6 Best Shopify Subscription Apps

So, you’ve taken the plunge into subscriptions. You’ve definitely made the right decision. Now it’s time to choose which Shopify subscription app you want to integrate onto your store. 

With so many options out there, it’s tricky to pick the right subscription app for you, not to mention incredibly time-consuming. To help, we’ve done the legwork for you.

In this article, we’ve curated a list of the best subscription apps in the Shopify app store, based on experience, rating, reviews and top features, so you can get set up right away and start generating recurring revenue in no time. So, without further ado, let’s deep dive into the list… 

1. Recharge Subscriptions app

First up is our go-to subscriptions payments app, Recharge. With merchants’ success in mind, ReCharge is easy to use, can be rolled out in minutes and has been developed for the sole purpose of providing subscription services – it’s the only thing it does, and it does it very well. Many of our clients, including Personalised Co and Santo Remedio, have implemented Recharge on their Shopify Plus stores, which has helped them to reduce customer churn and increase LTV by leveraging Recharge’s powerful APIs.

Here’s an overview of the app’s key features: 

• It lets customers manage all aspects of their subscriptions (through the customer portal, email and SMS) 
• You can leverage the Recharge API to create custom workflows to solve complex subscription needs
• Allows you to grow AOV through upsells like adding one time products
• Allows customers to swap products and customise their subscriptions
• Option to choose subscription frequency, e.g. every week/fortnight/month
• Integrates with top commerce tools, including Klaviyo, Gorgias, Yotpo, LoyaltyLion and more. 
• Gives you rich data on revenue, customers, and subscriptions 

ReCharge is free to install + 1% and 10¢ per transaction as standard, and then the Pro plan starts at $300/month + 1% + 19¢ per transaction. 

2. Bold Subscriptions app

Next up is Bold subscriptions. They haven’t always been big players in the subscription app ecosystem until recently, and now they power over 20,000 subscription brands worldwide. Out-of-the-box, it comes with lots of handy features that let you manage and scale your subscription business, not to mention it’s highly customisable. 

Here’s an overview of the app’s key features: 

• Seamlessly integrates with Shopify Checkout, allows you to launch or migrate your subscription program in minutes
• Option for a single purchase or “subscribe and save” option on the product page
• Option for customers to choose subscription frequency, e.g. every week/fortnight/month.
• Gives you rich subscription data from its easy-to-use dashboard
• Option to use prepaid and gift subscriptions
• Allows you to forecast your inventory using back-end analytics feature that displays inventory needed to fill upcoming subscriptions (7, 30, 90 and 180 days)
• Integrates with PayPal Express, Zapier, Avalara and Google Analytics

Bold subscriptions offer merchants a 60-day free trial. After that, its Core payment plan is $49.99/month +1% of orders containing subscription products.

3. Seal Subscriptions app

Similarly to ReCharge and Bold, Seal Subscriptions is rated highly on the Shopify app store. Deeply integrated with Shopify, it helps merchants boost their sales through subscriptions and automatic recurring payments, and comes with zero transaction fees on all its plans.

Here’s an overview of the app’s key features: 

• Allows mixed subscriptions in the same cart
• In recurring invoices mode, it sends automated invoices and does not bill the customers directly
• Advanced discount configurations 
• Allows you to give customers a discount when they subscribe to incentivise subscription sign up
• No customer registration is required to set up recurring subscriptions. Instead, customers use a ‘magical’ link sent to their inbox
• Allows you to leverage email marketing to send subscription reminders and offers
• Integrates with Klaviyo, Google analytics and Bundler

Seal subscriptions offer merchants a 15-day free trial. Once that’s over, there are four different price plans, including Free for up to 150 subscriptions and Leader at $50/month for up to 51,000 subscriptions.

4. PayWhirl Subscriptions Payments app

Boasting over 10,000 businesses on Shopify using the app, PayWhirl makes it easy to create, manage, and sell subscriptions through Shopify’s native checkout. Customers can log into their subscription account and manage their information, see their billing history, amend payment plans and make changes to their account. 

