What Stripe already recovers on its own — and what still leaks through.
Every Stripe user already has some of this for free. Smart Retries, a dunning email, one retention coupon in the Customer Portal — it's built in, and it genuinely recovers some revenue on its own. This page is about exactly where that stops, and how two dedicated recovery tools compare to churnhook on the parts it doesn't cover.
The short version
| churnhook | Churnkey | Churn Buster | Stripe alone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cancellation flows | Leaving flow: Keep, Coupon, or Pause — picked by cancellation reason and tenure | Personalized cancellation flows, per their site | Cancel Flows: reason-based save offers, A/B testing | One static retention coupon, same for every customer, offered once before checkout completes |
| Dunning | Unpaid flow: sequences split by decline reason, tenure, and plan value | ML-driven retries, per their site | Dedicated Dunning product: retries, card-update pages, multi-channel alerts | Smart Retries + automated dunning emails + card updater — same schedule for everyone |
| Win-back | Automatic sequence after cancellation, live coupon on a real Stripe Checkout | Win-back campaigns, per their site | Not detailed on their site | Not built in — needs a third-party tool or a custom webhook |
| Pricing model | €79/mo flat, covers €50k of Connect MRR, +€49 per extra €50k peak, published | From $250/mo (annual) or $300/mo (monthly), based on monthly churn volume — custom quote above $60k | Dunning or Cancel Flows from $269/mo, both from $430/mo | Included in standard Stripe fees — no extra tool, no extra bill |
| Stripe integration | Stripe Connect OAuth only — no API key from your account stored, all three flows share one connection | One integration among several billing platforms it supports | One integration among 15+ billing platforms it supports | Native — there's nothing to connect |
Feature scope and pricing change — check each vendor's current site before deciding. This reflects what was published, and what Stripe's own docs describe, as of writing.
What Stripe already does well — and where it stops
Stripe's Customer Portal genuinely tries to save a cancellation: turn on a retention coupon, and everyone who clicks "cancel" sees the same offer before it goes through. Smart Retries and its dunning emails do the same on the payment side — retry a failed charge on a schedule, send a note, offer a card-update link. None of that is nothing.
It's also the same offer, the same schedule, and the same message for a two-year customer and someone three days into a trial. The portal's retention coupon can't segment by cancellation reason or by how long someone's been paying — it's one coupon, for everyone. Its native pause option isn't exposed to the customer through the portal at all. And nothing in Stripe follows up once someone actually cancels — no win-back sequence, no automatic re-engagement. That part is left entirely to a separate tool or a webhook you build yourself.
That's the gap churnhook fills: the same three moments — a failed payment, a scheduled cancellation, a completed one — split by tenure, decline reason, and plan value, with a live Keep/Coupon/Pause choice instead of one fixed offer, and an automatic win-back for the ones who leave anyway.
Where Churnkey and Churn Buster fit
Both are broader, multi-platform retention suites. Churnkey adds churn prediction and feedback analysis on top of cancellation flows and recovery; Churn Buster sells dunning and cancel flows as separate products across 15+ billing platforms. If you run billing on more than Stripe, or want a vendor relationship with custom pricing and a broader feature set, either is a reasonable place to look.
churnhook trades that breadth for depth on Stripe specifically: one connection, one sequence builder, and published pricing tied directly to your Connect MRR.
See the dunning guide · the cancellation flow guide · the win-back guide