# Recurly vs Stripe: Billing Layer Costs Compared for 2026 > Recurly vs Stripe for subscriptions: compare Recurly's $249 + 0.9% against Stripe Billing's 0.7%, find the crossover volumes, and see what neither one covers. - **Author**: Deepak Jangir - **Published**: 2026-08-30 - **Category**: Comparison, SaaS, Billing - **URL**: https://dodopayments.com/blogs/recurly-vs-stripe --- Recurly vs Stripe is a slightly unfair comparison as usually framed, because the two are not the same kind of product. Stripe is a payment service provider that also sells a billing product. Recurly is a subscription management platform with no processing of its own, which connects to a gateway you already have. If you put Recurly on top of Stripe, you are not choosing between them at all, you are paying both. The comparison that actually makes sense is **Recurly against Stripe Billing**, as two competing billing layers. Here is that comparison with the published 2026 numbers, plus the exact volumes where each becomes cheaper. ## The one-table version | Area | Recurly | Stripe Billing | Dodo Payments | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Category | Subscription management | Billing product on a PSP | Merchant of Record with billing included | | Billing layer cost | $249/mo + 0.9% of billing volume | 0.7% of billing volume | +0.5% on top of the payment rate | | Free allowance | First $40K billings/mo | None | None | | Payment processing | Not included, bring your own gateway | 2.9% + 30c domestic cards | Included at 4% + 40c domestic US | | Usage-based billing | Included in the platform | Handled by Metronome, contact required | Included | | Merchant of record | You | You | Dodo | | Tax filing | Your responsibility | Your responsibility | Included, 190+ countries | | Smart retries | 1 dunning campaign on Starter | Included | Included | | Free trial | 90 days on Starter | Not published | Not applicable | ```mermaid flowchart TD A["Subscription revenue"] --> B["Recurly: billing layer, needs a gateway"] A --> C["Stripe Billing: billing layer on Stripe processing"] B --> D["You are the merchant of record"] C --> D A --> E["Dodo Payments: billing + processing + MoR together"] ``` ## Recurly's published pricing - **Starter**: $249 per month + 0.9% of billing volume, with the first $40,000 of billings included at no charge each month, and 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**: the same shape, native to Shopify - **Engage** add-on: as low as $1,600 per month billed annually, priced on prompt volume Starter covers automated global subscription billing, flexible plans and pricing, static churn-prevention tools, one dunning campaign, 10+ payment methods, and 20+ payment gateways. All-Access is where the interesting features live: AI-powered agents and analytics, intelligent churn-prevention tools, multiple dunning campaigns, payments orchestration across multiple gateways, custom reporting, multicurrency, and single sign-on. It requires $1M in billing volume. ## Stripe Billing's published pricing - **Pay as you go**: 0.7% of billing volume, no recurring fee, covering billing transactions processed on and off Stripe, excluding one-off invoices - **Pay monthly**: an annual contract paid monthly across volume tiers up to $100,000, $250,000, $500,000, and $1,000,000 per month, with 0.67% on additional billing volume - **Custom pricing** for large volume or unusual models Recurring billing and subscriptions, automatic reminders for missed payments, and Smart Retries using machine learning are all included. One important gap: **usage-based billing on Stripe is handled by Metronome, a Stripe product, and the pricing page says to contact Metronome.** It is not folded into the 0.7%. If your product meters tokens, API calls, or compute, that is a separate vendor conversation. Stripe Billing sits on top of Stripe processing at 2.9% + 30c for domestic cards, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% when currency conversion is required. ## The crossover math Assume both options run on Stripe processing, so the gateway cost cancels out and we are comparing billing layers only. ```text Recurly = 249 + 0.009 x max(0, B - 40,000) Stripe Billing = 0.007 x B ``` Two crossover points fall out of that. **Below the $40K allowance**, Recurly is a flat $249 and Stripe Billing is 0.7% of everything: ```text 0.007 x B = 249 B = $35,571 per month ``` **Above the allowance**: ```text 0.007 x B = 249 + 0.009 x (B - 40,000) 0.007 x B = 0.009 x B - 111 0.002 x B = 111 B = $55,500 per month ``` Which gives this shape: | Monthly billing volume | Recurly Starter | Stripe Billing PAYG | Cheaper | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | $10,000 | $249 | $70 | Stripe Billing | | $25,000 | $249 | $175 | Stripe Billing | | $40,000 | $249 | $280 | Recurly | | $50,000 | $339 | $350 | Recurly | | $55,500 | $388 | $388 | Even | | $100,000 | $789 | $700 | Stripe Billing | | $250,000 | $2,139 | $1,750 | Stripe Billing | **Recurly Starter only wins in the narrow band between roughly $35,500 and $55,500 per month in billing volume.** Outside it, Stripe Billing's flat 0.7% is cheaper, dramatically so at the low end where Recurly's $249 floor dominates. That is a much narrower window than Recurly's positioning suggests, and it is worth checking against your own numbers before committing to an annual contract. ## What the pricing comparison leaves out Both of these are billing layers. Neither is a Merchant of Record. With either one: - You are the legal seller on every transaction - You register for VAT, GST, and sales tax wherever you cross a threshold - You file and remit in each of those jurisdictions - You own chargebacks and the evidence behind them, at Stripe's $15.00 dispute received fee plus $15.00 to counter manually - You answer billing support tickets yourself For a US company selling to US customers, that is manageable. For anyone selling into the EU, it is not a small line item. There is no minimum registration threshold for non-resident suppliers of digital services in the EU, so the obligation begins at the first sale. See the [EU VAT guide for SaaS](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/eu-vat-saas-guide-2026) and [VAT compliance for digital products](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/vat-compliance-digital-products). The structural alternative is covered in [merchant of record vs PSP](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/merchant-of-record-vs-psp) and [Stripe vs merchant of records](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/stripe-vs-merchant-of-records). Stripe now also offers Managed Payments, its own Merchant of Record product covering indirect tax compliance in more than 80 countries. It works with Stripe Checkout and Payment Links, and subscriptions still require Stripe Billing on top. That is covered in [Lemon Squeezy vs Stripe](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/lemon-squeezy-vs-stripe). ## Feature comparison beyond price **Dunning.