Billing & Invoicing
Recurly
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Category median
Sovereignty: 1 of 4 dimensions proven
0–5 in half steps. 5 means the rubric's top anchor is met on the evidence.
by Recurly, Inc. · recurly.com
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Recurly at a glance
- Vendor
- Recurly, Inc.
- Headquarters
- Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 26 Oct 2026
- Data hosting
- Default not stated; pages mention the US source, captured 26 Oct 2026
- Free plan
- Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 26 Oct 2026
- Panel verdict
- The AI panel rates Recurly 2/5, the mean of 6 judges. The bench scores Recurly, a subscription management and billing service from Recurly, Inc. how scores are made
- As of
- Vendor pages captured 26 Oct 2026; evaluated by the panel 28 Oct 2026. all sources
Read this page as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.
The panel's verdict
The bench scores Recurly, a subscription management and billing service from Recurly, Inc. of San Francisco, strongest on the subscription engine, where scores cluster at 8: five pricing models, usage metering through a Usage API that is not rate-limited, and an entitlements endpoint. Collections and dunning cluster at 7 — SEPA direct debit on all plans with automatic pre-debit notification — and tax handling at 7-8 on VAT ID validation against government registers. The weakest ground is sovereignty at 3-4: the services are stated to be hosted and operated in the United States, and subprocessors are disclosed by category. Invoicing compliance sits at 4 and pricing transparency at 5: we found no public information on structured e-invoices, and above Starter only floors are published. The judges split by one point on tax handling and revenue and handoff — held at 7 for no public information on One-Stop-Shop reporting and on DATEV or data-warehouse exports — and on sovereignty, over whether a few subprocessor providers are named. The SaaS Founder and Tax Adviser entries show 0 throughout.
Speaks for it
- Five pricing models, including ramps of up to twelve intervals, with usage metered through a Usage API that is not rate-limited and entitlements readable through a documented endpoint.
- SEPA direct debit on all plans with the mandatory pre-debit notification handled automatically by email, across the named gateways Adyen, Stripe via Third Party Checkout, GoCardless and Worldpay.
- VAT and tax ID validation against government registers including VIES and HMRC, with revalidation after six months and a documented fallback during VIES downtime.
- Intelligent retries, an Account Updater that continuously attempts collection on overdue accounts, and up to 50 versioned dunning campaigns on Professional and Elite plans.
- Signed webhooks with automatic retries on all plans, and invoice edits syncing automatically to Salesforce, QuickBooks and NetSuite.
Held against it
- The contracting entity is Recurly, Inc. of San Francisco and the services are stated to be hosted and operated in the United States, with subprocessors disclosed by category.
- Starter is computable at "$249 per month + 0.9% of billing volume (first $40K of billings included at no charge each month)", but above it only floors are published — All-Access "As low as <1% of billing volume, billed annually" behind a $1M billing volume minimum, RevRec "As low as $850 Per month, billed annually" — so a full annual cost is not computable from public pages.
- We found no public information on sequential numbering, GoBD-conformant archiving or structured e-invoices such as XRechnung, ZUGFeRD or Peppol.
- We found no public information on a DATEV export, data-warehouse sync or One-Stop-Shop reporting data.
- A plan's pricing model cannot be changed after creation, and usage can be logged only through the API.
Best for
- You run usage-based or tiered subscription pricing and need metering plus entitlements your application can read.
- You collect EUR subscriptions by SEPA direct debit and want the pre-debit notification, retries and dunning handled by the billing system.
- You sell across EU borders and want VAT ID validation against government registers with reverse charge applied at billing time.
Avoid if
- Your requirement is that billing data stay in Europe — the captured pages state the services are hosted and operated in the United States.
- You must compute a full annual cost from public pages — above Starter the figures are floors or contact-sales, and overage sits in the Order Form.
- Your MRR reporting must include usage-based revenue — the MRR report excludes it by convention.
- You plan to export stored payment details to another provider — the terms condition any release on demonstrated PCI compliance.
The scores
| Criterion | Panel median |
|---|---|
| Plans, pricing models & subscription lifecycle | 4 of 5 |
| Invoices & e-invoicing compliance | 2 of 5 |
| Cross-border VAT & tax handling | 3.5 of 5 |
| Payment collection, dunning & portability | 3.5 of 5 |
| Revenue reporting & accounting handoff | 3.5 of 5 |
| European sovereignty | 1.5 of 5 |
| Pricing transparency | 2.5 of 5 |
Plans, pricing models & subscription lifecycle
panel disagrees
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How this is scored
How the product models what is sold and to whom: plans, add-ons and price points, trials, upgrades and downgrades with proration, usage-based and seat-based pricing, contract terms and renewals, quotes, and a self-service portal where the customer changes or cancels their own subscription.
