If you’re a Shopify merchant looking to sell subscription-based items or services, you’re probably aware that this ecommerce platform doesn’t have a recurring billing mechanism built-in.
But have no fear: many third-party apps can effortlessly interact with your Shopify orders.
In light of this, we’ve compiled a list of all the top Shopify recurring payment platforms available. Hopefully, this will assist you in determining which (if any) are appropriate for your company’s needs.
Let’s get started! There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started!
Square
In a nutshell, Square Recurring Payments is a new addition to Square’s invoicing capabilities.
You can set up recurring subscriptions to automatically bill customers on a monthly, weekly, or annual basis (or whatever other payment processing period suits you).
Invoices (including recurring payments) are free to send, and you get paid relatively quickly compared to many of Square’s competitors. With their handy invoicing app, you can also manage your recurring billing while on the go.
Square claims that 600,000 invoices were successfully paid to sellers in just one month!
There are two options for dealing with recurring billing:
- Recurring invoices with a card on file are the best option for charging customers a fixed amount that doesn’t change from month to month if you’re selling a subscription box.
- Stand-alone invoices with card-on-file payments make it simple to bill repeat customers for varying dollar amounts across billing cycles.
Pricing
- Sending invoices is completely free.
- Credit card payments that are automated are completely free.
- Customers who pay with a credit or debit card online are charged 2.9 per cent plus 30 per cent for every invoice.
- When you keep a customer’s credit card information on file and process a payment, you’ll be charged 3.5 per cent plus 15 per cent.
The Pros
- You won’t be charged a subscription fee; instead, you’ll be charged only when payment is processed.
- There are no contracts, so you can leave whenever you want.
- Square’s reporting features are simple to utilize.
- Square’s interface is extremely user-friendly.
- You will receive a free swipe card reader and a POS app.
- You get your money quickly (within two business days)
The Cons
- Square’s customer service, according to some users, might be better.
- Square’s upsells (more services) are pricey.
- One user expressed a desire for a more hands-on onboarding experience.
- For larger firms offering higher-ticket items, its flat-rate pricing can be prohibitively expensive.
- Square isn’t a good fit for high-risk companies.
Who Should Use Square Recurring Payments?
Square is a terrific option for new Shopify stores because there is no monthly fee, and you are only charged when you process a recurring payment. Furthermore, with its flat-rate fee, your costs are predictable, ideal for entrepreneurs who wish to budget. On the other hand, Square is a better choice for smaller ticket items because its processing fees eat into higher-priced items.
Also, Square Recurring Payments isn’t the ideal option for developers because there isn’t an API available. On the other hand, Square has plans to launch this shortly, so keep a watch out.
Stripe Billing
Stripe Recurring Payments takes pride in making it simple for you to start accepting one-time and recurring payments. Customers can pay you with a credit card, a bank transfer, or other common payment methods.
Stripe Recurring Payments has the advantage of being able to handle almost any billing scheme. Without writing a single line of code, it can handle everything from per-seat pricing to metered billing.
You can also use consumer coupons, put up free trials, and handle prorations with Stripe. Stripe’s intelligent retry system and other features also help to reduce your churn rate.
Emails are sent automatically when a payment is declined.
Pricing
There are two options available:
Starter: If you want to get up and running quickly, this is the way to go. You won’t have to pay any upfront fees or setup costs. Instead, you’ll be charged 0.5 per cent of each recurring charge you make.
Scale: With this plan, you’ll be able to access advanced integrations. You’ll need to contact Stripe’s sales team to have a custom plan built for you. However, pricing for each recurring charge you are handling begins at 0.8 per cent.
The Pros
- It’s simple to use.
- It’s user-friendly for programmers. Stripe’s API is incredible. In general, developers say their subscription product pages are simple to set up, manage, and integrate. If you know how to code, you can have complete control over how your payment process works and appears to the customer.
- Excellent customer service is available by phone, live chat, email, and social media.
- Stripe complies with the PCI-DSS and PSD2 standards.
- Shopify recurring payments are accepted in over 135 countries. The best part is that you may charge consumers in their currency while getting funds.
- Stripe offers a variety of pricing options, such as one-time, recurring, usage-based, tiered pricing, flat fee, and features-based pricing, to name a few.
- Stripe’s anti-fraud protection is top-notch.
The Cons
- There’s a chance your account will be frozen. This is more of a problem for merchants with intricate business structures or a high number of chargebacks and disputes.
- One user stated that they would like to be able to receive payments more quickly (you usually have to wait around seven days)
- According to another user, Stripe needs to enhance its tax collection process.
- Stripe’s “dispute timescales appear to be exceedingly long,” according to one consumer.
- Your customer discounts are subscription-based, so they can’t be itemized.
- Stripe’s reports could be a little more in-depth.
Who’s Stripe Recurring Payments Best for?
Stripe Recurring Payments is ideal for anyone with a clear vision of their payment process and the coding skills to make it a reality. However, any Shopify site owner wishing to offer a range of payment options would find it useful.
Stripe also comes with many integrations, so you’ll be able to get up and running with any tech stack you’re already using in no time.
