Recurring billing refers to recurring invoices, while recurring payment refers to recurring payments. Recurring billing is a payment model that allows subscription companies to bill subscribers at predefined time intervals (e.g. weekly, monthly, annually, or user-defined) for the products or services they purchase.

Recurring payment, on the other hand, describes a payment model in which customers authorize the direct-debit merchant to automatically and regularly debit funds from their account for the goods and services provided to them.