I made the same journey you are on, however, in the opposite direction. I have been using the PayPal API to make reoccurring variable charges for the last 12 years. Like you, I have a billing system that handles everything and so I use PayPal just to make the payment. In fact, I had no idea until recently that PayPal can manage the subscription and do the billing automatically. So yes, PayPal API can give you exactly what you want. I went from using PayPal to adding Stripe as a billing option in September after PayPal jacked up our fees by 65%. It's so high because our transactions are small. After googling about Stripe, I stumbled into the whole Stripe manages the subscription and auto bills approach, but thought there was no alternative. After a few weeks of development, which involved a lot of coding to keep my and Stripe's systems in synch, I saw I was being charge by Stripe to manage the subscription, etc., which I didn't want! It turned out well, however, because it led me to discover I could use Stripe the way I wanted, after all, as you do. Good luck!
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