Disclaimer: Pricing, feature availability, and platform capabilities referenced in this article are based on publicly available vendor documentation and independent research as of June 2026. Subscription analytics tool pricing changes frequently — particularly ChartMogul, which scales with MRR. Always verify current pricing directly on each vendor’s website before purchasing.
Editorial note: Automaiva selects and recommends tools based on independent research. We have no paid relationships with any vendor mentioned in this article.
SaaS subscription analytics tools are the difference between knowing your MRR number and understanding why it moved — and most founders do not make the switch from Stripe’s native reporting until they are in a board meeting and cannot answer a question about cohort retention that they should have seen coming three months ago.
SaaS Subscription Analytics Tools 2026: ChartMogul vs Baremetrics vs Maxio vs Paddle Retain — Real Pricing and Which Fits Your Stage
Last updated: June 2026
Why Most Founders Pick Wrong
If you are under $10K MRR: ChartMogul’s free Launch plan covers everything you need. Do not pay for anything yet. If you are $10K to $500K MRR on Stripe: Baremetrics at $129/month gives you the cleanest dashboards in the category plus dunning automation. If you use multiple billing systems or need investor-grade cohort reporting: ChartMogul Scale at $100/month and up. If churn is your primary problem and you are already on Paddle: Paddle Retain is free for core metrics and the only tool here that actively reduces involuntary churn. If you are Series B+ with ASC 606 compliance requirements: Maxio at $599/month minimum — overkill for anyone below $2M ARR. All pricing based on vendor websites as of June 2026. Verify before purchasing.
| ChartMogul | Baremetrics | Maxio | Paddle Retain | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes — free to $10K MRR | No — paid only | No | Yes — free metrics tier |
| Starting price | $100/month (Scale) | $129/month | $599/month minimum | Free / paid add-ons |
| Best for stage | Seed through Series B | Seed through Series A | Series B+ / enterprise | Pre-revenue through Seed |
| Multi-billing support | Best — custom import API | Good — major connectors | Strong | Paddle only |
| Cohort analysis | Deepest in category | Strong — visual, clean | Strong — finance-grade | Basic |
| Dunning / churn recovery | No | Yes — Recover add-on | Yes — built in | Best in category |
| ASC 606 / IFRS 15 | No | No | Yes — core feature | No |
| Built-in CRM | Yes — on all plans | No — HubSpot integration | No | No |
Here is the conversation that sends most SaaS founders to this page. Your board asks about net revenue retention by cohort at your Series A pitch. You open Stripe. Stripe shows you total revenue. It does not show NRR. It does not show cohort retention. It does not show expansion MRR broken out from new MRR. You export a CSV, spend two hours in Google Sheets, get a number that does not quite match what your co-founder calculated separately, and present the one you think is closer to right.
That is when founders realize they need a subscription analytics tool. Not because their metrics are bad — because they cannot defend them when someone asks.
About this guide: The Automaiva team evaluated ChartMogul, Baremetrics, Maxio, and Paddle Retain across the specific workflows that matter for B2B SaaS teams from pre-revenue through Series B — MRR accuracy, cohort depth, pricing scalability, and churn recovery capability. All pricing sourced from vendor websites as of June 2026.
Table of Contents
- What Stripe’s Native Analytics Actually Misses
- ChartMogul — Best for Multi-Billing and Investor-Grade Cohort Reporting
- Baremetrics — Best for Stripe-Native Teams Who Want Beautiful Dashboards Fast
- Maxio — Best for Series B+ Teams Needing ASC 606 Compliance
- Paddle Retain — Best Free Metrics Plus Churn Recovery for Paddle Users
- Pricing Comparison by MRR Stage
- Which Tool at Which Stage
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Stripe’s Native Analytics Actually Misses
Stripe processes payments. It was not built to be your revenue intelligence platform. The gaps in Stripe’s native reporting are not edge cases — they are the metrics your board, your investors, and your finance team ask for most often.
