Recurly Pricing: Affordable or Overpriced in 2025?

Struggling to make sense of Recurly pricing? You’re not alone. If you’re just starting out or already handling many subscriptions, you must understand your costs and what you’ll receive. This way, you can plan better.

Recurly promises flexibility, but how does that translate into actual cost? And is it really worth it for your business?

That’s why we’ll break down Recurly’s plan and explain how pricing is calculated. Plus, we’ll compare it with budget-friendly alternatives like Agency Handy, Chargebee, and Paddle. By the end, you’ll know exactly where Recurly fits in

What is Recurly?

Recurly is a platform that helps you handle recurring payments if your business runs on subscriptions. Whether you’re in SaaS, eCommerce, digital services, or media, it gives you the flexibility to manage billing, send invoices, and reduce customer drop-offs. 

Isaac Hall started Recurly back in 2009 to make subscription billing easier and more reliable. You can connect Recurly with over 20 different payment gateways like Stripe, Braintree, and Adyen. It works with more than 140 currencies and supports over 10 payment types, including PayPal, Apple Pay, and Venmo. 

Recurly also helps you save lost revenue. It offers fallback payment options and smart follow-up tools when a payment fails. On top of that, you can send both automatic and manual invoices, recognize revenue accurately, and even sell gift cards.

With Recurly handling your billing, you get more time to focus on building your product and serving your customers.

Recurly Pricing Plans: A Quick Look

Recurly provides two main plans, so you can choose what works best for your business.

Note: You can try a free demo without sharing your credit card details.

Here’s a side-by-side breakdown to help you decide which recurly pricing per month fits your needs —

How is Recurly’s Cost Calculated?

Recurly’s cost depends on a few key things. Some parts are fixed, while others change based on how much you use the platform. 

Here’s what shapes what you’ll pay —

• Type of Plan: If you’re just getting started, the Starter Plan is free for your first 3 months and covers up to $40,000 in monthly payments. After that, regular fees apply. If you’re a larger or growing business, the Scaling & Enterprise Plan gives you more features, but the price depends on what you need.
• Monthly Payment Volume: The more payments you handle each month, the more you might pay. However, if you process a high volume, you could get a better rate. Smaller businesses usually stay on the lower end of the pricing scale.
• Length of Your Contract: If you’re ready to commit long-term, Recurly might offer you a discount. The longer you sign on for, the better your rate could be.
• Extra Tools and Features: In case you need more advanced tools like extra API keys, support for multiple business units, or custom fields, they come with added costs. Typically, they’re part of a custom package.
• Support and Setup Services: If you want hands-on support, onboarding help, or technical guidance, these services may cost extra. They’re usually meant for businesses using the advanced plans.

Recurly Pricing: A Complete Breakdown of Each Plan

Recurly pricing model is suitable for businesses of all sizes to manage subscriptions, billing, and customer retention. But before diving in, it’s important to understand what you’re getting for the price.

Starter Plan

The Starter Plan is ideal if you’re running a small business or just starting out. It lets you explore Recurly’s core features without paying a monthly fee for the first three months. 

During this time, you can process up to $40,000 in payments each month with no extra charges. After the trial ends, regular pricing takes effect, though exact fees aren’t shared upfront.

This plan covers the basics like subscription management, automatic billing, and useful reports all in a setup that’s easy to use. That said, it doesn’t include some of the advanced tools or custom options.

Thus, it’s best suited for businesses still in their early growth stage.

Features of Starter Plan

If you’re just getting started, the Starter Plan offers a clean set of features to help you run your subscription business with ease —

• Subscription Controls: You can create, modify, pause, or cancel subscriptions easily. It also supports fixed, one-time, usage-based, volume, or tiered pricing models to fit different business models.
• Automated Billing: The starter plan gives you the freedom of sending unlimited automated invoices with support for recurring billing terms.
• Trial and Discounts: You can use trial management tools, offer coupons, and run gift subscriptions to attract new users.
• Payment Methods: Accept major payment types like credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
• Multi-language Emails: It helps you to reach customers in their language with 30 built-in options and customizable templates.
• Dunning and Retry Tools: This plan includes basic dunning campaigns and static retry options to help you recover failed payments.
• Analytics Dashboards: You can track metrics like MRR, churn, plan performance, and more with built-in dashboards.
• Multi-Currency Support: It allows you to accept payments in over 140 currencies across 20+ supported gateways like Stripe, Braintree, and Adyen.

