Encouraging shoppers to purchase your lovely products just once is a remarkable feat, but keeping them coming back for more time after time is a thing of beauty.

If your product fits the bill for a regular cadence of orders—like coffee, beauty products, food, curated gifts—you could automate the process of recurring orders.

Subscriptions are a win for both you and your customers. 

For you, the assurance of a recurring source of revenue. For your customers, the convenience of replenishment without having to remember it.

Adding subscription functionality to your Shopify store is the key that opens up this new, more hands-off, recurring revenue stream. 

#cta-visual-pb#<cta-title>Customize your product pages for subscriptions<cta-title>Amplify the conversion potential of your product pages by customizing with drag and drop elements.Start designing today

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9 of the top Shopify subscription apps to keep them coming back

When you are ready to launch a subscription program on your Shopify store, there are many apps that will get you there and help you understand its performance.

We’ve put together the best subscription apps available from the Shopify App Store, with a link straight to each app. Find the one that’ll fit your brand (and wallet) best.

1. Recharge - Industry leader used by top subscription brands

This subscription app from Recharge allows you to add ‘subscribe and save’ functionality to your store right away. Some of the biggest subscription brands use it too—from Bokksu to Who Gives a Crap.

Customers can customize and manage their subscriptions quickly and easily from their mobile devices—to add one-time purchases or skip deliveries as needed.

You can use custom CSS to ensure everything matches your unique branding. 

When you want to understand how your subscription program is doing, check their full-featured analytics dashboard for crucial customer insights.

Key features:

• Quick set-up
• Works with Shopify Payments and Shopify Checkout
• Integrated with top apps like Klaviyo, Yotpo, Gorgias, and more
• One-time product upsells
• Automatic notifications to keep customers informed
• Customers can skip or reschedule their deliveries easily
• Customers can also swap products as needed
• Automatic payment retries for failed transactions
• Performance analytics dashboard

Rating:

• 4.7 out of 5 (1089 reviews)

Pricing:

• Standard - Free to install & 1% + 10¢ per transaction
• Pro - $300/mo & 1% + 19¢ per transaction

#cta-paragraph-pb#Learn how to integrate Recharge on your product pages with Shogun Page Builder quickly.

2. Appstle - Highest rated app with most reviews

Another great and highly rated option for Shopify subscriptions is Appstle, which gives sellers total control over the subscription frequency and how much they are discounted.

Customers aren’t limited to subscription products in their carts, allowing them to combine their one-time purchases with a new subscription.

They even include inventory forecasting to help merchants maintain stock levels for popular items. With detailed reporting on customers and revenue, tracking performance is simple.

Key features:

• Customers can self-manage subscriptions
• Detailed performance reporting
• Create subscription frequency and discount levels
• Can integrate with Shopify Checkout
• Subscription products and one-time purchases in the same cart
• Custom shipping profiles
• Dunning management to capture failed payments
• Inventory forecasting for staying stocked
• 24/7 live chat support

Rating:

• 5 out of 5 (1300 reviews)

Pricing:

• 30-day free trial
• Free
• Starter - $10/mo (or annually for $96)
• Business - $30/mo (or annually for $288)
• Enterprise - $200/mo (or annually for $1,920)

3. Seal Subscriptions - The one with zero transaction fees

Seal Subscriptions is a European-based company, so you can be sure that it strictly adheres to GDPR, protecting your customer data.

All plans have zero transaction fees, so you keep all of your subscription revenue. Create custom subscription rules for your products and let your customers skip, reschedule, or easily add to their subscription orders.

Seal also integrates with a Bundler app so that you can offer subscription boxes from your store as well. Newer features include discounts and gifts for loyal customers.

Key features:

• Mobile optimized subscription widgets
• Easy management of subscription rules
• Customers can manage their subscriptions from the customer portal
• Send regular transactional emails for full order transparency
• Get alerts about canceled subscriptions and failed payments
• Easy widget and customer portal customization to fit your brand
• Mixed subscriptions in the same cart
• Detailed data visualizations to monitor performance
• Migrate subscribers from other platforms
• Uses Shopify’s secure checkout

Rating:

• 4.9 out of 5 (430 reviews)

Pricing:

• 30-day free trial
• Free For Life
• Rising Star - $7.95/mo (or annually for $66.78)
• Legend - $20/mo (or annually for $168)
• Leader - $50/mo (or annually for $420)

4. PayWhirl - Works with the top payment gateways

Recurring payments are what subscriptions are all about for a business, and Paywhirl focuses on that.

 Set up automatic billing for your customers at whatever frequency you choose and with one of several payment solutions on your Shopify store.

PayWhirl’s widget conforms to your Shopify theme and can be set up in minutes. Customers can quickly choose their preferred subscription option and sign up for recurring orders. Peace of mind for you and your customers.

Key features:

• Automatic subscription billing (weekly, monthly, annually, and more)
• Supports Shopify Payments, Authorize.net, PayPal Expres, Shop Pay, and Apple Pay
• Save customer payment methods
• Discounting options for subscriptions
• Simple subscription and payment management for customers
• Integrates with your Shopify theme
• Unlimited subscriptions on all plans
• One-time and recurring payments
• Multi-language and multi-currency support

Rating:

• 4.9 out of 5 (164 reviews)

Pricing:

• 14-day free trial
• Starter - free to install and 3% transaction fee
• Pro - $9/mo and 2% transaction fee
• Plus - $49/mo and 1% transaction fee
• Ultimate - $249/mo and 0.5% transaction fee

5. Bold Subscriptions - Powerful tools for ordering through voice and SMS

Whether you are implementing subscriptions for curation or replenishment, Bold Subscriptions could be the right fit for your brand.

Start your subscription service with Bold super fast and migrate subscribers from another platform to get your program in motion right away. The app matches your theme upon installation, upgrading your product pages with new purchase options.

