# Can Shopify actually do subscriptions natively now, or do I still need Recharge/Skio/Loop?

Reviewed by Martin Dejnicki, Director of SEO & AI Search · facts verified October 9, 2026 · canonical: https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/shopify-subscriptions-vs-recharge-skio-loop

## Short answer

Shopify Subscriptions, Shopify's own app, runs replenishment natively for $0: weekly, monthly or yearly renewals with discounts that customers pause, skip or cancel ([Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-subscriptions), October 2026). Bundles don't work with it ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions/considerations)), so curated boxes need a paid platform. Recharge, Skio and Loop earn fees on retention depth: gifting, prepaid cycles, failed-payment recovery.

- **Shopify Subscriptions price:** Free. Renews weekly, monthly or yearly with discounts; customers pause, skip or cancel. Off Shopify Payments, Shopify's third-party transaction fees still apply (October 2026) ([Shopify App Store, Shopify Subscriptions](https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-subscriptions); [Shopify Help Center, Shopify Subscriptions app eligibility considerations](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions/considerations))
- **Native-only hard stop:** Bundles. Shopify: "Bundles aren't compatible with the Shopify Subscriptions app." Draft orders block every app: "Subscriptions can't be used with draft orders", and Recharge lists them as incompatible (October 2026) ([Shopify Help Center, Shopify Subscriptions app eligibility considerations](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions/considerations); [Shopify Help Center, Considerations and payment gateways for subscription products](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/considerations); [Recharge, Shopify Checkout Integration feature compatibility](https://support.getrecharge.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500001312181-Shopify-Checkout-Integration-feature-compatibility))
- **Paid platform fees:** $99 to $599 a month + 0.75% to 1.49%. Recharge $99 + 1.49% + 19¢ or $499 + 1.34% + 19¢; Skio $599 + 1% + 20¢; Loop $99 + 1.0% or $399 + 0.75%. Recharge and Loop have entry plans to 50 subscribers (October 2026) ([Recharge, Subscription pricing plans for every stage of growth](https://getrecharge.com/pricing/); [Recharge, Recharge Subscriptions App on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/subscription-payments); [Skio, Skio, a Recharge Company on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/skio); [Loop Solutions Inc, Loop Subscriptions App on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/loop-subscriptions))
- **Native subscription analytics:** Four metrics, no cohort view. Subscription revenue and new, active and canceled subscriptions, compared with the previous 7, 30 or 90 days; no churn-rate view is listed (October 2026) ([Shopify Help Center, Shopify Subscriptions analytics overview](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions/analytics))

## Deploi's call

Shopify can run subscriptions natively now for fixed-cadence replenishment, so start on the free Shopify Subscriptions app and buy Recharge, Skio or Loop only for retention depth. The subscription platform question is a retention question wearing a checkout costume. We scored Recharge-versus-native BUY for retention depth. We still tell most mid-market teams to start native, because the thing they usually want fixed is the product-page selector, which no platform fee improves.

**WAIT: Start on Shopify Subscriptions when**

- Your program is fixed-cadence replenishment on standard products, which Shopify's free app renews weekly, monthly or yearly ([Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-subscriptions), October 2026).
- Nothing on your roadmap needs bundles, the one documented hard stop a paid platform lifts; draft orders block subscriptions on Recharge too ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions/considerations), [Recharge](https://support.getrecharge.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500001312181-Shopify-Checkout-Integration-feature-compatibility), October 2026).
- Nobody on the team owns churn weekly, so retention tooling would be a purchase without an owner.

**BUY: Buy Recharge, Skio or Loop when**

- Gifting, prepaid cycles or cancellation-save flows decide retention; Recharge's $99 Starter plan includes all three ([Recharge pricing](https://getrecharge.com/pricing/), October 2026).
- Bundles or curated boxes are on the roadmap, because Shopify Subscriptions supports neither.
- A named owner needs cohort and churn reporting beyond the native app's four metrics ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions/analytics), October 2026).
- Subscriptions stay under roughly 30% of revenue; past that share, Deploi's product subscriptions record scores a custom portal BUILD ([Deploi Build vs. Buy](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/product-subscriptions), October 2026).

