The Churn Blog
Practical strategies, metrics deep-dives, and hard-won lessons on reducing SaaS churn. No fluff, just stuff that works.
Buyer's guides: compare the top retention tools
34 alternatives roundups, head-to-heads, and pricing breakdowns. Updated for 2026.
ChurnZero Pricing in 2026 (Real Numbers, Not Marketing)
ChurnZero doesn't publish pricing publicly. Here's what teams actually pay in 2026 at different scales, including hidden costs and how to negotiate.
Best Dunning Tools for Stripe SaaS in 2026
Failed payments are 20-40% of SaaS churn. The right dunning tool recovers 30-50% of them. Here are the 6 best dunning tools for Stripe-based SaaS, ranked by recovery rate.
ProfitWell vs Baremetrics in 2026 (Free vs Paid)
ProfitWell is free. Baremetrics is $129/month. The honest question: is Baremetrics actually worth paying for when the free option exists?
Stripe Billing vs Recurly in 2026 (When to Pay Extra)
Recurly costs around $1500/month at $1M ARR. Stripe Billing costs $7K/year for the same revenue. Here's when Recurly's premium actually makes sense.
Stripe Billing vs Chargebee in 2026 (Real Test)
Stripe Billing has caught up to Chargebee on most things. Here's where each one wins, and the specific use cases where Chargebee is still worth $299/month.
Custify vs ChurnZero in 2026 (Budget vs Established)
Custify is $199/month. ChurnZero is $849/month. The question isn't which is more powerful — it's whether you actually need the depth.
Vitally vs Gainsight in 2026 (Modern vs Enterprise)
Vitally is winning customers from Gainsight every quarter. But Gainsight still owns enterprise. Here's the honest line between the two.
Vitally vs ChurnZero in 2026 (Modern vs Incumbent)
Vitally is the modern CS platform. ChurnZero is the established incumbent. Here's the honest breakdown of who actually fits which one.
ChurnZero vs Gainsight in 2026 (Honest Head-to-Head)
ChurnZero and Gainsight are the two big enterprise CS platforms. I've seen 30+ teams pick one. Here's the honest breakdown of who each one actually fits.
Best Recurly Alternatives in 2026 (Real Pricing)
Recurly is solid subscription billing but expensive and complex. Here are 7 alternatives ranked by who they actually fit, from Stripe Billing to Chargebee to Paddle.
Best ChartMogul Alternatives in 2026 (Compared)
ChartMogul is the enterprise SaaS metrics standard but starts at $129/month. Here are 5 alternatives ranked by use case, including the free option.
Best ProfitWell Alternatives in 2026 (Honest Review)
ProfitWell is free and very good. But the paid Paddle products (Recover, Retain) lag behind specialists. Here are 6 alternatives ranked by who they actually fit.
Tools to put these strategies into practice
The retention tools I recommend most often.
ChurnHalt
Analytics & Insights
You're finding out about churn after it happens. ChurnHalt analyses your Stripe history, finds the patterns behind cancelled subscriptions, and flags who you should focus on.
Retention Email Snapshot
resurrectionRetention & Loyalty
A 15-minute diagnostic call that surfaces exactly where your lifecycle emails are losing users. $249 value - ChurnTools users pay $149 with code CHURNTOOLS40.
UniqueSide
activationRetention & Loyalty
Rapid prototyping platform that helps teams ship retention experiments in days instead of months.
Intercom
activationCommunication
Customer messaging platform that drives growth through better customer relationships
ChurnZero
engagementCustomer Success
Real-time customer success platform designed to help subscription businesses fight churn
Gainsight
engagementCustomer Success
Customer success platform that helps drive product adoption and reduce churn
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