Chargify still stores the CC at the gateway level, so you have gateway lockin
I don't understand this. Gateways that provide a vault for storing credit card information give you a way to get it out in order to process the transaction. So if you can get the information out, couldn't you just transition to a new gateway if necessary. Only sites like Paypal and Amazon really have lockin.
And to be 100% clear, Chargify is not a gateway or anything like that, so they don't do any storage - they're a SaaS provider that has built their app to offer recurring billing on top of a bunch of other gateway's APIs.
We decided to go with Authorize.net, and I'm afraid we're locked in again. I willingly and knowingly put my nuts in the vice this time. I asked the sales rep about getting the CC info back, and she cited PCI compliance as their reason for not giving it up.
Still, I decided to go with the big dog, and my hope is that any services like Chargify that we decided to use will also work with Authorize.