Comparing Subscription Management Solutions for Physical Products

2025 was a breakout year for physical product subscriptions.

Here’s why:

• Swapfiets, a Dutch-based bike subscription company, grew to 280,000 riders across Europe.¹

• Mister Spex launched a subscription model for eyewear and prescription glasses across its 75+ physical stores.²

• Decathlon launched a subscription model for all its leisure & sporting equipment, aiming for a full business model transformation.³

The pattern is hard to miss. Subscriptions are no longer limited to digital services, SaaS, and subscription boxes.  Subscriptions can now also be seen in the physical consumer durable product space. Typical subscription products include bikes, cars, sports equipment, electronics, appliances, furniture, baby goods, tools, and more. 

The Problem: Physical products = higher risk

All subscription businesses have one thing in common: customers pay on a recurring basis to keep using a service or a product.

And wherever payments happen on a recurring basis, payment issues can also repeat themselves. Issues such as late payments, missed charges, or failed charges are common in subscription models. 

In digital subscription models, failed payments are easy to address. 

For example, if Netflix or Spotify cannot collect payments anymore, access is revoked. 

But subscription models that have a physical product are far more complex.  

For example, if a customer is subscribed to a bike, and payments are not going through, then revolving access does nothing. The customer still has the bike. 

In short, payment recovery is very important for any subscription business. 

It is absolutely necessary for physical product subscriptions.  

Solution: Professional Debt Collection is a necessity

With the rise of physical product subscriptions, payment recovery is no longer a rare edge case. It has become part of the day-to-day operations.

In this context, debt collection takes on a different role. It is no longer a last resort when everything else fails.

For physical product subscriptions, debt collection is a necessary building block for sustaining the business.

Requirement for efficient debt collection: A good subscription management system

From Debtist’s perspective, successful debt collection doesn’t start when a case is handed over, but much earlier. It starts with: 

• how subscription contracts are set up,

• how recurring payments and payment failures are handled,

• how customer and product information is documented, and

• how clearly and reliably open claims can be passed on for recovery.

In short, the better these processes are set up from the start, the easier and more effective debt collection becomes later on.

How this article approaches the comparison

This is why Debtist closely examines the subscription management solutions used by businesses operating asset-based subscription models.

In this article, we compare subscription management platforms for physical product subscriptions, with a particular focus on how well they:

• support recurring billing,

• manage payment failures, and

• create the structured data foundation required for effective and compliant debt collection.

How we evaluate subscription management platforms

When evaluating subscription management platforms, we start with real-world usage. This article focuses specifically on subscription and access models for physical consumer durable products—including bikes, cars, furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances, and equipment.

As a result, we prioritise solutions that have demonstrably enabled brands in one or more asset-based industries, rather than tools built primarily for digital services or SaaS subscriptions.

Beyond industry adoption, we assess platforms based on whether they support the operational and financial realities of asset-based subscription businesses, including:

• Reliable management of recurring billing and invoicing

• Structured handling of payment failures and dunning

• Clear linkage between contracts, customers, and physical assets

• The ability to prepare clean, complete data for escalation or recovery when required

Together, these criteria help determine how well a subscription management platform supports not just subscription growth, but also risk management and payment recovery as physical subscription models scale.

Subscription Management Software: Comparison

#1 circuly: Built for Physical Product Subscriptions

circuly is a subscription management software solution for physical product. 

Best for:

For businesses offering consumer durable products through subscription or access models. Designed to automate recurring payments and support the full operational backbone. Typical features include asset tracking, revenue, customer lifecycle, billing, and invoicing.

What stands out: 

• Unlike general-purpose subscription billing tools, circuly is designed specifically for asset-based subscriptions. 

• circuly also stands out for having one of the largest and most diverse sets of consumer durable brands doing subscriptions. Their case studies demonstrate applicability across multiple niches and business sizes.

• On their website, circuly showcases brand examples like Decathlon, MisterSpex, Bike Club, Riese & Müller, Strollme, etc. These are some large brands in the product-as-a-service and subscription business model space. 

Strengths across key comparison criteria: 

• Recurring billing & payment management:
  Flexible recurring billing logic, proration, invoicing, and integrations with payment service providers support complex pricing and contract structures common in physical product subscriptions.

• Payment failure handling & dunning:
  Supports built-in retry logic and configurable reminders, which is a critical step before escalation to debt collection.

• Asset & subscription lifecycle management:
  Each subscription is linked to a physical asset. Thus enables tracking across delivery, usage, exchanges, returns, refurbishments, and end-of-life scenarios.

• Operational workflows for physical products:
  Native support for swaps, upgrades, buyouts, returns, and reverse logistics. This ensures that operational events are accurately reflected in billing and revenue data.

• Risk prevention & data quality:
  Integrated credit checks, fraud prevention, and structured contract data improve decision-making at signup. It also creates a clean data foundation for downstream recovery processes.

• Integration & scalability:
  Designed to integrate with shop systems, payment providers, logistics partners, and accounting tools. circuly supports scalable operations as subscription volumes grow.

What customers highlight in reviews

On review platforms such as G2 and OMR, customer feedback consistently highlights:

• The flexibility of the platform in supporting custom operations and non-standard workflows

• The ability to adapt circuly to different business models and industries

• The platform’s role as a complete, scalable solution rather than a standalone billing tool

This combination of flexibility and structure is particularly valuable for businesses whose subscription models evolve over time, a common reality in physical product subscriptions.

