Recurly - Detailed Review
Finance Tools
Recurly - Product Overview
Introduction to Recurly
Recurly is a leading subscription management and recurring billing platform, specifically designed for businesses that operate on a subscription-based model. Here’s a breakdown of its primary function, target audience, and key features.Primary Function
Recurly’s primary function is to manage and optimize recurring billing, subscriptions, and revenue recognition for businesses. It provides a comprehensive solution that includes automated billing, payment processing, and revenue recovery tools, all aimed at helping companies maximize their recurring revenue streams.Target Audience
Recurly’s target market consists of mid-sized to enterprise-level companies that rely on subscription-based models. This includes businesses in various industries such as media streaming, e-commerce, and software as a service (SaaS). These companies value customer retention and seek to implement strategies that enhance customer loyalty and reduce churn rates.Key Features
Subscription Management
Recurly allows businesses to easily configure trials, plans, pricing, and promotions, supporting complex billing scenarios like usage-based, quantity-based, and hybrid models.Recurring Billing
The platform streamlines the billing cycle with automated and manual billing options, customized templates, charge and credit adjustments, and global and local tax management.Revenue Recovery
Recurly uses machine learning-powered tools to prevent and recover failed transactions, helping businesses minimize subscriber attrition and maximize recurring revenue.Payments Orchestration
It supports multiple payment gateways and methods, protected by world-class fraud management, ensuring secure and efficient payment processing.Compliance and Security
Recurly is PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant, ensuring that all industry-standard payment security practices are met and exceeded to protect both businesses and their customers.Analytics and Reporting
The platform offers dozens of standard reports and dashboards, as well as a custom report writing tool, to provide insights into subscribers, subscriptions, billing, revenue, churn, and performance.Integrations
Recurly integrates seamlessly with various applications, including CRM systems like Salesforce, ERP systems like Oracle NetSuite, and customer support tools like Zendesk.Global Reach
The platform supports businesses in reaching global customers, facilitating international expansion with ease. By offering these features, Recurly helps businesses optimize their subscription management processes, enhance customer experiences, and drive significant revenue growth. Recurly - User Interface and Experience
User Interface
Recurly’s user interface has undergone significant improvements to enhance usability. In 2015, Recurly introduced a new UI design that focused on a more modern look and feel, along with updated technology. This redesign was driven by customer feedback, aiming to make the interface more intuitive and efficient.
The current interface is praised for its user-friendly nature and straightforward setup. Users find it easy to manage billing and subscriptions, thanks to a clear and organized layout.
Ease of Use
Recurly is highly regarded for its ease of use. The platform offers a simple and intuitive setup process, making it accessible even for those who are not tech-savvy. Users can easily create and manage subscription plans, send customized discounts, adjust renewal dates, process manual payments, and send invoices without much hassle.
Features and Functionality
Recurly provides a range of useful features that contribute to a positive user experience. These include the ability to create various subscription plans (such as annual, prepaid, and variable month plans), set up alerts, personalize invoices, and offer credits. The platform also integrates seamlessly with existing CRM and accounting systems, which streamlines workflow and improves efficiency.
Customization and Security
The Recurly.js JavaScript library allows for a fully customizable checkout process, ensuring a seamless customer experience across devices. This feature secures sensitive payment details and simplifies PCI DSS compliance requirements. Users can embed just a few lines of code to start accepting payments securely, and the iFrame fields are optimized for both desktop and mobile checkout forms.
Customer Support and Feedback
Recurly’s customer support is generally responsive and knowledgeable, although there can be some inconsistency in the answers provided. Users appreciate the support team’s willingness to address feedback and improve the product based on user input. Recurly actively encourages feedback and has a history of incorporating user suggestions into their design and functionality improvements.
AI-Driven Tools
Recently, Recurly introduced Recurly Compass, a suite of AI-driven tools aimed at accelerating subscriber growth and enhancing the subscriber experience. These tools provide personalized, proactive insights that help subscription teams identify and act on new growth opportunities. This includes conversational assistant capabilities and a focus on personalization and predictability, further enhancing the user experience.
Overall User Experience
The overall user experience with Recurly is generally positive. Users appreciate the reliability of the system, the ease of managing billing and subscriptions, and the customizable features. However, some users have noted a few areas for improvement, such as limited customization in reporting, occasional glitches in integration, and the automatic log-out feature after 15 minutes of inactivity.
