OpenBRM

OpenBRM is a self-hosted billing and subscription platform for telecom operators, ISPs, MVNOs, SaaS businesses and enterprises. It suits organizations that need usage rating and communications inventory alongside customer billing. Its breadth is a strong fit for operationally complex services, but it is a poor match for buyers who need a priced hosted service or clearly defined OS support before committing.

Overview

OpenBRM brings billing, subscriptions, inventory, ecommerce and CRM into one system. Its standout advantage is the combination: communications providers can manage rated usage, customer plans and assets such as SIMs and IP pools alongside invoices. The complete self-hosted package carries no licence fee, though the organization or a third party must operate the installation. Saralam Technologies also offers implementation, integration and custom development services.

Key features

Billing handles recurring subscriptions, one-off charges, prepaid balances and rated usage, combining them on customer-cycle invoices sent by email or PDF. That flexibility matters to providers whose customers pay both fixed fees and consumption charges; businesses with simple recurring plans may not benefit enough to justify the wider system.

Subscription operations cover activation, cancellation, upgrades, downgrades and plan changes, with provisioning hooks. The inventory manager tracks SIMs, MSISDNs, modems and IP pools, making the package particularly relevant to communications providers managing services and related equipment together. An ecommerce storefront supports subscription sales, recurring billing and payment processing.

OpenBRM integrates the OpenRate rating engine. The site says it processes around 1,000 CDRs per second and accepts delimited, fixed-length, binary, TAP and ASN.1 formats. That range makes it relevant to telecom usage records in multiple formats, although the throughput figure is a vendor claim rather than a guarantee for a particular deployment.

The built-in CRM generates quotes, manages support tickets, sends bulk SMS and email notifications, and issues automatic customer reminders. Automated retries and email and SMS notifications support payment follow-up. Default payment gateways include Authorize.Net, PaymentsGateway, PayPal, FirstData, DIBS, PayWay and Chase Paymentech; integrations also include Westpac, Nedbank, eWAY, Ezidebit, PayFast and EasyPay. Other named integrations include vTiger, SugarCRM, SuiteCRM, KashFlow, Joomla and RADIUSdesk.

GUI functions are exposed through SOAP and REST APIs, and APIs and webhooks are supported. The listed stack includes Java 17, Grails 6.2.2, Spring Boot 2.7, PostgreSQL 18 and Tomcat. This technical profile and the self-hosted model favor organizations able to manage a substantial software deployment rather than teams seeking a turnkey billing service.

Pricing

Self-hosted OpenBRM — free. This includes the complete platform, OpenRate rating engine and ecommerce component, with no licence fee. It is the clearest fit for organizations prepared to run their own installation and wanting the full feature set without software licence charges. The price does not remove the operational responsibility of hosting and maintaining the system.

Hosted SaaS trial — free. It provides the full system in a browser with sample data loaded.

The maker also says it offers hosted SaaS trials, but does not publish the hosted option's price. The privacy policy says the customer or a third party operating an installation controls its data. The site does not state security certifications or compliance attestations, so organizations with formal procurement requirements should assess those separately.

Platforms

OpenBRM is presented for API, Linux, macOS, web, Windows and self-hosted use.

Who it's for

OpenBRM is strongest for telecom operators, ISPs and MVNOs that need subscription billing, usage rating and communications inventory in one system. SaaS businesses and enterprises with mixed recurring and metered billing may also find its combination useful. It is less suitable for teams that only need straightforward subscription invoicing, cannot take responsibility for a self-hosted installation, or require a published SaaS price and defined OS support before evaluating a product.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Combines recurring, one-off, prepaid and rated-usage billing, giving providers one invoicing flow for several charge types.
• Pros: Pairs telecom-specific inventory tracking with subscription operations and provisioning hooks, reducing the need to separate those functions across tools.
• Pros: The complete self-hosted package, including rating and ecommerce, has no licence fee.
• Cons: Self-hosting makes the customer or a third party responsible for operating the installation.
• Cons: Hosted SaaS has no published price, and the trial duration is unstated, limiting cost comparisons.

Alternatives

For a narrower focus on payment recovery, compare Dunning Management Software.

Kill Bill is another self-hosted open-source billing option, with its core offering described as giving users control of infrastructure and data. Lago offers an AGPLv3-licensed, self-hosted open-source plan at no cost, with a premium option for cloud or self-hosted deployment. Choose between them and OpenBRM based on which platform's billing scope best fits your operations.

Airwallex Billing has a free invoicing plan and usage-based billing priced at $0.50 per successful transaction; it may suit teams looking for transaction-priced usage billing rather than OpenBRM's complete self-hosted package. Billsby has a Core plan at $45 a month, plus 0.4% on revenue exceeding $15,000/mo, including five users, one payment gateway and one tax region. It is a more defined paid-plan option for teams whose needs fit those limits.

Churn Buster offers free recovery analytics and a Dunning or Cancel Flows plan starting at $269 a month, making it the more focused choice when recovery workflows are the priority. Lemon Squeezy has ecommerce with no monthly fee and charges 5% + $0.50 when sales are generated; it may suit sellers seeking a transaction-fee model instead of running a self-hosted billing stack.

NovaBilling offers a free self-hosted Community plan with all features, unlimited tenants and customers, six payment providers and GitHub community support. It is worth comparing for teams seeking a self-hosted billing system with those stated community-plan terms. Pabbly Subscriptions has a free plan capped at 50 customers, with revenue limited and team members and the affiliate module excluded; it is a more bounded option for smaller subscription operations.

Verdict

Choose OpenBRM when your organization needs subscription billing, usage rating, communications inventory and CRM together, and can operate a self-hosted platform. Its no-licence-fee complete package is compelling for that combination. Look elsewhere if you need a published hosted SaaS price or a stated operating-system support matrix before making a decision.