Chargebee charges you again, on top of Stripe's fees and a cut of your revenue, to manage subscriptions Stripe already tracks. Billoop is a self-hosted subscription layer for your own Stripe account with proration, dunning and churn analytics. $49, once, no fee on your revenue.
If you've searched for a Chargebee alternative, Billoop is the pay-once option worth putting at the top of the list: Billoop is $49, one time, and covers the same core job Chargebee charges $599+/mo for.
What makes Billoop the pick for 2026
- BYO Stripe (optional) — Drop in your own API key and plans become Stripe products, customers sync and the portal wraps Stripe's billing portal; without a key it runs the full engine in local mode, and it never touches funds.
- Plans, trials, coupons — Monthly and yearly plans, trial periods and percent or amount coupons (once or forever), all in integer cents, never floats.
- Real proration — Mid-cycle plan changes credit the unused fraction of the old plan and charge the same fraction of the new one as explicit line items, covered by exact-figure tests.
- Dunning that finishes — A failed payment triggers a templated email sequence at +0/+3/+7 days, then auto-cancels or auto-pauses after N attempts, and every send is logged.
- Renewal sweep — Runs hourly or on demand to handle trial conversions, renewals with correct coupon semantics and cancel-at-period-end.
Billoop vs Chargebee, at a glance
| Billoop | Chargebee | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $49 once | $599+/mo |
| Fee on your revenue | Never | 0.75%+ overage |
| Plans / trials / coupons | Yes | Yes |
| Proration on plan change | Yes | Yes |
| Dunning emails + auto-cancel | Yes | Yes |
| MRR / churn / cohorts | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted, data stays yours | Yes | No |
| Works without a processor | Yes | No |
Billoop costs less than a single day of Chargebee's starter tier, and never skims your revenue.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes, Billoop is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/recurring-billing-mini-mvp. The $49 buys the packaged Windows installer and updates; building from source is free.
Does Billoop touch my money?
No. It runs on your own Stripe account and never touches funds, and all data lives in a local SQLite file with no telemetry.
Is this a subscription in disguise?
No. $49 once, no renewal, and no percentage fee on the revenue you process.
The bottom line
Billoop won't out-feature Chargebee on every axis — no subscription tool with a bigger team and a bigger roadmap loses on everything. But for the core job, $49 once against $599+/mo forever is a trade most people should at least look at. Billoop is part of OneTimeSuite, a catalog of pay-once apps that replace subscription SaaS.
Try Billoop — $49, once
Plans, coupons, real proration, dunning and an MRR dashboard on your own Stripe account.