Pros of Starter Plan

• Great for testing without upfront costs
• Access to essential tools for managing recurring payments
• Supports multiple pricing strategies and payment methods
• Useful for global businesses with multi-currency support
• Easy to scale up when ready

Cons of Starter Plan

• No support for custom fields, multiple business entities, or in-depth analytics
• Lacks premium support and custom gateway routing
• Not suitable for complex subscription setups

Scaling & Enterprise Plan

The Scaling & Enterprise plan is built for businesses that are growing fast and need more control. If you’ve outgrown the basics and want to fine-tune how you handle billing, manage customers, and track performance, this plan is for you.

You’ll get everything included in the Starter plan plus extra tools for advanced billing, fraud prevention, and deeper insights through analytics. 

Most importantly, the pricing isn’t fixed. Instead, it’s shaped around what you need, like how much you process, which features you want, and the level of support you prefer.

There are no hidden fees or platform charges. Just a flexible setup that adapts to your business, giving you room to scale without slowing down.

Features of Scaling & Enterprise Plan

This plan includes all the features of the starter plan including more advanced ones. So, here’s what you can expect —

• Advanced Subscription Management: It helps you to manage subscription changes, pauses, expirations, account hierarchies, and lifecycle workflows with precision.
• Custom Checkout & Wallet: You can customize the checkout experiences and subscriber wallets to store payment methods and enhance retention.
• Automated & Manual Invoicing: It allows you to customize and send both auto-generated and manual invoices with full branding control.
• Full Payment Gateway Access: WIth this plan, you can use multiple gateways with failover protection, routing logic, and ACH support for more flexibility.
• Deep Reporting & Analytics: It gives you the insight into MRR, churn, trial effectiveness, and revenue recovery with advanced dashboards and custom report builders.
• Data Control: This plan offers you to export and import subscription and account data, automate reporting workflows, and explore detailed site activity logs.
• Enterprise Integrations: You can connect with tools like Salesforce, Braze, NetSuite, Avalara, and more for simplified operations.

Pros of Scaling & Enterprise Plan

• Fully customizable pricing and features to match your growth pace
• Access to all integrations and features
• Detailed analytics and churn recovery tools
• High flexibility in billing and pricing strategies
• Global payments and multi-gateway flexibility
• Premium support and professional services

Cons of Scaling & Enterprise Plan

• Pricing isn’t transparent; must contact sales to get started
• Overkill for small or early-stage companies
• Advanced features may require technical setup or dev support
• Add-ons and premium integrations may increase the final cost

Does Recurly Have Hidden Costs?

No, Recurly doesn’t hide its fees, but there are a few details you should look out for. When you’re on the Starter plan, there are no monthly charges or transaction fees for the first three months. This applies only if your payments don’t exceed $40,000 per month. 

Go over that limit, and you’ll pay a 0.9% fee on the extra amount. Also, keep in mind that other charges, like fees from your payment gateway or importing customer cards, might apply.

So, while the pricing is clear, it’s smart to review the details to avoid surprises.

Does Recurly Offer a Free Trial?

Yes, Recurly gives you a chance to try its platform for free through the Starter Plan. For the first three months, you won’t pay any monthly fees or transaction costs as long as your payments stay under $40,000 each month. 

This trial lets you explore key tools like subscription setup, automated invoicing, and basic reports without spending a dime.

If your monthly volume goes over the $40,000 mark, a small 0.9% fee is charged on the extra amount. After the trial ends, the regular monthly fee of $249 kicks in. It’s a low-risk way to see if Recurly fits your needs.

