Finding software can be overwhelming. Software Advice has helped hundreds of small businesses choose the right subscription management software to manage their subscription-based products and services.
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NetSuite is a business management software suite offered as a service that performs enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) functions. It is a horizontal package designed for an extensive range... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
Business Size:
Multiview Financials is the flagship ERP system developed, sold, implemented, and supported by Multiview Financial Software. Multiview is designed for organizations ranging in size from rapidly growing small businesses to large enterprises... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: CloudOn premise
Business Size:
Sage Intacct is a provider of cloud-based financial management and accounting software. Sage Intacct's software solution is suitable for small to midsize accounting firms and can provide financial reporting and operational insights... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
Business Size:
BQE Core - Integrated Accounting and Project Management
BQE Core is a cloud-based solution that offers integrated business accounting, project management, and business intelligence. It can support the operations of a variety of industries, including legal services, architecture firms, engineering,... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
Business Size:
FreshBooks takes billing out of your hands and puts it on autopilot. Set up automated invoicing, online payment options (ACH and Credit Card), and late payment reminders to get paid 2x faster. Next, boost team productivity with precise... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
Business Size:
AccuFund is an online accounting and financial reporting solution designed specifically for the nonprofit industry. Integrated into one, AccuFund's Accounting suite helps nonprofit organizations and government agencies report funding... Read more
Platforms: MacWin
Deployments: CloudOn premise
Business Size:
Your cloud-based, all-in-one business management solution. Striven is ready for your business right out of the box. With fully integrated accounting, CRM, inventory, project management, human resources features, it's the only software... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
Business Size:
Sage 50cloud (formerly Peachtree Software) is a comprehensive accounting solution for small business. It provides core functionality, such as A/R and A/P, customer management and financial reporting. Premium features, such as detailed... Read more
Platforms: Win
Deployments: CloudOn premise
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Deltek Costpoint is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) and management solution designed to meet the requirements of midsize and large enterprise businesses. The solution primarily assists government contractors, professional service... Read more
Platforms: Win
Deployments: CloudOn premise
Business Size:
Aplos fund accounting is a cloud-based system designed specifically to serve the needs of churches and nonprofit organizations. Aplos fund accounting is available on a standalone basis or within an integrated suite with online donation... Read more
Platforms: MacWin
Deployments: Cloud
Business Size:
Financial Edge NXT is a cloud accounting solution from Blackbaud that provides transparency across teams, security, compliance, and reduces the need for manual processes. The system is a fund accounting solution that provides a general... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
Business Size:
Accurants is a cloud-based accounting solution designed for small businesses and freelancers. Key features include modules for time tracking, project management, invoicing and expense tracking. Accurants allows users to invoice customers... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
Business Size:
AvidXchange is an accounts payable solution for midsize companies in industries including real estate, HOA, construction and financial services. AvidXchange’s cloud-based solutions automate accounts payable processes including purchase... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
Business Size:
24SevenOffice is a cloud-based Accounting and ERP system for small and mid-sized businesses. 24SevenOffice eliminates repetitive processes and greatly reduces the need to manually enter information. The system will also streamline... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
Business Size:
Cougar Mountain Software’s Denali Business is an accounting solution with the ability to customize 10 integrated modules. It is for small to midsize businesses and can be deployed on premises or in the cloud. Key features include... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: CloudOn premise
Business Size:
Sage X3 is a powerful ERP software solution designed for medium-to-large national and global manufacturers, distributors, and after-sales providers and can establish a foundation for your digital transformation. Sage X3 comes with... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: CloudOn premise
Business Size:
Xledger is a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that caters to midsize and large businesses that helps them to manage day-to-day operations by automating routines ranging from bank reconciliation to invoice entry.... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
Business Size:
Chargezoom is a cloud-based recurring billing solution that helps enterprises automate accounting processes, set up multiple billing models and synchronize financial data across various third-party systems including QuickBooks, FreshBooks... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
Business Size:
Connected is a hybrid integrated accounting and enterprise resource planning (ERP) that caters to small and midsize businesses across various industry verticals and helps them to integrate their data and processes across departments... Read more
Platforms: MacWin
Deployments: CloudOn premise
Business Size:
Certify AP gives finance teams insight into their company purchases and the ability to manage spend before it happens, paper is eliminated, and approvals are handled online, making remote work feasible. By automating these processes,... Read more
Platforms: MacWinLinux
Deployments: Cloud
Business Size:
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The billing process for subscription-based services isn't easy. It requires you to do all the following tasks:
- Process online transactions in bulk
- Manage tiered-pricing structures and discounts
- Remind customers about the due dates of subscription renewals
- Create invoices for successful transactions
- Provide terms of service
For a small business, using spreadsheets and other manual methods to do these tasks can be time-consuming and frustrating. Moreover, manually managing bills could result in introduced errors, leading to revenue loss and a poor customer experience.
