

Ask HN: A subscription/recurring billing service that just works. Any ideas? - paraschopra

I have been considering using a service that exposes a simple-to-use API for doing recurrent billing to users of my startup's products. Have explored Paypal API and Chargify. Any other players in this market? What do you you use and recommend? Any help is appreciated.
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karthikm
Amazon Flexible Payment Service (FPS) is a good option as well. In addition to
recurring payments, FPS also supports aggregated payments for micro-
transactions.

If you want the cheapest solution, you might want to try Noca (www.noca.com)
which supports recurring transactions but everything happens through ACH and
hence it has its own set of hassles.

~~~
trefn
We've been using FPS and it's not ideal. The only way to get credit card info
is by directing your visitors offsite to a co-branded amazon page.

We've also had quite a few problems getting our transactions to complete -
about half of the transactions from this month are still pending.

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jbr
I recommend Braintree <http://www.braintreepaymentsolutions.com/>, having
build payment systems on top of paypal payflow pro, paypal express checkout,
and Braintree. Their API is far more sane, and their vault system is
convenient. Plus they'll let you get your data back out if you ever need to
switch. Make sure to ask anyone who would be storing CCNs for you if they have
a portability policy. Otherwise, you only get to choose once for the life of
your company.

Note: I haven't checked out spreedly yet, but I've heard similarly good
things.

~~~
jollyjerry
The Braintree API wasn't too hard hard to integrate with, but their web
interface for configuration and management is pretty ugly and unintuitive. I
especially dislike how they share test instances between multiple customers.
Their customer support is really responsive and helpful though.

I wrote a quick Rails plugin to interface with the recurring payments with
Braintree. It doesn't implement all or their API's, but it's enough to handle
monthly recurring billing for Outspokes. I pushed it up to github in case
anyone finds it useful. Let me know if anything's confusing about it. I'll
polish it up when I have more free time.

<http://github.com/jch/braintree_payment_processing>

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pplante
Check out <http://cheddargetter.com>

Incredibly simple API with libraries for most languages. But it does require
an Authorize.net merchant account to tie into.

~~~
marcguyer
CheddarGetter does much more than recurring billing: branded fully
customizable email communication, transaction error management automation,
usage tracking, overage charges, microbilling, analytics. Free to try. No
merchant account required during development.

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bazookaaa
I highly recommend <http://spreedly.com>. Has a great API and recurring
billing is built-in so you don't need to pay extra for it on PayPal or
Authorize.

~~~
marcguyer
Spreedly has a per-transaction percentage charge on top of all the other per-
transaction fees you pay to the gateway/bank/etc. Not a great option long-
term. <http://cheddargetter.com> and <http://chargify.com> are much better
options. CheddarGetter is a very robust service with usage tracking, branded
email communication and microbilling features. Chargify includes a drop-in
generic interface like Spreedly.

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jlarkin
Another option for recurring/subscription billing - Aria Systems
<http://www.AriaSystems.com>. Aria has been in this space since 2003 and the
platform is very powerful and very customizable. Also, Aria works with
customers of all sizes - including startups.

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Recurly
Another option to take a look at is <http://recurly.com/> We offer a super
simple RESTful api that lets add payment functionality to your sites. We also
handle all the complexities of upgrades/downgrades and subscription
management. We're here to help :)

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trafficlight
Have you given Freshbooks a try?

<http://freshbooks.com>

~~~
paraschopra
I always thought Freshbooks is for freelancers who want to bill their clients.
Will definitely see if it serves my purpose. Thanks

~~~
trafficlight
Well, technically it is. But Freshbooks does have options for sending
recurring invoices and doing recurring credit card charges (two seperate
processes). It also has a really nice API.

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dnewcome
I was considering <http://www.zuora.com> in the past at the recommendation of
a friend. I didn't end up springing for a recurring billing solution though,
so I don't have any experience with them. Their product looked impressive
though.

~~~
kevinpet
We're using Zuora, but I can't say much about it as accounts and billing isn't
my area. As I understand it, it's well suited to people who expect to be doing
complicated things, and also people who want to ensure that they keep up a
professional appearance by not sending someone off-site to enter their billing
info.

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asnyder
Authorize.net has Automated Recurring Billing, and BrainTree has some pretty
good offerings too.

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jemerick
If you don't want to deal with Amazon FPS, you can implement Amazon's Simple
Pay subscriptions:
[https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business?sn=paynow/sub...](https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business?sn=paynow/subscription)

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herrherr
Just for the sake of completeness: <http://chargify.com/>

Haven't tried it yet, but looks similar to spreedly.

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1yellowbrick
I recommend NMI.com. They are a payment gateway and alternative to Auth.net.
Their API and admin console is great.

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bjclark
I'm one of the developers from Chargify. Are you in our private beta? Can I
help you with anything?

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proee
foxycart.com - has a nice api and works with subscription payments via
authorize.net

also try cariboucms.com if you're looking for a full cms with member
management subscription capabilities(great product)

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matthall28
Paypal Web Payments Pro gets my vote, they do a great job with it

