ProfitWell Retain Pricing and What It Costs by MRR
By RevRescue team · · 7 min read
Estimate what failed payments cost you each month
Two numbers, no signup and no billing access needed.
ProfitWell Retain pricing has two models. Its help center says Retain is flat-fee for smaller companies, starting at 500 USD a month, and performance-based for larger companies, where the fee is tied to the revenue it recovers. Neither the performance rate nor the size where one model switches to the other is published, so the final number comes from a sales conversation.
That leaves a SaaS finance lead with a known floor and an unknown ceiling. Below is what Retain says about itself, what 500 USD a month takes out of recovered revenue at different MRR sizes, how a performance fee behaves as you grow, and when a cheaper flat fee tool such as RevRescue's dunning software is the better buy.
What ProfitWell Retain publishes about its pricing
Retain's help center has a short page titled "How much does Retain cost?". It says four things:
- the pricing model is performance-based for larger companies,
- it is flat-fee for smaller companies, starting at 500 USD a month,
- in the worst case you keep your current recovery rate at minimal cost,
- in the best case Retain recovers significantly more money for you.
There is no percentage, no table of tiers, no MRR threshold and no contract length on that page. The same help center lists setup guides for Stripe, Braintree, Maxio and Recharge, plus its parent company's own billing platform, which tells you which billing systems the quote can cover.
Some context helps here. ProfitWell was acquired in May 2022 by a merchant-of-record billing company for a reported 200M USD, and Retain now sits in that company's product line. Third-party roundups disagree on what that means for price. Some list Retain as bundled for merchants who bill through the parent platform, others quote a revenue share of a few percent of recovered revenue. None of those figures come from the vendor, so treat them as hints for your negotiation, not as a price.
How the flat fee and the performance fee work
The two models solve different problems for the vendor, and they feel very different on your side.
| Flat fee | Performance fee | |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets it | Smaller companies, per Retain's help center | Larger companies |
| Published amount | Starts at 500 USD a month | Not published |
| What it scales with | Set at signing, can change at renewal | Recovered revenue, often measured against a baseline |
| Good month | Fee stays the same | Fee goes up |
| Bad month | Fee stays the same | Fee goes down |
| Main thing to negotiate | The monthly amount and term | The rate and how the baseline is defined |
A flat fee is easy to budget but has a floor. If your failed payments are small, 500 USD can eat most of what comes back. A performance fee shrinks in a bad month, but it rises with your MRR forever, and the bill depends on a baseline that only the vendor can calculate.
What 500 USD a month means at your MRR
To see the real cost, put the fee next to what recovery actually returns. The table below assumes 6 percent of monthly charges fail and that a good tool recovers about 65 percent of those. Your numbers will differ, so treat this as an illustration and check your own in the recovery calculator.
| MRR | Failing each month | Recovered at 65% | Retain flat fee from | Share of recovery taken | RevRescue plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15,000 USD | 900 USD | 585 USD | 500 USD | 85% | Starter, 99 USD |
| 30,000 USD | 1,800 USD | 1,170 USD | 500 USD | 43% | Starter, 99 USD |
| 50,000 USD | 3,000 USD | 1,950 USD | 500 USD | 26% | Starter, 99 USD |
| 100,000 USD | 6,000 USD | 3,900 USD | 500 USD or a performance quote | 13% or more | Growth, 299 USD |
| 250,000 USD | 15,000 USD | 9,750 USD | Likely a performance quote | Depends on the rate | Growth, 299 USD |
Two things stand out. Under about 50,000 USD MRR, the 500 USD starting fee takes a large share of the gain, and in a small company it can take almost all of it. Above about 100,000 USD MRR you are likely in performance territory, where a share of a few percent of everything recovered can climb past a flat fee quickly, and it keeps rising as you grow.
Remember too that recovered revenue is not all new money. Stripe's own retries would have saved part of it anyway. With a flat fee that question does not touch your bill. With a performance fee it decides your bill, which is why the baseline matters so much.
Questions to ask before you sign a Retain quote
If Retain is on your shortlist, get these answers in writing:
- Which model applies to us, and at what MRR does it change? Ask what happens to the fee when you cross that line mid-contract.