** Stripe Billing includes Smart Retries with machine-learning-timed retries on every plan. Recurly Starter gives you one dunning campaign, with multiple campaigns and intelligent churn prevention behind All-Access and its $1M minimum. If failed payments are eating your MRR, see [subscription dunning and recovery sequences](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/subscription-dunning-recovery-sequence) and [revenue recovery for SaaS](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/revenue-recovery-saas). **Usage-based billing.** Recurly includes it in the platform. Stripe routes you to Metronome as a separate product and a separate conversation. For AI products this is a real difference, and worth reading alongside [metering LLM token usage architecture](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/metering-llm-token-usage-architecture) and [Stripe usage-based billing vs Dodo](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/stripe-usage-based-billing-vs-dodo). **Gateway independence.** Recurly connects to 20+ gateways and offers payments orchestration on All-Access, so you are not locked to one processor. Stripe Billing works best on Stripe, though it can bill transactions processed off Stripe. If multi-gateway routing matters, see [payment orchestration](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/payment-orchestration). **Direct-to-consumer focus.** Recurly is oriented toward DTC subscriptions, with a Shopify-native product. Stripe Billing is more general purpose. ## The third option If you are choosing a billing layer mainly because you need subscriptions to work, it is worth asking whether you want three vendors at all. Dodo Payments bundles processing, billing, and the Merchant of Record role: - 4% + 40c domestic US on cards and wallets, +1.5% international - +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 - Payment retries, subscription dunning, and abandoned cart recovery free to enable, charged at 5% only on revenue actually recovered - $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 Read the Bring Your Own Processor line carefully before comparing it to the others. It is 0.5% for the platform and Merchant of Record layer, and subscriptions add the same +0.5% they add on the standard plan, so a subscription business keeping its own gateway is modelling 1% rather than 0.5%. That is above Stripe Billing's 0.7% and slightly above Recurly's 0.9% on the billing line alone. The reason to consider it anyway is what that 1% covers: tax registration, filing, and remittance in 190+ countries, plus dispute handling, none of which is inside Stripe Billing's 0.7% or Recurly's 0.9%. Compare total cost of ownership, not the billing line. Coverage is 40+ payment methods, 80+ currencies, 220+ countries and territories, PCI DSS Level 1, and 99.99% uptime. See [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 Stripe Billing if** you are already on Stripe processing, your billing volume is under $35,000 or over $55,000 per month, and you do not need heavy usage metering. **Choose Recurly if** your billing volume sits in the $35,500 to $55,500 band, you run DTC subscriptions or sell through Shopify, or you need genuine multi-gateway orchestration and can reach the $1M All-Access threshold. **Choose a Merchant of Record if** you sell internationally and would rather not own tax registration, filing, and chargeback handling on top of whichever billing layer you pick. Wider shortlists are in [Recurly alternatives](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/recurly-alternatives) and [Stripe billing alternatives](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/stripe-billing-alternatives). ## FAQ ### Is Recurly cheaper than Stripe Billing? Only in a narrow band. Recurly Starter costs $249 per month plus 0.9% with the first $40,000 of billings free, while Stripe Billing is a flat 0.7% with no monthly fee. Recurly is cheaper roughly between $35,500 and $55,500 in monthly billing volume. Below and above that range, Stripe Billing costs less. ### Does Recurly process payments? No. Recurly is a subscription management layer that connects to a payment gateway you supply, with support for 20+ gateways. You pay your processor separately, so on Stripe that means 2.9% + 30c for domestic cards on top of Recurly's fee. ### Does Stripe Billing include usage-based billing? Not within the 0.7% rate. Stripe's billing pricing page directs usage-based billing to Metronome, a Stripe product, and says to contact Metronome for pricing. If metering is central to your product, treat it as a separate vendor decision. ### Do Recurly or Stripe handle VAT and sales tax filing? Neither acts as merchant of record on the standard products, so registration, filing, and remittance remain your responsibility. Stripe Tax can calculate and collect, and Stripe Managed Payments does take on the merchant of record role in more than 80 countries, but that is a different product from Stripe Billing. ### What is the cheapest way to run subscriptions internationally? It depends on whether you want to own tax compliance. Comparing billing layers alone, Stripe Billing at 0.7% is cheaper than Recurly at 0.9% outside the $35,500 to $55,500 band. Comparing total cost including tax compliance, a Merchant of Record that bundles processing, billing, and filing is usually simpler to model, since there is no separate tax software or accountant line. ## Final take Recurly vs Stripe is really Recurly vs Stripe Billing, and on published pricing Stripe Billing wins at most volumes. Recurly's case rests on gateway independence, DTC and Shopify focus, and a $40K allowance that only pays off in a specific band. Neither answers the question that costs international sellers the most, which is who is legally responsible for tax. If you want that handled along with the billing, [Dodo Payments](https://dodopayments.com) covers all three layers in one rate. Details are on the [pricing page](https://dodopayments.com/pricing). --- - [More Comparison articles](https://dodopayments.com/blogs/category/comparison) - [All articles](https://dodopayments.com/blogs)