In summary, Recurly’s user interface is designed to be user-friendly, intuitive, and efficient, making it easy for users to manage their billing and subscriptions. The platform’s ease of use, customizable features, and strong customer support contribute to a positive overall user experience.
Recurly - Key Features and Functionality
Recurly Overview
Recurly is a comprehensive subscription management and recurring billing platform that offers a wide range of features and functionalities, particularly in the finance tools category. Here are the main features and how they work, including any integration with AI:Subscription Management
Recurly provides a complete subscriber dashboard that tracks the entire history of a customer, including billing information, subscription data, transactions, and invoices. This feature ensures that all subscriber data is centralized and easily accessible, allowing teams to focus on subscriber satisfaction and revenue growth.Payments Orchestration
Recurly offers an intuitive payment gateway that streamlines sign-ups and sign-outs, reducing friction for subscribers. It includes automated payment reminder messages, fraud management, and protection against card-not-present transactions and account takeover fraud, all of which are enhanced by AI-powered tools. This ensures secure and efficient payment processing.Recurring Billing
Recurly’s billing software handles complex billing problems with ease, allowing businesses to focus on scaling rather than managing recurring payments. The platform supports multiple payment methods, including the newly added PayPal Complete and Boleto for Brazilian customers. This flexibility in billing helps in maintaining a smooth revenue flow.Churn Management
Recurly has advanced churn management strategies aimed at minimizing churn and maximizing revenue. Features include tools to analyze and manage involuntary churn due to failed payments, as well as dashboards like “Today’s Activation & Churn” and “Subscriber Metrics Worksheet” to monitor daily performance trends. These tools help in identifying and addressing churn issues promptly.Analytics and Reporting
The platform provides dozens of standard reports and dashboards covering subscribers, subscriptions, billing, revenue, churn, and dunning/revenue recovery. Users can also create custom reports using the Recurly builder, combining metrics that are most relevant to their business. This comprehensive analytics suite helps in making informed decisions and optimizing subscription strategies.Integration and Automation
Recurly supports native integrations with various applications such as Avalara, Vertex, Salesforce, Oracle NetSuite, QuickBooks Online, and Zendesk. Additionally, the Recurly API allows for custom integrations to meet specific business needs. Integrations with platforms like Zapier and Pipedream enable automation of workflows, including the use of AI models for tasks like data analysis and content processing.AI Integration
While Recurly itself does not heavily emphasize AI as a core feature, it can be integrated with AI tools through third-party platforms. For example, using Zapier, you can connect Recurly with AI by Zapier to extract, summarize, and transform integration data using leading AI models like OpenAI and Anthropic. Similarly, Pipedream allows integrating Recurly with the One AI API to automate tasks such as content summarization and emotion detection, enhancing data analysis and content-centric operations.App Management and Multi-Platform Analytics
Recurly’s app management feature combines analytics across different platforms (website, Apple App Store, and Google Play) to provide a single source of truth for subscription businesses. This feature streamlines multi-platform integration efforts and eliminates the need for third-party integration tools, ensuring harmonized cross-platform analytics.Security and Compliance
Recurly is PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant, ensuring that it meets and exceeds all industry-standard payment security practices to protect both businesses and their customers.Conclusion
In summary, Recurly offers a wide array of features that are essential for managing and optimizing subscription businesses, with a strong focus on automation, analytics, and security. While AI integration is not a native feature, it can be seamlessly integrated through third-party platforms to enhance various aspects of subscription management. Recurly - Performance and Accuracy
Evaluating the Performance and Accuracy of Recurly
Automation and Accuracy in Billing and Revenue Forecasting
Recurly excels in automating the entire subscription billing and invoicing lifecycle, which enhances accuracy and efficiency. The platform streamlines and automates revenue forecasting, allowing finance teams to predict monthly recurring revenue (MRR) with greater accuracy and predictability. This is achieved by analyzing historical data to forecast customer churn, acquisition, and retention rates, and to project future revenue from subscription contracts.Compliance and Reporting
Recurly ensures compliance with multiple revenue reporting standards such as ASC-606 and IFRS-15 through its enterprise-grade, configurable solution. This automation helps in maintaining accurate and compliant financial records, which is crucial for financial reporting and auditing.Machine Learning for Transaction Success