- What is the performance rate, and on which revenue? Recovered invoices only, or also future months from a saved subscription?
- How is the baseline measured? Ask for the time window, whether Stripe's own recoveries count, and whether you can see the calculation.
- What is the contract term? Monthly, annual, or multi-year, and what notice is needed to leave.
- What is included? Retain also sells cancellation flows. Check whether the quote covers payment recovery only or both.
- Who changes the email copy and timing? Competing vendors claim changes go through Retain's support team. Ask to make a change yourself in the demo.
Put every quote in one sheet with the same twelve month horizon. Teams that buy a lot of software often run this through their procurement software so the terms, renewal dates and owners are tracked in one place.
What you get for the fee
Retain covers failed payment recovery with recovery emails, in-app reminders and a card update flow, timed by its own models. It also offers cancellation flows, which RevRescue does not. Vendor comparison pages from Churnkey and FlyCode describe Retain's emails as the same sequence for every customer and its retries as attempts layered on top of your billing system's retries. Those are competitors talking, so verify in a trial, but they point at a real setup question: only one system should run the retry clock on each invoice.
For comparison, RevRescue does these things for SaaS on Stripe:
- Retries by decline reason. Insufficient funds waits for a likely payday in the customer's time zone, processor errors are retried within hours, lost or stolen cards are never retried. See smart payment retries.
- Card update outreach. Hard declines get an email with a one click card update link, an SMS for customers who agreed to texts, and an in-app banner.
- High-value hand-off. Past due accounts above an MRR threshold go to a person on your team.
- A flat bill. Starter is 99 USD a month up to 50,000 USD MRR, Growth is 299 USD up to 250,000 USD MRR, and yearly billing halves both. Full details on the pricing page.
When a flat fee tool costs less than Retain
A lower flat fee wins in three common cases.
You are under about 50,000 USD MRR. The 500 USD starting fee takes a quarter or more of recovered revenue, while a 99 USD plan takes a few percent.
You are growing fast. A performance fee grows with every dollar recovered. A flat fee only changes when you move into the next MRR band, and the step is known in advance.
You bill directly on Stripe. Retain's strongest position is inside its parent billing platform. If you are on Stripe and do not want to move billing, a Stripe-native tool keeps the setup simple.
Retain is the better choice if you already bill through its parent platform, if you need Braintree, Maxio or Recharge support, or if you want cancel flows and recovery from one vendor. For the full switch checklist, see our ProfitWell Retain alternative page.
Other pricing pages worth reading
If you are comparing several tools at once, these breakdowns use the same method: Churnkey pricing, Churn Buster pricing, Baremetrics Recover pricing and FlyCode pricing. For a wider shortlist, see the best dunning management software.
ProfitWell Retain pricing questions
How much does ProfitWell Retain cost?
ProfitWell Retain costs from 500 USD a month on its flat-fee model for smaller companies, according to its help center. Larger companies get a performance-based price tied to recovered revenue, and the rate is not published. Ask sales for the full twelve month cost at your current MRR.
Is ProfitWell Retain free?
No. Retain is a paid product with a flat fee starting at 500 USD a month or a performance-based fee. ProfitWell Metrics, the analytics product, was offered free for years, which is where the confusion comes from. Some merchants on Retain's parent billing platform may get it bundled, so ask if that applies to you.
Is ProfitWell Retain worth it?
It is worth it when recovered revenue is several times the fee. At 100,000 USD MRR or more, 500 USD a month is a small share of recovery. Under about 30,000 USD MRR the starting fee can take half of the gain, and a lower flat fee tool usually returns more.
Does ProfitWell Retain charge a percentage of recovered revenue?
For larger companies, yes. Retain's help center calls this performance-based pricing. It does not publish the percentage or how the baseline is measured, so get both in writing and model the fee at your MRR a year from now, not just today.
What is a cheaper alternative to ProfitWell Retain?
For SaaS billing on Stripe, RevRescue starts at 99 USD a month up to 50,000 USD MRR and covers retries by decline code, card update emails and SMS, and an in-app banner. Churn Buster charges a flat fee by MRR. Size your own gain in the recovery calculator before you choose.