Why this matters from a debt recovery perspective

For asset-based subscription businesses, strong subscription management reduces risk before it becomes a collection case. circuly’s structured contract, payment, and asset data ensure simplified case escalation. Outstanding claims are well-documented, transparent, and actionable. This enables more efficient and compliant recovery processes.

#2 Firmhouse: Shopify-specific recurring commerce platform

Firmhouse is a Shopify-centric recurring commerce platform. It enables businesses to offer subscriptions, rentals, and consumption-based models directly through their online store.

Best for

Shopify merchants running simple, plan-based subscription models. It is particularly suited for replenishment or consumable products such as subscription boxes, meal kits, or repeat-delivery goods. In these setups, the primary need is recurring billing and customer self-service.

What stands out

Firmhouse integrates tightly with Shopify. It focuses on making subscription plans easy to add to an existing eCommerce setup.

Its strengths include subscription checkout, automated recurring billing, and customer self-service. Customers can pause or cancel their subscriptions without friction.

The platform is commonly associated with replenishment-style subscriptions and recurring commerce use cases. Firmhouse does support product subscriptions and rentals. However, its customer examples and product focus suggest stronger adoption in businesses with limited operational complexity around physical assets.

Why this matters in comparison

Firmhouse performs well when subscription logic revolves around plans, billing, and renewals.

As business models shift toward asset-heavy consumer durable products, operational demands increase. Businesses must track individual items, manage returns and refurbishments, and connect operational events to billing.

In these scenarios, companies may need additional systems to support these workflows end-to-end.

#3 Fairown

Fairown is a subscription and product lifecycle platform with a strong focus on circular ownership and sustainable access models, primarily in the Nordic and Baltic markets.

Best for

Brands and retailers in electronics, appliances, and home improvement that want to offer leasing, renewal, or buyback programs backed by financing partners, rather than operate a fully self-managed subscription business.

What stands out

Fairown operates closer to the financial and leasing layer than to day-to-day subscription operations. By partnering with banks and financing institutions, it enables brands to offer access-based models without carrying the full financial or credit risk themselves.

This makes Fairown particularly attractive for businesses whose primary goal is to add a circular or green financing option to their product strategy, rather than to deeply manage subscription operations in-house.

Why this matters in comparison

While Fairown supports subscription sign-up, renewals, and buybacks, its platform functions more as a sales and finance control layer than a comprehensive operational subscription system. Asset condition tracking, logistics, and ongoing operational workflows are typically handled outside the platform.

For businesses aiming to run end-to-end asset-based subscriptions at scale, this distinction becomes relevant — especially when operational and financial data need to stay tightly connected over long product lifecycles.

#4 Nitrobox

Nitrobox is an enterprise-grade billing and monetisation platform designed to manage complex revenue models across subscriptions, usage-based pricing, and hybrid contracts.

Best for

Enterprises and digitally driven businesses that require advanced billing logic and order-to-cash automation, particularly in SaaS, mobility, telecom, or industrial service environments.

What stands out

Nitrobox excels in financial orchestration. Its strengths lie in automating billing, invoicing, dunning, and revenue recognition across complex contract structures, supported by robust APIs and ERP integrations.

The platform is often used as the billing backbone within larger system architectures, where operational processes are managed elsewhere.

Why this matters in comparison

While Nitrobox is highly capable from a finance and billing perspective, it is not designed to manage the operational realities of physical consumer durable subscriptions, such as asset tracking, returns, refurbishments, or customer–asset lifecycle management.

For asset-heavy subscription models, this means additional systems are typically required to cover operational workflows alongside billing.

#5 Topi

Topi is a B2B hardware subscription and rental platform. It enables retailers and manufacturers to offer IT devices and electronics as a service.

Best for

B2B retailers and manufacturers in the IT and electronics sector. It suits companies that want to offer monthly payments or rental options without managing credit risk, billing, or asset recovery themselves.

What stands out

Topi operates more like a financing and rental infrastructure than a traditional subscription management system. Merchants receive payment upfront. Topi manages credit checks, billing, payment collection, and lifecycle options such as returns, upgrades, and buyouts.

This model reduces both operational and financial risk. It also enables faster market entry for hardware-as-a-service offerings.

Why this matters in comparison

Because Topi assumes responsibility for financing and risk, businesses have less control over subscription operations and the customer lifecycle.

This makes Topi a strong fit for specific B2B hardware rental scenarios. However, it may be less suitable for companies that want to build and fully own a customised subscription operation across multiple consumer durable categories.

Conclusion

By 2026, physical product subscriptions have evolved from experimentation into core business models across many industries. As these models scale, subscription management software plays a much larger role than recurring billing alone. It influences risk management, payment failure handling, and the reliability of claim recovery.

The comparison highlights clear differences in how platforms support asset-based operations. Solutions built specifically for physical products tend to offer stronger operational structure and cleaner data. Both become critical when payments fail and recovery is required.

From Debtist’s perspective, resilient subscription businesses treat payment recovery as a natural part of the lifecycle. This requires the right systems upstream and clear handover processes downstream.

Sources:

¹ https://newsroom.swapfiets.com/en-de/About-us
² https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7358413539092381696/?actorCompanyId=35622551
³ https://rent.decathlon.be