Recurly Review: Subscription Billing & Payment Orchestration

Company overview

About Recurly

What the company provides

Orchestrator

Products, provider connections, payment-method availability and data handling depend on the selected configuration.

Recurly is subscription-management, recurring-billing and payment-orchestration technology.

A merchant connects its own supported payment gateway and merchant bank account; the gateway, processor and acquirer authorize the payment, underwrite the merchant account, hold any reserve and settle funds to the merchant's bank. Recurly stores and routes payment data, manages plans, invoices, subscriptions, retries, dunning and reporting, but its terms state that Recurly is not a bank, does not hold merchant or customer money and is not responsible for transaction amounts. Reach can be connected separately as merchant of record; that makes Reach, not Recurly, the seller and funds-flow party for that route.

Founded 2009recurly.comUpdated Aug 15, 2026

Selected product

Recurly Subscriptions

Recurly subscription billing technology

Product account & client activation

Product account
Not included with this product
Client activation
Recurly reviews the platform account application
This review covers access to Recurly subscription billing technology. Merchant-account approval is outside this product.

Primary legal entity

Recurly, Inc.

Jurisdiction: United States
Company type: Corporation

Legal entities by jurisdiction

One legal entity registered in United StatesOne jurisdiction

The legal entity supplying a product can differ by product and country.

Product portfolio

Recurly products

Compare subscription billing and payment orchestration by plan and invoice workflows, recurring-payment lifecycle, connected gateways and acquirers, routing controls, and the external merchant-account and funds boundary.

Role in this product

Payment orchestration provider
Subscription billing platform

Subscription-management and recurring-billing software with hosted or embedded checkout, payment credential storage, multi-gateway routing, plan and invoice automation, retries, dunning and analytics.

The merchant connects a separate gateway and merchant bank account for authorization and settlement. A separately priced Reach integration can instead use Reach as the connected merchant of record while Recurly remains the billing platform.

Related services: Alternative payment methodsBilling and invoicingDecline recoveryDirect APIEmbedded checkoutFraud preventionHosted checkoutPayment orchestrationPayment routingPayment vaultRecurring billing
Features: CheckoutFraud and riskGatewayClient onboardingOrchestrationPayment operationsPricingReportingUnderwriting

Selected product

Recurly Subscriptions

Related services: 11 capabilities
Features: 9 capabilities

Subscription lifecycle, provider connections & funds boundary

Who manages subscription and billing records, which connected provider approves and processes each payment, and who owns the merchant account, funds and settlement.

01 · Role in this product: Payment orchestration provider · Subscription billing platform
02 · Merchant account: Not included with this product
03 · Merchant account approval: Separate approval from the merchant's PSP or acquirer
04 · Funds & merchant settlement: Recurly does not hold merchant funds or provide merchant settlement

Payment orchestration

Recurly Subscriptions: routing, retries & provider failover

Review routing rules, retry behavior, provider failover, configuration ownership and the connected accounts required for live payments.

Selected product: Recurly subscription billing technology

Included in Recurly Subscriptions

Features included with this product.

Solutions: Alternative payment methodsBilling and invoicingDecline recoveryDirect APIEmbedded checkoutFraud preventionHosted checkoutPayment orchestrationPayment routingPayment vaultRecurring billing
Capabilities: CheckoutFraud and riskGatewayClient onboardingOrchestrationPayment operationsPayment vaultPricingRecurring billingReportingUnderwriting

Routing, retries & connected providers

Who controls routing and failover, and which connected PSPs or acquirers process and settle payments for Recurly Subscriptions.

Included

Payment gateway, PSP and acquirer connections

Integration options, connected PSPs and acquirers, tokenization, 3DS and merchant tools.

