Durable Alternative for Service Businesses Needing Billing
Durable makes a good first impression. You type a description of your business and get a website in under a minute. For a service business that needs to be online quickly, that's a real advantage.
The gap shows up when you try to sell recurring service plans.
What Durable does well
Durable is an AI website builder with a CRM, invoicing, and some booking functionality (on paid plans). Its Launch plan starts at $25/mo month-to-month, or $22/mo on annual billing. (Durable pricing page)
For a service business that just needs a web presence — a place to show your work, collect contact form submissions, and send one-time invoices — Durable works fine.
The billing gap
Durable offers invoicing on its Launch plan and above. What it does not have is native recurring membership billing — the ability to sell a customer a monthly service plan, have them enter a card once, and have billing run automatically every month without manual intervention.
That's not a hidden limitation. Durable's pricing page shows invoicing as a feature and does not list recurring plan subscriptions or membership billing as available on any tier. (Durable pricing page)
For a service business built on one-time jobs, that's fine. For a lawn-care, pool-service, cleaning, or pet-care business that makes its money on monthly recurring customers, it's a real problem.
The domain question
Durable users have reported difficulty moving their domain away from Durable after canceling. Durable does not allow code export — your site lives in their builder and can't be moved. Your domain settings are managed through Durable, which creates friction if you want to switch platforms. (Durable pricing page)
This isn't unique to Durable — many website builders work this way. But it's worth knowing before you build your business identity around a domain in a system you don't fully control.
What a service business actually needs
If recurring plans are part of your model, the software decisions that matter are:
- Recurring billing that runs itself. A customer who signs up for your monthly service plan should be billed automatically every month — no manual invoice, no approval step, no chasing.
- A website that signs customers up for plans. Your site should let a new customer pick a plan, enter their card, and become a paying member without a phone call to you.
- Your own payment account. Payouts should go to your bank through an account that's yours. Not a payment processor account that's tied to your website platform.
- A client portal for members. Your customers should be able to log in, view their active plan, and manage their billing themselves.
- Domain control. Your domain should be yours — transferable to any registrar you choose at any time.
How Ruunly handles it
Ruunly starts at $19/mo. During setup, it generates an AI-built website for your service business and connects it directly to your plan sign-up flow and auto-billing. You create your service plans (monthly, seasonal, annual), set prices, and customers can sign up from your site and be charged automatically.
Payments flow through your own Stripe account — not a platform-controlled processor. Ruunly connects to Stripe Connect, which means your payouts go to your bank on Stripe's standard schedule through an account that's yours.
The client portal is included — customers log in, see their active plan, and manage billing without calling you.
Custom domains are available on Pro plans and above. Your domain is registered through standard DNS settings — not locked to Ruunly's builder. (Durable pricing page)
See the full comparison at /compare/durable.
Before you switch — checklist
- Export your contacts from Durable's CRM. Pull a CSV of your existing customer list before you cancel.
- Check your domain registrar. If your domain is registered through Durable, initiate a transfer to an independent registrar (Cloudflare Registrar, Namecheap, Google Domains) before canceling your account.
- Note that Durable does not allow code export. You'll rebuild your site in the new platform rather than migrating code. With AI-generated sites, this is usually fast.
- Set up your Stripe account. If you don't already have a Stripe account, create one before connecting to your new platform.
- Test billing before going live. Run a $1 test charge through your new Stripe connection before you launch your plan sign-up page publicly.
The honest comparison
Durable is fast and clean for what it does. If your service business only needs a website and occasional invoicing, it's a reasonable choice.
If recurring plan revenue is central to how your business runs — and you want customers who book once and are billed automatically every month — Durable has a real gap there. Building recurring billing on top requires integrating separate tools, and that's added cost and complexity.