Recurly utilizes machine learning to significantly improve transaction success rates. The Revenue Optimization Engine creates customized retry schedules for failed transactions, resulting in the recovery of an average of 61% of initially failed transactions. This technology is continuously updated with new data to improve its accuracy and performance.Retention and Personalization
The platform emphasizes the importance of retention strategies, which is reflected in Recurly’s 2025 Industry Report. The report highlights a shift towards retention, with businesses focusing on personalized experiences and loyalty tactics to counter slowing acquisition rates. Recurly’s tools support these strategies by providing insights into subscriber behavior and preferences, enabling businesses to offer more personalized and flexible payment options.Integration and Data Sync
Recurly integrates seamlessly with leading applications for accounting, ERP, taxes, sales, marketing, data warehouses, and fraud management. This integration ensures that financial data is synchronized accurately across different systems, reducing errors and improving overall data integrity.Limitations and Areas for Improvement
While Recurly offers comprehensive solutions, there are a few areas where improvements could be considered:Continuous Updating of Models
While Recurly’s machine learning models are updated periodically, ensuring these updates are frequent and based on the latest data is crucial for maintaining high accuracy.User Feedback and Customization
Although Recurly provides a wide range of features, user feedback suggests that some businesses may need more customized solutions to fit their specific needs. Enhancing the platform’s flexibility to accommodate diverse business models could be beneficial.Educational Resources
While Recurly offers detailed documentation and case studies, additional educational resources or webinars could help users maximize the platform’s capabilities more effectively. Overall, Recurly’s performance and accuracy are supported by its advanced automation, compliance features, and use of machine learning. These elements make it a reliable choice for managing subscription-based businesses, although there is always room for further customization and user support. Recurly - Pricing and Plans
When Considering Recurly’s Pricing Structure
It is important to note that the information available does not specify the pricing details for their own service plans in the context of the Finance Tools AI-driven product category, but rather outlines the pricing models they support for their clients.Recurly’s Supported Pricing Models
Recurly allows its users to implement several pricing models for their subscription-based products and services:Tiered Pricing
This model changes the unit price based on specified thresholds or tiers. It encourages higher sales volumes by offering lower prices for larger quantities. Users can define different tiers and prices at the plan level, and Recurly handles the total calculation based on the chosen pricing model and quantity.Volume Pricing
In this model, the per-unit cost decreases as the quantity purchased increases. All units are priced based on the rate of the highest tier reached. For example, if a customer buys more than 20 units, the price per unit might drop from $10 to $9. This model is beneficial for bulk purchases and promotes economies of scale.Stairstep Pricing
This model charges a flat rate for a defined range of quantities, creating distinct pricing “steps.” The price remains the same within each tier, regardless of the exact quantity purchased. For instance, a SaaS provider might charge $50 for 1-10 seats, $100 for 11-20 seats, and $150 for 21 seats.Recurly’s Subscription Plans and Features
For Recurly’s own subscription plans, here is what is known:Recurly Subscription Plans
Recurly offers three main subscription plans: Free, Professional, and Elite. However, the exact pricing details for these plans are not publicly available and require contacting their sales team directly.Key Features
- Plans and Add-ons: Users can configure multiple plans with different features and pricing models. Subscription add-ons allow for additional products or services to be offered alongside the main subscription.
- Trial Periods and Setup Fees: Recurly supports free trial periods and one-time setup fees, which can be configured during plan creation.
- Editable Quantity: For plans using Recurly’s Hosted Payment Pages, users can enable the “Editable Quantity” feature, allowing subscribers to choose their desired quantity during sign-up.
- Promotions and Discounts: Recurly’s tools allow for the implementation of various promotional tactics, such as discounts, cross-selling, and upselling.
Free Options
While Recurly does offer a Free plan, the details of what this plan includes are not specified in the available resources. For precise information on the features and limitations of their Free plan, it would be necessary to contact Recurly’s sales team directly. In summary, Recurly provides flexible pricing models for its users to manage their subscription-based businesses, but the specific details of their own subscription plans, including pricing, are not publicly disclosed. Recurly - Integration and Compatibility
Recurly Overview
Recurly, a leading subscription management and billing platform, is renowned for its seamless integrations with a wide range of tools and systems, making it highly compatible across various platforms and devices.