With their APIs, webhooks, and dev tools, sellers can make their subscription service work exactly like they want—adding functionality for ordering through SMS or smart devices, for instance.

Key features:

• Integrated with Shopify Payments, Klaviyo, Google Analytics, and more
• Automatically installs in your theme to match branding
• Add ‘subscribe and save’ discounting for any products
• Works with Shopify discount codes
• Accept both one-time and subscription products in the cart
• Customers manage their own subscriptions and payments
• Automated emails about subscriptions
• Dunning management to reduce churn
• Analytics dashboard

Rating:

• 4.4 out of 5 (258 reviews)

Pricing:

• 60-day free trial
• Core - $49.99/mo and 1% of subscription product orders

6. Ongoing Subscriptions - For unique discounting incentives

A huge draw for customers to start a subscription—aside from the inherent convenience—is the savings they can get. 

Ongoing Subscriptions helps merchants offer these savings incentives in various ways—as a set price, a certain amount off, or as a percentage discount. Who doesn’t want to start a subscription when they see that discount?

It is simple to add to your store in just one click, after which you can allow customers to set up recurring payments or prepaid subscriptions from a widget that matches your Shopify theme.

Key features:

• Installs in one click
• The subscription widget can be customized for your theme
• Customer portal for easy subscription management
• Create recurring or prepaid subscription plans
• Mix subscriptions and one-time purchases in the cart
• Offer percentage-based, amount off, or set price discounts
• Track performance with analytics and reporting
• GDPR compliant

Rating:

• 5 out of 5 (107 reviews)

Pricing:

• Starter - free to install and 2% transaction fee
• Enterprise - $299/mo and 1% transaction fee

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7. Subscription & Recurring Order - The free (for now) app

This app from SpurIT UAB stands out from the rest here because it is currently totally free. 

It seems like this won’t last, but it's good to get in on while you can. It was previously $19.95/mo for the single plan with no transaction fees.

It works much like other apps we’re featuring here, with subscription rules and discounting available (as a percentage or dollar amount off).

Customers can manage their subscriptions in their own portal, and subscription and non-subscription products can be combined in one cart for simplicity.

Key features:

• Create subscription rules for any product
• Offer discount incentives in percentages or dollar amounts
• Customize the subscription widget to fit your store
• Mobile optimized for purchasing anywhere
• The customer portal allows for skipping, pausing, or canceling
• Works with Shopify Checkout
• Mix different subscriptions and one-time purchases in the cart
• Clear analytics dashboard
• Dunning management to avoid losing customers
• Can also issue recurring invoices for subscriptions
• 24/7 support

Rating:

• 4.5 out of 5 (132 reviews)

Pricing:

• Free
• Note: Free option is a one-time offer—it may increase to $19.95/mo

8. Loop Subscriptions - Great for subscription boxes

If you build out a subscription box, it isn’t something you will sell as a one-time product. 

With Loop, you can make specific products subscription-only to make your curated subscription box a reality. You can add a subscription option not only for physical products but also for digital products and memberships.

They are constantly updating the app, so you can expect new features to be added regularly. It takes just a few clicks to add to your store, and you’ll be ready to build a recurring revenue machine.

Key features:

• Enable subscriptions for memberships, digital products, and physical products
• Just a few clicks to add to your store
• Customers can pause, skip, or reschedule orders easily
• Seamless migration from other subscription platforms
• Integrated with Shopify Checkout
• Mix one-time and recurring products in one cart
• Incentivize subscriptions with tiered discounts
• Offer prepaid subscriptions or per order payments
• Make certain products subscription only (like boxes)
• New features added weekly

Rating:

• 4.9 out of 5 (58 reviews)

Pricing:

• Free
• Growth - $5/mo and 1% transaction fee
• Premium - $49/mo and 0.75% transaction fee
• Ultimate - $499/mo

9. Recurring Membership Payments - The one for your wholesale program

This subscription and membership app from AAAeCommerce is a little different from the others, offering the ability to create “Amazon Prime like” subscriptions. 

This may be the app for retailers that want to create membership programs or wholesale portals with discounted pricing. Product or collection pages can be limited to members, allowing you to create a special pricing level for your most loyal customers.

While it isn’t integrated into Shopify’s checkout system, you can use PayPal or Stripe to take payments for subscriptions. 

Key features:

• Set up subscriptions for weekly, monthly, or annual orders
• Recurring billing through PayPal or Stripe
• Make certain pages only viewable for specific membership levels
• Incentivize membership with discounts, gifts, or free shipping
• Custom drag and drop form builder for registration
• Membership can be approved or rejected by the admin
• Advanced subscription reporting
• Build a wholesale membership portal with discounted pricing

Rating:

• 4.3 out of 5 (69 reviews)

Pricing:

• 7-day free trial
• Starter - $7.99/mo
• Basic - $19/mo
• Advanced - $49/mo

Turn on your recurring revenue machine

With a powerful subscription app at your side, you can efficiently manage a burgeoning program that increases your monthly revenue and average order values.

A subscription program can bring with it loyal customers that appreciate the simplicity you’ve brought to their lives, either through the replenishment of something vital or the regular shipment of curated goodies.

While one-time purchases are a great thing to attempt to capture, you can at the same time aspire to build a goldmine of recurring revenue that will help you scale your brand.

Once you have your subscription program in motion, you can use dedicated educational landing pages to increase conversions—like Copper Cow did, leading to their conversion rate doubling over the control in an A/B test.

What are you waiting for? Start your subscription program today.

Images courtesy of Shopify

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#cta-visual-pb#<cta-title>Create product pages that drive subscriptions<cta-title>Convert more shoppers to customers by designing product pages that really sell your goods.Start designing today