Top 10 SaaS Subscription Management Software in 2022

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What is the SaaS subscription model?

A SaaS subscription model is a tool through which companies sell their services (Software as a service). The set amount is to be paid by customers weekly, monthly, or yearly for the services they receive. This agreement has to be made before payment for the subscription, based on what model you choose. SaaS can be accessed through web browsers lodged in external servers by logging into the system with your password and username.

SaaS subscription management software makes recurring payment possible for your customers by using different payment methods. This also keeps track of everything associated with billing your customers, allowing you to bring in constant revenue as well.

How to price SaaS software

It is crucial for the SaaS startup to evaluate its pricing balancing value and revenue and aspired growth goals to see which pricing model proves to be most beneficial. The various pricing models include:

Flat-rate pricing: The most straightforward way is to set a single price for a single set of product features. This pricing model provides clarity in selling and communication, but there is no middle ground for attracting guaranteed customers. With flat-rate pricing, customers either want the product or don't.
Usage-based pricing: Also known as the "pay as you go" model, it aligns the pricing to the usage of the product. This pricing model does not burden you with an entire month's charge if you have used the service for 10 days. This kind of pricing is also beneficial for startups, as they can ascend when their business scales. It is, however, difficult to calculate revenue with this kind of pricing as the billing cycle will change each time.
Tiered Pricing: Different features are offered at varied prices. This kind of pricing attracts different customers instead of a single target customer. It comes with an additional responsibility to efficiently cater to each section of services to various customers.
Per User: It is the most acceptable model for most SaaS companies -- particularly startups -- as they can easily calculate their revenue based on the number of users, with each user paying a fixed price. This model equates growth in revenue with an increase in the number of users, so it is beneficial for startups.
Per Active User: This pricing model is a good selling tool for SaaS startups. They can convince their customers that they will be charged only for the active users, not one blanket charge, regardless of active or inactive users. This pricing model does not come in handy when cash flow is limited.
Per Feature Pricing: This model charges customers based on the features they use. This is beneficial for startups because they can allocate delivery-heavy features to the higher price tier accordingly. It is, however, difficult to strike a balance between what features each user will want.
Freemium Business Model: A free-use product is offered, followed by paid add-ons. This is a good tool for SaaS startups to target the maximum number of customers to let them know about your product. It is, however, challenging to implement and compromises on revenue.

How to manage SaaS subscriptions

SaaS subscription management can make overseeing your startup's operations much easier. Some components of SaaS management include a list of all SaaS subscriptions, vendor analysis, compliance, data protection, licenses for various users, etc. It is important to manage SaaS subscriptions because of the complexity of each transaction. Here are a few ways to manage your SaaS subscriptions:

Subscription payments: It is essential not to set a blind auto-pay that charges your customers regardless of the number of users. It is much more beneficial to offer a virtual card that tracks recurring billing, subscription payment totals, upgrading, etc.
Vendor management: Apart from keeping track of all your service providers, it is essential to check what features each vendor offers and if you can do without the services of one vendor.
ROI computation: With the help of the data you gather by tracking use and the ultimate cost to you, it becomes easy to track the return on investment. Services that provide the maximum benefit to you must be focused on rather than those that do not.
Security: It is essential to decide who will have access to sensitive data and SaaS, and a check must be in place to ensure no loopholes in security.
Ease of onboarding and offboarding: Automating the onboarding process saves you time and effort. The offboarding process must be as simple as possible without confusion or delay.

What criteria to look for when evaluating SaaS subscription management software

1. Automated subscription

The SaaS subscription management software should have holistic automation for subscriptions to ease the process of tracking and documenting all subscription activity.

2. Pricing options

SaaS subscription management software that provides different pricing models is the ideal vendor. This will allow you to try other plans and services at varied prices and decide which is best for your startup.

3. Integration

Your SaaS subscription management software must allow seamless integration with several platforms to maximize subscription tracking and management services.

4. Additional features

First, it is important to decide what you expect from your SaaS subscription management software. Is it only handling your billing transactions or more?

It would do well to choose the software that your startup needs. Check for features like analytics, merchant stores, MRR, dunning, providing real-time data, etc.

Top 10 SaaS subscription management software.

Chargebee

Description: PCI Level 1-certified recurring billing platform with a wide range of payment gateways worldwide that takes care of your subscription billing automatically.

Best for: Startups that need quick increments in revenue, early-scale startups, large businesses, SaaS, PaaS, mid-market businesses, E-commerce, Subscription commerce.

Pricing: Four plans are available at different prices for different users:

Rise: $249/month, billed annually.

Scale: $549/month, billed annually.

Enterprise: Prices can be customized according to need.

Launch: $0/month billed annually (and then a provision when you hit $100k in revenue).