Here’s an overview of the app’s key features: 

• Gives you access to rich subscription data via its dashboard 
• Comes with multi-language and multi-currency support
• Option to choose subscription frequency, e.g. every week/fortnight/month
• Works with Shopify checkout, no redirects off-site
• Gives you the option for a single purchase or “subscribe and save” option on the product page
• Fully customisable to suit your branding
• Integrates with PayPal Express and Shopify Payments 

Merchants can take advantage of the 14-day trial before deciding to integrate PayWhirl.Then, there are 4 payment plans to choose from: Starter, Pro, Plus and Ultimate, with prices varying from free + 3% transaction fee to $249/month + 0.5% transaction fee. 

5. Ordergroove Subscriptions app

Unlike the other apps discussed above, Ordergroove has been built ONLY for ecommerce businesses on Shopify Plus. It’s free to install and makes it easier for high-growth enterprises to generate recurring revenue through subscriptions. 

Here’s an overview of the app’s key features: 

• Easily customisable, so your subscriptions program matches the look and feel of your brand
• Allows you to grow your subscriber base from incentives and retention rewards
• Gives you access to data-rich analytics and a customer success team 
• Make subscriptions the default option to encourage opt-ins
• Allows you to automatically make adjustments that will drive your subscription program through machine learning
• Integrates with Yotpo, Klaviyo, Churn Buster and Glew.io

For every month your sales are under $1500, Ordergroove is free. Anything that exceeds $1500 in monthly subscription sales will require you to upgrade to the Core plan at $60/ month in addition to external charges.

6. Yotpo Subscriptions app

New on the subscription scene is Yotpo, having just launched their latest product, Yotpo Subscriptions. Staying true to their mission, to provide brands with everything they need to create winning customer experiences, Yotpo set out to solve some of the ecommerce industry’s toughest pain points for both merchants and consumers. 

With over 10 years in the industry, Yotpo is bringing its best-in-class technology, powerful partnerships, and industry-leading customer success team to the world of subscriptions. 

Yotpo Subscriptions makes subscription management simple, with a native integration to Shopify. This includes a native checkout experience, smooth catalog management (no more duplicate products), easy discount control, and more! To reduce cancellations and keep customers satisfied, Yotpo created an intuitive, passwordless, self-management portal that lets them customise subscriptions to their needs.

This intuitive, plug-and-play subscription app is built on Yotpo’s ecommerce marketing platform and enables brands to create smarter, higher-converting experiences that build lasting relationships with subscribers so they stay subscribed. 

Here’s an overview of the app’s key features: 

• Quick launch – Launch subscriptions in under 15 minutes with our self-guided onboarding steps. No code needed. 
• Shopify native checkout – Keep conversion rates high with an uninterrupted checkout process, so that you sell more subscriptions.
• Simplified merchant experience – Give your support team access to powerful customer management tools, create flexible subscription options, and set your shipping frequency and discount rates.
• Customer flexibility – Reduce churn and keep customers satisfied with an intuitive, passwordless, self-management portal that lets them customise subscriptions to their needs.
• Straightforward analytics – An easy-to-navigate dashboard highlights the most important data, including ROI, in a digestible format. 
• End-to-end white-glove migration – Free and seamless migration from any other subscription app with no interruption to your current subscription service, 100% satisfaction guaranteed.
• Integration with all of your marketing tools – Increase CLTV when you integrate Yotpo Subscriptions with your other Yotpo products. Offer exclusive perks with Yotpo Loyalty and Referrals and collect more subscribers with Yotpo SMSBump.

Yopo Subscriptions is free to install. After monthly subscription sales exceed $500, you will need to set up a payment plan. 

Wrapping up

Choosing the right app can seem daunting at first, especially when you’re new to subscriptions on Shopify. But hopefully, this article has helped during your research, and one of them is right for your ecommerce business. 

If you need some more guidance or further information on any of the subscription apps discussed, please get in touch with our team of Shopify subscription specialists. We’d be happy to help and take your business to the next level. 

In the meantime, why not check out our article on how to grow your ecommerce subscription business?

Happy scaling! 🚀