Best Shopify subscription app: which one stays cheap as you grow?

At a glance

Which Shopify subscription app should you pick?

Four of the eight have a free plan, and three never take a cut of your renewals: Appstle, Seal and Shopify Subscriptions.

"Not listed" means the listing names no change a subscriber makes alone. Ask the app before you pick it.

The monthly bill

What does a subscription app cost at $10,000 a month?

Say your store takes $10,000 a month in subscriptions: 250 renewals at $40, each a single charge. Card processing is left out, because you pay it whichever app you pick.

The same program costs $0 to $749 a month, and on the five apps that take a cut, the cut adds $100 to $196.50 on top of the plan. On Bold, Grow is the cheapest plan at this size, because Launch's 2% brings it to $224.99. Recharge's $25 plan is left out, since its no-cut promise covers 50 subscribers and the listing gives no price past them.

From here, Shopify Subscriptions stays at $0, Appstle's bill grows with your subscription sales and Seal's with your subscriber count. The other five grow with every renewal you add. For the case against paying per renewal, read how to offer subscriptions without the enterprise bill.

How we picked

How did we pick these eight?

Each app runs a subscription program on Shopify and prints its prices on its App Store listing, and we read all eight on October 30, 2026. The four with a free plan come first, then the four without one.

1 · Appstle Subscriptions

Appstle Subscriptions: how far does the free plan go?

You want subscribe and save on the store before you have a single subscriber to pay for it. Appstle's FREE plan covers up to $500 a month in subscription sales, with a customer portal, payment retries, analytics with churn control and help moving from another app.

Past that, plans step up by subscription sales: $10 a month to $5,000, $30 to $15,000 and $100 to $100,000. Every paid plan lists a 0% transaction fee and a 14-day free trial.

The free cap is about a dozen $40 subscribers. Build-a-box and cancellation control wait for the $30 plan, and product swap for the $100 one. Appstle carries the Built for Shopify badge and the most reviews of the eight.

Best for: most stores starting out, up to $100,000 a month in subscription sales.

2 · Shopify Subscriptions

Does Shopify have its own subscription app?

You want a free subscribe option from Shopify itself. Shopify Subscriptions is that app, on the App Store since January 2024. It adds a subscription widget to your store and sells on Shopify POS too. Renewals run weekly, monthly or yearly, with a percentage, fixed-amount or buy X get Y discount.

Subscribers sign in with a 6-digit code sent by email, no password, then skip, pause, resume or cancel, or change their address or card, on their own. Shopify emails them 3 days before each charge.

It needs Shopify Payments, PayPal Express or Authorize.net. Stripe works only for select stores, and Adyen only for stores Adyen has already approved. Bundles do not work with it, and your theme must support sections and blocks, as any Online Store 2.0 theme from Shopify does.

The gap: 3.8 from 880 reviews, the lowest rating of the eight, with 19% of them one star.

Best for: a simple subscribe and save, with no bundles in the plan.

3 · Seal Subscriptions

Seal Subscriptions: what does paying by subscriber count get you?

You have a few dozen subscribers, and every dollar of app fees shows. Seal prices by subscriber count, not by sales, lists a 0% transaction fee on every plan, and carries the Built for Shopify badge.

Free for life covers 50 subscriptions with unlimited revenue, product swaps and tiered subscription discounts. Paid plans cost $5.95 a month to 100 subscriptions, $9.95 to 250 and $24.95 to 500, each with a 30-day free trial.

Its listing says subscribers reach their subscriptions "with magic links", without naming a plan. The passwordless customer portal starts at $5.95, and a custom cancellation flow at $9.95. Past 500 subscriptions, bigger plans exist with no price on the listing.

Best for: a small program you would rather price by subscribers than by sales.

4 · Loop Subscriptions

What is Loop Subscriptions, and is its 1% worth paying?

Subscribers cancel when all they wanted was a month off. Loop's Starter plan answers with cancellation flows and offers, up to 15 payment retries, and fixed and build-your-own bundles.

By its listing, the portal lets subscribers manage orders, swaps and skips. Free Forever covers 50 active subscriptions, with a phone-friendly portal and revenue analytics.

Starter costs $99 a month plus 1% of each renewal. Pro costs $399 plus 0.75% and adds prepaid and gift subscriptions. Both come with a 14-day free trial.

The gap: every retention tool sits behind the 1% cut.

Best for: a growing program where keeping subscribers is worth more than the 1%.

5 · Recharge

Recharge: what does the oldest of the eight cost today?

You want a subscription app with a long record behind it. Recharge has been on the App Store since October 2014, the earliest of the eight, and has owned Skio since April 2026.

With no transaction fees for your first 50 subscribers, its $25 plan carries the full Starter feature set: a product page widget, a customer portal, cancellation prevention, failed payment recovery and analytics. Starter itself costs $99 a month plus 1.49% + 19¢ per transaction, and both come with a 60-day free trial.

Its listing says subscribers skip, swap and reschedule on their own in the portal. The Plus plan, at $499 a month plus 1.34% + 19¢, adds customizable bundles, tiered discounts, loyalty rewards and referrals, on a 12-month term.

The gap: at $10,000 a month in renewals, Starter comes to $295.50, the highest bill of the plans under $100 a month, and $196.50 of it is the cut.

Best for: an established program that wants the longest track record of the eight.

6 · Skio

Skio: who is a $599 subscription app for?

