with confidence. **Next generation companies, such as Mistral, Groq and PayPal chose Lago. Learn more**[**here**](https://getlago.com/customers)**.** [Book a demo](https://getlago.com/book-a-demo)