# Chargebee vs Recurly: Pricing Math and the Crossover Points > Chargebee vs Recurly in 2026: compare Chargebee's 0.80% pay-as-you-go against Recurly's $249 + 0.9% Starter plan, with the exact volumes where each becomes cheaper. - **Author**: Deepak Jangir - **Published**: 2026-08-29 - **Category**: Comparison, SaaS, Billing - **URL**: https://dodopayments.com/blogs/chargebee-vs-recurly --- Chargebee and Recurly are the two names that come up in nearly every subscription billing shortlist. They compete for the same buyer, publish pricing in completely different units, and neither one is a payment processor. That last point is the one that catches teams out. Both platforms sit on top of a gateway. You still need Stripe, Adyen, Braintree, or similar underneath, you still pay processing fees separately, and you are still the merchant of record, which means tax registration and filing remain your problem. This guide works through the actual pricing math, including the exact billing volumes where each platform becomes the cheaper option. ## The one-table comparison | Area | Chargebee | Recurly | Dodo Payments | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Category | Subscription billing platform | Subscription management platform | Merchant of Record with billing included | | Entry pricing | 0.80% of monthly billing value, $0 platform fee | $249/mo + 0.9% of billing volume | 4% + 40c domestic US, includes processing | | What is included before overage | 100M usage events/mo ingested, no free billing volume | First $40K of billings each month, no usage-event cap published | Not applicable | | Mid tier | $99/mo + 0.65% | All-Access, as low as <1%, $1M volume minimum | Not applicable | | Payment processing | Not included, bring your own gateway | Not included, bring your own gateway | Included | | Merchant of record | You | You | Dodo | | Tax filing | Your responsibility | Your responsibility | Included, 190+ countries | | Gateways supported | 40+ | 20+ | Not applicable, processing is built in | | Free trial | Not published | 90-day free trial on Starter | Not applicable | ```mermaid flowchart TD A["Subscription revenue"] --> B["Chargebee or Recurly: billing logic layer"] B --> C["Payment gateway: Stripe, Adyen, Braintree"] C --> D["You remain merchant of record: tax, disputes, filings"] A --> E["Dodo Payments: billing + processing + MoR in one"] ``` ## Chargebee's pricing, decoded Chargebee prices its **Flow** plan on billing value rather than seats: - **Pay as you go**: 0.80% of monthly billing value, $0 platform fee - **Commit monthly**: $99 platform fee + 0.65% of monthly billing value - **Enterprise Plus**: custom, with annual commitment The Flow plan includes a price book and invoicing, usage ingestion and billing, real-time usage limits and alerts, usage and revenue analytics, pricing tables with one growth experiment, and CRM, ERP, and productivity integrations. It plugs into 40+ payment gateways and includes 100M usage events per month. Enterprise Plus adds multi-entity management, account hierarchy, contract terms, on-demand discounting, ingestion of up to 500M usage events per month, enterprise access controls, and data export to GCS, Amazon S3, Snowflake, and BI tools. Chargebee also sells separate products: CPQ for quote-to-cash, RevRec for revenue recognition, and Growth for experiments. CPQ Lite is free for the first 50 quotes and available only to Chargebee Billing customers. **The Pay-as-you-go versus Commit crossover.** Setting the two equal gives you the switch point: ```text 0.0080 x B = 99 + 0.0065 x B 0.0015 x B = 99 B = $66,000 per month in billing value ``` Below $66,000 per month, Pay as you go is cheaper. Above it, Commit monthly wins. ## Recurly's pricing, decoded Recurly prices in a different shape: - **Starter**: $249 per month + 0.9% of billing volume, with the first $40K of billings included at no charge each month, plus a 90-day free trial - **All-Access**: as low as under 1% of billing volume, billed annually, with a $1M billing volume minimum - **All-Access for Shopify**: same pricing shape, integrated into Shopify - **Engage** add-on: as low as $1,600 per month, billed annually, priced on prompt volume Starter includes automated global subscription billing, flexible plans and pricing, static churn-prevention tools, one dunning campaign, 10+ payment methods, and 20+ payment gateways. All-Access adds AI-powered agents and analytics, intelligent churn-prevention tools, multiple dunning campaigns, advanced plans and promotions, payments orchestration across multiple gateways, custom reporting, multicurrency, and single sign-on. The important structural