Stripe Analytics Tools Compared: Finding the Right Dashboard
Stripe is an exceptional payment processor, but its built-in reporting was not designed to be a full SaaS analytics platform. As your subscription business grows, you will inevitably hit the limits of the default Stripe dashboard and need a dedicated tool for tracking MRR, churn, lifetime value, and other subscription metrics.
The good news is that there are several solid options available. The challenge is figuring out which one fits your specific needs, budget, and stage of growth. This guide provides a practical comparison of the most popular Stripe analytics tools to help you make that decision.
Why the Default Stripe Dashboard Falls Short
Stripe’s reporting has improved significantly over the years, and for very early-stage businesses it may be sufficient. However, there are several gaps that become painful as you scale:
- No MRR decomposition. Stripe shows you total revenue, but it does not break MRR into New, Expansion, Contraction, and Churned components. Without this breakdown, you cannot identify what is actually driving your growth or decline.
- Limited cohort analysis. Understanding how different groups of customers behave over time is critical for retention strategy. Stripe does not offer cohort-based views of revenue or churn.
- No revenue forecasting. Stripe tells you what happened. It does not project what is likely to happen based on current trends.
- Mixed revenue types. If your business has both subscription and one-time revenue (setup fees, consulting, add-ons), Stripe does not cleanly separate these for reporting purposes.
- Basic segmentation. Filtering and segmenting customers by plan, geography, acquisition source, or other dimensions is limited in native Stripe reporting.
For a solo founder with 20 customers, these limitations are manageable. For a growing team making decisions about pricing, product investment, and hiring, they become a real problem.
Baremetrics
Baremetrics was one of the first dedicated Stripe analytics tools and helped popularize the idea of a “metrics dashboard” for SaaS companies. It connects to Stripe (and other payment processors) and provides a clean interface for tracking standard SaaS metrics.
Strengths:
- Mature product. Baremetrics has been around since 2013 and has a well-established feature set covering MRR, churn, LTV, and other core metrics.
- Open Startups feature. Their public dashboard feature allows companies to share their metrics publicly, which has become a popular transparency practice in the startup community.
- Cancellation insights. Baremetrics includes tools for collecting feedback when customers cancel and offers features to attempt recovery of failed payments.
- Benchmarking. They aggregate anonymized data across their customer base to provide industry benchmarks, which can be useful for context.
Weaknesses:
- Pricing scales with MRR. Baremetrics prices based on your monthly recurring revenue, which means your analytics cost grows as your business grows. For a company at $50K MRR, you could be paying several hundred dollars per month.
- Can feel bloated. Over the years, Baremetrics has expanded into areas like email tools and payment recovery. If you just want clean analytics, some of these features add complexity without value.
- Historical data processing. Importing and processing historical Stripe data can take time, and some users report discrepancies during the initial sync period.
Best for: Established SaaS companies that want a comprehensive, battle-tested metrics platform and do not mind paying a premium that scales with their revenue.
ChartMogul
ChartMogul positions itself as a “subscription analytics platform” and supports a wider range of data sources than most competitors. Beyond Stripe, it can ingest data from other billing systems and even custom data sources via API.
Strengths:
- Multi-source data. If your billing is spread across multiple systems (Stripe plus a custom invoicing system, for example), ChartMogul can unify the data into a single view.
- Strong segmentation. ChartMogul offers robust filtering and segmentation capabilities, allowing you to slice metrics by plan, geography, custom attributes, and more.
- Data enrichment. You can augment your billing data with custom attributes via their API, enabling more sophisticated analysis.
- Generous free tier. ChartMogul offers a free plan for companies under a certain revenue threshold, making it accessible for early-stage startups.
Weaknesses:
- Complexity. The flexibility that makes ChartMogul powerful also makes it more complex to set up and configure, especially if you want to take advantage of custom data sources and attributes.
- Steeper learning curve. Compared to simpler tools, there is more to learn before you can get full value from ChartMogul. The interface has many options, which can be overwhelming initially.
- Overkill for simple setups. If your billing is entirely in Stripe and you just need clean metrics, ChartMogul’s multi-source architecture adds unnecessary complexity.
Best for: SaaS companies with complex billing setups, multiple payment processors, or a need for advanced segmentation and custom data enrichment.
ProfitWell (now Paddle)
ProfitWell made a name for itself by offering free subscription analytics, monetizing instead through its retention and pricing optimization products. In 2022, Paddle acquired ProfitWell, and the product has been evolving under new ownership.
Strengths:
- Free core analytics. The base metrics dashboard remains free, which is hard to argue with. For bootstrapped startups watching every dollar, this is a significant advantage.
