If you sell products people reorder, a subscription app can turn one-time buyers into recurring revenue. Recharge is the name most merchants know first, but it is not the only option, and for a smaller store it is often not the cheapest. I run my own stores and help coaching students and done-for-you clients at Ecommerce Paradise build high-ticket stores, and I look at every app through the same lens: what does it cost once you add the transaction fees, and what happens if you want to leave later?
Everything below comes from each vendor’s own pricing page as I reviewed it. Where a page does not show a number, I write “not shown” instead of guessing, and you should confirm current pricing before you install anything. Some links in this article are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.
Subscriptions fit best with consumables, replenishment items, and add-ons around a bigger sale, such as filters, supplements, or maintenance kits that go with a high-ticket product. If you are still choosing what to sell, start with my high-ticket niches list and my guide to what high-ticket dropshipping is.
Shopify Subscription Apps at a Glance
| App | Starting price | Free trial | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Subscriptions | Free first-party app | Not shown | Stores that want the simplest setup |
| Recharge | Starter at $99 a month, 1.49% + 19 cents per transaction | 60-day free trial on Starter | Established stores that want a full-featured option |
| Skio | Scale at $499 a month billed annually ($599 billed monthly), 1% + 20 cents per transaction | Not shown | Larger stores that want retention tools |
| Smartrr | Launch at $99 a month, 1% of subscriber sales | 14-day free trial | Stores that want predictable percentage fees |
| Loop | Free plan up to 50 active subscriptions, Starter at $99 a month, 1% fee | 14-day trial on paid plans | Stores that want a free tier to test |
| Seal Subscriptions | Free plan up to 50 subscriptions, paid plans from $5.95 a month, 0% transaction fee | 30-day trial on paid plans | Small stores that want the lowest cost |
Want a Shopify store built for high-ticket sales, with the apps and systems chosen for you? My team can do it. See the done-for-you store build →
Start With the Free Option
Shopify Subscriptions is Shopify’s own first-party app, and Shopify describes it as free. It lets you add a subscription as a purchase option so customers can buy a product on a recurring schedule at an agreed price, and Shopify gives monthly, weekly, and daily as common intervals. You manage subscriptions from your Shopify admin, and you can sell them in person with Shopify POS.
The page does not show which Shopify plans support it or what the app’s limits are, so check those before you build around it. If you do not have a store yet, you can start one with Shopify. For a first subscription offer, I would test the free app before paying for anything, because you can learn whether your customers actually want to subscribe without spending a dollar.
What Subscription Apps Really Cost
The monthly plan price is only part of the bill. Most subscription apps also take a percentage of subscription sales plus a per-order fee, and that second part grows with your store. To compare fairly, I ran the same example through each app: an average order of $100 and one subscription order per subscriber each month.
At $20,000 a month in subscription sales (200 orders), Recharge Starter works out to about $435 a month, Skio Scale to about $739 billed annually (or $839 billed monthly), Smartrr Launch and Loop Starter to about $299, and Seal to about $9.95 on its Rising Star plan, since 200 subscriptions fit under that plan’s 250 limit. Shopify Subscriptions is free to install, though the page does not show any other charges.
At $100,000 a month (1,000 orders), Recharge Starter is about $1,779, Recharge Plus about $2,029, Skio Scale about $1,699, Smartrr Launch and Loop Starter about $1,099, Loop Pro about $1,149, and Seal about $89.95 on its Leader plan. These numbers exclude payment processing, taxes, and any messaging fees, and they use each page’s listed rates only.
Two crossover points are worth knowing. Loop Pro charges $399 a month and a 0.75% fee against Starter’s $99 and 1.0%, so Pro only becomes cheaper above roughly $120,000 a month in subscription sales. Recharge Plus at $499 and 1.34% beats Starter at $99 and 1.49% only above roughly $266,667 a month, and Plus also carries a 12-month term. Do not upgrade for the percentage alone.
1. Recharge
Recharge is the best-known subscription app on Shopify. Starter is $99 a month plus 1.49% and 19 cents per transaction, with a 60-day free trial that starts when you install the app. It includes a product page widget, customer portal, upsell and cross-sell tools, cancellation prevention, failed payment recovery, win-back tools, automated workflows, gift subscriptions, and analytics.
Plus is $499 a month plus 1.34% and 19 cents per transaction. It adds hands-on implementation, migration support, customizable bundles, SMS, loyalty rewards, a referral program, and JavaScript SDK and Storefront API access. Messaging costs $0.03 per US or Canada segment and $0.06 per international segment, and the FAQ says Plus has a 12-month term. There is also a Custom tier with volume-based rates.
