Business Academy - Baremetrics

Top 6 Revenue Analytics Tools for SaaS Businesses

Written by Ana Gotter | October 05, 2023

SaaS businesses typically have an incredibly full tech stack. They typically have a combination of CRM, sales forecasting and enablement tools, marketing tools, customer service and help desk support platforms, cyber security tools, invoicing software, and so much more. 

If you don’t have it already, revenue analytics must be added to that tech stack. You don’t just want to know where your traffic is coming from or their actions on your site, you want to understand how specific actions or triggers impact revenue-earning (or revenue-costing) events. 

So today, we’re going to look at six of the best revenue analytics tools for SaaS businesses to help you find a perfect solution. 

Why You Need Dedicated Subscription Analytics for SaaS Brands

Revenue analytics platforms are any analytics tool that provides insights into what’s driving revenue for your company (and ideally gives some ideas for what can be optimized to maximize profit). 

There are plenty of great revenue analytics platforms on the market, but we strongly recommend that SaaS brands specifically focus on subscription analytics platforms

The majority of SaaS tools use subscription business models, which means that their revenue analytics platform must have subscription features. Plenty of revenue analytics platforms do not offer subscription-monitoring metrics like monthly recurring revenue (MRR), whereas subscription revenue analytics platforms will prioritize that data.

Subscriptions have their own unique metrics that you must track to optimize your customer journey and sell more— finding a tool that helps you do that is crucial. 

6 Best Revenue Analytics Tools for 2023

Wondering which revenue analytics tools areright for your SaaS company? Let’s look at the six best revenue analytics tools in 2023 and which is right for you. 

1. Baremetrics 

Best For: Startups  

Baremetrics is a revenue and subscription analytics tool that was designed specifically with startup SaaS businesses in mind. 

We don’t just want to show you numbers, though, and let you try to fill in the blanks with best guesses and hypotheses about what it all means. We want to help you understand your business’s overall growth both throughout your financial history, but also by comparing your metrics with others from similar companies.

Baremetrics is the only tool that includes subscription metrics, revenue recovery, cancellation insights, and advanced forecasting features all in one tool. You can access all of the information you need in a single dashboard so you can take action quickly. 

We can help you:

  • Track over 25 different SaaS-focused subscription metrics to really understand where your revenue is coming from (and how to optimize for growth)
  • Receive accurate, reliable data; unlike other tools, we don’t inflate your numbers by including customers who have canceled, paused, or delinquent accounts 
  • Get cancellation insights to help you understand why customers are churning, and which cancellation drivers are costing you the most revenue
  • Recover revenue by understanding why failed payments happen and how to resolve them,since many subscription companies lose up to 9% of MRR monthly due to failed payments, this is significant

Our software is designed to help you maximize revenue in actuality, not just in theory. Our Recover tool, for example, will email customers before a card fails, after it fails, and up to six more times until they update their card, drastically reducing lost revenue and even churn.

Our forecasting features can help you assess likely revenue given past trends and current data, allowing you to plan for cash flow or identify opportunities for potential growth. 

These features were all designed with startups in mind so we can give you the data and tools you need to maximize revenue and growth quickly. 

Learn more about how Baremetrics works here:

What is Revenue Recognition? 

2. Chargebee

Best For:  Companies who want to automate subscription billing and access basic analytics  

Chargebee is a revenue growth management platform for subscription brands. Their revenue recognition software consolidates revenue data, analyzes it based on the recognition rules your business creates, and then automatically calculates revenue. 

Compliance is always crucial when you’re looking at finance tracking, and Chargebee’s platform is in compliance with ASC 606/ IFRS-15’s five-step model. This software is an accountant’s dream, though it may not have all of the metrics that other dedicated subscription analytics tools offer. 

3. ProfitWell by Paddle

Best For:  Companies who want to automate subscription management + access analytics  

Paddle is an optimization-focused subscription management tool first, and it comes with the added benefit of financial analytics. They have features to help you price products currently to increase revenue, and to help retain customers longer. 

