Customer relationship management (CRM), project management, accounting, human resources, etc., are great examples of SaaS tools that are designed to help businesses streamline their operations, improve efficiency, and gain insights into their performance.
They are typically accessed and used through the internet and are often subscription-based, meaning businesses pay a monthly or annual fee to access them. Subscription-based SaaS solutions are known to boost companies’ recurring revenue and reduce customer churn.
In order to provide all the mentioned features with ease and get the desired benefits, you’ll need SaaS subscription management software. So, dive deeper into the topic to learn what subscription management software is and see its best examples.
How To Define SaaS Subscription Management Software?
SaaS subscription management software is a type of software that is used to manage and automate the process of subscribing to and using software-as-a-service (SaaS) products. It typically includes features such as the following:
- Automated billing and invoicing
- User provisioning and management
- Usage tracking and reporting
- Integration with other software
- Customer self-service portals
- Subscription cancellation or downgrade functionality
Such software allows them to manage their customers' subscriptions and usage, track revenue and usage trends, and provide a better customer experience. SaaS subscription management software is also highly beneficial for businesses that use multiple SaaS products, allowing them to manage all of their subscriptions in one place.
Things To Look Out For In A SaaS Software Provider
It is helpful to know what you should look for when choosing subscription management software. While every provider will have its unique features and capabilities, most will meet the following fundamental requirements:
- Flexible pricing lists: It is important to check whether a SaaS subscription management solution has a range of different pricing lists (such as; basic, quantity-based, and tier-based pricing) so that subscribers can know what they are paying for the product.
- Customer lifetime management: Whenever you buy SaaS subscription management software, you should understand how it will automate the tracking process and manage each customer’s lifecycle, including upgrading and renewing customers.
- Customizable subscription management models: Of course, the subscription should be customizable, which helps people to create, modify, and manage plans (also, if you have a freemium model). However, a customizable model is also very convenient in a variety of lengths, payment options, and price points to suit the customers.
- A seamless user experience: One of the most important things is to check out if your provider can make the process easier for your customers. Therefore, a streamlined checkout process to self-serve during their subscription lifecycle and the possibility to upgrade, downgrade and modify their subscription effortlessly.
You have to ensure that the SaaS management software provider offers a seamless experience, modifying subscription plans and a variety of pricing models. Therefore, the SaaS management software can benefit your business throughout the process, and your business can achieve desirable goals.
Looking for more SaaS insights? We recommend reading: "Create a SaaS product that sells well".
Top 7 SaaS Subscription Solutions For Every Business
We compiled a list of the top 7 SaaS subscription solutions for every business needs:
Chargebee
With Chargebee, you can manage recurring billing and subscription models for e-commerce stores, SaaS companies, and other online businesses at scale - with a fully customizable and comprehensive subscription management platform. It also integrates with various payment gateways and supports multiple currencies. Chargebee is perfect for startups so that you can manage everything from the start and don’t get stuck in the middle of your process.
Chargebee is used by known companies such as Zendesk, Hubspot, Freshworks, Toast, and Sendinblue.
Features:
- Chargebee offers some mind-blowing features, such as encompassing flat fees, flexible billing frequencies, fully customizable structures for pricing models, and pay-as-you-go.
- There are coupons, discounts, and gift subscription management to provide the best results and optimize conversions.
- It’s one of the best platforms for startups to manage everything from the start and help you manage different tasks at once.
- Automated workflow for recurring billing model through multi-currency support and a network of payment gateways.
- Smart and optimizing functionality to recover failed payments and reduce revenue leakage.
- Optimized payment schedules, checkout, and self-service portal
- Automated the whole process of subscription lifecycle management
- With essential subscription plans, Chargebee offers customizable plans for every customer
Pricing Category:
ChargeBee pricing plans differ in terms of features, such as the number of invoices, revenue, and the number of customers. It has four essential plans - Launch, Rise, Scale (the most popular), and Enterprise.
FastSpring
FastSpring is an easy-to-use and powerful subscription management software for SaaS. The software enables payments and subscriptions for many digital businesses worldwide. Those include a customizable storefront, order management, and automatic tax calculation.
FastSpring also provides a range of payment options and integrates with a variety of platforms, including WordPress and Shopify. Additionally, FastSpring provides 24/7 customer support and security measures such as SSL encryption and fraud protection to ensure secure transactions.
FastSpring is used by companies such as ProFlowers, Campaign Monitor, Marketo, Wunderlist, and Litmus.
Features:
- A complete solution to automated messages.
- Dunning management.
- Pricing options with special discounts and promotions.