0 — No subscription model; recurring charges are set up by hand per customer or per invoice.
3 — A recurring invoice or a fixed plan that repeats on a schedule, but no proration, no trials, no add-ons and no usage component.
5 — Plans with add-ons and trials, upgrades and downgrades with proration, renewals and cancellations handled by the system, and a customer portal for viewing and changing the subscription.
8 — Usage-based, tiered, volume and seat-based pricing with metering through an API, contracts with minimum terms, ramps and notice periods, quotes that convert into subscriptions, multiple currencies and price books, and the subscription history kept per customer.
10 — The commercial model lives in the product: hybrid pricing (commitments, prepaid credits, overage) without custom code, price changes rolled out to existing customers with grandfathering, entitlements exposed to the selling application, and every change to a subscription versioned and attributed.
The SaaS Founder
This is exactly the usage tier I'm planning: metering through a non-rate-limited Usage API, five pricing models (fixed, tiered, volume, stairstep, ramp up to twelve intervals), charge by price-per-unit or percentage, and a recurring plan fee that can be set to $0 for a strictly usage-based plan. Trials, renewals, expiry through dunning and a hosted account-management page for billing updates are all handled by the system, and an entitlements endpoint exposes grants to my application. Two caveats: the pricing model is locked at plan creation, and usage can only be logged via API, so structural changes mean new plans rather than edits. 5 6 2 14 12
The Finance Lead
Five pricing models including ramps of up to twelve intervals, usage metering through an API that is not rate-limited, proration on up-front line items, free trials with their own dunning cycle, 140+ currencies, entitlements exposed through the API, and a hosted account-management page customers use to update their own billing. What I did not find is quotes converting into subscriptions, or minimum contract terms and notice periods modelled on the subscription itself. 2 5 6 12 14
The Billing Engineer
The usage model is wired the way I'd want it: usage is metered through a dedicated API that is not rate-limited, billed across fixed, tiered, volume, stairstep and ramp models (up to twelve ramp intervals on the higher plans), and entitlements are readable from the application through a documented endpoint. Trials, proration on up-front line items, add-ons, a final invoice on expiry and a hosted subscriber account page round out the lifecycle. We found no public information on quotes that convert into subscriptions or grandfathering when prices change. 5 6 14 2 12
The Service-Business Owner
Five pricing models including fixed, tiered, volume and ramp pricing, usage-based add-ons metered through a dedicated Usage API, trials whose usage is logged but not billed, subscription lifecycle webhooks, multicurrency and an entitlements endpoint cover what I need for retainers and hosting packages. We found no public information on subscriber-side minimum contract terms, notice dates or quotes converting into subscriptions, and the model of a plan cannot be changed after creation — a stated limit that matters when repricing existing contracts. 1 2 5 6 14
The Tax Adviser
Five pricing models including ramp intervals, usage-based add-ons metered through an unthrottled usage API, tiered, volume and stairstep pricing, multicurrency, trials by plan or coupon, and an entitlements endpoint for the selling application are all documented in the plan and API docs. What I did not find public information on is quotes converting into subscriptions, contracts with minimum terms, or price changes rolled to existing customers with grandfathering — the documented pricing-strategy switch applies only to subscriptions created after the change. That is a strong engine, one notch short of the commercial model living entirely in the product. 1 2 5 6 12 14
The Skeptic
Five pricing models (fixed, tiered, volume, stairstep, ramp) with usage metered through the Usage API, free trials whose usage is logged but not billed, 140+ currencies, entitlements exposed via an API endpoint, and hosted subscriber portals are all documented. We found no public information on quotes that convert into subscriptions or on grandfathering of price changes, and the pricing model itself cannot be changed after a plan is created. 5 6 2 14 1
Invoices & e-invoicing compliance
panel disagrees
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How this is scored
Whether the invoices the product issues are legally valid where the customer is: mandatory invoice content, sequential numbering, credit notes and cancellations instead of edits, retention and archiving to GoBD, and structured e-invoices (XRechnung, ZUGFeRD/Factur-X, Peppol) for business customers and public bodies.
0 — No invoices; the product charges cards or sends payment requests and the seller writes invoices elsewhere.