Fraud & authentication connections

Screen → authenticate → return decision

01Merchant integrationIntegration options and connected payment providers
02Payment securityTokenization, authentication and transport security
03Development & operations

Gateway connections

Merchant integration, PSP and acquirer connections

Integration options

Integration options: API
Hosted checkout
Embedded fields

Gateway

Payment technology

Connected payment provider

Types of connected payment providers: Acquirer
Gateway
Payment processor
PSP

Acquirer-independent: Yes
Processor-independent: Yes

Security controls

Tokens and payment authentication

Tokenization: Yes

Token formats: Recurly token
Connected gateway token

Operations

Webhooks, Control Panel and test environment

Tools used to test an integration and manage live payments.

Webhooks: Yes
Sandbox: Yes
Merchant control panel: Yes
API-oriented: Yes
Gateway included: No
Merchant chooses merchant services: Yes
Onboarding included: Yes
Consumer support included: No
Merchant support included: Yes
Seller of record: No
Tax responsibility: No

Gateway features: Supported gateway connectors
Gateway credential configuration
Transaction request routing
Gateway failover
Custom gateway routing
Gateway switching with stored payment data
Refund routing to the original gateway
Role in this product: Payment orchestrator
Account relationship: Merchant using Recurly as subscription and billing technology while retaining its own seller and payment-provider relationships
Payment processing model: Recurly stores the subscriber's payment credential and sends transaction requests to the configured gateway. The gateway and processor send the request through the merchant account to the issuer; the acquirer and merchant bank control approval, reserves and financial settlement.

Questions to confirm

Which connectors apply to Recurly subscription billing technology?

Connectors are not specified for Recurly subscription billing technology.

Which webhook events apply to Recurly subscription billing technology?

Webhook events are not specified for Recurly subscription billing technology.

Does Recurly subscription billing technology support 3-D Secure, and which payment flows are covered?

3-d secure is not specified for Recurly subscription billing technology.

What account setup, data retention, export, support and termination terms apply to this product?

These product-account and data terms are not fully specified.

Product account · Recurly subscription billing technology

What is required to activate this product?

Recurly reviews the platform account application. Merchant-account approval remains separate.

Client company country

Eligible client countries are not specified

Company offices do not establish client eligibility or merchant-account eligibility.

Product account review

Recurly reviews the platform account application

The provider reviews the company and product use before activating the technology account.

Account review: Platform account review
Product: Recurly subscription billing technology

01Product eligibility & acceptable use

Which businesses and uses are accepted for this product?

The product's acceptable-use rules determine which businesses and use cases can activate an account.

Eligibility requirements

01

Processing statements

Not specified

Confirm how many complete statement months are required

02

Eligibility information

Recurly's client review is access to subscription-management and billing technology, not merchant-account or acquiring underwriting. The connected gateway, processor, acquirer and merchant bank control payment underwriting and reserve terms for the standard route. Reach controls merchant-of-record acceptance when that optional integration is separately enabled.

03

Platform account decision

Recurly controls access to its software and implementation. Each connected gateway, processor, acquirer, merchant bank or optional merchant of record controls its own account approval, transaction permissions and financial terms.

04

PSP and acquirer connection requirements

The merchant establishes and maintains the gateway and merchant bank account. Recurly may help with an application, but provider fees, KYC, underwriting, reserves and settlement are external.

Approval, an agreement or credentials may be required for the PSP or acquirer selected for the payment setup; the exact requirements are not specified.

Restricted activity

Business restrictions

Product · MCC · jurisdiction · sales practice

Product, MCC, sales-practice and jurisdiction restrictions are not specified for this product.

02Product account application

What is needed to activate the product account?

Company information, intended product use, commercial terms and integration details required before activation.

Product account application

Open product account → agree terms → configure integration → test → activate

Product access begins after account review, configuration and testing are complete.