Their financial analytics tool, ProfitWell Metrics, breaks down the major subscription metrics SaaS businesses need to keep their eye on, including MRR, number of active vs. current customers, revenue per customers, and number of upgrades vs. downgrades.

There are some great automation features here designed to increase revenue, like the ability to automatically nudge free trial users to convert if they display certain behaviors, or setting alerts for high-risk relationships. Your sales team can use this information to close more deals, which can be a huge advantage. 

4. ChartMogul 

Best For: Companies looking for automated revenue analytics  

ChartMogul is a subscription-first platform that comes with multiple suits of tools, including a CRM and (of course) revenue analytics. 

This platform looks at SaaS subscription metrics, importing, organizing, and analyzing data from the billing sources you’re already using. It has segmentation data, so you can see how different audience segments retain, churn, and behave over their lifecycle. 

They effectively track major SaaS metrics like annual recurring revenue (ARR), customer lifetime value (LTV), and churn, and you can access the data on their desktop or mobile apps. 

5. Maxio 

Best For: Large enterprises with big budgets  

Maxio, formerly SaaSOptics, is a great subscription management platform for large enterprises with big budgets. The price can be prohibitive for smaller or newer brands, but it does have plenty of great features worth investing in if you’ve got money to burn on your tech stack.

Maxio’s Revenue Recognition features in particular make it a great revenue analytics option. You can set up complex revenue recognition scenarios, configuring revenue recognition models as needed (even on a per-contract basis). You can apply an allocation rule to each contract, and it’s got auditing features built-in to protect your business if an audit is ever needed.

You can see how it works here:

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6. Stripe 

Best For: Companies wanting primarily payment processing + analytics 

Stripe is primarily a payment processing tool that many SaaS brands are likely already familiar with. It also comes with subscription management billing features, like recurring billing, usage billing, and multiple price-point options.

They also offer financial reports using accrual accounting methods to help you understand what’s happening with your revenue. You can monitor recognized and deferred revenue, as well as track month-over-month stats about number of disputes, refunds, and debt.

 

Stripe is an outstanding revenue analytics tool, but we feel that it’s most useful from an accounting point of view. You can get a great idea of what’s happening with your revenue, but some of the other tools on this list are geared more towards learning about the customer experience instead of being accountant-focused. 

Final Thoughts: What to Look for In Revenue Analytics Tools 

There are clearly plenty of great subscription revenue analytics tools that can benefit SaaS businesses, so knowing what you want and how to make a selection is key.

When considering different tools, we strongly recommend identifying key features or criteria you want to meet and then narrowing down the list of tools accordingly.

Make sure you account for the following:

  • Budget alignment. Is the tool you’re considering affordable? oes it have all the features you need for the budget you have, or would you need additional tools or product add-ons?
  • Scalability. Can the software you’re considering actually scale with your business? 
  • Features needed. Does it have the specific features you need? If you’re looking for a tool with detailed analytics, you may not want to choose a tool that treats analytics as a bonus add-on, offering limited metrics. Ideally, look for a tool that has actionable insights and features to help you capitalize on revenue growth. 
  • Data accuracy. Unfortunately, a lot of analytics tools do not guarantee accurate data. Many lump inactive or delinquent customers, for example, into MRR, even though that’s income you’re unlikely to ever see. Prioritize data accuracy, or the analytics aren’t as helpful as you’d think.
  • Support availability. If you need any kind of support, you want to know you can get it. Read customer reviews to learn about each tool’s customer support— don’t just take the company’s word for it.
  • Transparent pricing. Too many subscription tools have unclear or complicated pricing models, which can easily land you outside of your budget fast. Look for tools that offer transparent pricing. 

Ready to get the data you need to maximize revenue growth for your SaaS subscription business? Start your free 14-day trial with Baremetrics now!