3 — PDF invoices from a template, but numbering, mandatory content, corrections and retention are not described.
5 — Invoices with sequential numbering and the mandatory content stated, credit notes and cancellations instead of edits, invoices in several languages and currencies, and a documented archive.
8 — Structured e-invoices to EN 16931 issued as XRechnung or ZUGFeRD/Factur-X and sent through Peppol, GoBD-compliant numbering and unalterable archiving stated, invoice data exportable for a tax audit, and the e-invoicing mandates in named EU countries addressed.
10 — Invoicing that stands up in any audit it may face: e-invoicing to public bodies and businesses in several EU countries with the channels named, clearance and reporting models (France, Italy, Poland) supported where they apply, a Verfahrensdokumentation or equivalent offered, and every invoice traceable to the subscription event that produced it.
The SaaS Founder
Corrections are properly modeled: credit invoices in three types (credit, refund, write-off), auto-paired with failed invoices, credits capped at the original charge, and every invoice carries an origin naming the event that created it; editing is limited to administrative fields with an activity log and no retroactive changes to issued invoices. But we found no public information on sequential numbering, mandatory invoice content, retention or archiving, or structured e-invoices (XRechnung, ZUGFeRD, Peppol) — as a seller into Germany and France that is precisely the part I would be audited on. Registration numbers do print on invoices, which earns it a point above template-only. 7 8 9
The Finance Lead
Credit invoices come in three types with automatic write-off pairing, every invoice carries an origin attribute naming the event that created it, and edits are permission-gated, activity-logged and locked on the Bill To address once taxes apply. That is careful machinery, but we found no public information on sequential numbering, GoBD-conformant retention, or structured e-invoices such as XRechnung, ZUGFeRD or Peppol — for a German ledger that is the difference between usable invoices and audit risk. 7 8 9
The Billing Engineer
Credit invoices come in credit, refund and write-off forms, every invoice carries an origin that ties it to the event that produced it, and the limited invoice edits are recorded in an activity log and synced to the accounting integrations. Beyond that, the compliance picture is thin for a European seller: we found no public information on sequential numbering, mandatory invoice content per country, structured e-invoices such as XRechnung, ZUGFeRD or Peppol, or retention and archiving to GoBD. 7 8
The Service-Business Owner
Corrections are handled properly: credit invoices in three types with automatic write-off pairing, an origin attribute tracing each invoice to the event that created it, and invoice editing with an activity log that preserves the original record. We found no public information on sequential numbering, GoBD-compliant archiving or structured e-invoices such as XRechnung, ZUGFeRD or Peppol, which my public-sector customers require, so the documented level stays mid-range. 7 8 1
The Tax Adviser
Credit invoices in three types — credit, refund, write-off — with every failed invoice automatically paired with a write-off credit, and an origin attribute tying each invoice to the event that produced it, are exactly the correction mechanics I look for at year-end. But the captured documentation also presents an invoice-editing feature that changes PO numbers, due dates, terms and VAT reverse charge notes on issued invoices, with only an activity log as the safeguard, and I found no public information on sequential numbering, mandatory content rules, retention to GoBD, or structured e-invoices such as XRechnung, ZUGFeRD or Peppol — the B2B e-invoice mandate is nowhere addressed on these pages. 7 8 9
The Skeptic
Credit invoices in three types with automatic write-off pairing, an invoice origin attribute that traces each invoice to the event that created it, and edits limited to metadata that preserve the original record are documented. We found no public information on sequential numbering, mandatory invoice content, retention or GoBD archiving, or any structured e-invoice format such as XRechnung, ZUGFeRD/Factur-X or Peppol — for a European buyer that decides it. 7 8 9
Cross-border VAT & tax handling
panel disagrees
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How this is scored
How the product gets tax right when the seller sells across borders: VAT rates per country and product type, reverse charge for business customers with VAT ID validation (VIES), the EU One-Stop-Shop, US sales tax — or, for a merchant of record, which tax liability it takes on in its contract and which it leaves with the seller.
0 — No tax handling; the seller types the rate on every invoice.
3 — One configurable VAT rate or a manual rate table, with no customer-location logic and no VAT ID check.
5 — Tax rates applied by customer country and status, reverse charge for business customers with a VAT ID field, and tax shown correctly on invoices and in reports.
8 — Automatic VAT per country and product type, VIES validation of VAT IDs, OSS reporting data, evidence of customer location kept, US sales tax through a named engine — or a merchant-of-record contract that states the tax liability it assumes and in which countries.
