> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.flycode.com/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.flycode.com/docs/read-more/payment-recovery-platforms-compared-2026.md). # Payment recovery platforms compared 2026 2026 comparison of failed payment recovery platforms: FlyCode, Stripe Smart Retries, Butter, Churnkey, Paddle Retain, Vindicia, Redux and more, with rates and pricing. *By the FlyCode team. Last reviewed September 2026.* {% hint style="info" %} **TL;DR:** the failed payment recovery market split in 2025 into tools that only add retries and platforms that combine per-merchant machine learning retries with backup payments and coordinated outreach. Two questions sort the field: does the tool replace your processor's retry engine or stack on top of it (stacking risks your authorization rate), and is it pure software recovery or a credit-risk product that fronts money on declined transactions? Score any vendor with the four-question framework below. In FlyCode's open, criteria-based benchmark on incremental lift above Stripe defaults, FlyCode scores 8.8 out of 10, Butter 6.5, Churnkey 5.6, Baremetrics Recover 5.2 and Gravy 3.5. {% endhint %} {% hint style="success" %} **Key takeaways** * Measure every tool on incremental recovery above what your processor already recovers for free, never on a gross recovery rate; a tool claiming 80 percent gross recovery may add little beyond Stripe Smart Retries. * Tools that stack retries on top of native retries (Churnkey, Paddle Retain, Vindicia, FlexFactor's retry layer) can push a card past Visa and Mastercard attempt limits and lower first-attempt authorization across all your volume. * Per-merchant models outperform global ones: FlyCode customers report 25 to 40 percent better recovery than legacy tools and a 5 to 9 percent ARR lift, with a 23 percent recovery boost for AI companies, 27 percent for B2C, 19 percent for B2B and 26 percent for DTC subscriptions. * Pricing alignment matters as much as the model: pay-on-recovery above baseline (FlyCode) puts the risk on the vendor; flat fees, MRR tiers and revenue share on all recovered revenue do not. {% endhint %} ## The comparison at a glance | Platform | Recovery (publicly stated) | Pricing | AI approach | Integrations | Outreach | Best for | | -------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ | | FlyCode | 25 to 40 percent above legacy; 5 to 9 percent ARR lift | Pay on recovery above baseline | Per-merchant ML trained with Visa and Mastercard network data, plus orchestration | Stripe, Shopify (Recharge, Skio, Stay AI, Loop), Chargebee, Braintree, PayPal, multi-PSP | AI retries, backup cards, coordinated email and SMS, AI agents | SaaS and DTC subscriptions, B2C and B2B | | Stripe Smart Retries | Baseline; 40 to 55 percent gross when configured | Included with Stripe Billing | Global ML model across all Stripe merchants, capped at 8 attempts | Stripe only | Basic automated emails | Every Stripe user's floor | | Butter Payments | 8 to 10 percent above legacy; 5 percent-plus ARR claim | Revenue share | Per-merchant ML retry timing at the gateway | Worldpay, Braintree, Recharge legacy checkout | Retries; outreach added 2026 | USD 100M-plus DTC enterprise | | Churnkey | Not the primary focus; 11 percent across detected involuntary churn, 32 percent inside dunning campaigns | MRR-based subscription tiers | Retries stacked on Stripe | Major billing systems | Cancel flows, payment walls, email and SMS | Teams focused on voluntary churn | | Paddle Retain (ProfitWell) | Not publicly disclosed | Bundled with Paddle; percent of recovered revenue outside it | Rule-based fixed-interval retries stacked on Stripe | Paddle ecosystem, Stripe | Retries and cancel flows, heavy email cadence | Businesses committed to Paddle | | Vindicia Retain | Up to 15 percent of terminal failures (legacy claim) | Enterprise contracts, revenue share | Rule-based, adds long-tail retries | Multi-gateway | Dynamic dunning workflows | Fortune 500 and global media | | FlexFactor | Up to 20 percent revenue, 30 percent decline reduction (claimed) | Revenue