Best Shopify Subscription App 2026: Recharge vs Loop vs Skio vs Stay AI

The verdict, by size:

• Under 100 subscribers: the free Shopify Subscriptions app will do for now, but it has no cancel flow.
• 100 to 2,000 subscribers: Loop is cheaper and includes bundles. Recharge has the bigger ecosystem.
• $1M+ in subscription revenue: Recharge, Skio, Loop and Stay AI all work. Below about $1.7M a year, Recharge Starter costs less than Skio at list price. Above that, Recharge Scale and Skio cost the same. Pick on bundles, the final retry action and fees.

Search "best Shopify subscription app" and every comparison you find is written by someone selling one. Loop's guide puts Loop first. Recurpay's puts Recurpay first. Rivo's puts Stay AI first. Two of them say so in a disclaimer. Most don't.

We don't sell an app. We work inside them. RetainUP has set up and audited subscription programs on Recharge, Skio, Stay AI and Loop for 80+ subscription brands. So this one is scored on the things our audits check, not on feature counts.

The short answer

For most brands between $1M and $10M, Recharge, Skio, Loop and Stay AI can all run a good program. The free Shopify Subscriptions app can't, because it has no cancel flow. Pick a paid app on three things: bundles, what happens after the last failed payment, and the fee at your size.

If you are under about 100 subscribers, the free app is fine for now. Above that, it costs you more in lost saves than a paid app costs in fees.

How we scored them

Each app is scored on the seven levers our churn audits check. Features come from each app's pricing page, App Store listing and help docs, plus what we have seen inside client accounts. Pricing was checked again on 13 November 2026.

Same app, different score

The same subscription app can score differently on two stores, because the app sets what you can do and the setup sets what you get. Our public scorecards show it plainly.

Grüns runs on Skio and scored 85.5 out of 100, the highest we have given. IM8 also runs on Skio and scored 72. Dr. Squatch runs on Recharge and scored 73. Create runs on Recharge and scored 67.5. Mars Men runs on Stay AI.

IM8 is the clearest case. Skio supports one-click self-serve cancel and save flows, and IM8 already pays for both. Its policy page still described something slower. In the Grüns teardown, the same app carried the best program I have scored.

Cancel flow routing

Every paid app here can route a cancel by its reason. The free app can't, and that gap matters most. A routed flow sends "too much product" to a skip, "too expensive" to a cheaper plan, and "didn't work" to a swap.

The average cancel flow saves 1 in 6 subscribers who click cancel. Best in class saves 1 in 3. We moved one Skio client from 14.8% to 24.8%.

Having the tool is half of it. A supplement brand on Loop with about 300 subscribers came to us with a cancel flow that offered one thing, a discount. 68% of the subscribers who gave a reason said taste. Price was 8%. The flow saved 2.33%. Loop could route by reason. Nobody had set it up. The fix is in our post on cancel flow routing.

Pause and skip depth

The paid apps all let subscribers skip, pause, reschedule and swap from the portal. The free app gives pause, resume and skip. Changing products is a top request in its App Store reviews, because today that means cancel and resubscribe.

Depth matters less than placement. Most brands hide skip inside the cancel flow, after the subscriber has already decided to leave. Put it in the reminder email and on the portal's first screen. And never offer a pause with no end date. I covered both in pause and skip.

Dunning control

Every app retries failed cards. The question to ask on a demo is what happens after the last retry. That one setting decides whether a dead card shows up as churn or hides as an active subscriber.

On the free app you set the retry count, the days between retries and the final action: skip, pause or cancel. Shopify's open-source code for the app defaults to 3 retries, 3 days apart. Loop lists up to 15 retries timed by failure type, with a backup card and hard-decline handling on Pro only. Recharge and Skio include payment recovery on every plan.

On that same Loop brand, the final retry logged a skip. The subscription stayed active, the next order billed and failed again. 16 of 36 dunned subscriptions failed two orders while counting as active the whole time. Our fix was to pause the subscription and send a card update email. More on the split in active vs passive churn.

Customer portal

Recharge and Skio both offer passwordless login, which removes the "I can't log in, so I'll email support to cancel" problem. Loop has a drag-and-drop editor. Stay AI includes a full portal on every plan. The free app lives inside Shopify customer accounts and is the most basic.

What to check: can a subscriber skip, swap or change frequency within two taps of the email link? If the first screen is a login wall, the app's feature list doesn't matter.