detail is the $40K monthly allowance. Below $40,000 in monthly billings, Recurly Starter is a flat $249 regardless of volume. ## Where each one is actually cheaper This is the part worth working out before you take a demo. Comparing Chargebee Pay as you go against Recurly Starter: ```text Chargebee = 0.0080 x B Recurly = 249 + 0.009 x max(0, B - 40,000) ``` Solving for the crossover above the allowance: ```text 0.0080 x B = 249 + 0.009 x (B - 40,000) 0.0080 x B = 0.009 x B - 111 0.0010 x B = 111 B = $111,000 per month ``` Which produces this: | Monthly billing volume | Chargebee PAYG | Chargebee Commit | Recurly Starter | Cheapest | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | $10,000 | $80 | $164 | $249 | Chargebee PAYG | | $30,000 | $240 | $294 | $249 | Chargebee PAYG | | $40,000 | $320 | $359 | $249 | Recurly | | $50,000 | $400 | $424 | $339 | Recurly | | $100,000 | $800 | $749 | $789 | Chargebee Commit | | $150,000 | $1,200 | $1,074 | $1,239 | Chargebee Commit | Two thresholds to remember: - **Below roughly $31,000 per month**, Chargebee Pay as you go beats Recurly's $249 floor. - **Between roughly $31,000 and $111,000 per month**, Recurly Starter is cheaper than Chargebee Pay as you go, largely because of the $40K allowance. - **Above $66,000 per month**, Chargebee Commit beats Chargebee Pay as you go, and above roughly $84,000 it beats Recurly Starter too, since $99 + 0.65% overtakes $249 + 0.9% once the $40K allowance is netted off. All figures are list prices and exclude payment processing entirely. ## The cost neither table shows Add your gateway. On Stripe's published rates that is 2.9% + 30c for domestic cards, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% when currency conversion is required. A cross-border card sale is 5.4% + 30c before either billing platform charges you anything. So a business at $50,000 monthly billing volume with meaningful international traffic is paying roughly: - 3% to 5.4% to the gateway - 0.5% to 0.9% to Chargebee or Recurly - Plus tax software, or an accountant, or both And you are still the merchant of record. Every VAT registration, every filing, every chargeback and its evidence pack stays with you. That is the structural difference we cover in [merchant of record vs PSP](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/merchant-of-record-vs-psp). For teams currently modelling this, [subscription billing platforms](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/subscription-billing-platforms) and [best subscription billing software](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/best-subscription-billing-software) cover the wider field. ## Feature differences that matter **Dunning and churn recovery.** Recurly Starter includes one dunning campaign and static churn-prevention tools; multiple campaigns and intelligent tools require All-Access. Chargebee handles retries within Flow. If involuntary churn is a live problem, read [subscription dunning and recovery sequences](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/subscription-dunning-recovery-sequence) and [involuntary churn from failed payments](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/involuntary-churn-failed-payments). **Usage-based billing.** Chargebee is stronger on paper here, with 100M usage events per month included on Flow and up to 500M on Enterprise Plus. If metering is central, see [implement usage-based billing](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/implement-usage-based-billing). **Revenue recognition.** Chargebee sells RevRec as a dedicated product with GAAP revenue reports and journal entry mapping. Recurly offers RevRec for DTC subscriptions. Background in [SaaS revenue recognition](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/saas-revenue-recognition). **Payments orchestration.** Recurly puts multi-gateway orchestration behind All-Access. Chargebee supports 40+ gateways on Flow. See [payment orchestration](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/payment-orchestration) for when this matters. **Quote-to-cash.