Subscription lifecycle management can make or break your revenue growth. You want billing terms that fit your customers, not the other way around. Recurly’s Subscriptions feature offers powerful billing schedules. But what if you need more simplicity, deeper usage insights, and developer-friendly tools? That’s where Autumn’s billing platform comes in.

Recurly vs Autumn: A Side-by-Side Look

Feature	Recurly Subscription Terms	Autumn Billing Platform
Setup Time	Can take 1–2 hours to configure plan terms and billing intervals	Under 30 minutes to launch pricing plans
Billing Period Flexibility	Yes, but tied to plan length; changing period means new plan	Fully decoupled: quarterly, annual, month-to-month – mix and match easily
Proration & Change Requests	Single change request at renewal; proration rules can be confusing	Unlimited immediate or scheduled changes with clear proration logic
Usage Tracking	Requires external webhooks or manual queries	Built-in usage tracking; no webhooks needed
Transaction Fees	Stripe fees + Recurly’s variable fees	Flat rate with no hidden fees beyond Stripe
Developer Integration	Good, but heavy on webhooks and dashboard steps	Seamless API, SDKs, minimal setup

Key Strengths and Limitations

Recurly Subscription Terms

Strengths
Detailed subscription term setup
Visual step-by-step guides
Robust dunning and proration controls
Limitations
Dependency on Stripe only
Single change request at renewal; new requests override old
Complex proration logic can confuse non-technical teams
Lacks built-in usage tracking; you need webhooks

Autumn’s Flexible Subscription Lifecycle Management

Simple Setup
Create and launch pricing plans in under 30 minutes. No more time wasted wrestling with dashboards.
Decoupled Billing Periods
Want an annual commitment billed quarterly? Or a one-year term that auto-switches to monthly? Autumn has you covered.
Unlimited Changes & Clear Proration
Adjust plans on the fly or schedule upgrades and downgrades with transparent billing. No more single-request limitations.
Built-in Usage Tracking
Track feature usage, API calls, seat counts—without writing a single webhook.
Flat-Rate Fees
You pay only one simple fee on top of Stripe’s transaction costs. No surprises.
Developer-First
Seamless API, open-source SDKs, and detailed docs ensure your team spends time building features—not fighting billing.

How Autumn Solves Real-World Pain Points

Clarity Over Complexity
You deserve dashboards that make sense. Autumn lays out current term, remaining periods, and term balance in one glance.
Flexibility for Growth
As your product matures, move customers from monthly trials to annual lock-ins – or any mix you like. All controlled through code or the UI.
No-Code Usage Insights
Whether you bill by API calls or data storage, Autumn’s usage tracking is automatic. See metrics in real time.
Developer Happiness
One REST API. Minimal configuration. SDKs in your favourite languages. Spend hours building features instead of billing systems.

Best Practices for Subscription Lifecycle Management

Define clear term lengths and renewal behaviours up front.
Use tiered pricing to guide users toward longer commitments.
Leverage Autumn’s usage tracking to pilot usage-based billing models.
Schedule plan changes at renewal to minimise churn or apply upgrades immediately for upsell.
Monitor term balance and automate dunning to recover failed payments quickly.

“Switching to Autumn cut our billing setup time in half and gave us code-level control over every subscription change.”
— Jamie, Founder at BrightTasks

Ready to Simplify Your Subscription Billing?

Don’t let rigid billing systems hold back your growth. Autumn Billing Platform offers flexible subscription lifecycle management that scales with your startup. Set up pricing plans in 30 minutes, manage usage without webhooks, and delight customers with tailored billing terms.

Try Autumn today and see how easy subscription billing can be: https://useautumn.com