10 — Tax is discharged and evidenced: filings or filing data for OSS and the countries sold into, rate changes maintained by the vendor with a stated process, tax decisions per invoice explainable, and the division of liability between seller and vendor written into the terms.
The SaaS Founder
Reverse charge really does look right without thinking about it: EU VAT validation is on by default for all production sites, registry lookups cover VIES, HMRC, Australia's ABR, Belarus, the Dominican Republic and 40+ format-checked countries, invalid numbers block signup, IDs re-validate at each billing event after six months, and there is a documented VIES-downtime fallback so renewals proceed rather than stall. Default rates apply per enabled country, registration numbers display on invoices, and Vertex and Avalara appear as named tax partners. We found no public information on OSS reporting data or rates maintained per product type, and the tax documentation itself tells merchants to stay up to date with their local tax authorities, which keeps me from going higher. 9 10 5
The Finance Lead
Default rates per enabled country, layerable sub-region taxes, reverse charge for valid cross-border EU VAT numbers, and VAT ID validation against VIES, HMRC and other government registers with six-month revalidation and a documented VIES-downtime fallback. We found no public information on One-Stop-Shop reporting data or US sales tax, and the guidance tells merchants to stay current with their tax authorities on rates rather than promising vendor-maintained rate changes. 9 10
The Billing Engineer
VAT and GST defaults apply automatically per country on all plans, reverse charge for valid EU VAT numbers is documented, and tax ID validation runs against VIES, HMRC and other government registries with revalidation every six months and a defined fallback during VIES downtime — that validation layer is genuinely deep. We found no public information on One-Stop-Shop reporting data or a vendor-maintained rate-change process, and the guidance instead tells merchants to stay up to date with their local tax authorities. 9 10
The Service-Business Owner
Reverse charge for cross-border EU business customers with government registry validation, revalidation after six months, a fallback during VIES downtime, automatic default rates per country, registration numbers displayed on invoices, named tax engines Vertex and Avalara, and two pieces of location evidence where required. We found no public information on One-Stop-Shop reporting or vendor-maintained rate updates — the captured pages instead tell merchants to stay current with their own tax authorities. 9 10 5
The Tax Adviser
Default VAT and GST rates per country, Canadian sub-region taxes, a dedicated EU VAT treatment, and VAT/tax ID validation against real government registries — VIES for the EU with six-month revalidation and a documented downtime fallback, HMRC for the UK, the Australian Business Register with a GST-registration check — plus reverse charge for valid EU cross-border VAT numbers, are all evidenced, and Avalara and Vertex appear as integration partners. It falls short of the top band because custom rates need manual configuration, the documentation tells merchants to stay current with local tax authorities rather than the vendor maintaining rates, and I found no public information on One-Stop-Shop reporting data or US sales tax handling. 5 9 10
The Skeptic
Default VAT/GST rates auto-applied per country, reverse charge for valid EU VAT numbers, and VIES validation that blocks invalid numbers at signup, revalidates at billing events and falls back to the last stored status during downtime, plus the named engines Avalara and Vertex, give real cross-border machinery. We found no public information on One-Stop-Shop reporting data, and the tax documentation warns that rates 'may change' and points merchants to their local tax authorities. 9 10 5
Payment collection, dunning & portability
panel disagrees
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How this is scored
How invoices turn into money: which payment providers and methods the product works with, SEPA direct-debit mandates, automatic retries and dunning sequences, payment reconciliation, collections handover — and whether the seller can move subscriptions and stored payment details to another provider.
0 — No collection; invoices are sent and payment is chased by hand.
3 — One built-in payment provider with card payments, and failed payments reported but not retried or chased.
5 — Several payment providers or methods including SEPA direct debit with mandates, automatic retries of failed payments, dunning emails with configurable steps, and payments matched to invoices.
8 — Gateway-agnostic collection across named providers, smart retries and card updaters, dunning with escalation and service suspension rules, bank-transfer reconciliation, a handover to a collection agency, and recovery reported.
10 — Collection is portable and measurable: subscriptions and payment tokens importable and exportable with a documented migration path, routing across providers per country or method, recovered revenue reported per dunning step, and no lock-in to the vendor's own payment service stated in the terms.