Integration with Business Applications
Recurly integrates natively with several key business applications, including CRM systems like Salesforce, ERP systems such as Oracle NetSuite, accounting software like QuickBooks Online, and customer service platforms like Zendesk. These integrations enable businesses to streamline their operations by synchronizing data across different systems. For example, the Recurly-NetSuite integration allows users to benefit from real-time data sharing between subscription management and accounting processes.
Payment Gateways and Financial Tools
Recurly supports over 20 payment gateways, including Braintree, Adyen, and Cybersource, among others. This broad support ensures that businesses can choose the payment methods and gateways that best suit their needs, whether it’s for specific currencies or geographic markets.
Custom Integrations and APIs
For businesses with unique requirements, Recurly offers fully customizable APIs and mobile SDKs. These tools allow developers to integrate Recurly with internal or external business applications, such as data warehouses and custom-built systems. The API supports two-way communication, enabling efficient data syncs and automating various business processes.
Webhooks and Hosted Pages
Recurly uses webhooks to send one-way notifications for important events like subscription pauses or cancellations, allowing businesses to take immediate actions based on these notifications. Additionally, Recurly provides hosted pages for account management and payments, which can be easily integrated into a business’s website or app with minimal development work.
Mobile Integration
The Recurly mobile SDKs enable developers to integrate native in-app payments into iOS and Android mobile apps securely and with PCI compliance. This ensures a seamless payment experience for subscribers across different devices.
Global Compatibility
Recurly supports over 140 currencies and is capable of handling VAT collection and VAT number validation for all 28 member states of the EU. This global support makes it an ideal solution for businesses operating internationally.
Security and Compliance
Recurly is PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant, ensuring that all payment data is handled securely. The platform adheres to and exceeds industry-standard payment security practices, protecting both businesses and their customers.
Conclusion
In summary, Recurly’s integration capabilities are extensive and flexible, allowing businesses to integrate it with a variety of tools and systems, ensuring smooth operations across different platforms and devices. Its compatibility with various payment gateways, business applications, and its secure and customizable integration methods make it a versatile solution for subscription management and billing.
Recurly - Customer Support and Resources
Recurly, a leading subscription management platform, offers a comprehensive array of customer support options and additional resources to ensure users get the maximum benefit from their service.
Customer Support
Recurly provides 24/7 global, in-house support, which is available seven days a week. Here are the key support channels:- Phone Support: You can reach Recurly’s customer service via their toll-free number at (844) 732-8759, or their customer service line at (415) 689-9345.
- Email Support: Customers can send emails to various addresses depending on their needs, such as support@recurly.com for general support inquiries.
- Live Chat: Live chat support is available to all Recurly customers, providing immediate assistance.
- Support Portal: Users can visit the support portal to review product documentation, initiate support tickets, and access other resources.
Additional Resources
Onboarding and Professional Services
Recurly offers outcome-focused onboarding services to streamline complex implementations. Additionally, their Professional Services support customers in expanding, extending, and customizing the platform to fit unique business needs.Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and Technical Account Managers (TAMs)
For customers who meet certain criteria, such as a minimum account contract value (ACV) or purchasing a dedicated package, Recurly provides a dedicated Customer Success Manager (CSM) and Technical Account Manager (TAM). These professionals help guide businesses to greater success and growth by proactively identifying and preventing potential problems.Self-Serve Tools and Documentation
Recurly offers extensive self-serve product documentation, DIY training videos, and comprehensive developer resources. This includes API documentation and developer assistance for API questions and business data analysis.Reporting and Analytics
The platform includes dozens of standard reports and dashboards covering various aspects of subscribers, subscriptions, billing, revenue, churn, and performance. Users can also create custom reports using the Recurly builder tool.Integrations
Recurly supports native integrations with a variety of applications, including Avalara, Vertex, Salesforce, Oracle NetSuite, QuickBooks Online, and Zendesk. The Recurly API also allows for custom integrations to meet specific business needs.Security and Compliance
Recurly is PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant, ensuring high standards of payment security to protect both businesses and their customers. By providing these extensive support options and resources, Recurly ensures that its customers can effectively manage their subscription businesses, address any issues promptly, and scale their operations with confidence. Recurly - Pros and Cons
When Considering Recurly as a Finance Tool
When considering Recurly as a finance tool, especially in the context of AI-driven products and subscription billing, here are some key advantages and disadvantages to keep in mind:
Advantages
Multiple Payment Options and Global Support
Recurly offers a wide range of payment methods, supports over 100 currencies, and integrates with multiple payment gateways, making it easier to manage global subscriptions.
