If you run a SaaS on Stripe, you're losing money to failed payments right now. The question is how much, and what's the cheapest way to fix it.
I've been building a dunning tool (Rebill) so I spent weeks researching every competitor. Here's what I found -- no BS, including where my own tool falls short.
The Problem (30 seconds)
5-10% of recurring charges fail. Expired cards, bank flags, insufficient funds. The customer didn't cancel -- their payment just didn't go through.
Stripe Smart Retries handle the retry timing automatically. But they don't email your customer. They don't warn people before their card expires. They don't give you a recovery dashboard.
That's what dunning tools do. Here are the options in 2026:
The Comparison
Churn Buster - $249/mo+
The OG. Been around since 2014. Enterprise-grade.
Pros:
- Most mature product with the most recovery data
- Dedicated account manager on higher plans
- Supports Braintree and Recurly, not just Stripe
- Campaign A/B testing
Cons:
- $249/mo minimum is brutal for indie SaaS
- Overkill if you're under $100K MRR
- No expiring card alerts on the base plan
Best for: Funded SaaS doing $100K+ MRR who need a proven, hands-off solution.
Stunning - $99/mo+
Solid mid-range option. Clean UI.
Pros:
- Good analytics dashboard
- Custom email templates with drag-and-drop editor
- Stripe-native
Cons:
- $99/mo starting price still feels steep for small teams
- No expiring card alerts (only reacts to failures)
- No win-back campaigns
- Limited to Stripe
Best for: Growing SaaS ($50K-$200K MRR) that wants a polished tool without enterprise pricing.
Baremetrics Recover - $58/mo+
Part of the Baremetrics analytics suite.
Pros:
- Bundled with Baremetrics analytics (if you already use it)
- Simple setup
- Decent paywalls for cancellation
Cons:
- $58/mo on top of Baremetrics subscription
- Dunning is a side feature, not the core product
- Less customizable email sequences
Best for: Teams already using Baremetrics who want to add recovery without a separate tool.
Rebill - $19/mo (disclosure: mine)
I built this because everything else was too expensive for bootstrapped SaaS.
Pros:
- $19/mo. That's it. Flat pricing.
- Expiring card alerts (prevents failures before they happen)
- Win-back campaigns (recovers cancelled subscribers too)
- Stripe Connect integration (30-second setup)
- Free churn calculator at rebill.astraedus.dev/calculator
Cons:
- New product (launched March 2026)
- Stripe only (no Braintree/Recurly)
- No A/B testing yet
- Smaller team (just me right now)
Best for: Indie/bootstrapped SaaS under $100K MRR who want serious dunning without serious pricing.
The Math
Quick example at $30K MRR with 7% failure rate:
- Monthly failures: $2,100
- Recoverable (50% with dunning): $1,050/month
- Annual recovery: $12,600
| Tool | Annual Cost | Net Recovery |
|---|---|---|
| Churn Buster | $2,988 | $9,612 |
| Stunning | $1,188 | $11,412 |
| Baremetrics | $696+ | $11,904 |
| Rebill | $228 | $12,372 |
Every tool pays for itself. The question is margins. At $30K MRR, saving $2,760/year by choosing a cheaper tool is meaningful.
My Honest Take
If you're doing $200K+ MRR and want something battle-tested, go with Churn Buster. The premium is worth the peace of mind.
If you're bootstrapped, doing $5K-$100K MRR, and every dollar matters -- try Rebill. I built it specifically for founders at this stage because I couldn't justify $249/mo on dunning when I was making $15K/mo.
The worst option is doing nothing. Even Stripe's default retry emails are better than silence. But a proper dunning sequence recovers 30-70% of failures vs. maybe 15% with retries alone.
Curious what others are using for dunning. Have you measured your involuntary churn rate? Drop a comment -- genuinely want to know what's working for people.
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