Chargebee 🧾 Service

What you get

Chargebee runs subscription billing, invoicing, usage-based pricing, prepaid credits, revenue reporting and CPQ on top of 40+ payment gateways (including its own). It is billing software, not a merchant of record, so you keep your gateway and tax set-up. The Flow plan is usage-priced: either $0 a month plus 0.80% of billing volume, or $99 a month plus 0.65%, with Chargebee showing the break-even at about $66K. Enterprise pricing is custom.

Who qualifies

The Chargebee Startup Program makes Billing free until you have billed $1 million in cumulative revenue through Chargebee. To qualify you must be a new Chargebee customer, part of a partner accelerator or VC portfolio network, and have raised less than $5 million. Larger companies can apply for a custom offer. After $1M you move to pay-as-you-go with no annual commitment.

Good to know

• The startup offer needs a partner accelerator or VC; check whether yours is on the list.
• Payment processing fees from your gateway are on top of Chargebee's fees.
• Free data migration and 24/7 email support are included in the startup programme.

• Chargebee's Retention product has a free Starter plan for Billing customers, and CPQ Lite includes the first 50 quotes free.

• Chargebee's pricing page lists an Enterprise plan with custom pricing for larger teams, and the Flow plan includes 100M usage events a month.

Verdict

Worth it for partner-backed SaaS startups with complex plans or usage pricing; small teams with simple subscriptions can stay on Stripe Billing.

1. Check that your accelerator or VC is a Chargebee partner and that you raised under $5M.
2. Click "Apply now" on chargebee.com/startups and complete the form.
3. Expect a reply in 2-3 business days (questions: [email protected]).
4. Connect your payment gateway and migrate plans.