Security and Compliance
Recurly prioritizes security with tools that ensure compliant payment processing and protect subscriber data. It also features active fraud management to fight chargebacks.
Ease of Use and Setup
Users praise Recurly for its user-friendly interface and straightforward setup, which simplifies managing billing and subscriptions.
Customizable Subscription Options
Recurly allows businesses to offer various subscription plans, including annual, prepaid, and variable month plans, helping to reach a wider customer base.
Enhanced Billing Management
The platform provides excellent settings for managing billing, including the ability to restrict access to sensitive information and ensure privacy.
AI-Driven Tools
Recurly has introduced Recurly Compass, a suite of AI-driven tools that deliver personalized insights to help subscription teams identify and act on growth opportunities.
Disadvantages
Billing Configuration Complexity
While Recurly is feature-rich, its billing configuration can be complex, leading to potential errors and inefficiencies, especially in usage-based billing systems.
Limited Customization
Despite offering various features, Recurly has limited customization options, particularly in reporting and for unique pricing models or special promotions.
Scalability Issues
Recurly may not be ideal for larger organizations due to scalability issues, which can lead to slower processing times and operational bottlenecks.
Integration Difficulties
Some users have reported difficulties with integrating certain payment processors, such as GoCardless, which can complicate billing operations.
High Costs
After the initial free trial, Recurly can be expensive, with high monthly costs and additional fees such as TPV fees.
Limited Access for Non-Admin Users
Non-admin users may face limited access to certain data necessary for customer support, such as detailed reports and add-on products.
These points highlight the strengths and weaknesses of Recurly, helping you make an informed decision about whether it suits your business needs.
Recurly - Comparison with Competitors
Recurly Overview
Recurly is a leading subscription management platform that simplifies recurring billing, optimizes payment acceptance, and automates billing operations to recover lost revenue. It serves various industries, including SaaS, e-commerce, and digital media, offering flexible pricing and billing models, subscriber management, churn management, and revenue recognition.Unique Features and Limitations
- Flexible Pricing and Billing Models: Recurly offers a range of pricing and billing models, but it may lack some advanced features needed by larger or more complex businesses.
- Subscriber and Churn Management: Recurly is strong in managing subscribers and reducing churn, but it might not offer the same level of financial reporting and compliance as some of its competitors.
- Integration: While Recurly integrates with various systems, some businesses may find it does not integrate seamlessly with their existing setup, leading to potential inefficiencies.
Competitors and Their Unique Features
Chargebee
- Revenue Recovery Tools: Chargebee is known for its powerful revenue recovery tools and flexible subscription management, making it a strong alternative for subscription-first businesses.
- Customization: It offers more customization options compared to Recurly, particularly in terms of pricing models and billing workflows.
Maxio
- Advanced Billing Functionality: Maxio stands out with its automated revenue recognition that complies with GAAP, which Recurly lacks. It is ideal for mid-sized to large B2B SaaS companies needing advanced billing and financial reporting.
- Scalability: Maxio is built to handle large subscriber volumes and billing processes, making it suitable for rapidly expanding businesses.
Sage Intacct
- Unified Financial Management: Sage Intacct provides a single platform for managing all financial operations, including accounting, billing, and HR functions. This makes it a strong choice for businesses needing a comprehensive financial management solution.
- In-depth Financial Features: It offers a wider range of financial management tools, such as fixed asset management and advanced compliance features, which are not as specialized in Recurly.
SubscriptionFlow
- Comprehensive Reporting Tools: SubscriptionFlow offers advanced analytics and reporting features that provide deep insights into customer behavior and billing trends, surpassing Recurly’s capabilities in this area.
- Flexible Integrations: It integrates seamlessly with numerous payment gateways, CRM systems, and accounting tools, giving businesses greater control over their workflows.
- Customizable Billing Options: SubscriptionFlow supports a wide array of pricing models, including standard subscriptions and complex tiered and hybrid models.