Evaluation of key criteria:

Automated Subscription: Yes, collection of recurring payments and automation of subscription billing logic.
Pricing Options: Yes, adjustable prices, usage-based billing, several billing scenarios
Integration: Xero, QuickBooks Online, Avalara, NetSuite, Salesforce, Shopify, among others.
Additional Features: Yes, real-time insights, 360-degree revenue reporting, deferred revenue reporting, compliance with tax and privacy regulations like SOC 1 & SOC 2, GDPR, PCI- DSS Level 1, dunning, email notifications.

Pros:

Using coupons to run promos is very easy.
Excellent customer service, particularly for saving time for a new startup.
Using their payment form on your website can easily integrate with several payment processors.

Cons:

The dashboard lacks a certain degree of user-friendliness and is not robust as users would like it to be.
Invoices produced by Chargebee are not valid in some countries, which requires users to access a separate invoicing platform to get invoices certified.

Chargify

Description: Globally recognized service provider for recurring billing and subscription management with an option to personalize offerings for relationship economy.

Best for: B2B SaaS, small to medium-sized businesses

Pricing: Four plans with varied prices.

Essential: Starting at $599/month

Standard: Starting at $1499/month

Specialized : Starting at $3499/ month

Custom: Prices can be customized according to need

Evaluation of key criteria:

Automated Subscription: Centralized interface to keep track of all subscription activity
Pricing Options: Yes, flexible options such as annual, quarterly, and monthly billing; mixing and matching the pricing models
Integration: HubSpot, Salesforce, NetSuite, QuickBooks, Zapier.
Additional Features: Advanced analytics, intelligent dunning, and sales tax management, to name a few.

Pros:

Multi-currency acceptance
Excellent customer service
Elastic Billing allows you to set up multiple billing strategies easily.

Cons:

Few limitations regarding new integrations
Non-monthly subscriptions are not incorporated into MRR/ARR properly.
Less number of internal tests

Recurly

Description: All-in-one subscription management platform that integrates recurring billing and invoicing with global tax support and automated billing to make revenue collection faster.

Best for: Startups, well-established businesses, mid-market/enterprise businesses, SaaS, Web 2.0.

Pricing: Three plans are available at different prices:

Core: $149/month +0.9% of revenue.

Professional: Contact Recurly.

Elite: Contact Recurly.

Evaluation of critical criteria:

Automated subscription: Yes, with easy billing processes
Pricing options: Yes, flexible plans are appropriate for every business. Free trial available for Core plan, and demos available for the Professional and Elite plans, customized subscriptions
Integration: CRM, integrations for accounting, fraud management, tax, and support
Additional features: API calls, webhooks (Elite plans), ACH payment processing, and dunning

Pros;

Ease of use and excellent customer service
Seamless integration with existing tools.
UI/UX is efficient.

Cons:

Help docs could be easier for the daily user.
A separate invoice is generated when processing a refund, rather than the actual invoice being updated to confirm refund status.

Stripe

Description: Software solution providing economic infrastructure for the internet by allowing startups to accept payments and conduct businesses online without the necessity of a merchant account or gateway.

Best for: Businesses of all sizes, from startups to large-sized businesses

Pricing: Prices start at 2% for cards issued in India and 3% for cards issued outside India.

Evaluation of key criteria:

Automated subscription: Contact Strips.
Pricing options: Pay-as-you-go pricing, no setup, hidden or monthly fees, allows you to design a custom package for your business with country-specific rates.
Integration: Shopify, NetSuite, HubSpot, Zapier, TillyPay, Echopin, to name a few.
Additional features: Integrated fraud tools, Simple PCI compliance, complete data portability, PSD2 and SCA compliance, Money transmitter licenses across the US, to name a few.

Pros:

Excellent developer support
Easy to navigate documentation
Customized according to regional and localized payment options

Cons:

There is an absence of in-house developers to manage system integrations, so you have to depend on third-party developers.
Lack of support for ACH transfers in some regions

Zuora

Description: Billing and invoicing software that helps startups manage their subscription-based services by automating the entire process.

Best for: Businesses of all sizes

Pricing: Offers a free trial and a free version. Pricing details have not been disclosed publicly. Contact Zuora.

Evaluation of key criteria:

Automated subscription: Yes, intelligent subscription management automates the "entire quote-to-revenue" process
Pricing options: Contact Zuora.
Integration: NetSuite, Taxamo, ONESOURCE, Avalara, Salesforce, Flexera, and Pendula, to name a few.
Additional features: Real-time insights for revenue reconciliation, dunning management, electronic signature, ACH payment processing, customizable invoices, a self-service portal, tax management, to name a few.

Pros:

Updated features allow you to get churn numbers, ARR, and MRR easily.
"Zuora University" is a series of online videos providing helpful information.
Functions very best in a transitional environment

Cons.

Complicated customization and API process
Rigid out-of-the-box reporting and data manipulation
Difficulty in running recurring reports

SaaS Optics

Description: Subscription management software allowing B2B SaaS companies to manage their customer subscriptions with ease with provision for editing subscription information.

Best for: B2B SaaS and subscription-based companies

Pricing: Contact SaaS Optics.

