The 9 Best Shopify Subscription Apps to Drive Recurring Revenue
April 14, 2022
by
Sean Flannigan
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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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)
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
#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
Sean Flannigan
Sean is one of Shogun's tireless content marketers. When he isn't creating exciting ecommerce content, he's probably biking or at the park.