# Crater vs Recurly

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Recurly

| Attribute | Crater | Recurly |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 49.5 (74% (medium)) | 68.4 (74% (medium)) |
| adoption.github_stars | 8,344 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Open-source web and mobile app that helps track expenses, payments, and create professional invoices and estimates. It is indexed under Billing & Invoicing Software.","source":"https://craterapp.com/","question":"What is Crater?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Crater is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://craterapp.com/","question":"Is Crater free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Crater supports the web, iOS and Android. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://craterapp.com/","question":"What platforms does Crater support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Crater can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://craterapp.com/","question":"Can Crater be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 3 integrations for Crater, including Plaid, QuickBooks and Xero. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://craterapp.com/","question":"What does Crater integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 for Crater. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Crater not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://craterapp.com/","question":"What security certifications does Crater have?","confidence":0.48},{"answer":"Yes. Crater is published under the AGPL-3.0 licence, a copyleft licence, so check its terms before embedding it in a closed-source product. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/crater-invoice/crater","question":"Is Crater open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"Recurly is a subscription billing platform designed to handle the complexity of recurring revenue. It provides automated billing, flexible pricing management, revenue recognition, and subscriber engagement tools to help DTC and digital businesses scale their subscription operations. It is indexed under Billing & Invoicing Software.","source":"https://recurly.com/pricing","question":"What is Recurly?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Recurly offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $249 per month. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://recurly.com/pricing","question":"Is Recurly free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Recurly. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://recurly.com/pricing","question":"What platforms does Recurly support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Recurly, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://recurly.com/pricing","question":"Can Recurly be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 19 integrations for Recurly, including Shopify, Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Adyen, Klarna and MercadoPago, plus 11 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://recurly.com/pricing","question":"What does Recurly integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR for Recurly. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Recurly not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://recurly.com/product/security-compliance","question":"What security certifications does Recurly have?","confidence":0.7}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | Open-source web and mobile app that helps track expenses, payments, and create professional invoices and estimates. | Recurly is a subscription billing platform designed to handle the complexity of recurring revenue. It provides automated billing, flexible pricing management, revenue recognition, and subscriber engagement tools to help DTC and digital businesses scale their subscription operations. |
| features.capabilities | `{"api_first":true,"invoicing":true,"self_hostable":true}` | `{"dunning":"smart","analytics":true,"api_first":true,"invoicing":true,"tax_handling":"native","self_hostable":false,"pricing_models":"Fixed, tier-based, volume-based, stair-step, usage-based, one-time, and ramp pri","usage_metering":"real_time","catalog_management":true,"revenue_recognition":"native_asc606","subscription_billing":true}` |
| integrations.count | 3 | 30 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Plaid"},{"name":"QuickBooks"},{"name":"Xero"}]` | `[{"name":"Shopify"},{"name":"Stripe"},{"name":"PayPal"},{"name":"Apple Pay"},{"name":"Google Pay"},{"name":"Adyen"},{"name":"Klarna"},{"name":"MercadoPago"},{"name":"Worldpay"},{"name":"Google Cloud Marketplace"},{"name":"Adobe Audience Manager"},{"name":"Google Play","native":true,"category":"payments","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Apple IAP","native":true,"category":"payments","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Amazon IAP","native":true,"category":"payments","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Roku Billing","native":true,"category":"payments","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Salesforce Marketing Cloud","native":true,"category":"crm","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"SendGrid","native":true,"category":"email","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Braze","native":true,"category":"marketing","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Zendesk","native":true,"category":"support","direction":"bidirectional"}]` |
| language.primary | PHP | - |
| license.spdx | AGPL-3.0 | - |