Zoho Billing
- Budget-Friendly and Integrated: Zoho Billing is the most budget-friendly option, ideal for small businesses already within the Zoho ecosystem. It integrates seamlessly with other Zoho products like Zoho CRM and Zoho Books.
Paddle and FastSpring
- Global Compliance: Paddle and FastSpring are particularly useful for international SaaS businesses, as they simplify billing integrations and handle global tax compliance, respectively.
Choosing the Right Alternative
When evaluating Recurly alternatives, consider the following factors:- Scalability: If your business is rapidly growing, Maxio or Sage Intacct might be more suitable due to their scalability and advanced financial management features.
- Customization and Integration: If you need more customization options and seamless integrations, Chargebee or SubscriptionFlow could be better choices.
- Cost and Simplicity: For smaller businesses or those on a budget, Zoho Billing offers a cost-effective solution with easy integration into the Zoho ecosystem.
- Global Operations: For international businesses, Paddle or FastSpring can help with global tax compliance and billing integrations.
Recurly - Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some frequently asked questions about Recurly, along with detailed responses to each:
What is Recurly and what does it offer?
Recurly is a subscription management and recurring billing platform. It is designed for growing, global Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) and Business-to-Business (B2B) companies. Recurly provides tools for managing subscriptions, automated billing, revenue recognition, comprehensive subscription management, and built-in revenue recovery capabilities. It also offers extensive analytics and supports over 140 currencies and multiple global payment gateways.
What pricing models does Recurly support?
Recurly supports a variety of flexible pricing models, including fixed, ramp, quantity-based, usage-based, tiered, and stairstep pricing. Additionally, it allows for one-time payments and prepayments. The ramp pricing model, for example, lets you define price increases or decreases over a specified interval, which can be effective for attracting new customers and encouraging loyalty.
How does Recurly handle subscriber management?
Recurly’s subscription management feature is comprehensive and includes a complete subscriber dashboard. This dashboard tracks the entire subscription history of a customer, including billing information, subscription data, transactions, and invoices. It enables automated communications and flexible plan configuration, which can lead to faster revenue growth. The platform also allows for connecting your team with the data to ensure subscribers remain the focus.
What are the different pricing plans offered by Recurly?
Recurly offers three main pricing plans: Starter, Professional, and Elite. Each plan provides different services and capabilities. The pricing is based on a per-transaction basis, a percentage of revenue, and a base monthly fee. Additional fees may apply for using specific optional features. For exact pricing details, you need to contact Recurly’s sales team.
How does Recurly support international transactions and tax calculations?
Recurly supports over 140 currencies and integrates with dozens of global payment gateways, such as Braintree, Adyen, and Cybersource. This allows businesses to scale operations globally. For tax calculations, Recurly supports basic tax rate calculations and can be connected to Avalara AvaTax Pro or Vertex for more advanced tax reporting, including VAT collection and validation for EU member states.
Can Recurly help with reducing churn and improving revenue recovery?
Yes, Recurly includes features to combat involuntary churn resulting from failed payments. It offers advanced revenue recovery capabilities, including dunning management and recovered revenue tracking. The platform also provides analytics and reports on churn, helping businesses to minimize subscription cancellations and scale their subscription business effectively.
How does Recurly integrate with other business applications?
Recurly offers native integrations with a variety of applications, including Avalara, Vertex, Salesforce, Oracle NetSuite, QuickBooks Online, and Zendesk. Additionally, the Recurly API allows for custom integrations to meet specific business needs. This ensures seamless integration with existing business systems.
Is Recurly secure and compliant with payment standards?
Yes, Recurly is PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant, which is the highest level of compliance for payment security. It meets and exceeds all industry-standard payment security practices to protect both businesses and their customers.
Can I customize reports and analytics in Recurly?
Recurly provides numerous standard reports and dashboards, including Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), Plan Performance, Churn Analysis, and more. The Recurly Builder tool also allows you to create custom reports and dashboards that combine the metrics most relevant to your business.
How do I get started with Recurly?
To get started with Recurly, you can request a demo or sign up for a free account. Upon signing up, you will be provided with a sandbox environment to test the platform’s features. When you are ready to start charging and collecting money from customers, you simply need to connect Recurly to a payment gateway and merchant account.