With the growing digitalization of the world, the exchange of money has also come under its purview. However, the digital exchange of money involves a variety of software agents like payment gateways and payment processors. Stripe and Chargebee are two of the software involved in online transactions.
Stripe vs Chargebee
The main difference between Stripe and Chargebee is that Stripe acts as an integrated payment gateway and payment processing software that enables hassle-free online transactions. On the other hand, Chargebee is a subscription billing software that can aid payment processing too.
Stripe is a financial services and SaaS company that describes itself as a full-stack payment processor, which allows online businesses to accept payment through debit or credit cards from their customers in nearly any currency. It is a common financial solution for international e-commerce and currently empowers the majority of businesses online.
Chargebee is a cloud-based subscription billing and payment processing software system. It assists companies that offer subscription services in handling their billing procedures through automation. It also acts as payment processing software after the billing procedure is completed. It is usually integrated with other software and is majorly used for its subscription billing system.
Comparison Table Between Stripe and Chargebee
| Parameters of Comparison | Stripe | Chargebee |
| Description | The company provides payment processing software and APIs for applications and websites. | It is a payment software system that offers subscription billing. |
| Used By | It can be used by nearly all companies for conducting online transactions. | Due to its distinguished subscription billing feature, it is ideal for use by subscription-based and SaaS companies. |
| Founding Year | Stripe was founded in 2009. | Chargebee was founded in 2010. |
| Founders | Irish brothers John and Patrick Collinson were founders of Stripe. | Chargebee was founded by a group of people from Chennai. |
| Based In | It is dually headquartered in Dublin and San Francisco. | It is based in Chennai and San Francisco. |
| Basic Purpose | Stripe is a full-stack payment processor that allows websites to accept payments. | Chargebee is a subscription billing and payment software that automates the billing of subscription companies. |
| Pricing | Stripe has two pricing models to offer- Integrated and Customized. | Chargebee has a tiered model for pricing. |
What is Stripe?
Stripe is one of the world’s fastest-growing fintech companies, which is usually dubbed as ‘Internet’s middleman’. It is an Irish-American SaaS (Software as a Service) and financial services company, which offers a payment platform that powers the likes of Google, Amazon, Uber, etc.
Stripe calls its services a ‘full-stack payment processor’, which acts both as a third-party payment processor, as well as a payment gateway. It allows customers of an online business to transfer money from their bank account to the business’s account by way of a debit/credit card transaction.
Stripe was founded by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collinson, in 2009. The entrepreneur brothers came up with this idea after facing difficulties in monetizing their online business. Though PayPal emerged as an option at that time, it was more suited to individual payments than large-scale transactions. The fruits of their labor came in the form of seven lines of code, which could be integrated into any app or website that would instantly handle payments from customers online.
It subsequently got investment from PayPal cofounders and became a handy software for online transactions for nearly all the firms online. Besides payment processing, the company is indulged in corporate finance and offers loans too. Stripe Press and Stripe Climate are some other ventures.
What is Chargebee?
Chargebee is a subscription and revenue management software, which is used by SaaS and subscription-based companies to manage their customer billing in an easy and effective manner. The software assists the companies in managing subscriptions by automating their billing procedures and enabling the modification of prices, provision of coupons, and campaigns without the aid of a developer.
It allows customer interaction through self-service portals, generates possibilities, and profits from recurring income. It enhances the businesses by providing custom pricing and the ability to suspend subscriptions as an alternative to canceling the subscription. Furthermore, this prolongs renewal periods before they expire.
It has a cloud-based automated system for sales and marketing activities like invoice creation, email alerts, payment collection, follow-ups, and customer relationship management. Moreover, it helps companies scale globally as it handles currencies, compliance, and taxes internationally.
It was founded by a Chennai-based group in 2010, as a subscriber billing solution, but now it goes beyond this function. It can act as a payment processing software too. Besides it also has certain functions that enable the growth of the SaaS businesses. However, it is mostly used by subscription-based companies for its billing function and is usually integrated with other software.
Main Differences Between Stripe and Chargebee
- The company Stripe primarily provides APIs and payment processing software for conducting business online. Chargebee, on the other hand, is also a payment processing software that specializes in subscription billing.
- Stripe acts as a payment gateway and processor, which is used by nearly all companies for processing online payments by customers. Chargebee is ideally used by SaaS companies to handle subscription billing for customers.
- Stripe was founded in 2009 by Collinson Brothers, while Chargebee was founded in 2010 by a group of people in Chennai.
- Stripe is currently based in San Francisco and Dublin, whereas Chargebee is based in San Francisco and Chennai.
- The basic function of Stripe is enabling online businesses to accept and make hassle-free online payments. Chargebee primarily works towards automating subscription billing.
- Stripe’s customers can choose between two pricing models, i.e. Integrated and Customized. Chargebee prices its software using the tiered model.
Conclusion
Growing online businesses increasingly require new and better solutions for online money transactions. Stripe and Chargebee are software that enables and enhance the online conduct of business by managing payment processing.
However, they are differentiated on their basic purpose where Stripe is designed to function as a middleman that assists online transactions, whereas Chargebee is primarily designed to manage subscriber billing through automation.
References
- https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/case.kellogg.2021.000073/full/html
- https://dp3m.unikom.ac.id/penelitian/download/56/60/sri-supriyati.pdf