Top 6 Tabs Alternatives Reviewed

Explore 6 leading Tabs alternatives for your business. Compare pricing, features, and integrations to make the best choice for your needs and budget.

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Introduction

Tabs is a revenue automation platform for modern B2B businesses that focuses on product-level billing configurations. It brings contract review, billing, receivables, payments, revenue recognition, and reporting together on the same AI-powered platform.

This guide examines Tabs' key limitations and compares six alternatives: Zenskar, Chargebee, Recurly, Zoho Billing, Stripe Billing, and Zuora. Each Tabs alternative is evaluated based on contract flexibility, automation capabilities, revenue recognition features, and integration depth.

Tabs comparison at a glance

Feature
Tabs
Zenskar
Chargebee
Recurly
Zoho Billing
Stripe Billing
Zuora
Best for
B2B businesses
B2B businesses
Scaling SaaS businesses
B2C subscription businesses
SMBs
Developer-driven teams using Stripe
Large enterprises with complex compliance needs
Contract-level flexibility
Product-level only (limitations with contract-level features)
Native contract-level features
Limited
Limited
Limited
Limited
Advanced
Prepaid credits & entitlements
No native entitlements module
Native entitlements module
Limited
No
No
Limited
Advanced
Revenue recognition
Cannot push to ERP systems, not configurable
Automated ASC 606 & IFRS 15
Basic
Basic
No
Basic
Advanced
ERP integrations
Basic object sync only, no Xero integration
Deep integration with journal entries
Basic object sync
Limited
Limited
Limited
Enterprise-grade
Customer portal
Not available
Fully customizable
Available
Available
Basic
Limited
Enterprise
Usage alerts
Not available
Email and webhook alerts
Available
Limited
No
Limited
Advanced
Implementation time
Weeks
Days
Weeks
Weeks
Weeks
Weeks
Months
Pricing
Custom
Custom
Starts at $249/month
Starts at $249/month
Starts at $25/month
0.7% of billing volume
Custom enterprise pricing

Top 6 Tabs alternatives and competitors

1. Tabs vs Zenskar

Zenskar is a modern billing and revenue recognition platform designed for B2B SaaS companies requiring contract-level complexity and flexible pricing models. Unlike Tabs' product-level approach, Zenskar provides native contract-level features and comprehensive entitlements management.

Key differences between Zenskar and Maxio

Feature
Zenskar
Tabs
Contract-Level Flexibility
Built for contract-level complexity with both product and contract-level features out of the box. Native support for cross-product and contract-level logic with no need for workarounds.
Product-level build only where each product (line item) is treated as an atomic unit. Limitations when dealing with group/contract-level features.
Prepaid Credits & Entitlements
Native entitlements support allows you to manage prepaid contracts seamlessly with built-in entitlements. Grant credits to customers, track usage, and deplete balances without writing code.
No native entitlements module leading to no way to track credits or prepaid usage. No support for prepaid billing.
Usage Metering
Zenskar ingests raw usage data in any format via API, CSV upload, or remote DB connection. Usage is fully decoupled from pricing. Zenskar maps every usage event to the right contract and invoice without needing product-specific identifiers.
Because each product is treated as a separate atomic unit, managing usage across products or at the contract level becomes difficult.
Revenue Recognition
Automates all accounts that deal with the customer side of your business: AR, Revenue accounts, Unbilled revenue, Deferred revenue, Payment gateway expenses and receivables, Gateway payouts, Sales tax payables, Customer wallet liabilities. Handles complex revenue allocation for usage-based models.
Cannot push revenue recognition data to ERP systems. Performance obligations are closely tied to invoice line items and cannot differ from them. Revenue logic is not configurable.
ERP Integrations
Supports deep ERP integrations, including object sync and Journal entry sync. Sync revenue, invoices, payments, and journal entries with platforms like NetSuite, QuickBooks, and Xero.
ERP integration supports only basic object sync. Does not create all journal entries to automate AR, revenue, unbilled revenue, deferred revenue, payment gateway charges, etc. No Xero integration.
APIs
API-first platform. Anything possible in UI can also be done using APIs. Offers simple, user-friendly open APIs. Easy integration with core systems.
Offers a limited set of APIs that are not very user-friendly.
Reporting
Gives complete control to create any chart or report you need for your business through a simple UI. Charts like ARR, MRR, overdue invoices, revenue waterfall, churn reporting etc, are available.
Tabs has a basic reporting module and provides reports which are limited to revenue waterfall charts, overdue invoices, etc.
Customer Portal
Fully customizable self-serve customer portal. Customers can view active contracts, invoices, balances, edit account information, and make payments.
Does not offer a customer portal. Customers cannot manage their billing or subscriptions autonomously.

Matt Branard

VP Finance

70% faster month-end closing

"We're able to automate revenue recognition accurately for our value-based billing, reducing the manual hours spent by 70%."

Noy Kalansky

Saved 200+ hours of grunt work

"We're saving 200+ hours/quarter on invoicing and receivables management by completely automating our recurring billing."