## What are the three ways to run subscriptions on Shopify?

Shopify runs subscriptions three ways: its free Subscriptions app, a paid platform such as Recharge, Skio or Loop, or a custom portal on Shopify's subscription application programming interfaces (APIs). At $20M to $500M the question usually arrives as native versus app, because the third lane is the one nobody sells you. Shopify Subscriptions costs nothing to install, though Shopify charges its third-party transaction fee on stores that haven't activated Shopify Payments ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions/considerations), October 2026).

**Shopify Subscriptions is free, paid platforms charge a monthly fee plus a share of each transaction, and a custom portal trades fees for upkeep**

| Lane | What it costs (USD) | What you get | Where it breaks |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Shopify Subscriptions, Shopify's own app | Free to install | Weekly, monthly or yearly renewals with discounts; customers pause, skip or cancel; sold online and in person | No bundles; four analytics metrics and no cohort view |
| Recharge, Skio, Loop or Smartrr | $99 to $599 a month above entry plans, plus 0.75% to 1.49% of each transaction; Recharge and Skio add 19¢ or 20¢ | Gifting, swaps, prepaid cycles, cancellation-save flows, failed-payment recovery, deeper analytics | The fee grows with the program, leaving is a migration project, and draft orders stay blocked |
| Custom portal on Shopify's subscription APIs | A build plus yearly upkeep, no per-transaction fee | Your own retention model, portal and churn data | You rebuild failed-payment recovery, card updates and retries yourself |

Sources: [Shopify Help Center, Shopify Subscriptions app eligibility considerations](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions/considerations); [Shopify App Store, Shopify Subscriptions](https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-subscriptions); [Shopify Help Center, Shopify Subscriptions analytics overview](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions/analytics); [Recharge, Subscription pricing plans for every stage of growth](https://getrecharge.com/pricing/); [Skio, Skio, a Recharge Company on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/skio); [Loop Solutions Inc, Loop Subscriptions App on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/loop-subscriptions); [Smartrr, Smartrr Subscriptions App on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/smartrr); [Recharge, Shopify Checkout Integration feature compatibility](https://support.getrecharge.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500001312181-Shopify-Checkout-Integration-feature-compatibility); [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Should You Build or Buy Product Subscriptions on Shopify?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/product-subscriptions). Verified October 9, 2026.

## What does Shopify's native Subscriptions app cover today?

Shopify's native Subscriptions app covers fixed-cadence replenishment today, for free, online and in person. It renews orders weekly, monthly or yearly, with dollar, percentage, buy X get Y or fixed-amount discounts ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions), October 2026). A single product can carry plans with different frequencies and discounts, so [weekly and monthly options on the same product](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/multi-frequency-subscriptions-app-support) need no paid app. Customers pause, skip or cancel from their account, and staff can sell subscriptions on Shopify POS (point of sale) ([Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-subscriptions), October 2026). Recharge's integration can't do that: its subscription products "won't work with Shopify POS" ([Recharge](https://support.getrecharge.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500001312181-Shopify-Checkout-Integration-feature-compatibility), October 2026).

Shopify Subscriptions' reporting covers four metrics: subscription revenue and new, active and canceled subscriptions ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions/analytics), October 2026). The app's own hard stop is bundles, which Shopify documents as incompatible with it ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions/considerations), October 2026). Three other limits are Shopify's, not the app's, so they bind paid apps too. Subscriptions can't run on business-to-business (B2B) orders ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/b2b/getting-started/considerations)) or draft orders, and some local payment methods aren't available for them ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/considerations), [Recharge](https://support.getrecharge.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500001312181-Shopify-Checkout-Integration-feature-compatibility), October 2026). So [company-level recurring orders for wholesale](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/b2b-subscriptions-company-level-recurring-orders) need another route, and [the limits a paid app can't lift](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/shopify-subscriptions-missing-features) have their own answer.