Net Revenue Retention. Stripe shows you total revenue. It does not calculate NRR — the metric that measures whether your existing customers are paying you more or less than they were 12 months ago. NRR above 100% means you can grow without acquiring a single new customer. Below 100% means you are leaking. Stripe cannot tell you which one you are.
Expansion MRR vs new MRR. Stripe shows you revenue in. It does not separate expansion MRR — revenue from existing customers upgrading — from new MRR. Every investor pitch deck needs this breakdown. Calculating it manually from Stripe exports involves matching customer IDs across time periods and is error-prone at any list size above 200 customers.
Cohort retention curves. Which customers who signed up in January 2025 are still paying in June 2026? Which plan tier retains longest? Which acquisition channel produces the highest LTV? Stripe cannot answer these without significant engineering work to build the query layer yourself.
Churn classification. Stripe knows a subscription cancelled. It does not know whether the cancellation was voluntary, involuntary (failed payment), a downgrade, or a pause. Every one of those requires a different operational response — and Stripe treats them all the same.
ChartMogul — Best for Multi-Billing and Investor-Grade Cohort Reporting
ChartMogul is the best subscription analytics platform for B2B SaaS teams that use more than one billing system, need investor-grade cohort analysis, or want a CRM built directly into their revenue data — because its flexible import API accepts data from any billing source, its cohort engine is the deepest in the category, and its free Launch plan makes it the obvious starting point for any pre-$10K MRR SaaS business.
ChartMogul — Strengths
- Free Launch plan to $10K MRR — full analytics access, not a stripped-down trial
- Custom import API accepts data from any billing source — homegrown billing systems, multiple processors, App Store and Google Play revenue all consolidate cleanly
- Deepest cohort analysis in the category — segment by plan, geography, acquisition channel, ACV band, and custom attributes simultaneously
- Built-in CRM on every plan including free — manage customer relationships inside your revenue data without a separate tool
- Startup Program — $50/month discount for 12 months for qualifying early-stage companies
- API-first architecture — push data in programmatically and pull metrics into your own dashboards via API
ChartMogul — Limitations
- No dunning or churn recovery — analytics only, no operational tools for reducing involuntary churn
- Steeper learning curve than Baremetrics — the depth of the platform takes longer to configure and interpret
- Pricing scales significantly with MRR — free to $10K MRR, then $100/month at Scale tier, reaching $539/month at $3M ARR
- Dashboard customization capped at lower tiers — 5 dashboards on Scale, 15 on Enterprise
- Customer support at lower tiers described as slow in G2 reviews — plan for self-service troubleshooting using documentation
Pricing (June 2026): Launch — free to $10K tracked MRR. Scale — starts at $100/month for first $10K MRR band, approximately $25 per additional $10K MRR. Volume — custom enterprise pricing.
Verify at chartmogul.com/pricing →
Best for: SaaS teams using multiple billing processors. Founders preparing investor reporting who need defensible cohort data. Any pre-$10K MRR team — the free plan is the obvious starting point.
Not recommended if: You need dunning and churn recovery in the same tool. You want the fastest possible setup without configuration — Baremetrics is quicker out of the box.
Baremetrics — Best for Stripe-Native Teams Who Want Beautiful Dashboards Fast
Baremetrics is the best subscription analytics platform for Stripe-native B2B SaaS teams between $10K and $500K MRR who want clean, visual dashboards live within hours of connecting their Stripe account — plus optional dunning automation, cancellation insights, and financial forecasting through add-on modules that no other standalone analytics tool in this comparison offers.