Bundles

Bundles split the apps more than anything else. Recharge keeps them on Scale, the plan formerly called Plus, at $499 a month. Loop has build-your-own and preset bundles from Starter at $99. Skio has Build-a-Box. Stay AI does not list bundles on its pricing page, so ask. The free app lists none.

Test the discount, not just the bundle. On one Loop store, bundle discounts fired only on items added through the bundle's own link. The product page widget never triggered them. We used a Shopify automatic discount instead.

Klaviyo data

Each paid app sends subscription events to Klaviyo. We found no Klaviyo events for cancels or skips from the free app. Without them you can't run the flows that do the retention work.

On a demo, open Klaviyo and look for: upcoming charge, skipped, cancelled with the reason, payment failed and reactivated. Then check profile properties. Skio, for example, writes cycles completed and active subscription count onto the profile. That is what lets you send an order 3 gift or a tenure offer. The full list is in our post on Klaviyo subscription automations. Each app names its events differently. Stay AI, for one, still sends them as "Retextion". The names, side by side, are in our Klaviyo event map for Recharge, Loop, Skio and Stay AI.

Pricing, checked 13 November 2026

List prices for Recharge, Loop, Skio and Stay AI, checked 13 November 2026, come from each app's pricing page or Shopify App Store listing. Shopify's normal payment fees apply on top of all of them.

Fees look small as percentages. Turned into a yearly number at a $50 average order, they are not. Here they are at four store sizes, on the cheaper list plan of each app, with annual pricing where it is offered.

At $250K a year, Loop Starter costs about $3,700 and Skio about $10,100. At $3M, the gap between the cheapest and dearest list price is about $28,000. One point less monthly churn on that base keeps about $2,500 of monthly revenue every month. So the fee matters, but a lever you can't set costs more. Above $5M, nobody pays list. Negotiate.

Is the free Shopify Subscriptions app enough?

The free Shopify Subscriptions app is enough until you have something to save. The free app bills, lets subscribers pause and skip, and retries failed cards. It has no cancel flow, no bundles, and a cancel ends billing at once and can't be undone, per Shopify's help center.

Here is a rough break-even. Say 10% of subscribers click cancel in a month, and each save is worth one more $50 order. Loop Starter costs $99 a month plus 1% of revenue.

At an average 1 in 6 save rate, the paid app pays for itself at about 300 subscribers. At 1 in 3, about 85. Change the inputs to your own numbers, but the answer lands in the low hundreds for most brands. A save is usually worth more than one order, so this is the cautious version.

Recharge owns Skio now. Does it matter?

Recharge bought Skio on 30 April 2026. Recharge says both platforms keep running as they are, with a joint roadmap to come. Skio's App Store listing now reads "Skio, a Recharge Company".

For a brand on either app, nothing changes this quarter. For a brand choosing today, it means two of the four big paid apps share one owner. Loop and Stay AI are independent. Watch pricing at your next renewal.

What the deal means for fees, features and a move between the two is in Recharge vs Skio in 2026.

Which app fits your brand, by stage

Your stage decides which subscription app fits more than features do, so pick by subscriber count.

Under 100 subscribers

Under 100 subscribers, use the free Shopify app or Loop's free plan. At this size, call the people who cancel. You will learn more than any flow can tell you.

100 to 2,000 subscribers

At 100 to 2,000 subscribers, pick Loop Starter or Recharge Starter. You need a routed cancel flow and Klaviyo events now. Loop is cheaper here and includes bundles. Recharge has the bigger ecosystem. The two side by side: Loop vs Recharge.

$1M to $5M in subscription revenue

At $1M to $5M in subscription revenue, pick from Loop Pro, Recharge Scale, Skio or Stay AI. Choose on bundles, backup card handling and A/B testing of the cancel flow. Ask each one to show you the final retry action live.

Over $5M

Over $5M in subscription revenue, get custom quotes from Recharge, Loop, Skio and Stay AI. At this size, a migration costs more than a year of fee differences, so only switch for a lever you can't set today. If you do, read our guide to switching subscription apps without losing subscribers first.

Already on one of these and not sure the setup is pulling its weight? Our free subscription audit scores it on 48 checkpoints.

Picking the app is step one. Brands that just chose one, or just moved, get the full setup built in 30 days with the Maximizer, for $5,000.

