The best subscription and recurring billing software in 2026 is Chargebee for flexible subscription management, Maxio for B2B SaaS billing and metrics, Metronome for enterprise usage based billing, Orb for modern usage based billing, and Lago for open source billing. Below we compare the 17 leading subscription and usage billing platforms on price, features, ratings and who each one suits best.
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Ranked on verified ratings, pricing, feature depth and fit.
A flexible subscription management and recurring billing platform with strong integrations, dunning and revenue tooling, popular with SaaS businesses of all sizes.
A subscription billing platform with strong churn management and an intuitive interface, suited to subscription businesses wanting reliable recurring billing and retention.
An enterprise recurring revenue platform for complex subscription and usage billing at scale, built for large organisations monetising subscriptions and consumption.
A developer friendly subscription and usage billing tool built on Stripe, with flexible recurring and usage pricing tied to Stripe payments, popular with SaaS and startups.
A billing and financial operations platform for B2B SaaS, combining recurring and usage billing with SaaS metrics and analytics, suited to SaaS tracking revenue and growth.
An affordable subscription billing tool with a free tier and strong Zoho integration, suited to small and mid sized subscription businesses, especially Zoho users.
A subscription billing and payments platform focused on optimising recurring revenue and reducing churn, with flexible billing and payment routing for subscription businesses.
A modern usage based billing platform with flexible pricing and strong metering, praised for simplifying complex consumption billing and excellent support.
A real-time usage based billing platform built for high scale consumption pricing, used by large AI and infrastructure companies metering and billing usage at volume.
An open source usage based billing platform, self hostable and developer friendly, popular with engineering teams wanting control over metering and billing.
Merchant-of-record billing platform for software companies
Cloud financials with subscription and recurring billing
Subscription metrics and retention analytics
Recurring billing and payments for small businesses
Billing and revenue automation for growing businesses
| Tool | Rating | Starts at | Free plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chargebee | ★ 4.4 | Free tier, then from ~$599/mo | Yes | Flexible subscription management |
| Recurly | ★ 4.1 | From $249/mo + 0.9% | No | Subscription billing with churn tools |
| Zuora | ★ 4.1 | Custom quote | No | Enterprise recurring revenue |
| Stripe Billing | ★ 4.4 | % of recurring + fees | No | Developer friendly subscriptions |
| Maxio | ★ 4.3 | Custom quote | No | B2B SaaS billing and metrics |
| Zoho Billing | ★ 4.5 | Free, then from $15/mo | Yes | Affordable subscriptions |
| Rebilly | ★ 4.6 | Custom quote | No | Subscription and payments optimization |
| Orb | ★ 4.8 | Usage based quote | No | Modern usage based billing |
| Metronome | ★ 4.7 | Usage based quote | No | Enterprise usage based billing |
| Lago | ★ 4.6 | Open source, cloud premium | Yes | Open source billing |
Market size and forecast · 16.2% CAGR. Sources: MarketIntelo, G2, Capterra
The figures that define the subscription management & recurring billing market, each linked to its original source so you can verify every number.
| Metric | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Usage based billing market, 2025 | $7.8B | marketintelo.com |
| Forecast CAGR to 2034 | 16.2% | marketintelo.com |
| Projected market, 2034 | $17.2B | marketintelo.com |
| Fastest growth | Usage based | marketintelo.com |
| Core job | Bill subscriptions and usage | MarketIntelo |
| Who uses it | SaaS and usage based businesses | MarketIntelo |
| Why it matters | Revenue, flexibility, scale | MarketIntelo |
| Tools compared | 17 | 6S Software directory |
Subscription management and recurring billing software automates charging customers on a recurring basis, for subscriptions, usage, or a mix, and manages the subscription lifecycle. It handles recurring charges, plan changes and proration, trials and upgrades, usage metering and consumption billing, dunning for failed payments, taxes, and revenue recognition, while giving businesses analytics on recurring revenue, churn and growth. As SaaS and consumption based models have grown, this has become specialised software distinct from one off invoicing, with a fast growing focus on usage based billing, metering what customers consume and billing accordingly. The goal is to bill subscriptions and usage accurately at scale, reduce churn, and manage and grow recurring revenue.
