Recurly Recover is a standalone retry engine for collecting on past-due invoices without adopting Recurly as your primary billing platform. Submit a failed invoice through the Recovery API, and Recurly automatically creates the account objects, calculates an optimized retry schedule, and manages the entire collection lifecycle until the invoice is paid or the retry window closes.

Available as a standalone product — Recurly Subscriptions is not required

1Key benefits 2How it works 3Before you begin 4Getting started 5In this section 6FAQs

Limitations

Recurly Recover is designed for merchants who don't use Recurly for subscription management.
Each successful API call creates one account with one invoice. Calling the API again with the same account code returns an error.
Accounts can only be created through the API, not through the Admin UI.
Merchants who already use Recurly Subscriptions should use the retry logic built into Recurly Subscriptions instead.

Key benefits

Works with your stack Use Recurly's retry engine without adopting Recurly for subscription management — it plugs into your existing billing system.

Flexible retry strategies Assign a different dunning campaign per API request, so you can A/B test retry windows and strategies across customer segments.

Fully managed collection Recurly handles the entire retry lifecycle — calculating optimal retry dates, managing payment attempts, and firing webhooks when the journey ends.

Minimal setup No plans, items, or taxes to configure. Setup is limited to your payment gateway, a retry window, and the API integration.

How Recurly Recover works

A payment fails

A charge fails on your billing platform.

Pause your internal retries

You pause your own retry logic for that invoice so Recover is the only system attempting collection.

Submit the invoice to Recover

You call the Recovery API with account details, payment method tokens, prior attempt history, and the retry window you want Recurly to use.

Recurly builds the records

Recurly creates an account, a past-due invoice, and a failed transaction.

Retries begin

Recurly calculates the first retry date from your submission and starts retrying on the assigned retry window.

Recover fires a webhook

When a retry succeeds or the retry window is exhausted, Recurly fires a webhook so you can update the invoice state in your system.

Warning Pause your internal retry logic before submitting an invoice to Recurly Recover. Running parallel retries on the same payment method risks double-charging your customer.

Before you begin

You'll need the following in place to start collecting with Recurly Recover:

An active Recurly Recover account with an API key generated.
At least one retry window (dunning campaign) configured.

Getting started

The first time you sign in, Recurly walks you through configuration.

Connect your payment gateway

In the onboarding flow, click Add Gateway and follow the prompts to connect your gateway. Add as many gateways as you need, then click Continue to move on.

Note the gateway code

Each gateway connection gets a unique gateway code. You'll pass this value in your API requests to route transactions to the right gateway. To route different card types or merchant category codes through separate accounts, add multiple connections for the same provider — each one gets its own gateway code.

Set up webhooks

Enter your Endpoint URL and select the events you want Recover to send. See Webhooks for the full event reference.

Copy your API key

Copy Your API key from the onboarding flow — you'll need it to authenticate every Recovery API request.

Make your first API call

Head to Submit invoices via the Recovery API to send your first failed invoice for collection.

Note Recover currently supports Stripe and Braintree with reusable gateway tokens. Learn more about gateways and token support.

In this section

Submit invoices via the Recovery API

Send a failed invoice for collection, read the response, and stop retries when a payment is collected elsewhere.

Webhooks

Track retry progress and confirm final outcomes with Recover's four webhook events.

Roles & permissions

Create roles and control who can reach configuration, integrations, and analytics.

FAQs

Do I need Recurly Subscriptions to use Recurly Recover?

No. Recurly Recover is a standalone retry engine for merchants using other billing platforms. Combining Recurly Recover with Recurly Subscriptions is not recommended.

Can I use Recurly Recover with existing Recurly Subscriptions customers?

Recurly Recover isn't intended to run alongside Recurly Subscriptions — payment recovery is already included in your Recurly Subscriptions plan. For help deciding which solution fits, contact Recurly Sales or email [email protected].

What happens when I submit a past-due invoice via the API?

Recurly creates an account (with no subscription), a charge invoice, and one or more failed transactions. Your billing information is stored, and Recurly automatically calculates the next collection attempt based on your submission. See Submit invoices via the Recovery API for the full request and response.