RetentionLens vs ChartMogul: Which Subscription Analytics Tool Fits You?
An honest comparison of RetentionLens and ChartMogul — what each does well, how pricing works, and which one fits a Stripe-based SaaS that mainly needs churn and retention answers.
ChartMogul is one of the longest-running subscription analytics platforms, and for many SaaS teams it is the default first choice. RetentionLens is narrower by design: it connects to Stripe and answers churn and retention questions without asking you to adopt a full revenue-data platform. This comparison lays out where each one is strong so you can pick the right tool instead of the most famous one.
What ChartMogul does well
ChartMogul is a mature, broad subscription-analytics suite. It ingests data from Stripe, Braintree, Recurly, Chargebee, and direct API feeds, then normalizes it into MRR, ARR, churn, LTV, and cohort views. It layers on a lightweight CRM, customer-level timelines, and segmentation, and it is genuinely good if you want one system of record for all subscription revenue across several billing sources.
If your billing lives in multiple systems, or you need a sales-facing CRM bolted onto your revenue data, that breadth is the reason to choose it.
Pricing at a glance
ChartMogul pricing tiers (public list pricing, subject to change).
| Tier | Roughly | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free / Launch | $0 up to a low MRR threshold | Core subscription analytics for early-stage MRR |
| Scale (analytics) | from ~$99/mo, scaling with MRR | Full analytics, cohorts, segmentation |
| CRM seats | ~$39/mo per seat | Customer relationship features on top of analytics |
| Enterprise | Custom | Higher volume, support, and data controls |
The headline is that ChartMogul scales its price with your MRR, and the CRM is priced per seat on top. That is fair for a platform you live in daily, but it can feel heavy if all you actually open it for is the churn and retention charts.
Where RetentionLens fits
RetentionLens does one job: connect Stripe and tell you, clearly, why customers are leaving and how retention is trending. There is no CRM, no multi-source ETL, and no MRR-indexed pricing ladder to climb. If your billing is on Stripe and your real question is churn, contraction, and net revenue retention, you get the answer without configuring a platform.
The trade-off is honest: if you need consolidated analytics across several billing providers or a built-in CRM, ChartMogul is the better fit. RetentionLens is the better fit when churn and retention are the point, not a tab inside a larger tool.
How to choose
- Choose ChartMogul if you bill across multiple providers, want a CRM beside your revenue data, or need one system of record for all subscription metrics.
- Choose RetentionLens if you bill on Stripe and primarily want churn, contraction, and NRR answered quickly without per-seat or MRR-indexed pricing.
- If you are early-stage and cost-sensitive, compare ChartMogul’s free tier against RetentionLens on the specific question you open the tool to answer.
Sources
- ChartMogul — Pricing — ChartMogul
- ChartMogul — Subscription Analytics — ChartMogul
- ChartMogul reviews and pricing overview — G2
See your own retention curves
Connect Stripe and RetentionLens turns your billing data into survival curves, cohort retention, and a voluntary-vs-involuntary churn split — in minutes.