Baremetrics — Strengths
- Fastest setup in this comparison — connect Stripe and have live MRR, churn, LTV, and cohort data within 30 minutes
- Best UI in the category — dashboards are visually clean and immediately readable without configuration
- Recover add-on — automated dunning sequences for failed payments with ROI guarantee on recovery
- Cancellation Insights add-on — exit surveys when customers cancel, with analytics on cancellation reasons to inform retention strategy
- Forecast+ add-on — connects to QuickBooks or Xero for full P&L forecasting including runway calculation alongside MRR metrics
- Trial Insights — tracks trial-to-paid conversion rates and cohort behavior within trials
Baremetrics — Limitations
- No free plan — starts at $129/month, making it unjustifiable below $10K MRR when ChartMogul is free
- Stripe-primary — multi-billing support exists but the import API flexibility of ChartMogul is not matched
- No built-in CRM — requires HubSpot or Pipedrive integration for customer-level relationship management
- Add-on costs compound — Recover ($69+/month), Cancellation Insights ($129/month), and Forecast+ add significantly to the base price
- Less configurable segmentation than ChartMogul at the same price point
Pricing (June 2026): Starts at $129/month. Recover add-on from $69/month. Cancellation Insights add-on $129/month. Forecast+ additional cost. All-in pricing for a team using core features plus Recover runs $198/month minimum.
Verify at baremetrics.com/pricing →
Best for: Stripe-native SaaS teams at $10K to $500K MRR who want clean dashboards live quickly and optional dunning automation in the same platform. Founders who prioritize UI clarity over configuration depth.
Not recommended if: You are under $10K MRR — ChartMogul free is the right starting point. You use multiple billing systems — ChartMogul’s import API handles complex revenue structures better.
Maxio — Best for Series B+ Teams Needing ASC 606 Compliance
Maxio — formed from the merger of SaaSOptics and Chargify — is the right subscription analytics and billing platform for B2B SaaS companies above $2M ARR that need GAAP-compliant revenue recognition under ASC 606 or IFRS 15, multi-entity billing across legal entities, and auditor-ready financial reporting that ChartMogul and Baremetrics cannot produce.
Maxio — Strengths
- ASC 606 and IFRS 15 revenue recognition — the only tool in this comparison that produces auditor-grade GAAP revenue reports
- Multi-entity billing — handles revenue recognition across multiple legal entities in different currencies
- Usage-based billing — meters and recognizes revenue for consumption-based pricing models that subscription-only tools cannot handle
- Finance team-grade reporting — CFO and board-level financial dashboards built for institutional scrutiny
- Contract management — tracks multi-year contracts, amendments, and renewal schedules
Maxio — Limitations
- $599/month minimum — overkill and unjustifiable for any team below $2M ARR
- Complex implementation — user reviews report onboarding taking 3 to 6 months with active finance team involvement
- Not plug-and-play — requires dedicated implementation effort that ChartMogul and Baremetrics do not
- Overkill for simple subscription models — if you have standard recurring billing and no compliance requirements, you are paying for complexity you do not need
Pricing (June 2026): Grow plan from $599/month. Enterprise pricing custom. Contact Maxio for current pricing.
Verify at maxio.com/pricing →
Best for: Series B+ SaaS companies preparing for audit, enterprise contracts requiring GAAP-compliant revenue recognition, or teams billing across multiple legal entities in multiple currencies.
Not recommended if: You are below $2M ARR, have simple subscription billing, or do not have a dedicated finance team to manage implementation.
Paddle Retain — Best Free Metrics Plus Churn Recovery for Paddle Users
Paddle Retain — formerly ProfitWell — is the right choice for SaaS teams already using Paddle as their billing platform who want free core subscription metrics plus the strongest involuntary churn recovery tooling in this comparison, built directly into the same platform that handles their payments.
Paddle Retain — Strengths
- Free core metrics — MRR, ARR, churn, LTV with no MRR cap, no time limit, permanently free
- Best involuntary churn recovery in this comparison — dunning sequences, cancellation flows, win-back offers, A/B testing on retention messaging
- Native Paddle integration — zero setup friction for teams already on Paddle billing
- Cancellation flow optimization — reduces voluntary churn through offer sequences and pause options at the moment of cancellation intent
- User-reported 30 to 50% reduction in involuntary churn — highest churn recovery impact of any tool in this comparison
Paddle Retain — Limitations
- Paddle only — no value if you use Stripe, Chargebee, or any other billing processor
- Basic cohort analysis — ChartMogul and Baremetrics offer deeper cohort segmentation
- Paid Retain features are add-on cost — the free metrics tier is genuinely free but churn recovery requires paid subscription
- Analytics depth is limited versus ChartMogul for investor-grade reporting needs
Pricing (June 2026): Core metrics — free with no MRR cap. Retain (churn recovery) — paid, contact Paddle for current pricing.
