A Pelcro alternative: connect subscriptions to your publishing operation
Pelcro and RunMags start from different places. Pelcro describes itself as a subscription experience platform for publishers and membership organisations, with paywalls, recurring billing, a subscriber portal and print fulfilment. Source: Pelcro homepage, retrieved 2026-10-05. RunMags is a system for the whole publishing business: advertising sales, flatplan, subscriptions and billing, with the advertiser and the subscriber on the same customer record. This guide sets out where each one fits better, including where Pelcro documents more than RunMags does today. Explore the publishing software comparison hub.
Quick verdict
If reader revenue drives your business and you need paywalls, automatic renewals with payment retries and a self-service subscriber account, Pelcro documents all three (sources below), and RunMags does not document them today. If you sell advertising as well as subscriptions and want sales, production and billing to work from one record, RunMags is worth evaluating. Neither choice is right for every publisher, so test the workflow that matters most to you.
Side by side: what each vendor documents
Supported means the capability is documented. Partial means part of it is documented. Not shown means we found no public evidence; it does not mean the product lacks it. Pelcro statuses are vendor claims from Pelcro's official pages, retrieved 2026-10-05. RunMags statuses come from our own capability review in October 2026. Neither column is an independent test.
| Capability | Pelcro (vendor-claimed) | RunMags |
|---|---|---|
| Print and digital subscriber records | Supported. Magazine subscription page | Supported |
| Issue-based and time-based subscription terms | Partial. Plans record the number of shipments or issues per interval. Migration guide | Supported |
| Recurring billing and invoices | Supported. Pricing page | Partial. Renewals are charged when your staff run the renewal batch; automatic scheduled renewal is not available yet |
| Subscriber self-service account | Supported. Client portal page | Not shown. Card updates, invoice downloads and cancellation by the subscriber are not documented |
| Metered, freemium and hard paywalls | Supported. Magazine subscription page | Not shown |
| Print fulfilment lists | Supported. Fulfilment page | Supported. Per-issue distribution batches |
| Advertising sales, contracts and orders | Not shown on the pages we checked | Supported |
| Flatplanning and issue production | Not shown on the pages we checked | Supported. The flatplan is built from booked advertising orders |
Published pricing (checked )
Pelcro's pricing page lists, in US dollars: Free at $0 per month for up to 100 customers; Advanced at $450 per month for up to 2,000 customers; Professional at $800 per month for up to 5,000 customers; and Enterprise with custom pricing for more than 5,000 customers. The page says customer caps and starred features vary by plan and asks buyers to contact sales for details. Source: Pelcro pricing page, retrieved 2026-10-05. See RunMags pricing.
Who should choose which
Choose or stay with Pelcro if
- Your website needs metered, freemium or hard paywalls. Pelcro's magazine page describes all three, and its paywall page describes offers shown in the reader's country, language and currency. Source: Pelcro magazine subscription page, retrieved 2026-10-05. Source: Pelcro paywalls page, retrieved 2026-10-05.
- You want renewals to run on their own and failed card payments to be retried. Pelcro's homepage describes auto-renewal with smart retries and pre-dunning reminders. Source: Pelcro homepage, retrieved 2026-10-05.
- Subscribers should update payment methods, download invoices and manage their access themselves. Source: Pelcro client portal page, retrieved 2026-10-05.
- Your website or app needs to update reader access when a subscription changes. Pelcro's developer documentation lists subscription lifecycle webhooks your site can use for that. Source: Pelcro subscription webhooks documentation, retrieved 2026-10-05.
If your Pelcro setup already does this work well, keeping it is a sensible decision. RunMags has not verified a paywall for production use, does not schedule automatic renewals or retry failed card payments yet, and does not document subscriber self-service for card updates, invoice downloads or cancellation.
Consider RunMags if
- You sell advertising and subscriptions, often to the same organisations. In RunMags, an organisation or contact keeps its advertising orders and its subscriptions on one record, in one CRM for magazines.
- Your sales team works from contracts with order rows per channel, and production plans each issue. The flatplan is built from booked advertising orders. See flatplanning.
- You sell print and digital subscriptions with issue-based or time-based terms, including renewals, back issues, gifts and credit notes, and you send per-issue distribution lists to your printer. See subscription sales.
- You invoice advertisers through Fortnox, QuickBooks or Xero, with EU VAT, and take payments through Stripe. Subscription invoices are not part of the accounting sync yet.
Pelcro's own article on magazine CRM discusses subscriber and advertiser relationships, but the Pelcro product pages we checked do not document advertising bookings or flatplanning. That is not proof that Pelcro lacks them, so ask Pelcro directly if you need them. Source: Pelcro magazine CRM article, retrieved 2026-10-05.
Switching from Pelcro: a step-by-step plan
- List what you run on Pelcro today: plans, paywall rules, renewal and retry settings, portal actions, fulfilment runs and integrations. Mark what you need on the first day.
- Check each need against the table above. If you rely on a paywall, payment retries or the subscriber portal, decide how you will cover them before you move, or keep Pelcro for that part.
- Export a sample with subscribers, payers and gift recipients, issues remaining or end dates, and opt-outs. Pelcro's migration guide describes the data structure its platform uses, which helps when you map fields. Source: Pelcro migration guide, retrieved 2026-10-05.
- Ask the RunMags team to import the sample into a trial account; subscriber and subscription imports are part of onboarding. Compare issue balances, renewal dates and the next issue's distribution list with Pelcro.
- Agree how saved payment cards will move. RunMags does not document card-token continuity today, so plan this with the RunMags team and your payment provider before you set a date.
- Keep Pelcro running until the first issue's distribution list and renewals match in RunMags.
Frequently asked questions
Is RunMags a Pelcro alternative for paywalls?
Not today. Pelcro's magazine page describes metered, freemium and hard paywalls (source: get.pelcro.com/magazine-subscription-management-software, retrieved 2026-10-05). RunMags has not verified a paywall for production use, so if you need one, keep Pelcro or another paywall tool for that part of your business.
Does RunMags retry failed subscription payments?
Not yet. In RunMags, renewals are charged when your staff run the renewal batch. RunMags does not schedule automatic renewals or retry failed card payments yet. Pelcro's homepage describes smart retries and pre-dunning reminders (source: get.pelcro.com, retrieved 2026-10-05).
How is Pelcro priced?
Pelcro prices by number of customers. On 2026-10-05 its pricing page (get.pelcro.com/pricing) listed Free for up to 100 customers, Advanced at $450 per month, Professional at $800 per month and custom Enterprise pricing, in US dollars. See the RunMags pricing page for RunMags plans, and compare quotes for your own setup.
Can I move my Pelcro subscribers into RunMags?
Yes, with help from the team: subscriber and subscription imports are part of RunMags onboarding. Card-token continuity is not documented, so plan with the RunMags team how saved payment methods will move before you switch.
Can I use Pelcro and RunMags together?
RunMags has no documented Pelcro integration. Using both would mean keeping subscribers and advertisers in separate systems. Ask the RunMags team what that split would mean for your billing and distribution lists.
Evaluate RunMags with your own publishing workflow
Bring one advertiser who also subscribes, one renewal and your next issue. Start a trial or book a walkthrough with the team.