You run thousands of subscribers, and every forgotten password turns into a support ticket. Skio's listing names passwordless login and quick actions, a no-code customer portal and a multi-step cancel flow builder.

It also lists a static or dynamic build-a-box, payment recovery and a move from your old app with zero downtime.

Its listing shows one plan, Scale: $599 a month, or $5,988 a year, plus 1% + 20¢ per transaction, with no free plan and no free trial.

The gap: at $10,000 a month in renewals, that comes to $749, the highest bill of the eight. Skio has been part of Recharge since April 2026, and its listing now reads "Skio, a Recharge Company". Recharge says both keep running as normal, with a combined roadmap.

Best for: a program with thousands of subscribers.

7 · Stay AI

Stay AI: can an app tell you which subscribers will leave?

You want to know which subscribers will cancel before they do. Stay AI's listing says its RetentionEngine will forecast subscription revenue and prevent churn.

It also lists a no-code customer portal and help moving from another app. Its listing shows one plan, $499 a month plus 1% + 19¢ per transaction, with a 30-day free trial and no free plan.

The gap: the forecasts are Stay AI's own claim, and at $10,000 a month in renewals the bill comes to $646.50.

Best for: large programs that will act on forecasts.

8 · Bold Subscriptions

Bold Subscriptions: is a low monthly fee worth a 2% cut?

You want unlimited subscribers without a big monthly fee. Every Bold plan takes unlimited subscribers and includes prepaid subscriptions and automatic retries of failed payments. Its listing adds cancellation flows and a free move from your old app.

Launch costs $24.99 a month plus 2% of each renewal, Grow $49.99 plus 1%, and Scale $74.99 plus 0.9%. Each has a 30-day free trial, and there is no free plan.

Against Recharge Starter, Bold's Launch plan costs less a month and charges a higher rate: 2% against 1.49%, though Recharge adds 19¢ to each renewal.

The gap: 4.0 from 381 reviews, the second-lowest rating of the eight after Shopify Subscriptions.

Best for: a store that wants a low base fee and accepts a cut.

Self-service

What can your subscribers change without emailing you?

A subscriber who checked out as a guest finds no way into the subscription and emails you to skip a month. Every skip becomes your job.

What a subscriber can do alone depends on the app, the plan and how they sign in. Shopify Subscriptions gives the most for free, with every change from skip to a new card. Loop and Recharge list skips and swaps in their portals.

Passwordless sign-in to the portal starts at $10 a month on Appstle and $5.95 on Seal, and comes with Skio's one plan. Bold and Stay AI each list a customer portal without saying what a subscriber can do in it. Before you pick, place a test subscription as a guest and try to skip it.

Subscription boxes

Which app is best for a subscription box?

You want subscribers to choose what goes in each box, not get the same three items forever. Build-a-box starts on Appstle's $30 Business plan, Loop's $99 Starter plan and Skio's one plan at $599. Recharge puts customizable bundles on Plus, at $499.

Appstle is the cheapest of the four at $30 a month, with no cut. Shopify Subscriptions does not work with bundles at all. Selling a box bought once, not on a schedule? See the best Shopify apps for build-your-own bundles.

Churn

How do subscription apps cut churn?

Churn is the share of subscribers who cancel or lapse each month. Apps pull two levers against it: an offer at the cancel button, such as a skip or a pause, and retries on a failed card before the subscription ends.

Loop's Starter plan has both, with up to 15 payment retries. Recharge Starter, Skio and Bold list both too. On the flat-priced side, Appstle retries payments for free and adds cancellation control at $30, and Seal adds a custom cancellation flow at $9.95. For the rest of the playbook, read how to reduce subscription churn.

Switching later

Can you switch subscription apps later?

You want off the app that takes a cut, and moving hundreds of subscribers feels too risky to try.

When you uninstall a subscription app, Shopify deletes its data after 48 hours, except the subscription contracts and customers' payment details. Those stay in Shopify for the next app.

Shopify Subscriptions imports contracts from another app with a spreadsheet file, and exports them too. Appstle and Stay AI list help with the move, Bold offers to run it for free, and Skio promises zero downtime. Keep one app billing at a time.

Not ranked · Sledge

What if subscriptions are one offer among many?

You sell bundles and run a cart drawer, and subscribe and save is one more option you want beside them. Sledge is a Shopify app that runs subscribe and save as one of its nine offer types, beside bundles, the cart drawer and search, on a flat monthly price that takes no cut of any order.

In the Sledge admin, pick the "Subscription" offer type, then set the "Order frequency", its "Unit" (day, week, month or year) and the "Discount". "Add more frequency" puts several schedules in one offer. Shoppers see "Subscribe & save", the default label, beside "One time purchase" on the product page, the cart page or the cart drawer, and you can A/B test the offer.

A failed renewal is retried up to 4 times, about once a day, before the subscription is cancelled, and subscribers get an email 3 days before each renewal.

Signed in to their account on your store, a subscriber can cancel from the "Manage subscription" link in Sledge's subscription emails. Cancel is the only self-service Sledge promises, and it needs that sign-in, so a guest with no account still writes to you. Sledge has no churn or recurring revenue screen either. If subscriptions are the business, pick from the eight above.

Subscription comes on every paid plan: $29.99, $89.99, $199 or $399 a month after a 14-day free trial, with no free plan on a live store. Run Recharge already? See Sledge and Recharge side by side.

Best for: a store that wants subscribe and save next to its bundles, not a subscription business.