It matters because recurring and usage based revenue businesses need to bill complex models reliably, meter usage accurately, and reduce churn, or they lose revenue and misstate finances. Good software automates this and supports flexible pricing. The usage based billing software market reached about 7.8 billion US dollars in 2025 and is forecast to reach 17.2 billion by 2034, a 16.2 percent compound annual growth rate [MarketIntelo], as consumption pricing grows fast.
These platforms manage recurring revenue end to end. They model pricing, including flat subscriptions, tiered plans, usage based and hybrid models, and manage the subscription lifecycle, signups, upgrades, downgrades, proration and cancellations. For usage based billing, they meter consumption, ingesting usage events, and calculate charges accordingly. Each period they bill customers, retry failed payments through dunning, apply taxes, and recognise revenue, syncing to accounting. They also provide analytics on recurring revenue, churn, and SaaS metrics, and integrate with payment processors, CRM and finance systems, so billing and revenue operations work together.
The category spans models. Flexible subscription management platforms like Chargebee, Recurly and Zuora handle subscriptions and increasingly usage. Developer friendly options like Stripe Billing suit SaaS on Stripe. SaaS focused platforms like Maxio add metrics. A fast growing set of usage based and metering platforms, Metronome, Orb and Lago, specialise in high scale consumption billing, popular with AI and infrastructure companies. Affordable tools like Zoho Billing serve smaller businesses. The right platform depends on whether you bill flat subscriptions, usage, or both, your scale, and whether you want developer control, SaaS metrics or open source.
Needs vary sharply by billing model, so focus on yours.
Flexible subscription platforms like Chargebee, Recurly and Zuora handle subscriptions and usage. SaaS focused platforms like Maxio add metrics. Usage based and metering platforms like Metronome, Orb and Lago specialise in consumption billing. Developer friendly options like Stripe Billing, and affordable tools like Zoho Billing, serve specific needs.
Start with your billing model. For flexible subscription management, Chargebee leads, with Recurly for churn tools and Zuora for complex enterprise recurring revenue. For B2B SaaS billing with metrics, Maxio. For high scale usage based and metering, Metronome and Orb lead, with Lago as an open source option. For developer friendly SaaS on Stripe, Stripe Billing, and for affordable subscriptions, Zoho Billing. Match the platform to flat subscriptions versus usage based versus hybrid, and your scale and technical approach.
Then weigh three practical factors. First, subscription versus usage based, since usage billing needs accurate, scalable metering that specialist platforms do best. Second, scale and complexity, from small subscription businesses to high volume consumption billing. Third, developer control, SaaS metrics, or open source preferences, plus integrations and pricing, often a percentage of billing or custom. Trial where possible and cross check verified reviews on G2 and Capterra.
Pricing models vary. Subscription platforms often charge a percentage of billing volume or a monthly fee: Chargebee has a free tier then plans from around 599 US dollars a month plus overage, Recurly from around 249 plus a percentage, and Stripe Billing a small percentage of recurring revenue. Usage based platforms like Metronome and Orb typically price on a percentage of billed revenue or custom enterprise terms, reflecting the scale they handle. Lago is open source and free to self host, with a paid cloud option. Zoho Billing is affordable, free then from around 15 US dollars a month, and Maxio and Zuora are custom quoted.
Because many platforms scale with billing volume, model your revenue, since a percentage grows as you scale. Usage based platforms suit high volume consumption billing where accurate metering justifies the cost. Open source Lago trades setup and maintenance effort for no license cost. Compare total cost against your model and scale, including payment processing, and weigh the value of accurate metering, churn reduction and revenue recognition, which affect revenue as much as the headline price.
Usage based and hybrid pricing are the defining trend, growing fast with AI and infrastructure businesses that bill by consumption, driving demand for accurate, high scale metering. AI monetisation in particular, billing for tokens, compute and API calls, is fuelling usage based billing platforms. Real time metering and billing are increasingly expected, revenue recognition and SaaS metrics are converging with billing, and open source and developer friendly billing is rising as engineering teams seek control over complex, usage based models.
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