## What does a Recharge, Skio or Loop fee buy?

A Recharge, Skio or Loop fee buys the subscriber portal, failed-payment recovery and retention tooling. Each one prices it as a monthly plan plus a share of every subscription transaction, so the bill grows with the program:

- **Recharge:** Starter is $99 a month plus 1.49% + 19¢ per transaction. Plus is $499 plus 1.34% + 19¢ and adds customizable bundles, loyalty, referrals and JavaScript software development kit (SDK) access ([Recharge pricing](https://getrecharge.com/pricing/), October 2026). A $25 plan charges no transaction fees for the first 50 subscribers ([Recharge on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/subscription-payments), October 2026).
- **Skio:** $599 a month, or $5,988 billed yearly, plus 1% + 20¢ per transaction. Its listing now reads "Skio, a Recharge Company" ([Skio on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/skio), October 2026).
- **Loop Subscriptions:** free to 50 active subscriptions, then $99 a month plus 1.0% or $399 plus 0.75%, with no per-order charge ([Loop Subscriptions on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/loop-subscriptions), October 2026). Loop Solutions Inc makes it, and it is [not the returns company also called Loop](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/loop-subscriptions-vs-loop-returns).

The fee does not buy the selector on the product page, which is theme work on any platform. It does not buy a better checkout either, because [checkout no longer separates the subscription apps](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/subscription-app-built-for-plus-checkout).

## Which thresholds decide between native, an app and a custom portal?

Three thresholds decide between native, an app and a custom portal: bundles, an owner for churn and the recurring share of revenue. Deploi's product subscriptions record scores the question DEPENDS ([Deploi Build vs. Buy](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/product-subscriptions), October 2026). Wait on native while the model is simple, buy for retention depth, and build the portal once subscriptions pass roughly 30% of revenue. Our Recharge versus native record scores Recharge BUY only where retention depth is the job ([Deploi Build vs. Buy](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/recharge-vs-native-subscriptions), October 2026).

1. **Does your program need bundles?** Shopify Subscriptions doesn't support them, so a curated box cannot run on native at all. [The box-specific shortlist](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/subscription-box-app-vs-simple-recurring-orders) starts from that fact.
1. **Does anyone open a churn dashboard weekly?** If nobody does, retention tooling is a purchase without an owner, and Shopify Subscriptions' built-in reporting is enough.
1. **What share of revenue is recurring?** Past roughly 30%, the per-transaction fee stops reading like software. It reads like a revenue share on your best customers, which is why the record scores a custom portal BUILD there.

## When is buying a subscription platform the wrong move?

Buying a subscription platform is the wrong move when Shopify's free app already covers the model, or when nobody has priced the exit.

> **When not to do this**
> - **When the model is fixed-cadence replenishment on standard products.** Shopify Subscriptions covers it for $0 ([Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-subscriptions), October 2026).
> - **When you are shopping to fix the product page.** The subscription selector shoppers see is theme work, so no platform fee improves it.
> - **When you haven't priced the exit.** Switching platforms runs 60 to 90 days with 2 to 5% subscriber loss, per the July 2026 research behind [Deploi's product subscriptions record](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/product-subscriptions). So choose for exit terms first.
> - **When the vendor's roadmap is unresolved.** Recharge announced in April 2026 that Skio is joining the Recharge team, and it says both platforms will keep operating as they have while it plans a combined roadmap ([Recharge](https://getrecharge.com/blog/recharge-welcomes-skio-to-build-the-future-of-subscription-commerce/), October 2026). Our Skio versus native record treats choosing Skio as choosing Recharge's roadmap ([Deploi Build vs. Buy](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/skio-vs-native-subscriptions), October 2026).

## Deploi's point of view

**Where we disagree.** The category argues that native is a starter tier you graduate out of. We read the 2026 consolidation differently: native is the only lane whose owner is not going to be acquired, repriced, or merged into someone else's roadmap. That is worth something on a three-year view, and it never appears in a vendor comparison.