Platform account documents

Documents to prepare

01Business and implementation information
02Billing model and site configuration
03Connected gateway details
04Recurly account and business entity information
05Gateway account and API credentials
06Merchant bank account approval
07Gateway requested KYC and underwriting documents
08Integration and billing configuration

Platform account setup

01
Agree the Recurly plan, sites, modules and implementation scope.
02
Configure business entities, plans, currencies, invoices and subscription rules.
03
Bring or establish a supported gateway account and merchant bank account.
04
Enter the external gateway credentials and complete any provider-specific configuration.
05
Integrate Checkout, Hosted Payment Pages, Recurly.js or the API.
06
Configure retries, dunning, account updater, webhooks and reporting as contracted.
07
Test the gateway configuration and production transaction flow before go-live.

Product account requirements

Account setup and activation

Application and activation requirements.

Website requirements

Required website pages, disclosures and policies are not specified

Account review requirements

Company, ownership, sanctions, license and integration requirements are not specified

Account setup tasks

The onboarding tasks performed by the provider are not specified

Before applying

Provider setup requirements to confirm

Company eligibility, acceptable-use restrictions, account requirements and activation timing are not fully specified.

Provider activation & restrictions

Required provider accounts, production credentials, prohibited activities and country restrictions.

01
Who provides the merchant account and approves live payment processing for this configuration?
Recurly reviews the platform account; merchant-account approval is a separate decision.
02
Who underwrites the merchant account, and what trading-history, credit, volume, ticket-size, guarantee and chargeback requirements apply?
These approval requirements are not specified.
03
Which business activities and product uses are prohibited by the acceptable-use policy?
Product-specific acceptable-use restrictions are not specified.

Underwriting process & approval time

Decision criteria, manual review, when review starts or pauses, and decision timing.

04
How long does Recurly platform account review take after all required information is submitted?
Platform account review timing is not specified.

Payment methods & countries · Recurly subscription billing technology

Which client countries, provider connections and payment methods are available for this orchestration setup?

Connected payment providers determine payment-method, country and currency coverage for this configuration.

Selected product

Recurly subscription billing technology

Payment setup not specified

Selected product

Client company

Eligible client countries are not specified

Business availability and connected-service coverage are separate requirements.

Payment connection capabilities

Payment connection capabilities are not specified

Availability depends on

Connected provider
Business country
Payment method
Currency

Recurly supplies payment technology. The merchant-account provider, merchant underwriter, processor, acquirer and configuration-specific payment coverage are not specified.

01Selected product

Recurly subscription billing technology capabilities and connections

These capabilities belong to the selected product. Connected-provider and regional availability is set during configuration.

02Countries & availability

Where can the client use the platform, which connected providers cover each market, and where can customers pay?

Client eligibility, connected-provider coverage, customer country, payment method and currency are separate parts of the setup.

Country coverage

Client, connected-provider, customer and product countries

01
Client location
Where can the company using the orchestration platform be registered?
Eligible client countries are not specified
This is where the client company is registered; it does not determine connected-provider or customer-country coverage.
Client and provider-account eligibility
02
Connected provider coverage
Which connected provider accounts cover each target market?
The acquirer for each target country is not specified
Across all products
03
Customer location
Where can customers pay from?
Customer countries are not specified
Customer countries by payment method and currency are not specified for this product.
Across all products

Countries and payment methods

Countries and payment methods to confirm

Which gateways, PSPs, processors and acquirers are available for each business country, payment method and currency?
Payment methods, countries and currencies depend on the connected provider accounts and the merchant configuration.
Which connected providers require a separate agreement, approval or production credentials?
Commercial and account requirements differ by connected provider.

Pricing & funds · Recurly subscription billing technology

What does Recurly subscription billing technology cost, and which related charges are governed by another agreement?

Orchestration quote, billable events, minimum commitment and order-form terms

Pricing

Orchestration quote, billable events, minimum commitment and order-form terms

Pricing method

No public rate card; obtain the quote and order form

01Commercial terms

What makes up the quoted price?

Review the pricing plan, pricing model, fees and contract duration.

Quote & order form

No public rate card; obtain the quote and order form

02Billable events

Which billable events terms apply?

The payment, connection or workflow events that generate charges.

