Guides

These are written to be useful on their own. Every number is sourced and dated, and where published figures disagree we show the disagreement instead of picking the one that suits us.

• How much MRR do you actually lose to failed payments?

  The published benchmarks for failed payments, who produced them and what they are worth, plus how to find your own number in Stripe without paying for anything.

  Last reviewed 2026-10-07

• Stripe decline codes, explained family by family

  Every Stripe decline code grouped into three families, what each family is worth chasing, and the difference between decline_code and failure_code that trips up most integrations.

  Last reviewed 2026-10-07

• Involuntary churn: what it is and what to do about it

  How a subscription dies without anyone cancelling, how big the problem really is according to two sources that disagree, and the order to fix it in.

  Last reviewed 2026-10-07

• Stripe restricted keys: how to create a safe read-only key

  What a restricted Stripe key is, why Stripe now recommends them over secret keys, the exact six-step flow to create a read-only one, and how to revoke it.

  Last reviewed 2026-10-07

• Failed payment recovery rates: what is actually recoverable

  The recovery rates we apply, why they are deliberately conservative assumptions rather than measurements, and why we did not use the figures circulating in vendor blogs.

  Last reviewed 2026-10-07

• Dunning emails: timing, content and deliverability

  What Stripe already sends, when each message fires, what a failed-payment email should contain, and the DNS records without which none of it reaches an inbox.

  Last reviewed 2026-10-07

• Fix failed payments on Stripe yourself

  A complete do-it-yourself guide for a small SaaS: what to switch on, how to pull your own numbers, where the decline codes actually live, and what a paid tool adds on top.

  Last reviewed 2026-10-07