The SaaS Founder
This is Recurly's home ground: intelligent retries with a recommended 27-day window, hard declines and bad billing details skip the schedule, Account Updater runs continuously on overdue accounts, and any billing-info update retriggers collection on every overdue invoice — exactly the retry-before-churn behavior I need. Dunning runs up to 50 versioned campaigns with cohort tracking through exports and analytics (automatic-payment invoices only), and SEPA direct debit is available on all plans via named gateways (Adyen, Stripe Third Party Checkout, GoCardless, Worldpay) with the mandatory pre-debit notification handled automatically. We found no public information on bank-transfer reconciliation or a handover to a collection agency, and exporting stored payment details requires demonstrating PCI compliance to Recurly's satisfaction first. 12 11 2 4
The Finance Lead
Named gateways (Adyen, Stripe, GoCardless, Worldpay), SEPA direct debit on all plans with the mandatory pre-debit notification handled automatically, intelligent retries that skip hard declines, an Account Updater that keeps collecting on overdue accounts, and up to fifty versioned dunning campaigns with analytics. We found no public information on bank-transfer reconciliation or a handover to a collection agency, and export of payment information is conditional on the merchant presenting a PCI attestation. 2 4 11 12
The Billing Engineer
Collection is gateway-agnostic with Adyen, Stripe, GoCardless and Worldpay named for SEPA direct debit, mandates taken in IBAN form and the mandatory pre-debit notification handled automatically by email; dunning is equally serious with up to fifty versioned campaigns, intelligent retries, an account updater running continuously on overdue invoices, and analytics on automatic-payment invoices. We found no public information on bank-transfer reconciliation, a handover to a collection agency, or a documented migration path for taking subscriptions and payment details elsewhere — the terms condition any export of payment information on demonstrating PCI compliance. 11 12 2 4
The Service-Business Owner
SEPA direct debit is available on all plans with IBAN collection and the mandatory pre-debit notification handled automatically by email, across named gateways Adyen, Stripe via Third Party Checkout, GoCardless and Worldpay — the core of my German collection workflow is there. Dunning campaigns with configurable cycles, intelligent retries, an account updater that keeps attempting collection on overdue accounts, and automatic cancellation at end of cycle are documented; we found no public information on bank-transfer reconciliation or a handover to a collection agency. 11 12 2 4
The Tax Adviser
Dunning is documented in real depth — three cycle types, up to fifty versioned campaigns on higher plans, intelligent retries, Account Updater running continuously on overdue accounts, hard declines sensibly excluded from retries, and configurable end-of-cycle expiry or bad-debt write-off — and SEPA direct debit works across Adyen, Stripe, GoCardless and Worldpay with the pre-debit notification the rulebook requires handled automatically by email. I found no public information on bank-transfer reconciliation, handover to a collection agency, or recovered revenue reported per dunning step, and export of payment details is conditional on demonstrating PCI compliance. 1 2 4 11 12
The Skeptic
SEPA with the mandatory pre-debit notification handled automatically, named gateways Adyen, Stripe, GoCardless and Worldpay, intelligent retries, Account Updater running continuously on overdue accounts, and versioned dunning campaigns with analytics are documented. We found no public information on bank-transfer reconciliation or a collection-agency handover, and the terms condition any release of payment information on demonstrated PCI compliance — no migration path for stored payment details is documented. 11 12 2 4 1
Revenue reporting & accounting handoff
panel disagrees
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How this is scored
What finance gets out of billing: MRR, ARR, churn and cohort reporting, revenue recognition and deferred revenue, the export or sync to the accounting system and to DATEV, CRM and data-warehouse integrations, an API and webhooks, and a complete export of customer and subscription data.
0 — No reporting and no export beyond downloading individual invoices.
3 — A revenue overview and a CSV export of invoices, with no subscription metrics and no accounting integration.
5 — Subscription metrics (MRR, churn) on a dashboard, an export or sync to at least one named accounting tool, and a documented API with webhooks.
8 — Revenue recognition with deferred revenue schedules, a DATEV export or booking-ready journal for the ledger, native CRM and accounting integrations named, MRR movements explainable per customer, and a full data export documented.
10 — Billing is the system of record for revenue: recognition to IFRS 15 / ASC 606 stated, month-end close supported with reconciled reports, data-warehouse sync, audit trail of every financial event, and a complete export of customers, subscriptions and invoices that a successor system can import.