Billable events & unit prices

Not specified in the public pricing information

The quote or order form must identify each billable event, included allowance and overage rate.

03Settlement & payouts

Which provider settles merchant funds, and are payouts included?

The merchant settlement provider and terms are not specified unless listed below. Customer or third-party payouts are a separate service and may use another provider.

Merchant settlement & customer payouts

Sale proceeds and customer payouts

Settlement makes processed sale proceeds available to the merchant. A payout sends separate funds to a customer or third party.

01 · Minimum commitment

Minimum commitment

Any minimum monthly or annual spend required by the agreement.

Minimum commitment: Amount not specified
The applicable commitment is set in the order form.

02 · Order-form terms

Order-form terms

Initial term, renewal, cancellation notice, billing cycle and invoice currency.

Contract & invoicing: Initial term, renewal, billing cycle and invoice currency are not specified

Pricing & settlement terms

Terms to confirm in the agreement

Other terms

What total price and included usage appear in the quote or order form?
The public pricing information does not provide a usable total price.
Which events or account units are billable, and what is the unit price for each?
Billable events, included allowances and overage rates are not specified.
What monthly or annual minimum commitment applies?
The minimum commitment amount is not specified.
What initial term, renewal rule, cancellation notice, billing cycle and invoice currency appear in the order form?
The contract and invoicing terms are not specified.

Route decision flow · Recurly subscription billing technology

How do routing, provider failover, decline recovery and decision logs work?

Routing rules, provider failover, decline recovery and decision logs

Route decision flow

Routing inputs → provider selection → outcome → retry & logs

The orchestration setup determines routing inputs, provider selection, retry rules, failover and route-decision visibility.

Selected product

Recurly subscription billing technology

Routing rules, connected providers, decline recovery and operational logs.

Routing inputs
Multi gateway configuration · Gateway selection by card type and currency
Routes & failover
Intelligent retries · Gateway unavailable retries
Payment routing responsibilities
Recurly applies routing and recovery rules · Connected PSP or processor authorizes each transaction
Routing controls & logs
Included

01

Routing inputs

Which fields and rules can drive payment routing?

Transaction fields, merchant rules and provider state used to select a route.

Routing capabilities

Multi gateway configuration
Gateway selection by card type and currency
Custom gateway routing
Gateway failover
Payment method to gateway mapping
Gateway switching

02

Routes & failover

How are providers selected, retried and failed over?

Provider selection, volume splits, conditional routes, retries and failover.

Selected setup

Routing entry point

How requests enter this product and which integration boundary applies.

Routing modes

Card type and currency routing
Merchant configured gateway routing
Failover routing

Routes & failover

Routing, retry and failover controls

Routing

01

Decline recovery

Intelligent retries
Gateway unavailable retries
Account updater
Dunning

Recurring payment recovery

Retries, provider failover and controls for recurring payment recovery.

Recovery support

Not specified

03

Payment routing responsibilities

Who selects routes, authorizes transactions and handles merchant funds?

Recurly selects and submits routes; connected payment providers authorize transactions and handle funds.

Payment routing responsibilities

Recurly applies routing and recovery rules
Connected PSP or processor authorizes each transaction
Connected acquirer or PSP handles merchant funds

Available controls

Recurly selects and submits routes; connected payment providers authorize transactions and handle funds.

01
Connected provider types
Which controls are available with this product?
Connected provider types
Not specified
Connected provider types are not specified

04

Routing controls & logs

Which route decisions, provider-health signals and retry outcomes are available?

Rule management, route decisions, provider health, retries and operational logs.

Routing controls & logs

Routing inputs → route decision → provider outcome → retry & logs

Rule changes, route decisions, provider health, retries and operational logs.

01
Routing controls & logs
Rule management, route decisions, provider health, retries and operational logs.
Control panel
Included
Route-decision logs and provider-health fields are not specified.