Pros

  • Automates billing for subscriptions, usage-based, hybrid, and multi-year contracts
  • Native entitlements management with credit tracking and usage depletion
  • Contract-level flexibility with cross-product logic and minimum commitments
  • Comprehensive revenue recognition automation for ASC 606/IFRS 15 compliance
  • Deep ERP integrations with journal entry sync for NetSuite, QuickBooks, and Xero
  • API-first platform with user-friendly open APIs
  • Advanced analytics module with full billing and revenue data access
  • Fully customizable customer portal
  • Usage alerts with email and webhook notifications
  • Quick implementation within days

Cons

  • No built-in CPQ but integrates with third-party CPQ tools
Zenskar automates billing and rev rec for service-based industries with custom pricing. Source: G2
Zenskar automates billing and rev rec for service-based industries with custom pricing.
Source: G2

2. Tabs vs Chargebee

Chargebee is a subscription management platform optimized for scaling B2B and B2C SaaS businesses. It offers strong automation for standard subscription workflows but lacks native usage-based billing support.

Chargebee lacks built-in usage-based billing and requires workarounds.
Source: Chargebee

Pros

  • Strong subscription lifecycle automation, including trials, upgrades, downgrades, and renewals
  • 60+ integrations with CRMs, ERPs, and payment gateways
  • Built-in dunning management to reduce failed payments
  • Supports multi-currency transactions for international operations
  • Tax compliance automation via Avalara integration
  • Basic revenue recognition features for standard compliance
  • User-friendly UI with extensive documentation

Pros

  • Lacks built-in usage-based billing; requires workarounds
  • Limited customization for invoicing and templates
  • Reporting lacks depth for MRR and ARR insights
  • Limited analytics on customer cohorts and revenue trends
  • Pricing includes revenue-based fees
  • Enterprise features require higher-tier plans
  • Customer support can be slow for non-enterprise users

3. Tabs vs Recurly

Recurly is a recurring billing platform with a focus on subscription automation and churn management. It is best suited for high-volume, B2C subscriptions.

Recurly charges fees on all payment attempts, even fraudulent ones.
Source: Recurly

Pros

  • Recurring billing automation for subscriptions and trials
  • Multi-subscription support within a single account
  • Basic churn analytics to track customer retention
  • Fraud protection tools for payment security
  • Subscription cancellation insights to analyze churn causes
  • Supports multiple payment methods including ACH and PayPal
  • Basic tax compliance features with integrations

Pros

  • Limited pricing flexibility for custom contracts
  • Rigid invoicing templates with minimal customization
  • Transaction fees on every payment attempt including fraudulent ones
  • Reporting lacks depth for financial analysis
  • No real-time automation of revenue recognition
  • Integrations with QuickBooks and Salesforce have syncing issues
  • Customer support has inconsistent response times

4. Tabs vs Zoho Billing

Zoho Billing is a low-cost subscription billing platform designed for small to mid-sized businesses.

Zoho Billing offers basic reporting with limited analytics.
Source: Zoho Billing

Pros

  • Affordable pricing with low monthly fees
  • Basic automation for invoicing and payments
  • Multi-currency support for small international businesses
  • Customizable email notifications for billing reminders
  • Integrates natively with Zoho ecosystem
  • Tax automation for global compliance
  • Basic dunning automation to reduce payment failures

Pros

  • Limited third-party integrations outside of Zoho products
  • Basic reporting with limited analytics
  • Lacks usage-based billing support
  • No real-time revenue recognition
  • Limited automation for complex billing scenarios
  • Customer support is email-based and not immediate
  • Not designed for enterprise-level scalability

5. Tabs vs Stripe Billing

Stripe Billing is a modular subscription and invoicing platform designed for companies already using Stripe's payment infrastructure. It offers strong API-based customization but lacks advanced financial automation features.

Stripe’s invoice customization is minimal compared to competitors.
Source: Stripe Billing

Pros

  • Highly customizable APIs for developers to build tailored billing workflows
  • Supports multiple pricing models including flat-rate, usage-based, and hybrid
  • Seamless integration with Stripe Payments for global transactions
  • Multi-currency support with localized pricing
  • Automated invoicing with smart retry mechanisms for failed payments
  • Robust documentation and community support for developers
  • Straightforward pay-as-you-go pricing (0.7% of billing volume)

Pros

  • Lacks native revenue recognition; requires third-party SaaS accounting tools.
  • Invoice customization is minimal compared to competitors.
  • No built-in dunning automation; relies on third-party solutions.
  • Limited reporting and analytics for financial tracking.
  • Requires engineering bandwidth for implementation and maintenance.
  • Not ideal for companies needing contract-based billing.
  • Restricted to Stripe ecosystem, limiting flexibility with alternative payment providers.

6. Tabs vs Zuora

Zuora is an enterprise-grade subscription and revenue management platform designed for large businesses with complex recurring revenue models. It offers advanced multi-entity support, compliance automation, and deep financial integrations.