| market.availability | - | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"ios":true,"web":true,"android":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Open Source","features":["Expense tracking","Payment tracking","Invoice creation","Estimate creation"],"description":"Self-hosted open-source invoicing solution","contactSales":false}],"summary":"Free, open-source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://craterapp.com/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T20:46:46.690Z"}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Starter","summary":"$249/month + 0.9% of billing volume (first $40K/month included free)","features":["Automated global subscription billing","Flexible plans and pricing","Static churn-prevention tools","1 Dunning campaign","10+ payment methods","20+ payment gateways"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":249,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"of":"billing_volume","kind":"percentage","rate":0.9}],"description":"For subscription businesses just getting started","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"billing_volume":"$40K/month included at no charge"}},{"free":false,"name":"All-Access","summary":"Less than 1% of billing volume, billed annually. Rate improves with higher volumes. Minimum $1M billing volume.","features":["Everything in Starter","AI-Powered agents, analytics, insights","Intelligent churn-prevention tools","Multiple dunning campaigns","Advanced plans, pricing, promotions","Payments orchestration across multiple gateways","Custom reporting, additional analytics, and automated exports","Additional payment methods including ACH, gateways, and communications languages","Multicurrency","Single sign-on"],"commitment":"annual","description":"For subscription businesses ready for scale. Minimum $1M billing volume","contactSales":true},{"free":false,"name":"All-Access for Shopify","features":["Customized bundles","Subscribe and save","Prepaid and gift subscriptions","Hybrid subscription support","Cancel-save flows and surveys","Self-serve bulk updater","Analytics and integrations","Hosted subscriber portal with passwordless login"],"description":"Recurly's subscription revenue capabilities integrated natively into Shopify","contactSales":false}],"addOns":[{"name":"Engage","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":1600,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"RevRec","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":850,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"Starter from $249/month + 0.9% volume. All-Access from <1% volume annually ($1M minimum). Free 90-day trial.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://recurly.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-09-04T13:30:31.982Z","freeTrialDays":90,"startingPrice":{"amount":249,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | high |
| pricing.starting_price | - | `{"amount":249,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 2 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.6","date":"2022-03-06T07:25:43Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.5","date":"2022-03-03T14:47:32Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.4","date":"2022-02-17T08:37:19Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.3","date":"2022-02-16T07:25:57Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.2","date":"2022-01-13T14:18:05Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.1","date":"2022-01-12T15:41:21Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/6.0.0","date":"2022-01-11T11:22:27Z","type":"stable","version":"6.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.6","date":"2021-12-10T12:33:51Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.5","date":"2021-12-09T08:16:43Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.4","date":"2021-12-06T14:46:19Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.3","date":"2021-12-03T15:58:23Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.2","date":"2021-12-02T14:06:52Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.1","date":"2021-12-01T15:44:53Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/5.0.0","date":"2021-11-30T13:33:23Z","type":"stable","version":"5.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/4.2.0","date":"2021-06-24T08:57:19Z","type":"stable","version":"4.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/4.1.0","date":"2021-05-06T09:01:16Z","type":"stable","version":"4.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/4.0.4","date":"2021-01-22T09:21:03Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/4.0.3","date":"2020-12-31T10:26:25Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/4.0.2","date":"2020-12-23T06:51:39Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/crater-invoice-inc/crater/releases/tag/4.0.1","date":"2020-12-09T09:21:39Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.1"}]` | - |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.5 |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.certifications | - | `[{"name":"SOC 2 Type II","level":"Type II","status":"active"},{"name":"PCI-DSS Level 1","level":"Level 1","status":"active"},{"name":"PSD 2","status":"active"}]` |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.pci | - | yes |
| security.soc2 | yes | yes |
| security.trust_center | - | https://recurly.com/product/security-compliance |

## Capabilities (Billing & Invoicing Software)

| Capability | Crater | Recurly |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Subscription billing | - | ✓ |
| Usage metering | - | Real-time |
| Pricing models | - | Fixed, tier-based, volume-based, stair-step, usage-based, one-time, and ramp pri |
| Invoicing & AR | ✓ | ✓ |
| Catalog management | - | ✓ |
| **Commerce** |  |  |
| Merchant of record | - | - |
| **Finance** |  |  |
| Revenue recognition | - | Native ASC 606 |
| Tax handling | - | Native |
| **Collections** |  |  |
| Dunning | - | Smart |
| **Integrations** |  |  |
| GL / ERP sync | - | - |
| **Ecosystem** |  |  |
| API-first / developer-first | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Self-hostable | ✓ | ✗ |
| **Insight** |  |  |
| Revenue analytics | - | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-09-21T06:07:51.590Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*