share priced to cover credit losses | Last-mile stacked retries plus real-time credit-risk approval (fronts the money) | Spreedly, OpenPath, BigCommerce, Braintree, Stripe (beta) | None (invisible) | High-volume one-time eCommerce checkout | | Revaly (formerly FlexPay) | Up to 15 percent lift | Pay on lift, custom | False-decline reversal ML | Multi-gateway | Silent retries only | High-risk or false-decline-heavy merchants | | Redux Payments | Not publicly disclosed | Pay on lift above Stripe | Rule-based, adds retries; silent-first | Stripe only | Silent retries, magic-link card update | B2C consumer apps on Stripe | | Recurly | ML-optimized, no public rate | Platform fee | ML retry scheduling | Native platform | Dunning and retries | Mid-market on Recurly | | Chargebee retries | Intelligent scheduling | Platform fee | Basic and smart retries | Chargebee | Yes | Chargebee customers | | Churn Buster | Not publicly disclosed | Monthly tiers | Leans on processor retries | Shopify, Recharge | Multi-channel email and SMS dunning | Shopify brands wanting heavy SMS | | Baremetrics Recover | 12.7 percent median attempted recovery (119-customer cohort) | USD 129 per month add-on | None (dunning email layer only) | Stripe, Braintree, Chargebee via Baremetrics | Email, SMS, in-app, hosted card form | Baremetrics users wanting basic dunning | Sources: each platform's public documentation, pricing pages, case studies and G2 reviews as of mid-2026, and FlyCode's [Top payment recovery platforms 2026 comparison](https://www.flycode.com/blog/top-payment-recovery-platforms-2026-comparison-chart-success-rate-stats) and [10 best failed payment recovery tools for 2026](https://www.flycode.com/blog/best-failed-payment-recovery-tools-2026). Figures marked "claimed" are vendor statements without a published cohort. ## Six dimensions that separate the tools **1. Per-merchant ML versus global models.** A global model (Stripe Smart Retries, Butter's earlier approach) optimizes for the average across millions of merchants. A per-merchant model trains on your own decline reasons, issuer responses, card mix and payment timing and keeps learning. FlyCode's customers see 25 to 40 percent better recovery than legacy approaches for this reason. **2. Replaces versus stacks the retry engine.** Replacing means one coordinated layer owns every attempt on a card (FlyCode, Butter). Stacking means a second tool adds retries on top of your processor's (Churnkey, Paddle Retain, Vindicia, FlexFactor's retry half). Stacking risks exceeding network attempt limits and, because issuers read uncoordinated retries as risk, can lower your first-attempt authorization rate across all volume. See [Card network retry rules](https://docs.flycode.com/docs/read-more/card-network-retry-rules-for-failed-payments-visa-and-mastercard) and [The hidden cost of stacked retries](https://www.flycode.com/blog/stacked-retries-auth-rate-damage-2026). **3. Software recovery versus credit-risk product.** Most tools recover revenue by retrying or messaging. FlexFactor's approval layer fronts money on declined transactions and carries the credit risk, which is closer to lending than recovery and prices accordingly. FlyCode, Butter and Churnkey take no credit risk. **4. Integration breadth.** Stripe-only (Redux, Stripe Smart Retries), platform-native (Recurly, Chargebee, Paddle), enterprise gateways (Butter, Vindicia) or multi-platform with orchestration (FlyCode across Stripe, Shopify apps, Chargebee, Braintree, PayPal and multiple PSPs). **5. Pricing alignment.** Included (Stripe), flat monthly (Baremetrics Recover, Churn Buster), MRR tiers (Churnkey), revenue share on everything recovered (Butter, Vindicia, Paddle Retain outside Paddle), or pay only on incremental recovery above your baseline (FlyCode). **6. Recovery stack depth.