Product comparison
An open-source alternative for entitlement logic outside Stripe.
Stripe Entitlements ties product access to Stripe Customers, Subscriptions, Products, and Features. Subscrio keeps the entitlement model in your database, so Stripe can handle billing without becoming the service your application calls for every access decision.
The practical difference
Stripe ties access to its billing records. Subscrio keeps access in your application.
A local entitlement model gives the application more control when access starts before payment, comes from another source, or must remain available during a provider outage.
| Decision | Stripe Entitlements | Subscrio |
|---|---|---|
| Required customer identity | Active entitlements belong to a Stripe Customer. Checkout can create the customer, but access is still keyed to Stripe's customer record. | Customer assignments use keys defined in your application and database. Stripe can be one source of subscription updates. |
| Where access can start | A Stripe Subscription to a Stripe Product with attached Features. | A Stripe event, another billing provider, an internal contract, a plan assignment, or a manual grant. |
| Who owns the catalog | Products, Features, Customer Subscriptions, and active entitlements are Stripe resources. | Products, features, plans, customer subscriptions, and overrides live in your database. |
| Access checks | Call the Active Entitlements API or persist a local copy fed by webhooks. Stripe recommends local persistence for faster resolution. | The library resolves access from your database. It does not call a Subscrio-hosted service. |
| If Stripe or the network is unavailable | A live API check cannot complete. A locally persisted copy can serve the last known state, depending on your webhook and reconciliation design. | Known entitlement state remains readable from your database. Stripe-backed changes wait until event delivery or reconciliation resumes. |
| Changing billing providers | You must map customer, product, subscription, feature, and entitlement state out of Stripe and replace the Stripe integration. | Application feature keys and checks can stay in place while the source of billing updates changes. |
| Supported values | Active entitlement records identify entitled features by lookup key. | Features can resolve toggles, numeric limits, and text values. |
| Customer exceptions | Model exceptions through Stripe product and subscription structures or application logic. | Subscription feature overrides are part of the resolution model. |
| Commercial model | Part of Stripe Billing. Check current Stripe pricing and account terms. | MIT-licensed engine. The optional Web Admin is a one-time purchase. |
Sources: Stripe Entitlements documentation, Stripe Active Entitlement API, and the Subscrio repository. Reviewed August 22, 2026.
Failure behavior
Choose what happens when Stripe or the network is unavailable.
If your application calls Stripe each time it checks access, that decision depends on Stripe and the network being available. Stripe recommends persisting active entitlements internally for faster resolution, which means your team must build and maintain a local copy.
Subscrio uses your database as the entitlement store. An interruption can delay new Stripe changes, but existing access checks continue against the last event your application processed.
When Stripe cannot deliver a new event, a local entitlement model continues to resolve known customer access. Webhook processing or reconciliation brings the data current after service resumes.
Using both
Stripe can bill while Subscrio resolves access.
With the library integration, your application verifies the Stripe event and passes it to Subscrio. Subscrio processes the supported event and maintains the customer subscription. With the Web Admin, Stripe can send webhooks there directly, so your application does not need a webhook route.
Fit check
Decide whether billing should also own product access.
Keeping entitlements separate lets the application use its own customer keys, database, and feature checks. The tradeoff is that your team owns the entitlement data and the integration that updates it.
Reasons to keep access outside Stripe
- Customer access can exist before payment or come from another system.
- Known access must remain available without calling a third-party service.
- Billing providers may change without forcing a rewrite of feature checks.
- Plans need numeric values, text settings, or explicit customer overrides.
What your team owns with Subscrio
- Map Stripe products and prices to the matching Subscrio plan and billing cycle.
- Verify webhook signatures when your application receives Stripe events.
- Reconcile delayed, duplicate, or missed billing events.
- Keep the entitlement database available and apply Subscrio migrations.
Review the entitlement model and a runnable .NET or TypeScript integration before deciding.
Common questions
Questions about Stripe Entitlements alternatives
How is Subscrio different from Stripe Entitlements?
Stripe Entitlements ties feature access to Stripe Customers, Subscriptions, Products, and Features. Subscrio stores the entitlement model in your database and resolves access without calling a Subscrio-hosted service. Stripe can still handle billing.
Does Subscrio replace Stripe Billing?
No. Stripe can continue to own customers, subscriptions, invoices, and payments. Your integration maps verified Stripe events to Subscrio plans and customer assignments.
Does Stripe Entitlements require a Stripe Customer?
Yes. Active entitlements belong to a Stripe Customer, and Stripe's Entitlements guide assumes Customer and Subscription resources. The customer can be created during checkout, but product access is still associated with that Stripe Customer record.
Can Stripe and Subscrio be used together?
Yes. Stripe handles billing events. Subscrio stores entitlement data and checks customer feature access from your database.
What happens to entitlement checks if Stripe is unavailable?
A live call to Stripe cannot return a current answer while Stripe or the network is unavailable. Stripe recommends persisting entitlements internally for faster resolution. With local state, your application can keep using the last known entitlements while webhook delivery and reconciliation catch up.
Does Stripe Entitlements create vendor lock-in?
It couples the entitlement catalog and customer access state to Stripe Billing, but the data can be migrated. Moving away requires mapping Stripe customers, products, subscriptions, features, and entitlement state into the replacement system.
When is Stripe Entitlements the better fit?
It can fit well when Stripe Billing already manages your products and subscriptions and product access maps directly to features attached to Stripe products.
Next step
Keep Stripe for money and choose where access lives.
Map one verified subscription event into Subscrio, then compare how your application checks access before and after the change.