Before integration

Integration details not specified

01
Which fields can drive routing, how are rule priorities resolved and when do changes take effect?
Routing inputs, priority rules and deployment timing are not specified.
02
Which declines can be retried through another provider, and how are duplicate authorizations prevented?
Retry eligibility and duplicate-authorization controls are not specified.
03
Which route decisions, provider-health signals, retries and outcomes are available in logs or webhooks?
Routing observability and event fields are not specified.

Routing, failover & support

Recurly Subscriptions: risk, licenses & support

Connected providers, routing rules, retries, failover, change controls, contracting entity and support.

Recurly SubscriptionsService: Recurly subscription billing technology

01 / Routing & service continuity

What happens when a payment provider fails?

Routing rules, retry limits, failover behavior, duplicate-payment protection, rule permissions and rollback.

Routing & failover

Recurly routes transactions across connected payment providers

Payment routing and gateway connections do not make Recurly the processor or funds holder. Authorization and settlement remain with the selected connected payment providers under their own agreements. The Recurly subscription billing technology agreement controls routing rules, retries, failover and access to routing data.

Role in this product: Payment orchestration provider · Subscription billing platform
Connected providers & merchant funds: Recurly does not hold merchant funds or provide merchant settlementThe funds holder and merchant settlement provider are not specified.

Provider outages & routing continuity

How are failed routes retried, switched or rolled back?

Timeout handling, retry limits, failover, duplicate-payment protection and routing-rule change controls belong in the agreement.

What happens when a connected gateway, processor or acquirer is unavailable or returns an uncertain result?
Who can change routing rules, and how are rule changes tested, approved and rolled back?

Fraud rules, 3-D Secure & provider disputes

Controls in the orchestration layer and risks held by connected providers

Fraud screening is available. The orchestration platform controls workflow routing, fraud-provider calls and available 3-D Secure options. Refunds, chargebacks, negative balances and settlement holds remain subject to the applicable connected-provider agreements.

01
Before authorization
Fraud screening

BEFORE AUTHORIZATION

Fraud screening

Which fraud rules can block or flag a transaction for review?

Capabilities: Connected gateway fraud controlsKount integrationAVS and CVV rulesFraud velocity checks3-D Secure through supported gateways
Signals: Subscriber and transaction dataGateway response dataConnected fraud provider signals

Before signingRouting, retry, failover, duplicate-payment and rule-change terms2 items to confirmReview contract terms

02 / Contracting entity & connected providers

Which legal entity signs the software agreement, and which connected-provider agreements are required?

The software contracting entity and each connected payment provider's regulated services are separate. The connected-provider agreements identify who processes and settles each payment.

For this product

Software contracting entity and connected providers

Payment orchestration. The contracting legal entity for Recurly Subscriptions is not specified. Recurly Subscriptions is a technology product; payment processing, merchant-account services and settlement remain with the selected connected providers under their own agreements and authorizations.

A software company registration or PCI DSS certification does not identify which connected provider processes or settles a payment.

01 · Software contracting entity
Not specified for this product
02 · Product role
Payment orchestration
03 · Connected payment services
Separate provider agreements and authorizations

Company legal entities, licenses & registrations

Company registrations and payment-services licenses do not identify the contracting entity for every product.

1 entity · license or registration not specified

Recurly, Inc.

United States · Corporation

License or regulatory registration not specified

Before signingContracting entity, payment services license and legal terms2 items to confirmReview contract terms

03 / Support

How can merchants reach support?

Company support hours and contact channels are available. It is not specified which ones cover Recurly subscription billing technology and routing errors, failed retries or connected-provider outages. First-response and resolution targets are also not specified.

Support contacts

Company support hours and contacts

The contacts that cover this product and routing errors, failed retries or connected-provider outages are not specified.

Company contacts

Support hours are not specified for these contacts.

Sales

recurly.com/contact-us

Merchant support

Developer

General

Privacy

Before signingSupport contacts, hours and response times3 items to confirmReview contract terms

Recurly subscription billing technology / Before signing

What should the payment orchestration agreement include?