When to switch subscription apps

Switch subscription apps only for a retention lever you can't set on your current app, not for a feeling. A migration costs a month of attention and puts saved cards and mid-dunning subscribers at risk. So it has to buy something.

Four signs you have outgrown your app:

• Cancel ends the subscription without asking why, so there is nothing to route.
• You want bundles or a build-a-box and your plan has none.
• Klaviyo gets no skip or cancel events, so the flows that do the retention work can't run.
• You can't choose what happens after the last failed retry.

Moving up from Appstle or Seal

Moving up from Appstle or Seal is the move we see most at 100 to 2,000 subscribers. Loop Starter or Recharge Starter is the usual next step, and all four apps here run migrations from other Shopify subscription apps.

Know what comes with you. A supplement brand we moved from Appstle to Loop went live on 29 June 2026. Everything before that date stayed in Appstle. Many subscribers still paid the old $44 price. And the migration created 348 subscriptions and cancelled 232 the same day, so raw data showed 440 cancels in three months against 208 real ones. Plan for all three with our subscription app migration checklist. The signs, the costs and which app takes which source are in outgrowing Appstle, Seal or Shopify Subscriptions.

When not to switch

Don't switch subscription apps when the lever you want exists on your current app and is just switched off, or in your biggest billing month. The fee gap is often smaller than the cost of the move. And don't cut over in your biggest billing month. If the lever you want exists on your current app and is just switched off, set it up instead.

Migration offers and timelines

Recharge, Loop, Skio and Stay AI all run migrations from other Shopify subscription apps, and the offers and timelines below come from each app's own pages, checked 1 November 2026.

None of them moves your setup. Cancel reasons, retry rules, portal links and Klaviyo flows are yours to rebuild. Those are covered in the setup guides for Recharge, Loop, Skio and Stay AI, and in our cancel flow and failed payment setup. Then the failed subscription payments playbook covers the retries.

Two head-to-heads go further: Stay AI vs Recharge vs Skio for $1M to $10M brands, and migrating to Skio for the 4 to 5 week move.

Set up on one of the four already? Loop Subscriptions after a migration covers the first 90 days on Loop, the Skio cancel flow setup the cancel flow on Skio, and our Stay AI review what Stay AI does and leaves to you.

FAQ

What is the best subscription app for Shopify?

For most $1M to $10M brands, Recharge, Skio, Loop and Stay AI are all good enough. Pick on bundles, dunning control after the last retry, and fees at your size. Loop has the lowest list fees, Recharge the biggest ecosystem.

Is Shopify Subscriptions free?

Yes. The app costs nothing and charges no transaction fee beyond Shopify's normal payment fees. It has no cancel flow and no bundles.

Is Recharge or Skio cheaper?

Below about $1.7M a year, Recharge Starter is cheaper at list price: about $20,800 a year at $1M against $22,500 on Skio, at a $50 average order. Above that, Recharge Scale and Skio on annual billing cost the same, $499 a month plus 1.25% and 20 cents. Both are now owned by Recharge.

Loop or Recharge for a small brand?

Loop's Starter plan costs $99 a month plus 1%, against $149 plus 1.50% and 20¢ on Recharge Starter, and it includes bundles. At $1M a year that is about $11,200 against $20,800. Recharge is the safer pick if you depend on its integrations.

How much does Stay AI cost?

Stay AI's Standard plan is $299 a month on an annual contract or $499 a month without one, plus 1% and 19 cents per transaction, per its pricing page on 13 November 2026. It lists no implementation charge.

Does Loop have a free plan?

Yes. Loop's Free Forever plan covers up to 50 active subscriptions. Recharge has no free plan. Its Starter plan is $149 a month with a 60-day free trial.

When should I switch from Appstle or Seal?

When you need a lever your app can't set: a cancel flow routed by reason, bundles, Klaviyo events for skips and cancels, or control over the last failed retry. For most brands that is somewhere between 100 and 2,000 subscribers.

Does the subscription app reduce churn on its own?

No. Grüns and IM8 both run Skio and scored very differently. The app gives you the levers. Someone has to set the cancel reasons, the retry action and the reminder emails, which is what our Subscription LTV Maximizer does in 30 days.

About the author

Rahi Jain

Rahi Jain is a subscription LTV specialist who helps $1M to $10M DTC brands reduce subscription churn and maximize LTV on Recharge, Skio, Stay AI and Loop.

More about Rahi