ProfitWell Retain alternative
ProfitWell Retain was discontinued. Here's the active alternative.
ProfitWell Retain — the failed-payment recovery tool built by ProfitWell — was folded into Paddle after Paddle's acquisition of ProfitWell. For SaaS teams that relied on Retain to catch failed Stripe payments and send dunning emails, that's left a real gap: the product isn't being actively developed as a standalone Stripe tool anymore.
PaidGuard picks up where Retain left off: Stripe-native failed-payment detection, a 5-stage dunning email sequence, smart retry scheduling, and a real-time recovery dashboard — actively maintained, with public pricing.
What happened to ProfitWell Retain
Paddle acquired ProfitWell in 2022 and has been consolidating its tools into the Paddle billing platform. Retain as a standalone Stripe-focused recovery product is no longer the active focus — teams on plain Stripe (not Paddle-as-merchant-of-record) are the ones most affected.
Why teams are switching
If you're on Stripe directly (not Paddle), you need a recovery tool that's still being built for that setup. PaidGuard is Stripe-only, on purpose — no merchant-of-record migration required.
| Feature | PaidGuard | Churnkey | Stunning | Baremetrics | ProfitWell Retain |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing transparency (shown upfront) | — | — | — | — | |
| No annual contract required | — | — | — | ||
| Free tier available | See your number free | — | — | — | |
| Custom retry schedules | — | ||||
| Dunning email sequences | 5 templates | ||||
| Email template editor (no code) | — | ||||
| Revenue calculator / forecasting | — | — | |||
| White-label customer page | — | — | |||
| Multi-PSP support (not just Stripe) | roadmap | — | — | ||
| Public pricing on website | — | — | |||
| Starting price | $49/mo + 5% recovered | Quote-based | Quote-based | $96/mo | Free (acquired by Paddle) |
Frequently asked questions
Is ProfitWell Retain shutting down?
ProfitWell Retain isn't formally announced as discontinued, but since Paddle's acquisition of ProfitWell, its development focus has shifted toward Paddle's own merchant-of-record platform rather than standalone Stripe recovery. Teams report it's no longer being actively developed as an independent product.
What happened after the Paddle acquisition?
Paddle acquired ProfitWell (including Retain) in 2022. Since then, Paddle has focused its roadmap on its own billing and merchant-of-record product rather than expanding Retain as a standalone Stripe tool.
Do I need to migrate to Paddle to keep using recovery tools?
No. PaidGuard works directly with your existing Stripe account via read-only Connect OAuth — there's no merchant-of-record migration, no re-platforming your billing, and no card required just to see your numbers.
Is PaidGuard a direct feature-for-feature replacement for ProfitWell Retain?
PaidGuard covers the core job Retain did for Stripe users: detecting failed payments, retrying intelligently, sending dunning emails, and giving you a recovery dashboard. It's a different product built independently, not a fork or clone — but the job-to-be-done overlaps closely.
How does PaidGuard's pricing compare to what Retain cost?
PaidGuard is $49/mo plus 5% of revenue actually recovered — publicly listed, no sales call required. The first month waives the $49 base fee. You can see your real failed-payment numbers before adding a card at all.
See your real number — no card required
Information based on publicly available sources as of 2026. PaidGuard is not affiliated with ProfitWell, Paddle, or any of their products — this page is provided for comparison purposes only. Verify current product status directly with Paddle before making a decision.