Top 5 B2B Subscription Management Tools 2023
Many B2B and SaaS companies are currently failing to capitalize on the potential earnings that can be achieved through their subscription services.
By identifying the right tools, it is possible to make subscription management much more efficient, much more effective, and much more profitable.
Whilst we naturally consider Upscribe as the premier subscription management solution for Shopify merchants and retailers, in this article we’re going to take a look at the best subscription management tools for the B2B market.
So, if that’s up your street, let’s dive in, shall we?
What is B2B Subscription Management?
B2B Subscription Management refers to the processes, systems, and tools used by businesses to effectively manage and administer their subscription-based services or products for other businesses.
These tools are designed to ensure seamless delivery, billing, customer support, and ongoing relationship management.
Why are B2B Subscription Management Tools Important?
B2B subscription management tools are important because they:
- Improve revenue
- Aid customer retention
- Ensure billing accuracy
- Provide actionable analytics and insights
- Increase efficiency and productivity through ecommerce automation
- Assist in meeting compliance requirements
Criteria to Consider When Choosing B2B Subscription Management Tools
Scalability
A good B2B subscription management tool must be scalable so that it can meet increased demands as your business grows.
Payment Gateways & Other Integrations
In order to satisfy customer requirements, your B2BSM (business-to-business subscription management) tool must be able to integrate with all of the best payment processors (Paypal, ApplePay).
Similarly, it should come with a wide range of integrations with commonly used apps and platforms (e.g., Salesforce and Alavara).
Analytics
Does the tool you are considering provide deep data insights and customer analytics that you can use to inform improvements to your subscription service?
In this day and age, any good subscription management tool will increase your ability to retain subscribers and increase your subscriber numbers through data-driven decision-making.
Best B2B Subscription Management Tools
Key takeaways
- Billsby – The best SM tool (B2B)
- OneBill – The best SM tool for Communications Service Providers (CSPs)
- Maxio – The best SM tool for SaaS companies up to $100M annual recurring revenue (ARR)
- Cleverbridge – The best SM tool for B2B SMBs
- SubscriptionFlow – The best SM tool for nonprofits and educational/e-learning B2Bs
#1 Billsby
Billsby is a SaaS recurring payments platform ranked by G2 as the world’s best subscription billing solution.
It is highly regarded for its ease of use and simplicity of deployment, with the ability to have the solution up and running in less than two hours.
Billsby sports a broad range of functionality, including a number of automation features that help simplify the entire spectrum of subscription management.
Relevant Features
FEATURE TAGS – create and assign feature tags at plan level and subscription levels, plus use them for add-ons too.
Advanced Invoicing – Billsby Advanced Invoice will automatically update when an invoice has been paid, left unpaid, refunded, or even written off.
Revenue reporting and insights – Billsby eases the pressure of revenue reporting with its fully automated and compliant revenue recognition report.
Pricing
Billsby comes with four different pricing levels including a free version that allows for unlimited users, unlimited testing, and unlimited time.
For the paid options there are Core, Pro, and Custom.
Core | $45/mo plus 0.4% commission on revenues over $15,000/mo | 5 users, a range of unlimited features including products, plans, cycles, and feature tags + good deal more.
Pro | $135/mo plus 0.5% commission on revenues over $30,000/mo | 25 users, all features including full API access.
Custom | For larger enterprises that require more than 25 users custom plans are available on request.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Unmatched customer service
- Intuitive UX/Very user-friendly
- Broad range of integrations with widely used apps
Cons
- Customer billing options could be more flexible
- Customization options could be improved
#2 OneBill
OneBill is a global end-to-end billing & monetization platform that handles billing & revenue management, order fulfillment and provisioning, channel partner enablement, and much more.
OneBill’s Subscription Management and Billing System allows you to automate billing & invoicing, payments collection, and AR process by letting you manage subscriptions with a 360-degree view at scale.
Relevant Features
Automate billing, invoicing, accounting, taxation, and AR processes – achieve huge efficiency improvements and save bags of time through automated functionality.
OneBill Selfcare Portal: Customer Self-Service Portal for Businesses – OneBill’s self-care/self-service portal helps businesses to manage their end customers by allowing them to register and login into their account to manage their profiles, payments, subscriptions, invoices, and raise tickets.
Automated Tax Compliance – OneBill’s taxation module helps businesses improve tax rate accuracy for each customer transaction by capturing the required tax information and calculating it in real time for every invoice.
Pricing
OneBill comes with three different pricing tiers, Lite, Flex, and Enterprise.
