Four platforms for recurring revenue, from a Stripe add-on to open-source metered billing and a tax-handling Merchant of Record.
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Companies already running on Stripe that want recurring billing without adding a new vendor.
Growing and enterprise SaaS teams that need gateway flexibility and deep subscription tooling.
Usage-based businesses that want a self-hostable, developer-first metering and billing engine.
Developers and small SaaS teams that want subscriptions plus fully handled global tax.
Recurring revenue lives or dies by billing. The right platform manages plans, proration, invoicing, dunning, and increasingly usage-based pricing without forcing you to rebuild the logic yourself. But the market splits sharply: some tools are thin add-ons on top of a payment processor, while others are full standalone platforms or open-source engines you can host yourself.
We compared four popular options for 2026. Stripe Billing is the default for teams already on Stripe. Chargebee targets enterprises juggling multiple gateways. Lago is the open-source pick for usage-based and metered billing. Polar is a Merchant of Record that also handles your sales tax and VAT, which pairs well with our payments guide.
Before you pick, weigh these against your own situation — the right choice depends on your stage, budget, and goals.
Dunning & recovery — Prioritize tools with smart retries, card-updater, and pre-dunning emails, since involuntary churn from failed payments can quietly cost you 5-10% of MRR.
Pricing model flexibility — Confirm it natively supports your model (per-seat, usage-based metering, tiered, hybrid) so you are not forced to hack around a fixed subscription-only engine.
Tax & compliance — Check whether it handles sales tax, VAT, and GST automatically or acts as merchant of record, or budget for a separate tool like Avalara or a MoR to stay compliant.
Proration & plan changes — Test how it handles mid-cycle upgrades, downgrades, and pauses, because clean proration and credits directly affect revenue accuracy and support load.
Revenue reporting & accrual — Look for built-in MRR/ARR analytics and revenue-recognition exports that reconcile with your accounting, so finance is not rebuilding numbers in spreadsheets.
| Tool | Best for | Model | Starts at | Standout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams already on Stripe | Add-on to Stripe | ~0.7% of billing volume (verify) | Deep Stripe ecosystem integration | |
| Enterprise subscription management | Standalone platform | Free tier, then ~0.75% of revenue (verify) | Multi-gateway and complex billing support | |
| Usage-based and metered billing | Open source | Free self-hosted, paid cloud (verify) | Self-hostable metering engine | |
| Selling software without tax headaches | Merchant of Record | ~4% + 40 cents per transaction (verify) | Handles sales tax and VAT for you |
Pricing and features change often — verify current details on each provider's site. Last checked August 2026.
| Feature | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subscriptions | ||||
| Usage-based / metered billing | Partial | |||
| Invoicing | ||||
| Handles tax (MoR) | ||||
| Open source | ||||
| Dunning / recovery | Partial | Partial |
"Partial" means available via add-on, in beta, or more limited than competitors.
Stripe Billing layers subscription and invoicing logic on top of Stripe's payment processing. If you already take payments through Stripe, turning on Billing is close to frictionless: plans, proration, trials, coupons, and metered usage all flow through the same API and dashboard you already know.
The catch is tax. Stripe Billing is not a Merchant of Record, so you remain the seller of record and are responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax and VAT yourself (Stripe Tax helps calculate it, at extra cost). Pricing is approximately 0.7% of billing volume on top of standard processing fees (verify), which can add up at scale.
Best for: Companies already running on Stripe that want recurring billing without adding a new vendor.
Chargebee is a standalone subscription management platform that sits above your payment gateways rather than replacing them. It integrates with Stripe, Braintree, Adyen, and many others, which makes it a fit for businesses that want billing logic decoupled from any single processor or that operate across multiple regions and gateways.
The platform leans enterprise: complex plan hierarchies, entitlements, revenue recognition, and reporting are all first-class. That power comes with more setup and a pricing model that scales with revenue. There is a starter tier for small companies, then percentage-of-revenue pricing above a threshold (verify).
Best for: Growing and enterprise SaaS teams that need gateway flexibility and deep subscription tooling.
Lago is an open-source billing platform built around usage-based and metered pricing. It is designed for teams whose pricing depends on consumption (API calls, compute, seats, events) and who want a metering engine they can inspect, extend, and run on their own infrastructure.
Because it is open source, you can self-host Lago for free and keep billing data fully under your control, or use the managed cloud offering if you would rather not operate it. It handles subscriptions and invoicing too, but its real strength is flexible, high-volume metering. Pricing for the cloud plans is usage-tiered (verify).
Best for: Usage-based businesses that want a self-hostable, developer-first metering and billing engine.
Polar is an open-source Merchant of Record built for developers selling digital products and subscriptions. As the MoR, Polar becomes the legal seller, which means it collects and remits sales tax and VAT on your behalf. That removes one of the hardest parts of selling globally and is why it pairs naturally with our payments guide.
Because it is open source, you get transparency into how it works, plus a modern API and checkout aimed at SaaS and indie developers. The tradeoff is a higher per-transaction rate than a bare processor, since that fee bundles in tax compliance, payouts, and merchant-of-record liability. Rates are approximately 4% plus 40 cents per transaction (verify).
Best for: Developers and small SaaS teams that want subscriptions plus fully handled global tax.
A billing platform like Stripe Billing or Chargebee manages your subscriptions and invoices, but you remain the seller of record and are responsible for collecting and remitting tax. A Merchant of Record like Polar becomes the legal seller and handles sales tax and VAT compliance for you, in exchange for a higher fee.
Lago is purpose-built for usage-based and metered billing and is open source, making it a strong choice for consumption pricing. Stripe Billing and Chargebee also support metered billing well, so if you are already on either, you may not need a separate tool.
If you take payments through Stripe and need recurring billing, Stripe Billing is the lowest-friction option because it uses the same API and dashboard. If you want gateway flexibility or handled tax, a standalone platform or Merchant of Record may serve you better.
Yes. Both Lago and Polar are open source. Lago can be fully self-hosted for free, giving you control over billing data and infrastructure. Polar is open source too, though it is typically used as a hosted Merchant of Record so it can handle tax compliance.
Costs vary by model. Stripe Billing adds roughly 0.7% of billing volume on top of processing fees, Chargebee charges around 0.75% of revenue above a free tier, Lago is free to self-host, and Polar runs about 4% plus 40 cents per transaction because it bundles in tax. All figures are approximate and should be verified.
If you already run on Stripe, Stripe Billing is the pragmatic default. Enterprises needing multi-gateway flexibility should look at Chargebee. Usage-based businesses that want control and open source should choose Lago. And if you want to sell globally without touching tax, Polar as a Merchant of Record is the standout.
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