The SaaS Founder
RevRec is a separately priced module (as low as $850 per month, billed annually) covering multi-GAAP recognition, rules-driven allocations, automated monthly close and an immutable audit trail, and invoice data syncs natively to Salesforce, QuickBooks and NetSuite, with Xero manual. The API and webhooks are genuinely well documented — signatures, automatic retries with backoff, six client libraries. But the MRR report excludes usage-based add-on revenue, which understates my numbers the moment the usage tier ships, and we found no public information on a DATEV export, data-warehouse sync, or a complete documented export of customers, subscriptions and invoices. 2 5 8 13
The Finance Lead
An MRR report that excludes usage revenue by convention sits beside a transactions report that includes it, subscription and credit-payment exports, automatic invoice syncs to Salesforce, QuickBooks and NetSuite, a documented API with signed and retried webhooks, and a separately priced RevRec module advertising multi-GAAP compliance, automated monthly close and an immutable audit trail. We found no public information on a DATEV export or booking-ready journal, deferred revenue schedules, or data-warehouse sync — my accountants would still be retyping entries. 2 5 7 8 13
The Billing Engineer
The revenue recognition module adds multi-GAAP compliance with rules-driven allocations, automated monthly close and an immutable audit trail, and the platform syncs invoice changes to named systems (Salesforce, QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero) with an MRR report that by convention excludes usage revenue while the transactions report includes it. The webhook layer is production-grade — signed payloads, automatic retries on a stated schedule, fifteen days of delivery history with failure reasons and manual bulk retry. We found no public information on a DATEV export or a data-warehouse sync. 2 5 8 13
The Service-Business Owner
A RevRec module with automated monthly close, multi-GAAP compliance and an immutable audit trail, automatic syncs to Salesforce, QuickBooks and NetSuite, an MRR report, documented exports, real-time webhooks with signature verification and client libraries give finance a lot to work with. We found no public information on a DATEV export, which my tax adviser needs, or on data-warehouse sync, and the MRR report excludes usage-based add-on revenue by convention. 2 5 8 13
The Tax Adviser
The RevRec module is documented with automated revenue recognition, multi-GAAP compliance, SSP automation, automated monthly close and an immutable audit trail, and the MRR report states its convention of excluding usage revenue rather than hiding it. Invoice changes sync automatically to Salesforce, QuickBooks and NetSuite, and the API and webhooks are documented down to retry intervals, signature headers and six client libraries. I found no public information on a DATEV export, data-warehouse sync, or a complete documented export that a successor system could import. 2 5 8 13 14
The Skeptic
A separate revenue-recognition module with multi-GAAP compliance, automated monthly close and an immutable audit trail, native syncs to Salesforce, QuickBooks, NetSuite and Xero, and a documented API with webhooks on all plans are on the pages. We found no public information on a DATEV export, data-warehouse sync, or MRR movements explained per customer, and the MRR report states usage-based add-on revenue is not counted in MRR. 2 5 7 8 13 14
European sovereignty
panel opinion
panel disagrees
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How this is scored
Who the contracting entity and the parent company are, where customer, invoice and payment data are hosted, and who the subprocessors are (hosting, payment providers, tax engines, email delivery). Independently sourced by the sovereignty pipeline; billing data is personal and financial at once, so the whole chain counts, not only the database.
0 — Non-EU vendor and contracting entity, hosting unstated, subprocessors unnamed, and no data processing agreement offered.
3 — A privacy policy and a data processing agreement exist, but hosting location is unstated or non-EU and the subprocessors are not listed.
5 — EU hosting available and an EU contracting entity or EU representative, but parts of the chain (tax engine, email, analytics, support) run through non-EU providers without a stated safeguard.
8 — EU hosting on named infrastructure, EU contracting entity, subprocessors listed with their locations, a data processing agreement published, and security certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2) stated.
10 — Sovereign end to end and evidenced: European ownership, entity, hosting and every subprocessor, data export and deletion documented, and certifications published with their scope rather than implied.