Pricing Category:
The exact pricing of FastSpring depends on the volume of sales and the features needed. This subscription management software has three plans - Pay as you grow, business, and enterprise.
Chargify
Chargify is a recurring billing and subscription management platform. It provides subscription management for relationship economies and reduces subscriber friction by allowing users complete control over their subscriptions with simple, easy subscription billing management, signup forms, and a self-service portal.
Features:
- It helps categorize, manage, and track subscriptions during the customer lifecycle.
- The self-service billing portal reviews billing history, allowing users to upgrade/downgrade and manage their account information.
- Recurring billing, automatic payment handling, and payment failure management.
- Fully customizable, PCI-compliant signup pages are completely responsive to any device.
- Analytics and reporting to help businesses track performance.
- API, which seamlessly connects existing signups and helps shopping cart processes.
- Integrations with various payment gateways and marketing tools like MailChimp or Xero.
Pricing Category:
Chargify subscription management software has three plans - Essential, Growth, and Scale. The final price depends on the number of subscribers and the features needed.
Still in process of planning your SaaS product? Then, read also: "Best practices for SaaS implementation".
Paddle
Paddle is a platform for selling software and SaaS products. As a typical subscription management tool, it allows users to manage and track their recurring billing and payments, manage customers, and control access to their products. Additionally, it lets you manage checkouts, subscriptions, taxes, licensing, and insights in one intuitive platform. You can experiment with pricing, promotions, and layouts.
Paddle is used by companies such as ByteDance, Tencent, Meituan, Alibaba, Huawei, Microsoft, and Intel.
Features:
- 19+ payment options.
- A possibility to make a customized checkout.
- Taxes and VAT.
- It also offers complete fraud protection.
- The software provides access to JS Library and API.
Pricing Category:
Paddle subscription management software offers scaled pricing features for SaaS, starting at 5% + $0.50 per sale.
Zuora
Zuora Billing specializes in monetizing businesses through subscriptions, consumption, or a combination of the two. With Zoom as a client, Zuora Billing is an all-in-one monetization solution. Known as a "Subscription Economy," Zuora has products like revenue analytics, payment management, subscription billing, and more.
Features:
- 35+ pre-built solutions for payment gateways.
- It also offers low-code APIs and SDKs that connect seamlessly with current applications and ecosystems.
- A completely automated power to recover failed payments and help the business increase customer retention.
- Active the package's creation and quotes in the needed currency.
- Out-of-the-box, real-time metrics and insights with the powerful software Zuora Analytics.
Pricing category:
Zuora subscription management software has three plans - Monthly Plan, SaaS Annual subscription Plan, and Usage Plan.
SaaSOPTICS
Despite being the 2nd last subscription management software on our list, it is a scalable SaaS subscription management solution aimed at B2B SaaS businesses. It works with your growing business as it grows with you. With SaaS subscription management software, you can streamline your subscription processes and gain a deeper understanding of your customers and business through robust metrics and analytics.
Companies such as Chili Piper and Crunchbase use SaaSOPTICS.
Features:
- Renewal and order management.
- It also offers a fully automated subscription plan for billing & payments.
- It offers detailed Subscription analytics and metrics.
- Connectivity with third-party tools.
- Also, provide flexible subscription charges for both invoicing and billing.
Pricing Category:
SaaSOPTICS, a SaaS subscription software that offers amazing plans and charges; check the official website to find out more about its trailing 12 months' revenue upfront annual billing plan.
Recharge
To provide your customers with the best possible purchasing experience, Recharge simplifies the SaaS subscription management platform by putting them in your full control. By simply replying to a text message, subscribers can update their subscriptions by skipping, rescheduling, or swapping products.
Features:
- Customer self-service portal for managing subscriptions
- Increasing average order value with simple upsell workflows
- Notifications to customers regarding upcoming charges and unsuccessful payments via SMS and email.
- Also, it provides special discounts, shipping, and tax solutions.
- It helps with analytics dashboards, including subscription overview, revenue planning, and industry benchmarks.
Pricing category:
It has three plans - Standard, Recharge Pro, and Custom (with prices tailored to your needs).
Or, you can use a totally free and open-source SaaS Boilerplate for subscription management. Check it out on Github!
Use A SaaS Management Platform And Get Started Right Away
If you're interested in getting started with a SaaS subscription management platform, Apptension offers support tailored to your business’s needs. Drop us a line if you’re looking for assistance at any stage of your SaaS product development.
Remember that choosing the right SaaS subscription manager platform can be time-consuming, and it's important to evaluate the different options carefully and consider the long-term benefits for your SaaS business.