On the other hand, Stripe isn’t ideal for small brick-and-mortar businesses looking to supplement their revenue with an online store, owing to the lack of a POS and restricted hardware alternatives.
Chargebee
Chargebee’s recurring billing platform was created specifically for companies that sell SaaS and subscription-based products and services. It works effortlessly with popular payment gateways, allowing you to automate money collection and bills for customers worldwide.
Chargebee will also send your shopper’s automated email notifications on your behalf. They also offer a comprehensive set of client management solutions. You can also download and use several native integrations, the most notable of which are:
- Xero
- QuickBooks Online
- Avalara
- NetSuite
- Zendesk
- MailChimp
- ShipStation
- Salesforce
- Slack
- Shopify
Pricing
- Chargebee offers three different payment options (prices are based on annual billing):
- Increase: $249 per month, including $600,000 in revenue per year and 0.6 per cent in overage revenue.
- Scale: $549 per month, with $900,000 in annual revenue and 0.9 per cent in overage revenue.
- Chargebee can provide you with a personalized quote if you are an enterprise.
The Pros
- Subscription plans are simple to develop and maintain.
- Chargebee’s automated dunning intelligently tries to recover money from customers at a later date if they fail to make a payment.
- Its Zapier integration makes connecting to other programmes simple.
- You can ask clients to update their payment details via automated emails.
- Its coupon tool is very flexible.
- It has a highly user-friendly UI.
- Customer service at Chargebee is excellent.
The Cons
- Chargebee’s dashboard cannot be customized.
- This Shopify recurring payments round-up is one of the more expensive options.
- One user claimed they attempted to downgrade to a cheaper plan, but Chargebee did not respond for several days. They then took a few weeks (after one more payment cycle) to downgrade them, which they thought was a little cheeky (and understandably so)!
- Another user requested more filtering options to assist them in sorting through their customer base. When exporting customer lists, this would be especially useful.
Who is Chargebee the most suitable for?
Chargebee is perfect for US merchants who want many integrations to integrate their Shopify recurring payment system with their existing tech stack. It’s user-friendly for beginners, with a straightforward user interface, and developer-friendly, with access to an API.
Chargify
Whatever billing method you use, Chargify will most likely be able to manage it. Chargify can handle everything from simple subscription payments to complex usage and event-based models.
Furthermore, Chargify takes pride in its subscription management capabilities. You may use their tools, automation, and workflows from the moment your subscribers sign up until (hopefully) become devoted customers.
Pricing
- Chargify, like some of the other recurring payments software in our Shopify round-up, has a choice of payment tiers to pick from:
- $149 per month as a starter (For qualifying startups only).
- Scaling: $299 per month – covers $50,000 in revenue and 1% of income on overages.
- Success: $499 per month – this includes $50,000 in revenue per month and 0.9 per cent in overage revenue.
- Specialized: This is Chargify’s most complete plan, and as such, you must contact them personally for a personalized estimate.
The Pros
- The billing system at Chargify is simple to use and dependable.
- Its dunning system is fantastic, and it automatically manages missed payments from your customers.
- Making changes to a customer’s bill is a simple process.
- One customer said they’d been with Chargify for five years and had never experienced a moment of downtime!
- It has a user-friendly API.
- The customer support and self-help documentation provided by Chargify are outstanding.
The Cons
- Chargify’s reports, according to one user, might be improved. Unfortunately, their reports cannot combine data from numerous websites, forcing you to create special reports for each.
- Chargify’s integrations with a few SaaS analytics providers have recently been discontinued.
- Some users are dissatisfied with the price.
- Chargify’s emails occasionally land up in people’s junk mailboxes.
- One user complained that viewing their transactions requires too many clicks and that there should be a better way to do it.
Who is Chargify most suitable for?
Chargify is a great option for Shopify merchants who want to operate complicated billing structures. It works with almost any business structure, making it ideal for startups and existing businesses with thousands of clients (providing you have the budget).
Bold Subscriptions
Bold Subscriptions is a Shopify Plus official solution. It makes creating and managing subscription products simple. Over 14,000 Shopify stores use it, allowing merchants to offer ‘build-a-box’ services, monthly clubs and memberships, eCommerce and service subscriptions, and more.
Pricing
Bold Subscriptions offers a generous 60-day free trial with all of its pricing categories.
There are two options for payment:
- $39.99 per month for the essentials (as well as a processing fee on subscriptions)
- $199 per month (advanced) (as well as a processing fee on subscriptions)
The Pros
- This software enables you to charge consumers a one-time fee before they begin their subscription.
- According to several of its Shopify app store consumers, bold Subscriptions’ customer support is second to none.
- The Bold Subscriptions app is really simple to set up and use.
- Customers can pick between a one-time purchase and weekly, bimonthly, or monthly subscriptions with Bold Subscriptions.
- Bold Subscriptions is known for its extensive customization capabilities.
- There are numerous native integrations available.
The Cons
- Bold Subscriptions does not accept certain payment methods on their recurring payment checkout. Apple, Google, and Shopify Pay are just a few examples.
- Bold Subscriptions do not have a function for abandoned carts.