The SaaS Founder
Recurly, Inc. of San Francisco is the contracting entity, the services are hosted and operated in the United States, the governing law is California (England and London courts for EMEA merchants), and the subprocessor disclosure lists categories — payment processors, fraud, analytics, chat, hosting, co-location — rather than named providers with locations. There is a published DPA including standard contractual clauses, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certification, and an EU representative in Hamburg, which are real safeguards. For my billing data across nine EU countries that still means US jurisdiction and CLOUD Act exposure with no EU hosting evidenced, and we found no public information on ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certifications for the platform. 3 4
The Finance Lead
The contracting entity is Recurly, Inc. of San Francisco and the services are hosted and operated in the United States; a data processing agreement with standard contractual clauses, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certification and an EU representative in Hamburg are documented. Subprocessors appear only as categories, and we found no public information naming the hosting or product subprocessors, or on ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certifications. 1 3 4
The Billing Engineer
The contracting entity is Recurly, Inc. of San Francisco and the services are stated to be hosted and operated in the United States; a data processing agreement with standard contractual clauses, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certification and an EU representative in Hamburg provide transfer safeguards, and subprocessor categories are published with a few named providers. We found no public information on EU hosting for billing data, named hosting infrastructure, or certifications such as ISO 27001 or SOC 2. 3 4 1
The Service-Business Owner
The contracting entity is Recurly, Inc. of San Francisco and the services are stated to be hosted and operated in the United States, with standard contractual clauses in the DPA, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certification and an EU representative in Hamburg. Subprocessors appear only as categories such as payment processors and hosting providers, not as named providers with locations. For my requirement that customer and invoice data stay in Europe, this documented US-hosted chain with transfer safeguards is not a fit. 3 4 1
The Tax Adviser
The contracting entity is Recurly, Inc. of San Francisco under California law for most merchants, the privacy policy states the services are hosted and operated in the United States, and subprocessors are disclosed only as categories — payment processors, hosting providers, analytics, chat — without names or locations. A data processing agreement with standard contractual clauses, Data Privacy Framework certification and named EU and UK representatives lift it above the floor, but I found no public information on EU hosting options or on ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certifications. 2 3 4
The Skeptic
Recurly, Inc. of San Francisco is the contracting entity, the services are stated to be hosted and operated in the United States, and the subprocessor disclosure lists categories — including ad networks and analytics — rather than named providers, with chat running through Zendesk and Google Gemini. The DPA includes standard contractual clauses, an EU representative is named in Hamburg and EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certification is claimed; we found no public information on EU hosting, named infrastructure, or ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certifications. 3 4
Pricing transparency
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How this is scored
Whether a buyer can compute the real annual cost from public pages alone: platform fee, percentage of billed revenue or per-invoice fees, which modules (revenue recognition, e-invoicing, tax, extra gateways) cost extra, overage above a revenue band, setup and minimum term, and the merchant-of-record fee where it applies.
0 — No public prices at all; every customer is a sales call.
3 — A starting price or a free tier exists, but how cost scales with billed revenue, invoices or modules is unclear.
5 — Tiers are public with their main inclusions and revenue bands, but at least one commonly needed piece (e-invoicing, revenue recognition, extra gateways, overage) is unpriced or "on request".
8 — Every tier priced publicly with its scaling rule (revenue percentage, per invoice, per subscriber), overage and add-ons listed, minimum term and VAT treatment stated.
10 — Complete price computability: annual cost derivable for a given billed revenue, invoice volume and module set, with every add-on, setup, support and payment or merchant-of-record fee and the cancellation and data-return terms published.
The SaaS Founder
Starter is genuinely computable — $249 per month + 0.9% of billing volume with the first $40K of billings included at no charge each month — so I can price a real first year from the pricing page. Everything above it blurs: All-Access is "as low as <1% of billing volume, billed annually" behind a $1M billing volume minimum, RevRec is "as low as $850" and Engage "as low as $1,600" per month, App Management requires contacting sales, and overage fees above the TPV allowance live in the Order Form rather than on any public page. VAT treatment and the one-year auto-renewing term with 30-day notice are stated in the terms, which is more than many publish. 2 4
The Finance Lead
The Starter plan is publicly computable at '$249 per month + 0.9% of billing volume' with the first $40K of billings included each month, alongside a 90-day free trial and a free sandbox. Above that only floors are published — All-Access 'as low as <1% of billing volume, billed annually' with a $1M billing volume minimum, RevRec '$850 Per month, billed annually', Engage '$1,600 Per month' — while the App Management add-on says 'Contact Recurly Sales for pricing details', dunning-campaign upgrades go through sales, and overage beyond the Total Payment Volume allowance is set in the Order Form. 2 4 12 14
The Billing Engineer
