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Payment Processor Recommendations for SaaS / API Service

by cleverpatrick on 11/23/20, 1:06 PM with 2 comments

I am starting a site that charges customers for the use of an API, Web UI Components, and some other things. There is a monthly base price, and then there is monthly usage fees.

Is there a payment provider out there that:

* Is easy to setup * doesn't require merchant accounts * handles recurring billing AND usage billing * only charges a fee on transactions, not an additional monthly fee?

Also, is there anything I should watch out for when evaluating the (hundreds?) of payment processors out there?

Some sites I've looked at so far (though, by no means do I prefer any of these): Stripe, FatMerchant, Chargebee.

I've been a user of Freshbooks for years with my software consulting business. Does anyone just use Freshbooks for SaaS billing?

  • by amzans on 11/23/20, 1:15 PM

    It sounds like you're looking for Stripe Checkout (https://stripe.com/en-de/payments/checkout). They handle all the billing portal pages, invoicing, subscription changes and cancellation, etc...

    I am not affiliated with them in any way, just a happy customer. I'm actually using it for my side-business SaaS http://panelbear.com/ and saved me days (weeks?) of development work. Happy to help out if you need it.

    However, there's a few edge cases that they don't support yet, such as setting the billing cycle anchor to the beginning of the month, and keeping it even if the customer changes the subscription. But I guess it's not a showstopper for a lot of use cases.