Done-for-you recovery vs dunning software
By Sean Weas · Co-Founder, Product & EngineeringReviewed by Jay StevensUpdated 3 min readQuick answer
There are two ways to recover failed subscription payments. Dunning software (Churnkey, Churn Buster, Stripe Smart Retries) gives your team tools to configure retries and messaging that you run yourself — and automated dunning alone tends to recover around 20%, because Stripe retries a card a few times and gives up. A done-for-you service (Revatto, Gravy, Recover Payments) operates the recovery for you — a team writes and sends the outreach under your brand, and human outreach lifts recovery to 60–85%+. Software means control and a predictable SaaS fee but ongoing internal effort; done-for-you means zero internal effort and, with Revatto, you only pay when it works — 20% of the first recovered payment, $0 setup, $0 monthly, cancel anytime.
DIY dunning software vs Revatto, at a glance
Compared
Dunning software (DIY)
Revatto
Dunning software (DIY)
Revatto
Dunning software (DIY)
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Dunning software (DIY)
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Dunning software (DIY)
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Dunning software (DIY)
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Dunning software (DIY)
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DIY dunning software vs Revatto, in depth
What you get with software
Self-serve dunning software gives you full control: you configure retry timing, write the email and SMS sequences, A/B test, and (with tools like Churnkey) own the in-product cancel flow. Pricing is a predictable SaaS subscription. The trade is your team's time — someone has to set it up, tune it, read the responses, and keep the playbook current.
What you get with done-for-you
A managed service operates recovery for you. With Revatto, a team plus AI writes and sends the outreach under your brand across email, SMS, and human follow-up — you do not even have to read the responses. Pricing is a commission on recovered revenue, so there is no fixed cost. The trade is less in-product control: an outside team handles the customer conversations, and a service does not embed a cancel button inside your product the way in-app software does.
Where DIY dunning software is the better fit
- You have the operations bandwidth and want to own your retention strategy in-house, configuring and iterating on it yourself.
- Your biggest leak is the cancel button (voluntary churn), where in-product save-flow software like Churnkey is strongest.
- You prefer a fixed, predictable SaaS subscription and a tool your engineers can embed directly in your product.