** Chargebee has a dedicated CPQ line for sales-assisted motions. Recurly is oriented toward direct-to-consumer subscriptions. See [the quote-to-cash process](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/quote-to-cash-process). ## The alternative shape: bundle it Both Chargebee and Recurly assume you want billing separated from processing. That is the right call for a company with complex enterprise contracts, multiple entities, and an existing processor relationship it cannot move. It is usually the wrong call for a SaaS or AI company selling globally, because you end up paying three vendors and still owning the tax liability. Dodo Payments takes the other approach: - 4% + 40c domestic US, +1.5% international, covering processing and the Merchant of Record role - +0.5% for subscriptions, add-ons, and usage-based billing - Invoicing, tax management in 190+ countries, analytics, and usage-based billing included at no extra charge - $1 per refund, $30 per dispute, free payouts above $1,000 - Bring Your Own Processor at 0.5% if you want to keep an existing gateway relationship That last option is the closest like-for-like comparison against Chargebee and Recurly, but model it honestly: Bring Your Own Processor is 0.5% for the platform and Merchant of Record layer, and subscriptions add the same +0.5%, so a subscription business on its own gateway is looking at 1%. Chargebee and Recurly charge 0.65% to 0.9% for the billing layer alone. The difference is what sits inside the number, since the 1% also covers tax registration, filing, and remittance in 190+ countries and dispute handling, and the 0.65% to 0.9% does not. Compare total cost of ownership rather than the billing line. Technical details are in [subscriptions](https://docs.dodopayments.com/features/subscription), [usage-based billing](https://docs.dodopayments.com/features/usage-based-billing/introduction), and the [subscription integration guide](https://docs.dodopayments.com/developer-resources/subscription-integration-guide). ## Decision guide **Choose Chargebee if** you are below about $31,000 per month in billing value and want the lowest entry cost, or you are above $66,000 and can commit monthly, or you need CPQ and RevRec from the same vendor. **Choose Recurly if** you sit between roughly $31,000 and $84,000 per month in billing volume where the $40K allowance works in your favour, you run direct-to-consumer subscriptions, or you sell through Shopify. **Choose a Merchant of Record like Dodo Payments if** you sell internationally, you do not want to run tax registrations and filings yourself, and you would rather pay one rate than assemble a gateway, a billing platform, and tax software. See also [Chargebee alternatives](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/chargebee-alternatives) and [Recurly alternatives](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/recurly-alternatives) for the wider shortlist. ## FAQ ### Is Chargebee cheaper than Recurly? It depends on volume. Below roughly $31,000 per month in billing value, Chargebee's 0.80% pay-as-you-go beats Recurly's $249 monthly floor. Between roughly $31,000 and $84,000, Recurly Starter is the cheapest of the three because the first $40K of billings each month is free. Above roughly $84,000, Chargebee's Commit plan at $99 + 0.65% takes over and stays cheapest from there. ### Do Chargebee and Recurly process payments? No. Both are billing and subscription management layers that connect to a payment gateway you supply. Chargebee supports 40+ gateways and Recurly supports 20+. You pay your processor's fees separately, which for a cross-border card sale on Stripe's published rates is 5.4% + 30c. ### Do Chargebee or Recurly handle sales tax and VAT? Neither acts as merchant of record, so the legal obligation to register, file, and remit stays with you. Both integrate with tax calculation tools, but calculation is not the same as filing. A Merchant of Record platform takes on that liability instead. ### What is Recurly's free billing allowance? Recurly's Starter plan includes the first $40,000 of billings at no charge each month, on top of the $249 monthly platform fee. Billings above that threshold are charged at 0.9%. Recurly also advertises a 90-day free trial on Starter. ### When does Chargebee's Commit plan beat pay-as-you-go? At $66,000 per month in billing value. Below that, the 0.80% pay-as-you-go rate costs less than the $99 platform fee plus 0.65%. Above it, the commit plan is cheaper. ## Final take Chargebee vs Recurly is a genuine coin flip in the middle of the market, and the answer is set almost entirely by your billing volume. Work out where you sit against the $31,000, $66,000, $84,000, and $111,000 thresholds before you sit through a demo. The larger question is whether you want a billing layer at all, or whether you want the billing, the processing, and the tax liability handled together. If it is the latter, [Dodo Payments](https://dodopayments.com) is built that way. Full rates are on the [pricing page](https://dodopayments.com/pricing). --- - [More Comparison articles](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/category/comparison) - [All articles](https://dodopayments.com/blogs)