With subscription management software, your small business can automate the process to ensure error-free and hassle-free subscription billing. This results in a better customer experience that generates more revenue.
To help you choose the right software for your business, this guide will cover the "what" and "how" of subscription management software. Here's what we discuss:
What Is Subscription Management Software?
Common Features of Subscription Management Software
What Type of Buyer Are You?
Benefits and Potential Issues
Pricing and Purchasing Options
Market Trends to Understand
What Is Subscription Management Software?
Subscription software allows users to manage the billing and collections processes for services that charge on a recurring basis. The software is a mix of the following three solutions:
- Billing management: This software helps businesses bill their clients more efficiently. It allows them to allocate products or services to customers and track the usage of service. They can also manage access permissions based on the terms of service.
- Customer management: This software allows users to record customer data and use it to prepare bills, information circulars and emails.
- Payment processing: Subscription management solutions also help businesses collect customer payments via different modes such as online, credit cards and mobile payments. This is often an important software integration.
Client dashboards in Pabbly Subscriptions (Source)
Common Features of Subscription Management Software
The first step in selecting a subscription management solution is to understand its features. Analyzing the offerings of various subscription management solutions will help you shortlist products that are better suited to your business needs.
The first step in selecting a subscription management solution is to understand its features. Analyzing the offerings of various subscription management solutions will help you shortlist products that are better suited to your business needs.
| Subscription billing | Automate the notifications, collection and invoicing of recurring bills. Users can also manage different pricing models such as tiered pricing and volume pricing. |
| Payment processing | Collect payments from customers using third-party payment processors such as PayPal and Stripe. |
| Invoice history | Track historical invoice data for each customer. This information is particularly useful during audits as proof of payment and revenue generated. |
| Multi-period recurring billing | Bill customers for the varying duration of service such as by month, quarter, half-year or annual. Users can also roll out discounts for long-term contracts, e.g., annual packages. |
| Multi-tiered pricing | Manage the pricing tiers based on usage levels. This is helpful in online services, such as email marketing solutions, which charge for the number of emails or subscribers. |
| Reporting | Create reports on different subscription metrics and KPIs, e.g., churn rate, revenue and subscriber attrition rate. |
What Type of Buyer Are You?
Based on our research, we've identified two broad categories of subscription management software buyers. Here are the details of each category:
eCommerce businesses. These buyers need to manage online access, authorization, billing and payments on a large scale. They require software that offers subscription billing, multi-period recurring billing, payment processing and reporting.
Brick-and-mortar shops and real estate firms. These buyers focus on customer payments. They need to accept payments via different modes such as by cards and near-field communication (NFC) devices. They need software that supports credit card readers, NFC devices, mobile devices and online payment methods.
Benefits and Potential Issues
There are many benefits of using a subscription management solution. It automates recurring billing based on pricing tiers, packages, discounts etc. It also sends payment reminders to customers, automates payment collection and records transactions and invoice history, which are useful during audits.
However, there are some potential issues that could arise if you fail to consider the following factors:
- Data portability. Before purchasing a solution, ensure that it offers data portability to help users migrate to other software, when needed. The feature ensures that a record of historical purchases and invoices is available even after you move to a new solution.
- Scalability. Ensure that the software is able to easily add new users as your business expands. It should also be able to handle a sudden increase in workload to accommodate increased demand during peak sales periods such as Christmas.
- Accounting integration. If you currently use an accounting solution, choose software that integrates with it. This will ensure that your accounting books are up-to-date after every transaction.
Market Trends to Understand
The market for cloud products is growing fast, driving the demand for subscription-based products and services. The growth has also triggered a disruption in the subscription software space, with vendors making frequent upgrades to gain market share.
For successful deployment, ensure that the software you select incorporates recent market trends. Here are two key trends you should know about:
Cloud pushes adoption rates among small businesses. As businesses digitize their processes, subscription-based offerings are increasing in number. This pricing model lets you spread the costs across the customer base, making your products and services more affordable. This trend will drive the adoption of subscription software until 2023.
Smart “dunning" is the next big thing. Dunning refers to the process of retrying a transaction after payment failure. However, numerous retries can lead to a bad customer experience. Smart dunning uses machine learning to find the optimal time for payment processing and retrying, reducing customer involvement. With more and more online transactions, we expect smart dunning to be a core software feature by 2022.