Evaluation of key criteria:

Automated subscription: Yes, along with automated revenue and expense recognition.
Pricing options: The pricing range covers startups to $100M in annual revenue, supporting your growing needs, no transaction, overage charges, or per invoice fees.
Integration: CRMs, general ledgers, Avatax, Clearbit.
Additional features: GAAP/IFRS compliance, advanced cohort reporting, advanced A/R management, dunning, API, multi-currency, to name a few.

Pros:

Single source of truth with everything available in one place.
Flexible invoicing system
Customizable revenue schedules.

Cons:

Initial difficulty in achieving a complete understanding of all features.
Challenging implementation into SaaSOptics
The system is not as intuitive to users who are not active or regular.

Go Cardless

Description: Software solution enabling Direct Debit l, making recurring payments easy and flexible for startups.

Best for: Small businesses, enterprises, tech startups, global subscription businesses taking recurring payments

Pricing: Four plans for varied prices.

Standard: no monthly fee, VAT applies to transaction fees

Plus: +£50/month, VAT applicable to monthly fees and transaction fees

Pro: +£ 200/month, VAT applicable to monthly fees and transaction fees

Custom: Volume-based pricing.

More details are available on their website.

Evaluation of key criteria:

Automated subscription management: Ease of collecting recurring payments anytime, anywhere.
Pricing options: Pay-as-you-go pricing, minimal transaction fees, and no monthly contract, setup cost, or hidden fees
Integration: Xero, tide, Intuit QuickBooks, class manager, sheep CRM, Zuora, Chargebee Chargify, Recurly, donorfy, ZenDebit, beacon, WOOCOMMERCE, to name a few.
Additional features: Reporting/Analytics, Recurring/Subscription billing, multi-currency

Pros:

Ease in setting up
It lets you save money on merchant fees.
Ability to take regular payment from customers in different frequencies, authorized invoice payment.

Cons:

More customization options are desired in the free plan.
Invoices have to be set up with QuickBooks, which becomes tedious at times.
Average customer support

Profitwell

Description: Software solution aimed at real-time reporting and analytics so startups can keep track of their business.

Best for: Recurring revenue businesses

Pricing: Free version and free trial. Pricing is 100% free, forever.

Evaluation of key criteria:

Automated subscription management: Clean interface for subscription revenue analytics dashboard
Pricing options: Reasonable pricing for add-on features.
Integration: HubSpot, Summit, Databox, SaaSScore, Zuora, Recurly, API, to name a few.
Additional features: Real-time reporting, KPI monitoring, ad hoc reporting, predictive analysis, public dashboards, to name few

Pros:

It has a mobile app that is compatible with both iOS and Android.
Very good for SaaS companies.
The free tool is robust, and there are options for upgrading reasonable prices as you scale.

Cons:

To draw maximum benefit from Profitwell, you have to use Stripe.
Some features lack development.
You cannot see all your subscriptions on a single dashboard.

SageIntacct

Description: Leading provider of best-in-class cloud ERP software aiming to provide to its users real-time financial and operational insights and the ability to automate complicated methods to upgrade their overall performance.

Best for: Startups, small and mid-sized companies, public companies

Pricing: Offers a free trial, but not a free version. Pricing details have not been disclosed publicly. Contact SageIntacct.

Evaluation of key criteria:

Automated subscription management: Yes, automation of complicated procedures is available. Contact SageIntacct. for more details.
Pricing options: Not disclosed publicly
Integration: CRM. For the availability of integration with other partners, contact SageIntacct.
Additional features: Analytics, HR and Payroll, real-time financial insights, 1099 preparation, ACH payment processing, "What if" scenarios, to name a few

Pros:

Quick and easy access because of its status as a cloud-based browser
Beneficial functioning of the general ledger, which is easy to use.
Provision of module dummy-proof.

Cons:

Manual switching between modules is required.
The email is not integrated with Outlook.
Not very intuitive UI

2Checkout (now Verifone)

Description: All-in-one monetization platform aiding startups in sales growth by easing the process of global payments, subscription billing, and tax compliance to help them focus solely on improving their product.

Best for: Global business

Pricing: Four plans at varied prices for ascending order of services:

2SELL: 3.5% +$0.35/successful sale

2 SUBSCRIBE: 4.5% +$0.45/successful sale

2 MONETIZE: 6.0% + $0.60/successful sale

4 ENTERPRISE: Custom pricing

Evaluation of key criteria:

Automated subscription management: Yes.
Pricing options: Pay only when you start selling, four plans to choose from.
Integration: Salesforce, Adobe Analytics, Sheer ID, Ve Interactive. to name a few
Additional features: CPQ capabilities, global tax and regulatory compliance, dunning management, invoice management, to name a few

Pros:

Ease of creating a product and managing its pricing
Provision for accepting payments and issuing invoices through the dashboard

Cons:

Ongoing reactivation of payment with Mastercard
Complicated authorization process
APIs lack proper functioning

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