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Valkyrie and Stripe Smart Retries: how they work together
This isn't really a "versus." Smart Retries is free, built into Stripe, and you should have it switched on regardless of anything else you do. Valkyrie exists for the specific gap it leaves.
What Smart Retries actually does
Smart Retries is a feature of Stripe Billing that automatically re-attempts failed subscription and invoice payments, using machine learning to pick better retry timing (for example, Stripe notes debit cards in some countries succeed more often right after midnight local time). You configure how many retries and over what window, 1 week up to 2 months, with Stripe's own recommended default of 8 tries within 2 weeks.
What it deliberately doesn't retry
Stripe's own documentation lists a specific set of hard decline codes it won't retry without a new payment method, including incorrect_number, lost_card, pickup_card, stolen_card, and a few others. These are exactly the cases where the card itself is unusable; Stripe keeps the retry schedule logged and will execute a skipped attempt if a new payment method shows up, but it will not conjure one from a dead card. This is the gap Valkyrie fills: emailing the customer directly and asking them to actually provide that new card.
Cost
Free. Smart Retries and Stripe's retention automations are included in every Stripe Billing plan at no additional cost, on top of whatever you already pay Stripe for billing (0.7% of billing volume pay-as-you-go, or a tiered monthly plan starting at $620/mo). There's no reason not to have it on.
| Valkyrie | Stripe Smart Retries | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | 25% of recovered revenue only | Free, included in Stripe Billing |
| What it recovers | Hard declines: expired, lost, stolen, invalid cards | Soft/timing declines: insufficient funds, temporary issuer issues |
| How it recovers | Branded email asking the customer to update their card | Automatic re-attempts of the same charge, smarter timing |
| Processors | Stripe only | Stripe only (it's a Stripe feature) |
| Setup | Connect via Stripe OAuth, ~60 seconds | Toggle on in Stripe Dashboard, Billing > Revenue recovery |
| Contract | None, cancel any time | None, it's a setting |
Should you use both?
Yes, and in fact Valkyrie is specifically built not to duplicate what Smart Retries already does: we only bill on recoveries above what Stripe's own retries would have gotten anyway. If a charge succeeds because Smart Retries caught it on a later automatic attempt, that's Stripe's win and you owe us nothing for it. We only step in for the hard declines Stripe's own documentation says it can't retry without a new card.
Related decline codes
See what's left after Smart Retries does its part
Connect Stripe and we'll show you exactly what Smart Retries already recovers versus what's genuinely still on the table. Try the calculator first if you want a quick estimate.
Connect Stripe freePrices and feature claims checked October 2026. Sources: Stripe Smart Retries docs, Stripe Billing pricing.