Recharge is a safe pick if you want a mature tool with a long feature list. The tradeoff is the highest percentage fee on this list at the Starter level.
2. Skio
Skio lists a Scale plan at $499 a month billed annually, or $599 a month billed monthly, with a 1% plus 20 cents fee on subscription orders. It includes an analytics suite, payment recovery campaigns, lifecycle journeys, two-way SMS, volume discounting, a multi-step cancel flow builder, a no-code customer portal, and hands-on onboarding. Enterprise is custom for high-volume or unusual business models.
The page did not answer its own free trial question, and no smaller plan is shown, so Skio is aimed at stores with real subscription volume. At $100,000 a month in sales it came in slightly under Recharge Starter in my example, mostly because of the lower percentage fee. Below that volume, it is the more expensive option.
3. Smartrr
Smartrr has three plans. Launch is $99 a month, Grow is $299 a month, and Excel starts at $499 a month, each with a 1% fee on subscriber sales and a 14-day free trial that starts when you install the app. Launch covers subscribe-and-save, a branded customer portal, 24/7 chat support, notifications, reports, and bulk updates.
Grow adds advanced subscription programs, dunning management, advanced analytics, a dedicated customer success manager, and Shopify Flow actions. Excel adds build-a-box bundles, loyalty and rewards, referrals, and a dedicated Slack channel. The plan is month-to-month, and the page says you will not be forced to upgrade based on usage or features.
4. Loop
Loop has a free plan for up to 50 active subscriptions, which is a rare way to test with real customers at no cost. Starter is $99 a month with a 1.0% fee and no per-order fee, and it includes failed payment recovery, cancellation prevention, a self-serve customer portal, subscription bundles, out-of-stock protection, and more than 30 integrations. The page lists a 14-day trial for Starter.
Pro is $399 a month with a 0.75% fee and adds a dedicated customer success manager, surprise and delight flows, targeted campaigns, prepaid and gifting, a multi-language portal, and API and webhook access. As calculated above, Pro only beats Starter at high volume. Enterprise pricing is not shown.
5. Seal Subscriptions
Seal Subscriptions is the lowest-cost paid option I found. The free plan supports 50 subscriptions, and paid plans run from $5.95 a month for 100 subscriptions up to $399 a month for 150,000, all with a 0% transaction fee and a 30-day trial. Plans are priced by subscription count, with $24.95 a month for 500, $89.95 for 2,000, and $199 for 50,000.
Features are layered by plan. Every plan includes regular and prepaid subscriptions, a customer portal, dunning management, and an API. Cancellation flows and delivery profiles start at the $9.95 Rising Star plan, the Klaviyo integration starts at $24.95, and a dedicated success manager is reserved for the two highest tiers.
For a store with a few hundred subscribers, Seal can cost a small fraction of the percentage-based apps. Check the feature list against your needs, because some of the retention tools sit on higher tiers.
Switching Apps Safely
Before you uninstall a subscription app, plan the move. Shopify’s help page says that when you uninstall a third-party subscription app, its subscription data, excluding contracts and payment information, is deleted after 48 hours unless the app has a backup you can restore from. Ask the new app whether it offers migration support, export your data first, and run the old and new apps side by side on a test product.
Recharge Plus and Skio both list migration or onboarding help on their top plans, which can matter if you have thousands of active subscribers. Whichever app you pick, tell your customers about any change to their portal or billing emails before it happens.
Email, Support, and the Rest of the Stack
A subscription app handles billing, but retention happens in email. A tool like Omnisend can run upcoming-charge reminders and win-back flows, and most subscription apps connect to the major email platforms. Support volume also goes up with subscriptions, because customers want to skip, swap, or cancel, so a helpdesk like Gorgias can save you hours.
If you do not have time to set this up, you can hire help through OnlineJobs.ph. For more app ideas, see my guide to the best Shopify apps for high-ticket dropshipping.
How to Choose
If you are testing demand, start with Shopify Subscriptions, Loop’s free plan, or Seal’s free plan. If you have a few hundred subscribers, Seal or a flat-fee plan will usually cost less than a percentage-based one. If you have thousands of subscribers and need retention tools, compare Recharge Plus, Skio Scale, and Loop Pro using your own sales figures.
Run your real numbers through the crossover math above, not the marketing page. Then take the free trial seriously: Recharge offers 60 days on Starter, Seal 30 days, and Smartrr and Loop 14 days. Use that time to build a real subscription and check how the customer portal looks on a phone.
