Best Shopify Subscription Apps in 2026: 13 Compared Honestly

Short answer: for most Shopify stores the shortlist is Appstle, Seal, Kaching, Recharge, Subi and Loop. Appstle, Seal and Kaching charge a flat monthly fee with no transaction fee, which suits a store watching every dollar. Recharge, Loop and Subi charge a monthly fee plus a percentage and bundle more retention tools. Subi includes memberships and bundles on every plan and adds a loyalty program on its Subi plan ($119/month + 0.8%), so a store that wants all three can skip a second app. Skio and Stay AI are priced for large brands. We make Subi, so read our entry with that in mind; every number below comes from each app's own Shopify App Store listing, read on 24 September 2026.

This page replaces our older "Top 3" list, which put Subi first without a ranking rule and without saying Subi is our own app. This version covers thirteen apps, orders them by a rule you can check (the number of App Store reviews), and says plainly where another app is the better pick. If Appstle is one of the two apps you are choosing between, our Subi vs Appstle page goes deeper.

What is a Shopify subscription app?

A Shopify subscription app is an app that lets a store sell products on a repeating schedule, charges the saved card on each renewal, and gives the customer a portal to skip, pause, swap or cancel. Shopify's checkout handles the payment; the app manages the schedule and the subscriber.

Why stores add one:

• Repeat orders arrive without a new ad or a new visit.
• Revenue becomes easier to forecast, which helps with stock and cash planning.
• A customer who can skip or change frequency has an option other than cancelling.
• Failed renewals can be retried instead of lost, which matters because a card that fails is a common reason subscribers leave. Our guide to involuntary churn covers this.

Which Shopify subscription apps are worth comparing in 2026?

Thirteen apps we chose, sorted by how many App Store reviews each has. The App Store lists more, including Recurpay, Supr, Easy Subscriptions, Propel, RecurrinGO and Casa. Rating, review count and the starting price are copied from each listing on 24 September 2026. A "free" plan usually has a cap, noted in brackets.

Prices change often. Check the listing before you decide; each app name below links to it.

Which app should I pick for my situation?

• If you are just starting and want to pay nothing until subscriptions take off: Seal (free up to 50 subscriptions, no transaction fee) or Appstle (free up to $500 a month in subscriptions).
• If you want no percentage fee at any size: Appstle or Seal, or Kaching up to $10,000 a month in subscription revenue. Each prices by a band (revenue for Appstle and Kaching, subscription count for Seal) and lists no transaction fee on its paid plans.
• If you want subscriptions, memberships, bundles and a loyalty program in one app: Subi (loyalty on its Subi plan, $119/month + 0.8%), or Smartrr at a higher budget (loyalty and memberships on its Excel plan, from $499/month).
• If you want a long free trial: Recharge, with 60 days on its $25 and Starter plans.
• If you want a free plan with bundles and cancellation flows one step up: Loop or Joy.
• If you are a large brand that wants one all-in plan: Skio or Stay AI.
• If you only need a basic subscribe-and-save option and nothing else: Shopify's own free app.

What does each subscription app do well?

Appstle Subscriptions

Appstle Subscriptions on the App Store. Best for stores that want a flat fee and no transaction fee.

• Rating 5.0 from 8,796 reviews, the most of any app here.
• Free up to $500 a month in subscription revenue. Starter is $10/month (up to $5,000 a month), Business $30/month (up to $15,000), Business Premium $100/month (up to $100,000).
• 0% transaction fee on every paid plan.
• Build-a-box, bundling and cancellation control are included from the Business plan (Starter can add them à la carte).

Watch for: the plan is tied to your subscription revenue, so the bill steps up as you grow.

Recharge

Recharge on the App Store. Best for brands that want the most reviewed percentage-fee app here, with room to grow into its Plus plan.

• Rating 4.8 from 3,123 reviews.
• $25/month with no transaction fees for the first 50 subscribers; Starter $99/month + 1.49% + 19¢ per transaction; Plus $499/month + 1.34% + 19¢.
• 60-day free trial on the $25 and Starter plans.
• Loyalty rewards, referrals and a JavaScript SDK are on Plus.

Watch for: the listing says some charges may be billed by Recharge outside your Shopify invoice.

Seal Subscriptions

Seal Subscriptions on the App Store. Best for small stores and memberships on a tight budget.

• Rating 4.9 from 3,107 reviews.
• Free for life up to 50 subscriptions. Paid plans are $5.95/month (100 subscriptions), $9.95/month (250) and $24.95/month (500), with larger plans on request.
• 0% transaction fee, and API and webhook access on every plan, including Free.
• A custom cancellation flow starts on the $9.95 plan.

