How can I do monthly subscription credit card billing?

Question

I've written a subscription based web app that I want to charge (by credit card) a monthly fee. There are 3 different plans and once they sign up, they should be billed that amount, automatically, every month until they cancel. Is there an easy way to set this up (some sort of online service maybe?).

Answer 1

You can use Paypal's merchant service to provide reoccurring charges for a subscription. Pretty easy to implement, they provide plenty of examples and even a sandbox to get you up and running.

Answer 2

There are now some service providers that take care of your billing and subscription needs. You use their API and they handle billing and subscriptions for you. Their services work with payment systems like PayPal and Authorize.Net.

Take a look at the following sites:

• Chargify
• Spreedly
• Cheddargetter

Answer 3

I would suggest not using Paypal or Authorize's recurring payments directly. Their APIs are brutal, and the functionality is very rudimentary. It may work fine for when you're just starting out, but if you ever want to change anything down the line, you'll be in trouble.

I work for CheddarGetter, so I'm biased, but you should check us out.

Our competitors are not as robust or flexible, but they are definitely better than using Paypal or Authorize.net directly.