The best Shopify subscription apps
For many of our clients and indeed those in the D2C space, subscriptions have become an essential e-commerce sales tool. The answers as to why may seem obvious - they offer a stable source of income, a peace of mind that subscription income will come in every month. And for customers, they offer ease and connivence, the knowledge that products you rely on or love will be delivered direct to you without needing to lift a finger. The Covid-19 pandemic certainly helped the growth of subscription services - whilst most were stuck at the home the convenience of getting regular deliveries of groceries, drinks, sweets, cosmetics even underwear was both comforting and necessary. The market nearly doubled between 2021 ($70bn) and 2022 ($120bn) and optimistic analysts predict this could reach $785bn by 2026.
With growing demand for subscription comes a healthy level of competition amongst the app providers. There are different ways they can decide to compete, for example; offering competitive commission or pricing structures, introducing tactics to decrease drop off rates, increasing average order values and lifetime value.
Choice is great but it can be a bit overwhelming. Ultimately you will need to pick a provider who can best deliver against your strategy - if you are new to the market maybe you want a one click option to rapidly increase subscription numbers, or if you are seeing high churn pick a provider who has a flow which best mitigate this risk or be guided by what your budget allows.
If you want another opinion, here are our top picks.
Industry leader for subscription services.
Their service is well oiled and slick.
Integrates well with other Shopify apps such as Gorgias, Klaviyo and Loyalty Lion.
Custom code can be used to edit the appearance of the app to make the service personalised to your brand. You can also use recharge on a headless commerce build.
Best to use if:
You have or are expecting high numbers of subscribers and want a high level of analytics.
One click checkout with Shop Pay.
Build a box functionality allowing a more personalised subscription.
Passwordless logins designed to reduce the number of customer service tickets from frustrated customers look to amend their schedule.
Best to use if:
You want to offer more flexibility in the subscription intervals. Skio offers gifting and half skips to reduce churn/drop off.
Great to combine with other Yotpo products to have a simplified e-commerce tech provider. The products interact with each other to deliver great results.
Customers will be able to access all their Yotpo subscriptions in one place. This has benefits for the customer journey as it is easy for them to edit and amend without that frustrating feeling that they are locked in with no way out.
They offer a white glove migration service to provide no downtime or break in subscriptions.
Best to use if:
You have other products from Yotpo or like the idea of having a service provider who can span across your e-commerce strategy.
They offer up and cross-sells within the subscription portal.
They have a bundle build feature which combines with the subscription model for a personalised experience giving the customers freedom and choice.
Pre built flows reduce the need for any coding but still deliver the customer a personalised experience.
Best to use if:
You want to pursue a gamification approach to your overall loyalty strategy. (We wrote an article about this here)
Still feeling a bit unsure? If you tell us your situation - your market position or particular pain point - and leave us to come back and give you a recommendation with analysis. We aren't tied into any secret deals with app providers so we can just do some leg work and use our experience to give you a helping hand.
If you’ve made your decision we can customise the front end to create an unforgettable customer experience!