Subscription management and recurring billing apps can be a bit overwhelming in regards to what it all means. In order to save you the confusion, we have created a beginner’s guide to subscriptions, payment gateways and merchant accounts.

1. How to Pick a Recurring Billing &
Payment Provider
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2. Overview
Subscription management and recurring billing apps can be
a bit overwhelming in regards to what it all means.
In order to save you the confusion, we have created a
beginner’s guide to subscriptions, payment gateways and
merchant accounts.
As well as defining these aspects, the companies who
provide these services are listed.
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3. Overview
Payment
Gateways
Merchant
Accounts
Subscrip7on
&
Recurring
Billing
Programs
Company
Comparison
Charts
How
Do
I
Pick
What’s
Right
for
Me?
An
Addi7onal
Method
to
Narrow
it
Down.
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4. Payment Gateways
Payment Gateways are the backbone of
online payments and e-commerce of all
kinds. If someone is taking your credit card
online, they are probably using a Payment
Gateway.
These gateways connect you to all the
major credit card companies in order to
make it easy to collect any kind of credit
card you want without having to submit to
Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance.
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5. Merchant Accounts
Once the credit card is charged, the payment
needs to go somewhere. This is where a
merchant account comes in.
Essentially, a merchant account is a type of bank
account that allows businesses to accept
money from payment cards. If you wish to
accept money online, you’re going to need a
merchant account.
You might not always realize one of these
accounts is involved due to the fact that some
Payment Gateways will provide you with this
account behind the scenes. Regardless, there is
always a merchant account in the mix.
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6. Subscription & Recurring Billing
Services
Payment Gateways and Merchant accounts have you covered when you want to
charge a credit card and make sure that the money ends up in your account.
But, what about payments that need to be charged and/or adjusted every
month?
Subscription and Recurring Billing services contain a credit card vault and a list
of recurring charges.
These systems make sure that the right people get charged the right amount
every month.
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7. Subscription & Recurring Billing
Services
Some services focus entirely on the problem of Recurring Billing management
and were built on top of existing payment gateways and merchant accounts.
The companies that focus on recurring billing as their core have developed a
bunch of features to make your life as a software developer easier.
Examples of this include sending emails to your customers with their invoices,
pro-rating upgrades and downgrades, and managing dunning (i.e. handling
when a credit card has expired or rejected a charge).
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8. Subscription Management:
Comparison Chart
*Zuora also offers some finance features that don’t seem to require subscription integration.
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9. Other Gateway Payment Models:
Comparison Chart
*Zuora also offers some finance features that don’t seem to require subscription integration.
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10. How Do I Pick What’s Right for Me?
In general, there are three major questions you must ask
yourself in order to narrow down your search:
What do your payments look like?
Where are you?
How much can you spend?
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11. Question 1:What do your #
Payments Look Like?
Are
you
doing
simple
plan-­‐based
billing
or
are
you
charging
for
variable
usage?
If you’re building something
complicated, then you probably want
to look at a company that focuses on
SaaS as their primary business.
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If you’re doing simple plan-based
billing, you'll be pleasantly
surprised at how easy it can be to
configure a Hybrid gateway to fit
your needs.
@getSaaSquatch

12. Question 2: Where are you?
Some
providers
are
only
available
in
select
countries
or
regions.
What
is
the
assortment
of
providers
that
are
available
in
your
area?
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Payment processing law is
complicated and highly regiondependent.
You want to make sure you
have the right mix of Payment
Gateway and management
layer to help you navigate the
legal maze for where your
company is headquartered,
@getSaaSquatch

13. Question 3: How Much #
Can You Spend?
Most
hybrid
gateways
don’t
charge
extra
for
their
subscrip6on
layers.
This
allows
you
to
keep
the
cost
of
small
projects
rela7vely
low.
However,
if
you
need
the
power
of
subscrip6on-­‐focused
services
for
more
complex
projects,
you’re
going
to
have
to
pay
extra.
Most
companies
have
a
mix
of
a
monthly
fee
plus
transac6on
fee,
and
don’t
charge
extra
to
get
started.
However,
some
companies
charge
upfront
fees
and
only
work
with
clients
with
over
$1M
in
yearly
revenue.
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14. An Additional Way to Help #
Narrow It Down
At the end of the day, you need to make sure that you trust
your provider to be easy to use, give good support, and grow
along with you.
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15. Want More Information?
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