Verify at paddle.com/retain →
Best for: SaaS teams already on Paddle billing who want free metrics and best-in-class involuntary churn recovery without adding another vendor.
Not recommended if: You use Stripe or any non-Paddle billing processor — this tool has no value outside the Paddle ecosystem.
Pricing Comparison by MRR Stage
| MRR Stage | ChartMogul | Baremetrics | Maxio | Paddle Retain | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $10K MRR | Free | $129/month | $599/month | Free (Paddle only) | ChartMogul (Stripe) / Paddle Retain (Paddle) |
| $10K to $100K MRR | $100 to $325/month | $129/month flat | $599/month | Free metrics | Baremetrics (Stripe) / ChartMogul (multi-billing) |
| $100K to $500K MRR | $325 to $539/month | $129/month + add-ons | $599/month | Free metrics + paid Retain | Baremetrics or ChartMogul depending on billing setup |
| $500K+ MRR / Series B+ | $539/month+ | $129/month + add-ons | $599/month — GAAP compliance | Paid Retain | Maxio if ASC 606 needed / ChartMogul otherwise |
All pricing based on vendor websites as of June 2026. ChartMogul Scale pricing scales with tracked MRR. Verify current pricing before purchasing.
Which Tool at Which Stage
| Your situation | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-revenue to $10K MRR, Stripe billing | ChartMogul Launch (free) | Full analytics at zero cost. No reason to pay for anything else at this stage. |
| Pre-revenue to $10K MRR, Paddle billing | Paddle Retain (free tier) | Free metrics natively connected to your billing. No setup required. |
| $10K to $500K MRR, Stripe only, want fast setup | Baremetrics | Best UI, live in 30 minutes, optional dunning and cancellation insights add-ons. |
| $10K to $2M MRR, multiple billing systems | ChartMogul Scale | Custom import API consolidates all billing sources. Deepest cohort analysis for investor reporting. |
| Churn is your primary problem, on Paddle | Paddle Retain (paid) | Best-in-class involuntary churn recovery. 30 to 50% reduction reported. No other tool in this comparison touches it operationally. |
| Series B+, need ASC 606, audited financials | Maxio | Only tool here with GAAP-compliant revenue recognition. Worth $599/month when investors and auditors require it. |
| Preparing for Series A pitch with board cohort questions | ChartMogul Scale | Investor-grade cohort curves, NRR by segment, expansion MRR breakdowns — exactly what Series A due diligence requires. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ChartMogul really free?
Yes. ChartMogul’s Launch plan is permanently free for SaaS businesses tracking up to $10K in monthly recurring revenue. It is not a trial — there is no time limit. The free plan includes full access to core analytics: MRR, ARR, churn, LTV, cohort analysis, and the built-in CRM. The restriction is the $10K MRR ceiling. Once you cross $10K MRR, you move to the Scale plan starting at $100/month. For pre-$10K MRR SaaS teams, ChartMogul free is the obvious starting point and there is no reason to pay for subscription analytics before you need to. Pricing based on ChartMogul’s published plans as of June 2026. Verify at chartmogul.com before purchasing.
What is the difference between ChartMogul and Baremetrics?
