Top Free Alternatives to Stripe
Stop paying expensive subscriptions for Payments & Billing tools. Discover the best free and open-source replacements for Stripe.
Why switch from Stripe?
Stripe is easy to start with, but transaction margins and monthly recurring billing calculation fees eat into your revenue. Open-source subscription management and billing systems sit on top of any payment gateway and give you full control over your billing code and logic.
Lago
Free / Open Source
Open-source metering and usage-based billing library. The Stripe Billing and Chargebee alternative.
Key Features
- Usage-based billing
- Subscription management
- Invoicing & tax calculation
- Segment/Stripe integrations
Pros
- + Excellent for usage-based/developer APIs
- + Completely free to self-host with no transaction cut
- + Modern API and developer experience
Cons
- - Still requires a merchant gateway (like Stripe or Adyen) for payments
- - Fewer out-of-the-box global tax automation features
Kill Bill
Free / Open Source
Open-source subscription billing and payment platform. Highly modular and enterprise-ready.
Key Features
- Multi-tenant billing engine
- Complex subscription flows
- Payment router
- Analytics dashboards
Pros
- + Extremely robust and battle-tested for enterprise workloads
- + Supports hundreds of payment plugins
- + Fully customizable catalog system
Cons
- - Large Java codebase with a steep learning curve
- - Dashboard UI feels dated compared to Lago