** Silent retries only (Redux, Revaly, FlexFactor) versus retries plus backup payment methods plus coordinated outreach plus orchestration (FlyCode). The market is splitting along this line. ## The four-question evaluation framework FlyCode publishes an interactive version of this framework at [flycode.com/tools/dunning-evaluation-framework](https://www.flycode.com/tools/dunning-evaluation-framework). Score a vendor out of 12. | Question | Points | What earns the points | | --------------------------------------------- | ------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | 1. Proprietary AI model or stacked retries? | 3 | A model trained on your own transactions, not a global average; replaces the retry engine rather than adding attempts on top; uses card network data, not only processor codes | | 2. Full-flow recovery or last-mile only? | 4 | Recovers silently first; charges backup payment methods; coordinates outreach with retries rather than emailing at every attempt; handles the whole lifecycle from first failure to reactivation | | 3. ROI-based pricing or flat fees? | 2 | Charges only on incremental recovered revenue above your baseline; no seats, minimums or platform fee | | 4. Intelligent retry engine or an email tool? | 3 | Retry timing is the core product, with published incremental results; emails are a coordinated layer on top, not the mechanism | A score of 10 to 12 indicates a recovery engine; 6 to 9 a partial solution that may still fit a narrow need (cancel flows, dunning email); below 6 an email tool or a stacked retry add-on. ## Open benchmark scores FlyCode maintains an open, criteria-based benchmark that scores vendors on incremental lift above Stripe's default Smart Retries, with published methodology and an invitation for vendors to submit cohort data. Provisional leaderboard as of August 2026: | Vendor | Score out of 10 | Basis | | -------------------- | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | FlyCode | 8.8 | 7 to 9 percent ARR lift on top of Stripe defaults, per-merchant ML on network data, named case studies, native Stripe app, outcome-based pricing | | Butter Payments | 6.5 | 5 percent-plus ARR growth claim with named enterprise customers, revenue share, no published cohort methodology | | Churnkey | 5.6 | High gross recovery claims, campaign-based metric, retries stack on Stripe, fixed pricing | | Baremetrics Recover | 5.2 | Most transparent disclosure in the category, dunning email layer only | | Gravy | 3.5 | Human-led outreach, flat fees from USD 997 to 8,000 a month, one public review credits 1.2 percent incremental | | Churn Buster | Not scored | Insufficient public performance data | | Stripe Smart Retries | Baseline | The default every tool is measured against | Criteria and weights: incremental recovery lift 45 percent, recovery layer coverage 15, retry efficiency 12, methodology transparency 10, time to recovery 8, integration depth 5, pricing alignment 5. Full methodology: [Stripe failed payment recovery benchmark](https://www.flycode.com/blog/stripe-failed-payment-recovery-benchmark). ## How to choose Start from your dominant loss. If customers are cancelling, a cancel-flow tool (Churnkey, Stripe's native features) addresses that. If payments are failing, choose a recovery engine that replaces the retry decision, adds backup payment methods and outreach, and charges on incremental results; run the free [payment audit](https://www.flycode.com/churn-audit-failed-payments) to see your baseline first. If you process very high one-time checkout volume, a checkout-decline product may be worth adding alongside. Whatever you pick, make sure only one system retries each card. ## Related * [FlyCode vs Churnkey](https://docs.flycode.com/docs/read-more/flycode-vs-churnkey-for-failed-payment-recovery) * [FlyCode vs Butter Payments](https://docs.flycode.com/docs/read-more/flycode-vs-butter-payments-for-failed-payment-recovery) * [FlyCode vs. ProfitWell (Paddle Retain)](https://help.flycode.com/flycode-vs.-profitwell-paddle-retain) in the Help Center * [Dunning management 2026 guide](https://docs.flycode.com/docs/dunning-management-2026-guide) * [Stripe Smart Retries complete guide](https://docs.flycode.com/docs/stripe-smart-retries-complete-guide) --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. 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