ChartMogul wins on data flexibility and cohort depth — its custom import API handles multiple billing sources, its cohort engine is the most configurable in the category, and it includes a built-in CRM on every plan. Baremetrics wins on UI polish and operational completeness — its dashboards are cleaner and faster to read, it has a free plan below $10K MRR, and its add-on modules for dunning (Recover), cancellation analysis (Cancellation Insights), and financial forecasting (Forecast+) make it the more operationally complete platform for Stripe-native teams who want everything in one place. For investor reporting and multi-billing setups, ChartMogul. For Stripe-native teams who want beautiful dashboards live in 30 minutes plus optional churn recovery, Baremetrics.
When does Maxio make sense?
Maxio makes sense when your finance team or auditors require GAAP-compliant revenue recognition under ASC 606 or IFRS 15 — the standard that determines how SaaS subscription revenue is recognized over contract periods rather than when cash is received. This requirement typically appears at Series B when institutional investors conduct financial due diligence, when you are preparing for an audit, or when you are billing enterprise customers on multi-year contracts with complex recognition schedules. Below $2M ARR with standard recurring billing and no compliance requirements, Maxio’s $599/month minimum and 3 to 6 month implementation timeline is significant overkill. Start with ChartMogul or Baremetrics and migrate to Maxio when your finance complexity justifies it.
What happened to ProfitWell?
ProfitWell was acquired by Paddle in 2022 and rebranded as Paddle Retain. The core ProfitWell Metrics product — free subscription analytics with no MRR cap — remains free as Paddle Retain Metrics, still accessible to Paddle billing customers. The churn recovery and retention tooling that ProfitWell was known for continues as Paddle Retain’s paid product. If you were a ProfitWell user and you are on Paddle billing, your metrics are now Paddle Retain Metrics. If you were a ProfitWell user on Stripe, the free metrics product is no longer available to non-Paddle billing customers — ChartMogul’s free Launch plan is the closest equivalent.
Can I use ChartMogul and Baremetrics together?
Some SaaS teams do run both — ChartMogul for investor-grade cohort analysis and Baremetrics for its Recover dunning and Cancellation Insights modules that ChartMogul does not offer. The practical cost of running both is $129/month (Baremetrics) plus ChartMogul Scale pricing, and the data reconciliation between two sources of MRR truth adds complexity. Most teams choose one and use add-ons or separate tools for the gaps. If dunning is your priority alongside analytics, Baremetrics with Recover is more cost-effective than running both platforms simultaneously.
How long does it take to set up a subscription analytics tool?
Baremetrics is the fastest — connect your Stripe account and have live MRR dashboards in under 30 minutes. ChartMogul takes 1 to 4 hours for a standard Stripe or Chargebee connection, and longer for custom import API setups with non-standard billing systems. Maxio takes 3 to 6 months with active finance team involvement — it is an implementation project, not a tool you connect and run immediately. Paddle Retain is instant for Paddle billing customers — your metrics appear automatically within the Paddle dashboard. Setup time estimates based on vendor documentation and user-reported data. Individual results vary.
Does Baremetrics work with Chargebee or Recurly?
Baremetrics connects to Stripe, Paddle, Braintree, App Store, Google Play, and Recurly. Chargebee is not a native Baremetrics integration as of June 2026 — verify current integration availability directly on baremetrics.com before purchasing if Chargebee is your primary billing platform. ChartMogul supports Chargebee natively and also accepts data from any source via its import API — for Chargebee billing teams, ChartMogul is the stronger choice.
Pricing note: All pricing information in this article is accurate as of June 2026 and subject to change. ChartMogul pricing in particular scales with tracked MRR and may change significantly as your business grows. Always verify current pricing directly on each vendor’s official website before purchasing.
More from Automaiva
- Stripe vs Paddle vs Chargebee vs Recurly 2026: Which Billing Platform Saves You the Most
- SaaS Burn Multiple Formula 2026: Calculator, Benchmarks, and What Investors Expect
- SaaS Metrics 101: The Definitive Guide for Startup Founders
- SaaS Churn Reduction 2026: 8 Strategies That Actually Work
- Chargebee vs Paddle 2026: Which SaaS Billing Platform Wins
Written by the Automaiva Editorial Team