**Our judgment on the product page.** Scope the product-page purchase options before you shop for a platform. In our judgment a platform evaluation that starts from the selector is theme work, because the selector belongs to the theme whichever billing engine sits behind it. The reason to keep a paid subscription app is the portal, the dunning and the cohort reporting.

## When this answer changes

- Shopify Subscriptions adds bundle support, or Shopify lifts its draft-order or B2B limits on subscription products.
- Shopify adds cohort, churn-rate or cancellation-reason reporting to the Shopify Subscriptions app.
- Recharge publishes the combined Recharge and Skio roadmap, or reprices either platform.
- Recharge, Skio or Loop changes its plan fees or per-transaction rates.
- Your subscriptions approach roughly 30% of revenue, where a custom portal starts to beat both lanes.

## Follow-up questions

- [Is there a subscription app built specifically for Shopify Plus checkout (not just a bolt-on), and does that matter for conversion?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/subscription-app-built-for-plus-checkout)
- [Do we need multi-frequency subscription logic (weekly + monthly on the same product), and which app actually supports it well?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/multi-frequency-subscriptions-app-support)
- [What is Loop Subscriptions, and how is it different from Loop Returns (they are NOT the same company)?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/loop-subscriptions-vs-loop-returns)
- [What subscription features does Shopify's native Subscriptions app NOT cover that force an upgrade to Recharge or Skio?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/shopify-subscriptions-missing-features)
- [Should we bundle subscriptions with our new B2B wholesale channel, and does any Shopify subscription app support company-level recurring orders?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/b2b-subscriptions-company-level-recurring-orders)
- [What is the best Shopify app for a subscription box business specifically (vs a simple recurring-order model)?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/subscription-box-app-vs-simple-recurring-orders)

## Sources

1. [Shopify Help Center, Shopify Subscriptions app eligibility considerations](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions/considerations), checked October 9, 2026
2. [Shopify App Store, Shopify Subscriptions](https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-subscriptions), checked October 9, 2026
3. [Shopify Help Center, Shopify Subscriptions](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions), checked October 9, 2026
4. [Shopify Help Center, Shopify Subscriptions analytics overview](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/shopify-subscriptions/analytics), checked October 9, 2026
5. [Recharge, Subscription pricing plans for every stage of growth](https://getrecharge.com/pricing/), checked October 9, 2026
6. [Recharge, Recharge Subscriptions App on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/subscription-payments), checked October 9, 2026
7. [Skio, Skio, a Recharge Company on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/skio), checked October 9, 2026
8. [Loop Solutions Inc, Loop Subscriptions App on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/loop-subscriptions), checked October 9, 2026
9. [Smartrr, Smartrr Subscriptions App on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/smartrr), checked October 9, 2026
10. [Shopify Help Center, Requirements and considerations for using B2B](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/b2b/getting-started/considerations), checked October 9, 2026
11. [Recharge, Recharge welcomes Skio to build the future of subscription commerce](https://getrecharge.com/blog/recharge-welcomes-skio-to-build-the-future-of-subscription-commerce/), checked October 9, 2026
12. [Recharge, Shopify Checkout Integration feature compatibility](https://support.getrecharge.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500001312181-Shopify-Checkout-Integration-feature-compatibility), checked October 9, 2026
13. [Shopify Help Center, Considerations and payment gateways for subscription products](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/considerations), checked October 9, 2026
14. [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Should You Build or Buy Product Subscriptions on Shopify?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/product-subscriptions), checked October 9, 2026, Deploi research
15. [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Recharge vs. Native Shopify Subscriptions: Worth the Fees?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/recharge-vs-native-subscriptions), checked October 9, 2026, Deploi research
16. [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Skio vs. Shopify Subscriptions: Is the Free Native App Enough?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/skio-vs-native-subscriptions), checked October 9, 2026, Deploi research