Customer.io vs Recurly

Two Keep customers longer tools side by side: what each does, what it costs and who it suits.

The verdict Side by side Plans and pricing Who each is for Other options

The verdict

On the data we hold, it's close: neither pulls ahead on features, a free plan or AI access. The choice comes down to how you work.

What the data says

Both cover 1 of the 1 features we compared.
Customer.io starts lower, at $100/mo against $249/mo.
Both have an API and an MCP server, so either works with AI employees.
In our Keep customers longer ranking, Customer.io places 6 and Recurly 8 of 14.

Side by side

Customer.io and Recurly compared
5 points compared	Customer.io	Recurly
Starts at	$100/mo	$249/mo
Free plan	No	No
API	Yes	Yes
MCP server	Yes	Yes
In-app guides and messages	Yes	Yes
Links	Visit	Visit

Plans and pricing

Customer.io

EssentialsFrom $100 a month billed monthly; 5,000 profiles and 1 million emails a month included.$100/mo
PremiumFrom $1,000 a month billed yearly, with custom profile and email volume.$12,000/yr

Recurly

Starter$249 per month plus 0.9% of billing volume; the first $40K of monthly billings are included.$249/mo
Engage (add-on)Churn prevention add-on from $1,600 per month, billed annually; price depends on prompt volume.$19,200/yr
RevRec (add-on)Revenue recognition add-on from $850 per month, billed annually; price depends on billing volume.$10,200/yr

Prices as the vendors list them. They change often; the final price is on their sites.

Who each is for

Choose Customer.io if…

Product and lifecycle teams at SaaS and consumer apps that want behaviour-triggered messages across email, SMS, push and in-app, and have an engineer or data-minded marketer to wire up events.

Visit Read the review

Choose Recurly if…

Subscription and digital commerce businesses with real billing volume, such as growing SaaS companies, that need failed-payment recovery, several gateways and billing handled outside their own code.

Visit Read the review

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