Watch for: the plan is tied to your subscription count rather than revenue.

Kaching Subscriptions

Kaching Subscriptions on the App Store. Best for a low flat fee with no transaction fees.

• Rating 5.0 from 1,060 reviews.
• Free on development stores. Starter $9.99/month (up to $1,000 a month in subscription revenue), Basic $14.99/month (up to $3,000), Growth $24.99/month (up to $10,000).
• No transaction fees on its paid plans.
• Pay-per-delivery and prepaid subscriptions, payment retry and Klaviyo integration on every paid plan.
• 14-day free trial.

Watch for: like Appstle, the plan is tied to your subscription revenue, and the listed plans stop at $10,000 a month.

Subi Subscriptions App (formerly Subify)

Subi Subscriptions App (formerly Subify) is our app. Best for stores that want subscriptions, memberships, bundles and loyalty without adding a second app.

• Rating 4.9 from 922 reviews.
• Free on development stores. Starter is $29/month + 1.6% per subscription transaction, Subi is $119/month + 0.8%, Subi Plus is $479/month + 0.4%. Every paid plan has a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
• Memberships, bundles and a subscription box are in every plan (build-a-box guide).
• Failed payment retry is on every paid plan (how retries work).
• The Subi plan adds a loyalty program, cancellation tools and the Standard recovery window of Smart Payment Recovery.

Watch for: Subi charges a percentage on every paid plan, so a store that wants a flat fee will pay less on Appstle, Seal or Kaching.

Start a 7-day free trial

Shopify Subscriptions

Shopify Subscriptions on the App Store. Best for a simple subscribe-and-save offer, made by Shopify itself.

• Rating 3.7 from 817 reviews, the lowest here.
• Free.
• A good way to test whether your customers want subscriptions at all.

Watch for: at 3.7 it is the lowest-rated app here, so read its recent reviews before you commit.

Loop Subscriptions

Loop Subscriptions on the App Store. Best for growing brands that want bundles and retention flows.

• Rating 5.0 from 765 reviews.
• Free forever up to 50 active subscriptions. Starter $99/month + 1% per transaction; Pro $399/month + 0.75%.
• Starter includes fixed and build-your-own bundles, cancellation flows with offers, and dunning with up to 15 retries.
• 14-day free trial.

Watch for: the step from free to $99/month is steep for a store that has just passed 50 subscriptions, because the free plan caps active subscriptions rather than revenue.

Joy Subscriptions

Joy Subscriptions on the App Store. Best for stores that want a free start and a low percentage later.

• Rating 4.9 from 456 reviews.
• Free up to 50 active subscriptions. Starter $49/month + 0.75% per transaction; Professional $199/month + 0.5%.
• Klaviyo, Shopify Flow and POS integration on the Free plan.
• 14-day free trial on paid plans.

Watch for: the free plan stops at 50 active subscriptions, and the next step is $49/month + 0.75%.

Bold Subscriptions

Bold Subscriptions on the App Store. Best for stores that want a low monthly fee and a 30-day trial.

• Rating 4.0 from 383 reviews.
• Launch $24.99/month + 2%, Grow $49.99/month + 1%, Scale $74.99/month + 0.9%.
• Prepaid subscriptions and unlimited subscribers on every plan.
• 30-day free trial.

Watch for: 4.0 is the lowest rating of the paid apps here, and the 2% on Launch is level with PayWhirl's $9 Pro plan and higher than the listed percentage on every other entry plan except PayWhirl's Free plan (3% after the first $5,000).

Skio

Skio on the App Store. Best for large brands; the listing calls it "the subscription platform top brands graduate to." Skio is a Recharge company.

• Rating 5.0 from 241 reviews.
• One plan: $599/month (or $5,988 a year) + 1% + 20¢ per transaction.
• Build-a-box, cancel flows, payment recovery and a no-code portal are included.

Watch for: there is no entry plan, so it only makes sense once your subscription revenue comfortably covers $599/month plus the 1% and 20¢ on each transaction.

PayWhirl

PayWhirl on the App Store. Best for a store that wants no monthly fee at the start.

• Rating 4.7 from 190 reviews.
• Free to install, 0% fees on the first $5,000 processed, then 3% with no monthly fee. Paid plans from $9/month + 2% to $149/month + 0.75%.
• Installation and migration are included on the Free plan.

Watch for: after the first $5,000 processed the Free plan charges 3%, the highest percentage in this list, so a growing store ends up on a paid plan.