Their subscription management features are included in all packages, prices of which are available only on request.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Strong Automation and Customization
- Ability to manage all aspects of recurring billing and taxation as well as agent commissions
- Simplifies activation of new billing and invoice generation
Cons
- No option to pre-invoice customers
- Implementing simple subscriptions can be complicated compared to other solutions
- Can be an expensive solution compared to competitors
#3 Maxio (formerly SaaSOptics and Chargify)
Maxio is a financial operations platform designed to meet the unique financial challenges of B2B SaaS, including billing, subscription management, revenue & expense recognition, and SaaS metrics & analytics.
Relevant Features
Usage-Based Pricing – Maxio’s usage billing engine enables you to build anything from a simple metered model to a fully-customized, multi-attribute billing strategy based on any trigger you can track.
Customer Lifecycle Management – with Maxio, you can automate invoice creation, stop losing customers over expired credit cards, and prorate invoices based on service period if and when customers cancel their subscriptions.
Tailored Invoicing – with tailored invoicing, you can simplify customer payments by grouping line items or rolling multiple subscriptions up into a single invoice with the ability to invoice individuals, companies, or multi-level parent entities.
Their Growth and Scale pricing tiers come with advanced features with pricing available on request.
Pricing
Maxio’s basic package starts at $599/mo for which you get access to the Maxio platform with support and the option to add paid-for modules at your discretion.
Their Growth and Scale pricing tiers come with advanced features with pricing available on request.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Integrates with a number of platforms, including Salesforce and Avalara
- Bulk editing for invoices
- Good for handling invoicing for non-recurring revenues.
Cons
- Reporting can be cumbersome and inaccurate at times
- Search functionality doesn’t always provide results where it should
- Can be difficult to get to grips with initially
#4 Cleverbridge
Cleverbridge is a Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) growth company that facilitates billing and payments and provides marketing and subscription management solutions through AI-enabled automation.
Relevant Features
Analytics – with Cleverbridge, you get a comprehensive overview of all your customer engagements and the ability to drill down to individual subscriptions for each customer.
Subscription Billing Management – lets you bill customers in increments over their commitment period. Once customers sign up, the billing happens automatically.
Renewal Automation – The Cleverbridge subscription engine comes with renewal automation which generates a 10% increase in customer lifetime value averaged across their entire client base.
Pricing
Cleverbridge does not publish pricing publicly. For further pricing information you will need to book a demo.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Easy to use
- Good support
- Broad range of currencies and payment options
Cons
- Can be very slow
- Difficult to bundle products and affect other simple changes
- No API or customization
#5 SubscriptionFlow
SubscriptionFlow is an all-inclusive, automated subscription management and recurring billing platform that lets subscription-based businesses handle all aspects of their subscription offerings and subscriber interactions.
Relevant Features
Customizable & Automated Subscription Plans – individually customize and automate your subscription plans based on customer requirements and demands.
Subscription Lifecycle Visibility – closely tracks the complete subscription lifecycle from acquisition through to retention stages. Monitor trial usage to drive conversion and track customer usage trends and health scores to boost retention.
An Integrated Subscription Management – SubscriptionFlow’s AI-powered system is kept scalable and flexible enough to integrate with the top payment gateways, accounting applications, project management tools, and whatever a retailer needs for a seamless workflow.
Pricing
Subscriptionflow’s Startup License costs $149/mo for up to 3 users @ $8K revenue/mo
Their Rise License costs $199/mo for up to 10 users @ $50K revenue/mo
The Scale License costs $299/mo for up to 25 users @ $100K revenue/mo
For businesses requiring more users or with higher monthly revenues Enterprise plans are available on request.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Automatic Payouts function
- Intuitive UI
- Strong customizations
Cons
- Lack of documentation and educational materials
- Limited benefits from AI
- No sandbox for testing
Conclusion
There are now many extremely good subscription management tools for B2B businesses.
Each has its own USPs and particular strengths and weaknesses. So it’s important to spend time researching each of these tools individually to determine which will be most beneficial to your own subscription services and customer base.
If, however, you operate a Shopify ecommerce business, you should take the time to consider adding Upscribe to your arsenal.
Upscribe currently processes over $800 million in subscription revenue annually from some of the world’s fastest-growing Shopify brands and comes with a range of features to improve subscriber satisfaction, uniquely capture reorders, and prevent cancellations.
Schedule a free demo with Upscribe today and learn first-hand why leading Shopify brands like Athletic Greens have chosen Upscribe as their preferred subscription management solution.