Confirm connected-provider agreements, pricing, routing rules, retries, failover, duplicate-payment protection, logs, support and termination.

Before signing

Recurly subscription billing technology: terms to confirm

Confirm which providers can be connected, how routes and retries work, and who handles outages and uncertain payment results.

Providers, routing & pricing

Connected providers, usage allowances, route inputs and priorities, retry eligibility and premium features

Failover, control & observability

Provider outages, uncertain results, duplicate protection, rule permissions, rollback, logs and webhooks

Contract checklist

Terms to review by topic

Jump to the underlying product details

01Payment continuity & routing controlsProvider outages, uncertain results, duplicate-payment protection, permissions and rule rollback.
02Contracting entity & payment responsibilitiesPlatform contract, connected-provider agreements, data roles and any regulated payment service involved.
03Routing & provider supportContacts and response targets for routing errors, failed retries and provider outages.

Payment orchestration agreement

Routing and provider terms to confirm

Review pricing, connected-provider requirements, routing rules, retries, failover, duplicate-payment controls, logs, support and termination.

Payment continuity & routing controlsProvider outages, uncertain results, duplicate-payment protection, permissions and rule rollback.

What happens when a connected gateway, processor or acquirer is unavailable or returns an uncertain result?
Timeout handling, retry limits, failover behavior and duplicate-payment protection are not specified.
Who can change routing rules, and how are rule changes tested, approved and rolled back?
Routing-rule permissions, testing and rollback controls are not specified.

Contracting entity & payment responsibilitiesPlatform contract, connected-provider agreements, data roles and any regulated payment service involved.

Which privacy framework, controller roles and data-transfer terms apply to this product?
The privacy framework, controller roles and data-transfer terms are not specified for this product.
Who receives security incidents, and what notification window applies?
The security incident contact and notification deadline are not specified.

Routing & provider supportContacts and response targets for routing errors, failed retries and provider outages.

What first-response, update and resolution targets apply by incident severity?
First-response and resolution targets are not specified.
Who handles routing errors, failed retries, provider outages and duplicate-payment risks?
No escalation contact or process is specified for routing and connected-provider incidents.
Which support hours and contact channels cover Recurly subscription billing technology, and where should a business report routing errors, failed retries or connected-provider outages?
The support scope for Recurly subscription billing technology and the contacts for routing and connected-provider issues are not specified.

Product summary

What this product already includes

What the orchestration product includes, which provider restrictions apply and which routing terms are not specified.

Included capabilities

Capabilities included with Recurly subscription billing technology.

Multi gateway configuration, Gateway selection by card type and currency, Custom gateway routing, Gateway failover, Payment method to gateway mapping, Gateway switching, Card type and currency routing, Merchant configured gateway routing, Failover routing, Intelligent retries, Gateway unavailable retries, Account updater, and Dunning
Payment orchestration technology

Provider and routing conditions

Connected-provider approvals, agreements, credentials, operating limits and market coverage.

Connected-provider requirements, operating limits, event coverage and service levels depend on the selected configuration.

Terms to confirm

Pricing, provider, routing, retry, failover, observability and termination terms to include in the agreement.

Unit prices, usage allowances, overage rates, contract length, minimum spend and renewal terms are not specified.

Recurly, Inc.

One legal entity registered in 🇺🇸 United StatesOne jurisdiction

Recurly Subscriptions

Which transaction, usage and billing data can finance and operations reconcile?

Stored payment details, schedules and retries

Eligible client countries are not specified

Documents to prepare

Platform account setup

Client location

Connected provider coverage

Customer location

Routing entry point

Routing modes

Routing, retry and failover controls

Decline recovery

Recovery support

Routing controls & logs

Control panel

Recurly routes transactions across connected payment providers

How are failed routes retried, switched or rolled back?

Company support hours and contacts

Terms to review by topic

Included capabilities

Provider and routing conditions

Terms to confirm

One legal entity registered in United StatesOne jurisdiction