Supply and Cash Flow: What Subscriptions Change
A subscription promises a customer a product on a schedule, so your supply has to keep up. If a supplier sells out or changes pricing, you cannot simply hide a listing, because you have active subscribers expecting a shipment. Before you sell anything on repeat, confirm stock, lead times, and pricing terms in writing. My guide to finding suppliers for high-ticket dropshipping covers how to vet them, and the advice matters even more for recurring products.
Cash flow changes too. A one-time sale gives you the full payment up front. A subscription gives you smaller, steady payments, plus failed payments, skips, and cancellations to manage. Build in enough margin that the discount you offer for subscribing still leaves a profit after app fees, which the cost math above shows can run from a few dollars to well over a thousand dollars a month.
Set up the business side first. If you have not formed your company yet, read my guide to business formation for high-ticket dropshipping.
I recommend Bizee for a simple LLC setup, or Northwest Registered Agent if you want a registered agent with a privacy focus. Recurring billing means recurring sales tax and bookkeeping, so keep your business and personal finances separate from day one.
What to Test Before You Launch Subscriptions
Do not launch to your whole list on day one. Install the app, create one subscription product, and place a real test order. Then work through the customer side: open the customer portal on a phone, skip a delivery, swap a product, change the schedule, and cancel. If any of those steps confuse you, they will confuse a customer.
Next, check the emails the app sends, including the receipt, the upcoming-charge reminder, and the failed-payment notice. Make sure they match your brand and do not conflict with the emails from your main marketing tool. Finally, read the app’s help documents for your theme and check that the subscription widget looks right on your product page. A rough launch costs you subscribers, and a careful one costs you an afternoon.
Common Mistakes With Subscription Apps
The first mistake is paying for features you will not use in the first year. A store with 80 subscribers does not need a dedicated success manager. The second mistake is ignoring the percentage fee, which can quietly cost more than the monthly plan price as you grow.
The third mistake is skipping the exit plan. Know how you would export subscribers and payment data before you commit. The last mistake is offering a discount so deep that the subscription loses money, so work out your margin per order before you set the price.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Recharge alternative?
It depends on your size. For small stores, Seal Subscriptions and Loop’s free plan cost the least to start. For mid-size stores, Smartrr and Loop Starter use a 1% fee against Recharge Starter’s 1.49% plus 19 cents per transaction. For larger stores, compare Skio and Recharge Plus.
Does Shopify have its own subscription app?
Yes. Shopify Subscriptions is a free first-party app that lets you offer products on a recurring schedule. Shopify’s help page does not show which plans support it or its limits, so confirm those in your admin before you plan around it.
Which subscription app has no transaction fees?
Seal Subscriptions lists a 0% transaction fee on every plan, priced by the number of subscriptions instead. Smartrr and Loop charge a percentage, and Recharge and Skio charge a percentage plus a per-order fee.
Is there a free trial?
Recharge lists a 60-day free trial on Starter, Seal lists 30 days on paid plans, and Smartrr and Loop list 14 days. Skio’s page asks about a free trial but does not show an answer, so contact them.
Do subscriptions work for high-ticket dropshipping?
They work best for repeat-purchase items attached to a bigger sale, like consumables, accessories, or maintenance plans. A one-time purchase of a high-ticket item is not a subscription product, so think about what customers will need again.
Final Verdict on Shopify Subscription Apps
For most stores, I would start with a free option, either Shopify Subscriptions, Loop’s free plan, or Seal, and only move to a percentage-based app once subscription sales justify the fee. Recharge is the mature choice for larger stores, Skio and Smartrr compete on retention features and fees, and Seal wins on cost for small catalogs.
Check each vendor’s pricing page before you commit, since fees and plan limits change.
Ready to build a store that sells high-ticket products and keeps customers coming back? Let my team set it up for you. Get your store built →
Want to learn the model yourself? Start with my free mini course, or go deeper in the masterclass and coaching. Free mini course → Masterclass → Coaching →
Related Articles
If you found this useful, these guides go deeper on related topics:
- Best Shopify Apps for High Ticket Dropshipping Stores in 2026
- Best Shopify Apps in 2026: The Complete Stack to Build, Grow, and Scale Your Store
- Shopify Pricing Plans in 2026: Which Plan Do You Actually Need?
- 10 Best Omnisend Alternatives in 2026: Email Marketing Platforms with Better Pricing, Stronger Niche Features, and Cleaner Use-Case Fit
- Dropshipping Tools: 34 Best Tools by Job for 2026
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and world traveler from Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
He maintains homes in Seattle and Bali, spends most of the year overseas, and usually returns to Seattle for about a month each summer.
