Zoho Subscriptions: Great and Easy to Use to Start Offering subscriptions!
May 06, 2021

Zoho Subscriptions: Great and Easy to Use to Start Offering subscriptions!

Matthew Veil | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Zoho Subscriptions

We started using Zoho [Subscriptions] for the main purpose of saving money [...]. They offer great options for free or [at] low [costs] in most of their product options. We used Zoho [Subscriptions] for about three years for billing our subscription services. We would charge monthly website hosting to ongoing marketing management subscription fees. It can notify the client before we bill their card on file, [and] can integrate with a lot of credit card processors. It has a lot of functions, including: giving a login portal so clients can update their cards [and] follow up reminders to both clients and our team members, in case of either a successful or unsuccessful billing payment [occurs]. Their pricing starts [as] free, which is great when you start out so you can really get a feel for if it may [or may not] be [a] good fit [...]. [...] The interface is really simple and easy to use. [For example,] if you get stuck, [Zoho Subscriptions] [has] [...] [lots] of [documentations] to walk you through [on] how to set up a specific feature; if you get stuck, their support team is good and fairly quick to get back to you. Great software for when you are starting out and have ongoing regular fees.
  • Simple interface to use and set up.
  • Billing reminder emails prior to and upon billing.
  • Notifications to billing team members and customers.
  • Automated recurring billing.
  • Simple reports.
  • Easy to manage customer database, credit card info, etc.
  • [It would] be nice to have one time payment options as a [add-on]. We also develop [websites] and needed one or two time invoices, [but] had to get Zoho [Books Subscription] as well, and [we] didn't use it often.
  • [The customer] login portal didn't work very well. [My] customers ended up calling me most of the time to change their card info.
  • It would be nice to integrate with a standard credit card processing company, other than Stripe or PayPal so one can take advantage of pricing once you hit a certain amount of charges every month.
  • At the time, I couldn't archive a customer and delete their subscription package. It would be nice to have a way to do so.
  • Automated recurring billing so we don't have to think about taking transactions.
  • Simple reporting to see what is happening quickly.
  • Easy to set up, I didn't have to spend a lot of time to start taking in revenue.
  • Professional look to billing and reminders which retains clients.
  • Save time setting up recurring payments.
  • Simple system to learn to get value quickly from software.
Zoho [Subscriptions] is a lot easier to set up recurring payments and notifications than [Stripe] or [PayPal] alone. They offer notification reminders that will help manage clients, versus setting up an API [..] communication system [to] your own with the others. Clients have an easier time changing credit cards around in Zoho [Subscriptions,] whereas in Stripe and Paypal, you have a lot more manual work.

Thryv is [an] all in one [package] for both one time and recurring payments, which I prefer over Zoho [Subscriptions], without having to create new client files in each system; [Thryv] [...] also has notification options which is a time saver. Thryv can also send test email review requests after a trigger or an [invoice] has been paid, whereas you would have to create an API integration with another service to do so in Zoho [Subscriptions].
Overall, Zoho [Subscriptions] is a great system, for most of my personal clients logging into different systems for different needs. [In] addition to subscriptions, [this] is the downfall, but it [is] still a great option for many businesses.

Do you think Zoho Billing delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Zoho Billing's feature set?

Yes

Did Zoho Billing live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Zoho Billing go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Zoho Billing again?

Yes

[Zoho Subscriptions is great] for startup agencies or businesses that charge monthly subscriptions of some kind. For most other [softwares,] you are paying at least $100 per month just to have the software. Zoho [Subscriptions] gives you the chance to take advantage of starting at [zero dollars,] which keeps your cost down until you understand the software before you have to upgrade. I feel like you can easily bootstrap your startup business to keep costs down. As you [are] moving forward, and are bringing in several thousand per month in revenue, it can scale up without costing a lot. [The subscriptions] [...] [start] to cost more, [...] if you have one time payments; you then need additional software from Zoho [Subscriptions] to handle the needs, and it starts adding up to typical [back- end] management software, with multiple log in points which start to drain your time budget. [At] that point, I ended up looking for a more all in one software that manages both contacts, one time and recurring invoices, reminders, etc. By the time our revenue exceeded [$5,000] per month[,] I [needed] to save time and looked for other options. [However,] I have other friends who still use it and they are generating $10k or more per month.