- Pricing research tools. ProfitWell’s pricing optimization features help SaaS companies analyze willingness to pay and optimize their pricing strategy. This is a genuinely differentiated capability.
- Retain product. Their churn reduction tool automates payment recovery and cancellation flow optimization, which can directly impact revenue retention.
Weaknesses:
- Paddle integration push. Since the acquisition, there has been increasing emphasis on Paddle’s payment processing. If you are committed to Stripe, the long-term direction of ProfitWell within the Paddle ecosystem is worth considering.
- Uncertain roadmap. Acquisitions always introduce uncertainty. The product you adopt today may look quite different in a year as priorities shift under new ownership.
- Limited customization. The free analytics dashboard is solid for standard metrics but offers less flexibility for custom analysis compared to paid alternatives.
Best for: Early-stage SaaS companies that want free analytics and are interested in pricing optimization tools. Also worth considering if you are evaluating Paddle as a payment processor.
Subdash
Subdash is a newer entrant in the Stripe analytics space, built specifically around the needs of SaaS founders who want clear, actionable metrics without the complexity or cost of larger platforms.
Strengths:
- Tracks both subscription and one-time revenue. This is a meaningful differentiator. Most Stripe analytics tools focus exclusively on subscriptions, but many SaaS businesses also have setup fees, consulting revenue, or one-time add-ons. Subdash tracks both revenue types and keeps them cleanly separated so your MRR calculations stay accurate while your total revenue picture remains complete.
- Revenue forecasting. Subdash projects future revenue based on current trends, giving you a forward-looking view that most competitors lack or charge extra for.
- Simple setup. Connect your Stripe account and your metrics are available quickly. There is no complex configuration or multi-step onboarding process.
- Clean, focused interface. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, Subdash focuses on delivering the metrics that matter most to SaaS operators: MRR, churn, LTV, subscriber counts, and revenue trends.
- Free tier available. Subdash offers a free plan that covers the basics, with a Pro tier for teams that need more advanced features like unlimited Stripe accounts and email notifications.
Weaknesses:
- Newer product. As a more recent entrant, Subdash has a smaller user base and shorter track record than established players like Baremetrics or ChartMogul.
- Stripe-only. If you use a billing provider other than Stripe, Subdash is not an option. It is purpose-built for the Stripe ecosystem.
- Fewer integrations. Larger platforms offer integrations with CRMs, communication tools, and data warehouses. Subdash is more focused on doing the core analytics job well.
Best for: SaaS founders and small teams who use Stripe, want accurate metrics quickly, and value simplicity over feature breadth. Particularly well-suited for businesses with a mix of subscription and one-time revenue.
How to Choose the Right Tool
The right Stripe analytics tool depends on your specific situation. Here are some questions to guide your decision:
What is your current MRR?
If you are pre-revenue or very early stage, start with a free option (ProfitWell or Subdash’s free tier) and upgrade as your needs grow. Paying hundreds of dollars per month for analytics when you have ten customers does not make sense.
How complex is your billing setup?
If you use only Stripe and have straightforward subscription plans, a simpler tool will get you up and running faster. If you have multiple billing systems, custom invoicing, or complex pricing models, ChartMogul’s flexibility may be worth the added complexity.
Do you have non-subscription revenue?
Many SaaS businesses earn revenue from a combination of subscriptions, one-time charges, and usage-based billing. If accurately tracking all of these revenue types matters to you, make sure the tool you choose handles them properly rather than ignoring everything that is not a subscription.
Who will use the dashboard?
If only the founder checks metrics occasionally, simplicity is paramount. If a team of people across sales, finance, and product need access, consider tools with role-based access, custom dashboards, and export capabilities.
What is your budget?
Analytics tools range from free to several hundred dollars per month. Consider not just the current cost but how pricing scales as your MRR grows. A tool that charges based on your revenue will become progressively more expensive as you succeed.
A Practical Recommendation
For most early-to-mid-stage SaaS companies billing through Stripe, the decision comes down to what you need right now versus what you might need later.
Start simple. Connect a focused tool to your Stripe account, get your core metrics (MRR, churn, LTV, subscriber growth) accurate and accessible, and build the habit of reviewing them regularly. You can always migrate to a more complex platform later if your needs outgrow your initial choice.
The worst outcome is not picking the “wrong” tool. It is not tracking these metrics at all and making decisions based on intuition when data is readily available. Any of the tools discussed here will give you a dramatically better understanding of your business than the default Stripe dashboard alone.
Pick one, connect it to Stripe, and start making data-informed decisions. Your future self will thank you.