Is Recurly Worth the Price?

Yes, Recurly is worth the price, especially if your business depends on subscriptions and you want a system that grows with you. It offers a good balance of basic tools and advanced features to help you handle billing, reduce churn, and stay on top of your revenue. 

For smaller businesses, the Starter Plan makes it easy to begin without spending money upfront. You get three months free and enough tools to run things smoothly.

One of Recurly’s biggest strengths is flexibility. You can set up different pricing models, link with top payment gateways, and take payments in over 140 currencies. 

As you grow, the Scaling & Enterprise plan unlocks advanced tools like deeper analytics, fraud controls, and custom workflows. Yes, the price can go up as your setup becomes more complex. However, the trade-off is less manual work, fewer failed payments, and dependable support. 

The only catch is that pricing for larger plans isn’t listed online, so you’ll need to talk to their sales team. Still, if you’re serious about scaling your subscription business, Recurly gives you real value for the money.

The Best Recurly Alternatives & Budget Friendly Choice: Agency Handy

The following table will help you see where each tool stands in terms of features, flexibility, and value.

Now that you have a brief, let’s explore each of them extensively.

Recurly vs Agency Handy

If you’re after something more flexible and brand-friendly than Recurly, Agency Handy is worth a look. That’s especially true when billing and subscriptions matter most.

First up is billing. While Recurly connects you to external gateways, Agency Handy handles the whole process within its platform. You can send invoices right away!

The best part is you can customize invoices. In that case, just go to the invoice setting —

• Upload your brand logo
• Add note
• Choose background, text, and theme color
• Add your signature

To top it all, you can see live view side by side when you make the customization.

The system also automatically reminds clients about upcoming or unpaid invoices. You can set the reminder time based on how frequently you want it. This reminder removes your manual follow-ups.

Besides, adding discounts or letting clients pay through PayPal, Stripe, or Wise is easy with Agency Handy. 

Now, Recurly is strong in churn control and tracking data, but Agency Handy takes a simpler path. You get a clean dashboard that shows your orders, earnings, support tickets, and client activity. 

Since everything from collecting client info to gathering feedback happens on the same platform, you don’t have to juggle different tools.

What’s also great is how much control you have over branding. Unlike Recurly’s plug-and-play style, Agency Handy lets you personalize almost every part. You can personalize your domain, emails, login page, and even how things look and feel. 

When it comes to teamwork, it’s just as smooth. You can organize tasks on Kanban boards, leave feedback on files, and assign roles to control access. Plus, clients can track progress, and if they need help, the built-in ticket system has you covered.

In short, Agency Handy is an all-in-one solution for running your service business with clarity and control.

Final thoughts

We’ve found that Recurly pricing adjusts as your business grows. You can start with a free plan, then move to a custom setup as your needs expand. It includes useful tools like recurring billing, payment tracking, and retry options for failed payments.

However, costs can go up quickly, especially with advanced features. And since detailed pricing isn’t shared upfront, you’ll need to speak with sales to get the full picture. Recurly works well if you rely heavily on subscriptions and want something solid to scale with.

But if you want something more straightforward on your budget, Agency Handy gives you built-in tools for billing and subscriptions. You get invoice control, reminders, and a clean dashboard without the heavy price tag.

FAQs

Is Recurly secure?

Yes, Recurly is secure. It follows strict payment standards like PCI-DSS Level 1 and uses data encryption plus trusted gateways to keep customer info safe. These layers help protect your business and build trust with every transaction.

Is Recurly good for personal use?

No, Recurly isn’t built for personal use. It’s made for businesses that manage subscriptions at scale. While individuals can use it, the tools are better suited for handling complex billing needs rather than small or personal projects.

What kind of customer support does Recurly offer?

Recurly provides 24/7 support via email and live chat. Enterprise users may get extra help, like a dedicated account manager. There’s also a detailed help center packed with guides and troubleshooting tips to get you unstuck fast.