Churnkey
Comprehensive retention suite
Starts around $250/mo.
Backstop
Recovery + cancel flow, flat-fee
$79 / mo Pro · $759 / yr annual (−20%) · 0% rev share · 14-day Pro trial, then 10/mo free.
Annual cost calculator
How much would you save?
Churnkey / yr
$3,000
$250/mo · 12 mo
Backstop Pro / yr
$948
$79 / mo · 0% rev share
You save
$2,052
68% less
Rough numbers — your real cost depends on the competitor's tier mix and your workspace size. Use these as a starting point, not a quote.
Recovery loop
Smart retries (Stripe-aware schedule)
Decline-code-aware retry timing
4-touch dunning email sequence
Hosted card-update pages (PCI SAQ-A)
Pre-dunning card-expiry warnings
Manual + bulk campaign override
Auto-close stale campaigns
Per-decline-code recovery forecast
They call it Smart Receivables; we call it Recovery insights.
Cancel flow + customer portal
Full hosted portal that replaces Stripe billing portal
The core difference. Churnkey is cancel-flow-centric — it has no standalone customer portal of its own; you embed its cancel modal into Stripe's portal or a third-party one. Backstop ships a white-labeled portal that REPLACES Stripe's billing portal: pause, cancel-into-save-flow, update card, switch plan, live plan name — all on your domain.
Visual flow builder
Discount + pause + downgrade + schedule-call offers
Conditional offers by survey answer
Save-rate analytics with funnel
A/B testing per cancel-flow version
Discount approval policies (max %, cooldown)
Embed on your site (drop-in JS, hosted redirect, or AI install)
Backstop offers three installs: a one-line embed.js modal on your domain, a no-SDK hosted redirect, or a paste-into-Cursor/Claude prompt. Churnkey open-sourced its SDK (MIT) and ships a free MCP server.
HMAC-signed embed tokens
Lifecycle emails + branding
Reactivation campaigns ("we miss you")
Trial-end reminder emails
Win-back tracking (re-subscription detection)
One-click reactivation link in win-back email (no login)
A tokenized link drops the canceled customer back on their prior plan via Stripe Checkout — reason-branched copy, default 2nd touch.
Send emails from your own verified domain (SES / Resend)
Both send from your domain; Backstop includes it on the $79 Pro plan rather than a higher tier.
Per-workspace email branding (color, logo, From)
Subject-line A/B testing
One-click unsubscribe (RFC 8058)
Integrations + dev experience
Public read-only REST API
Open-source SDK + MCP server
Churnkey open-sourced its SDK and ships a free MCP server. Backstop's angle is a paste-into-Cursor/Claude install prompt that wires the snippet for you.
Outbound webhooks (HMAC-signed)
Slack + Discord notifications
CSV export (campaigns, customers, sessions)
Audit log of admin actions
Webhook event replay from the dashboard
When something downstream hiccups, hit replay instead of waiting for Stripe to re-send.
Pricing
Starting price
Churnkey's Starter is $250/mo billed annually for under ~$5k/mo churn volume. Core, Intelligence, and Enterprise are custom-quote (typically $10k+/mo churn volume).
Free tier
Revenue share
Annual discount
Processor support
Migration takes 15 minutes.
See the detailed walkthroughMost Churnkey customers are already using Stripe Connect, which means our setup is already done. Here's the rest:
Step 1
Connect your Stripe account
One OAuth click, ~30 seconds — we never see your secret key. Stripe Connect uses a read_write grant (recovery has to retry invoices, apply coupons, and pause/cancel on your behalf); it stays scoped to your account, encrypted at rest, and revocable from Stripe in one click. The same account talks to Churnkey and Backstop at once — no conflict.
Step 2
Recreate your cancel flow from a template
Pick "SaaS Standard" or "Annual Upsell" as a starting point — both ship with the same survey + offer + confirm structure Churnkey defaults to. Edit the offer terms to match what you had, then publish.
Step 3
Install the cancel flow + point your manage button at the portal
Three ways to install — pick one: drop in our one-line embed.js for an on-your-domain modal, use a no-SDK hosted redirect link, or paste our AI prompt into Cursor / Claude Code and let it wire the snippet. Then point your "Manage subscription" button at the Backstop portal so it replaces Stripe's billing portal.
Step 4
Run side-by-side for 2 weeks
Your 14-day Pro trial covers the full feature set — compare recovery rate + save rate apples-to-apples for two weeks. Decide. Cancel the loser.
Where Churnkey wins
Churnkey has been doing this longer and goes wider. They're multi-processor (Stripe, Chargebee, Recurly, Braintree, Paddle) where we're Stripe-only. They ship things we deliberately don't: SMS dunning, AI Adaptive Offers that auto-tune discounts, an Account Agent, and Feedback AI. They open-sourced their SDK (MIT) and ship a free MCP server. Their support org is bigger and their retry-timing models have more historical data. If you bill on multiple processors, want SMS in the dunning mix, or need AI to optimize your offers, Churnkey is the more complete tool and we won't pretend otherwise. Use Backstop if you're Stripe-native, want a full billing-portal replacement, send-from-your-domain email, flat $79 pricing, and a real free tier to start on.
Switch when you're sure
Test-drive on free, switch when you're sure.
Run Backstop alongside Churnkeyfor two weeks on the free tier. Compare recovery rates side by side, then move when you're convinced. We export your data on the way out — no lock-in either direction.
Zrionix Technology · founder-led · we read every reply