- One customer claimed that an issue in the app caused their customers to be charged many times (when they weren’t supposed to be).
- Another customer mentioned that the programme didn’t completely remove itself when they tried to uninstall it. As a result, a lot of its code remained on their website, messing up their Shopify layout.
Who’s Bold Subscriptions Best for?
This subscription service is ideal for individuals who want to automate recurring payments. This plugin was created specifically for Shopify Plus and enterprise users.
It’s also a great option for web developers because the Bold Subscriptions developer portal includes a comprehensive API and webhooks documentation.
Subscription + AAA Membership
AAA Membership + Subscriptions takes pride in making it simple for Shopify companies to create membership plans and automate payments.
You can charge a one-time price to your consumers, set up a trial period, and establish and manage discounts for your subscription plans, all from one centralized location.
Restriction of client access to specific pages, collections, blogs, and ‘add to cart buttons is also quite simple. If appropriate, you can choose to only show material to members based on the pricing plan they’ve chosen.
This software is now used by over 1,000 Shopify and Shopify Plus stores. Isn’t it impressive?
Pricing
AAA Membership + Subscriptions offers a 15-day free trial with all of its payment levels.
Basic: $9.99 a month (register and subscribe to up to 50 members, create unlimited plans, show/hide content, integrate with Stripe and Paypal, manage customer discounts and trial periods, and set recurring orders here).
$29.99 per month for advanced users. Everything in the Basic plan is included, but your member limit is increased to 500.
$49.99 a month for Premium. Everything is included in the Basic plan once again. You can, however, register up to 2,000 people.
The Pros
- This is a fantastic programme for managing online subscriptions — you can establish a variety of membership schemes that require one-time or regular fees or are completely free!
- Customer service at AAA Membership + Subscriptions is outstanding.
- This plugin allows for a great deal of customization.
- A custom form builder is made available to you. With its drag-and-drop editor, you may design custom form fields.
- Your admin team has the authority to accept or reject memberships as they deem suitable.
- All transactions are saved in the app and may be seen at any time from the transaction option on the dashboard.
- You can create complex reports.
The Cons
- Discount tiering is not available in this app.
- The ability to customize colours with the form builder, according to one user, needs to be improved. They claimed they had to call assistance to colour basic text and titles.
- Upgrading your plan appears to be a challenging task.
Who is the best fit for AAA Membership + Subscription?
The amount of members/subscribers you can register looks to be capped at 2,000; therefore, this app is only helpful for small businesses. They are, however, one of the more cost-effective membership options on this list. It’s worth thinking about if you’re running a modest online membership through your Shopify site.
PayPal Recurring Payments
PayPal continues to be one of the most widely used payment gateways in Northern America and Europe for accepting online client payments. It’s no surprise, then, that PayPal is a popular choice for processing recurring customer payments.
Pricing
- There are no monthly costs.
- There are no setup costs.
- You only pay a 2.9 per cent transaction fee and $0.30 for every recurring bill processed (quote based on US transactions)
The Pros
- PayPal makes it simple to set up numerous payments plans with varied charge structures in more than 100 currencies.
- It’s simple to get started with PayPal.
- Customers can upgrade, stop, or cancel their memberships with you easily.
- PayPal is well-known and well-respected all around the world. Its brand name commands respect and awareness, which helps buyers have the confidence they need to buy from you.
- If a transaction fails, PayPal will attempt to confiscate your customer’s account funds. They’ll also send an automated payment reminder to your consumer to pay any overdue fees.
- You can keep track of inbound and outbound transactions with just a few clicks.
- PayPal’s reporting is rather good; you can get fairly detailed data on your subscription activities.
- You can provide free/discounted trial periods to your customers.
- PayPal says that PayPal Checkout improves checkout conversion rates by up to 82 per cent for its merchants.
The Cons
- PayPal’s policies are quite severe. As a result, even a minor change in your average transaction value could result in your account being suspended and your cash being locked in. Furthermore, we’ve heard numerous horror stories about merchants’ accounts being suspended or closed, with no explanation from PayPal.
- Customer service at PayPal is notoriously bad. It’s not uncommon to contact someone via their live chat service and be connected to a customer support representative that lacks the necessary competence to deliver a useful answer to your problem.
- Some merchants complain that PayPal favours customers over merchants regarding chargebacks and disputes.
- Although it’s simple to set up a PayPal account, getting it validated can be a hassle. Credit card information, banking information, a copy of your utility bills, and government-issued identification are frequent requirements.
Who Should Use PayPal Recurring Payments?
For Shopify business owners with a worldwide customer base, PayPal is an excellent option. They’re a global payment gateway that has earned users’ trust and esteem. It’s no surprise that they have 137 million active accounts in 193 countries!
PayPal also claims that it has been specifically designed to aid entrepreneurs in the following industries:
- Services such as television, music, and the internet
- Subscription services for food or meal kits
- As a service (SaaS)
- Subscriptions to books, magazines, and newspapers
- Advisory services
- Services related to health and fitness
- Products and services related to education and eLearning
- Subscriptions to fashion and beauty