Zuora requires a high degree of configuration.
Source: Zuora

Pros

  • Supports enterprise-grade billing including contract-based, milestone, and hybrid pricing
  • Multi-entity support for large organizations operating in different jurisdictions
  • 40+ pre-built payment gateway connectors for global transactions
  • Automated revenue recognition with ASC 606/IFRS 15 compliance
  • Customizable analytics dashboards for deep financial insights
  • Advanced churn management with predictive analytics
  • Seamless ERP and CRM integrations including NetSuite and Salesforce

Pros

  • Long implementation timelines; setup can take months.
  • High total cost of ownership with additional fees for advanced features.
  • Requires technical expertise to configure and maintain.
  • Customer support varies by tier, with priority access only for enterprise clients.
  • Complex user interface with a steep learning curve.
  • Invoice customization is limited, requiring engineering workarounds.
  • Revenue recognition is not real-time and may require manual adjustments.

5 common challenges with Tabs that finance teams face

1. Product-level limitations

Tabs treats each product as an atomic unit, creating limitations when dealing with contract-level features such as minimum commitments or cross-product credit applications. Features at the contract level are harder to implement and often require workarounds.

2. No native entitlements management

 Tabs lacks a native entitlements module, providing no way to track credits or prepaid usage. This absence forces businesses to require engineering bandwidth to support prepaid billing models.

3. Limited revenue recognition capabilities

Revenue recognition is available only within Tabs and cannot push data to ERP systems. The functionality is dependent on the product level, and performance obligations are closely tied to invoice line items without configurability.

4. Basic ERP integration

ERP integration supports only basic object sync and does not create journal entries to automate accounts receivable, revenue, unbilled revenue, deferred revenue, or payment gateway charges. There is no Xero integration, limiting usability for companies using Xero for accounting.

5. No customer portal

Tabs does not offer a customer portal, preventing customers from managing their billing or subscriptions autonomously.

What to look for in the best Tabs alternative?

1. Contract-level flexibility

  • Contract Amendments → Seamless handling of upgrades, downgrades, and mid-cycle changes
  • Native Contract Features → Support for minimum commitments, cross-product credits, and custom performance obligations
  • Multi-Product Logic → Ability to define rules once at the contract level and handle complex scenarios automatically

2. Prepaid credits & entitlements

  • Credit Management → Grant and manage credits without engineering involvement
  • Native Entitlements Module → Built-in support for managing prepaid contracts and credit tracking
  • Usage Depletion → Automatic tracking of usage against prepaid balances

3. Advanced usage metering

  • Format Flexibility → Ability to ingest raw usage data in any format via API, CSV, or database connection
  • Decoupled Usage → Usage tracking independent of pricing models
  • Automatic Mapping → Intelligent mapping of usage events to contracts and invoices

4. Comprehensive revenue recognition

  • Full Automation → Automated handling of all customer-side accounts including AR, revenue, unbilled revenue, deferred revenue
  • Compliance Support → ASC 606/IFRS 15 compliant revenue recognition
  • Real-time Adjustments → Automatic adjustments based on usage and contract changes

5. Deep ERP integrations

  • Journal Entry Sync → Creation and sync of all necessary journal entries
  • Multi-platform Support → Integration with NetSuite, QuickBooks, Xero, and other ERP systems
  • Two-way Sync → Bidirectional data flow between billing and accounting systems

6. Customer self-service

  • Customizable Portal → Fully branded customer portal for billing management
  • Account Management → Customer ability to view contracts, invoices, balances, and make payments
  • Subscription Control → Self-service subscription and billing management

7. Advanced analytics & reporting

  • Full Data Access → Complete access to all billing and revenue data
  • Custom Reports → Ability to create any chart or report needed for business
  • Pre-built Analytics → Out-of-the-box charts for ARR, MRR, churn, revenue waterfall

8. API-first architecture

  • Comprehensive APIs → Full API coverage for all UI functionality
  • User-friendly Design → Simple, well-documented APIs for easy integration
  • Real-time Capabilities → APIs that support real-time data processing

What makes Zenskar the best Tabs alternative?

Zenskar's contract-level flexibility, native entitlements management, and comprehensive revenue recognition automation make it the ideal solution for businesses requiring advanced billing capabilities beyond product-level configurations.

To experience Zenskar’s automation capabilities, book a demo or take an interactive product tour.

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know about the product and billing. Can’t find what you are looking for? Please chat with our friendly team/Detailed documentation is here.

01
What are the best alternatives to Tabs for contract-level billing?

The best alternatives for contract-level billing include Zenskar (for comprehensive contract flexibility), Zuora (for enterprise complexity), and Stripe Billing (for developer-friendly APIs). Zenskar stands out with native contract-level features and cross-product logic support.

02
What are the main limitations of Tabs?

Key limitations include product-level only architecture, no native entitlements management, limited revenue recognition that cannot push to ERP systems, basic ERP integrations without journal entry creation, and no customer portal for self-service billing management.

03
What features should I prioritize in a Tabs alternative?

Essential features to prioritise in a Tabs alternative includes contract-level flexibility, native entitlements management, comprehensive revenue recognition automation, deep ERP integrations with journal entry sync, customizable customer portal, advanced analytics capabilities, and API-first architecture for seamless integrations.