Starter is computable from the public page alone at "$249 per month + 0.9% of billing volume (first $40K of billings included at no charge each month)", but the upper tiers read as floors rather than prices ("As low as <1% of billing volume", "$850 Per month... Based on your billing volume"), App Management is priced only via the sales team, and the payment-volume allowance that triggers overage fees is set per Order Form rather than published. The documentation also references Professional and Elite plans whose prices do not appear on the public pricing page, so a real annual cost is not derivable for a typical module set. 2 4 6 14
The Service-Business Owner
Starter is fully computable at "$249 per month + 0.9% of billing volume (first $40K of billings included at no charge each month)", and the terms state that fees are exclusive of taxes, with a one-year auto-renewal on thirty days' notice. The other modules appear only as floors — RevRec "as low as $850" per month, Engage "as low as $1,600" per month, All-Access "as low as <1% of billing volume" with a $1M billing volume minimum — while App Management pricing and the overage beyond the payment-volume allowance are on request. 2 4 12 14
The Tax Adviser
The Starter tier is computable from the public page — "$249 per month + 0.9% of billing volume (first $40K of billings included at no charge each month)" — with a 90-day free trial and free sandbox also public. Everything above it is quoted as a floor — All-Access "As low as <1% of billing volume" with a $1M billing volume minimum, RevRec "As low as $850 Per month", Engage "As low as $1,600 Per month" — and App Management, extra dunning campaigns and the overage fees beyond the Order Form's payment-volume allowance are all contact-Sales, so a buyer cannot compute a real annual cost past the entry plan. 2 4 12 14
The Skeptic
Starter is published exactly as '$249 per month + 0.9% of billing volume (first $40K of billings included at no charge each month)' with a 90-day free trial, and modules carry published floors such as 'As low as $850 Per month, billed annually' for revenue recognition and 'As low as <1% of billing volume, billed annually' for All-Access. The percentage above those floors, overage beyond the Total Payment Volume allowance, and the App Management add-on all sit with sales or the Order Form, so a buyer cannot compute the real annual cost from public pages. 2 4 14 12
European sovereignty — proven facts
1 of 4 dimensions provenBuilt only from facts shown on the vendor's own pages. A dimension we could not prove is left open, not scored as zero.
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | uncited Report an error |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ownership | Not determined | — | uncited Report an error |
| Data residency | Not determined | — | uncited Report an error |
| Subprocessors | US CLOUD Act reach ⚠ unverified | 0/2 pts | 3 Report an error |
Questions about Recurly
Is Recurly European?
No. whats-best.ai classifies Recurly as Rest of world.
Where does Recurly store data?
The default storage location for customer data is not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 26 Oct 2026. The vendor’s pages mention the US as hosting location, per the vendor’s page captured 26 Oct 2026.
Does Recurly have a free plan?
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 26 Oct 2026.
What are the best alternatives to Recurly?
As of 28 Oct 2026, the panel rates Chargebee (3.5/5), Younium (3.5/5) and Stripe Billing (3.5/5) highest among the other 12 Billing & Invoicing products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is Younium (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made. The full list, with European products first: Recurly alternatives.
Where this could be wrong
- Evidence ages. The oldest capture behind this page is from 26 Oct 2026. Vendors change pricing and policies without notice; every fact reflects its source as of the capture date shown in the registry.
- Weak sourcing — Subprocessors. These chat tools serve the website and registered users and the privacy policy expressly excludes merchants' customer billing data from its scope, so the actual hosting providers of the product remain unnamed and the full subprocessor list on the DPA page was not captured.
- AI can misread a source. Extraction and judgement are automated; a citation guarantees traceability, not infallibility. If something here is wrong, say so — no account needed, every report is decided within 5 business days, and accepted corrections are published.
What we left out
A claim that does not survive our checks costs us the claim, not the page. This is what was taken off this one.
- 6 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 2 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 2 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
- 1 legal fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material. Know more? Tell us
Sources (14)
The pages every claim on this page was read from — each one checked, dated, and kept verifiable.
- 1 Vendor homepage recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →
- 2 Pricing page recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →
- 3 Privacy policy recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →
- 4 Terms of service recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →
- 5 Plans, pricing models & subscription lifecycle — found from sitemap docs.recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →
- 6 Plans, pricing models & subscription lifecycle — found from sitemap docs.recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →
- 7 Invoices & e-invoicing compliance — found from sitemap docs.recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →
- 8 Invoices & e-invoicing compliance — found from sitemap docs.recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →
- 9 Cross-border VAT & tax handling — found from sitemap docs.recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →
- 10 Cross-border VAT & tax handling — found from sitemap docs.recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →
- 11 Payment collection, dunning & portability — found from sitemap docs.recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →
- 12 Payment collection, dunning & portability — found from sitemap docs.recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →
- 13 Revenue reporting & accounting handoff — found from sitemap docs.recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →
- 14 Revenue reporting & accounting handoff — found from sitemap docs.recurly.com Checked 26 Oct 2026 Details →