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Michael_recurCrypto
Michael_recurCrypto

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Most SaaS churn isn’t real churn (it’s failed payments)

Hey everyone 👋

I’ve been working on subscription systems recently, and something stood out pretty quickly:

Most SaaS “churn” isn’t actually churn.

It’s failed payments.


What really happens

A typical subscription flow looks solid on paper:

  • user subscribes
  • billing runs monthly
  • revenue grows

But in reality:

  • cards expire
  • banks decline valid transactions
  • payments fail silently

And the worst part?

Users don’t even know it happened.


The hidden problem

From the outside, it looks like churn.

But internally, it’s just broken billing infrastructure.

Even with retries, emails, and dunning flows, a lot of revenue is simply lost.


A different approach

I started exploring wallet-based subscriptions instead of cards.

Instead of charging cards:

  • users connect a wallet
  • approve a subscription once
  • payments execute automatically

No card details.

No bank approvals.


What changes

The differences are pretty interesting:

  • no card expiration
  • no bank declines
  • no chargebacks
  • global by default

It’s a completely different model.


Still early, but promising

I’m not saying this replaces everything.

But for global SaaS / AI tools / web products, it solves a real problem.

Less friction.

Fewer failures.

More predictable revenue.


Curious what others are doing

If you're building a SaaS:

👉 how are you handling recurring payments?

  • Stripe?
  • custom billing?
  • crypto?

More context

I wrote a deeper breakdown here if you’re curious:

https://www.recurcrypto.com/crypto-recurring-payments

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