Stay AI

Stay AI on the App Store. Best for large brands that want one all-in plan.

• Rating 4.9 from 147 reviews.
• One plan: $499/month + 1% + 19¢ per transaction.
• 30-day free trial on its App Store listing.

Watch for: $499/month is the same fixed cost as Recharge Plus, with 147 reviews to check against Recharge's 3,123.

Smartrr

Smartrr on the App Store. Best for brands combining subscriptions with memberships and loyalty at a higher budget.

• Rating 5.0 from 70 reviews.
• Launch $99/month, Grow $299/month, Excel from $499/month, each + 1% of subscriber GMV.
• Loyalty, referrals and memberships are on Excel.

Watch for: every plan adds 1% of subscriber GMV, and the loyalty and membership tools only arrive on Excel from $499/month. It also has the smallest review base here, at 70.

How do I choose the right subscription app?

1. Count your subscribers and your subscription revenue. Under 50 subscribers, Seal, Loop and Joy have free plans that cover you, and Appstle's free plan covers up to $500 a month in subscription revenue. Past that, compare what each app's fee comes to at your actual numbers.
2. Decide between a flat fee and a percentage, and price it at three times your size. A percentage costs little while you are small and more as you grow. A flat fee is the opposite. A 1% fee on $300,000 a year of subscription revenue is $3,000 a year, so a percentage plan deserves a second look at that size. Run both at the revenue you expect a year from now.
3. List what you sell. Plain replenishment needs little. Boxes, bundles, prepaid plans and memberships narrow the list fast; check the plan each one sits on, and cross off any app that cannot model your offer without a workaround at checkout.
4. Check how it keeps subscribers, and who will run it. Look for skip and swap in the portal, a cancellation flow with an offer, and retries for failed cards. A cancellation flow only helps if someone writes the offers: if nobody on the team owns retention, a simpler app with good skip and pause options beats a $499/month plan with retention tools that never get configured.
5. Check the integrations your stack depends on. If Klaviyo flows or a 3PL drive your operations, confirm the app sends the events you need before anything else, and which plan carries the integration.
6. Plan for switching. Moving subscribers between apps is possible but takes work: contracts move in a file, and a subscriber whose saved card cannot be moved has to add one again. Choose an app you expect to keep for a few years, and ask whether its team runs the import for you.

A simple way to read the field:

A second way, by how much subscription revenue you bill and how complex the offer is. This is our rule of thumb, not something the listings state, and it is a starting shortlist of two, not a verdict:

When is Subi the right pick, and when is it not?

Subi fits three situations well:

• You sell memberships alongside subscriptions and want one app for both. Memberships are in every Subi plan.
• You want a loyalty program tied to subscribers without adding a separate loyalty app. The loyalty program is on the Subi plan.
• You want to try it on a development store first. Subi is free there, and paid plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Subi is not the right pick if:

• You want no transaction fee at all. Appstle, Seal and Kaching list no transaction fee on their paid plans; Subi charges a percentage on every paid plan.
• You have fewer than 50 subscribers and want to pay nothing. Seal, Loop and Joy have free plans for that; Subi's free plan is for development stores.
• You only need a basic subscribe-and-save button. Shopify's free app does that.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best subscription app for Shopify?

There is no single best app. By App Store reviews, Appstle (5.0 from 8,796), Recharge (4.8 from 3,123) and Seal (4.9 from 3,107) are the most reviewed of the apps here. Appstle, Seal and Kaching suit stores that want a flat fee; Recharge, Loop and Subi suit stores that want more retention tools in the same app.

Does Shopify have its own subscription app?

Yes. Shopify Subscriptions is free and made by Shopify. It covers basic subscribe-and-save. It is rated 3.7 from 817 reviews, the lowest of the thirteen apps here.

How much does a Shopify subscription app cost?

From free to several hundred dollars a month. Seal, Appstle, Loop and Joy have free plans with caps. Paid plans range from $5.95/month (Seal) to $599/month plus 1% + 20¢ per transaction (Skio). Many apps add a percentage of each subscription order on top of the monthly fee.

Which Shopify subscription apps have no transaction fee?

On their listings, Appstle, Seal and Kaching list no transaction fee on their paid plans, and Shopify Subscriptions is free. Recharge's $25 plan has no transaction fee for the first 50 subscribers, and PayWhirl charges nothing on the first $5,000 processed.

Which subscription app is best for memberships?

Seal, Subi and Smartrr all list memberships. Seal names memberships in its tagline and has a free plan; Subi includes memberships on every plan; Smartrr puts memberships on its Excel plan, from $499/month.