What is the best Shopify app for a subscription box business specifically (vs a simple recurring-order model)?
Short answer
Loop Subscriptions is the strongest Shopify app for a subscription box business: its $99 Starter plan has build-your-own and preset bundles and no per-order fee (Loop Subscriptions pricing, October 2026). Recharge's customizable bundles need its Plus plan, $499 a month on a 12-month term (Recharge pricing, October 2026). Shopify Subscriptions is out, because bundles aren't compatible with it (Shopify Help Center).
- Loop's box builder
- Starter plan, $99 a month + 1.0%Build-your-own and preset bundles come on every paid Loop plan, with no per-order fee. Prepaid subscriptions start on Pro at $399 a month + 0.75% (October 2026).Sources: Loop Subscriptions (Loop Subscriptions Pricing); Loop Solutions Inc (Loop Subscriptions App on the Shopify App Store)
- Recharge's box bundles
- Plus plan, $499 a month + 1.34% + 19¢Customizable and preset bundles are on Plus and Custom only, which run on 12-month terms. Gift and prepaid subscriptions come with the Starter feature set: $99 a month, or $25 for the first 50 subscribers (October 2026).Sources: Recharge (Subscription pricing plans for every stage of growth, Recharge Subscriptions App on the Shopify App Store)
- Smartrr's box builder
- Excel plan, from $499 a month + 1% of GMVBuild-a-box bundles are on Excel only. Prepaid and sequential subscriptions start on Grow at $299 a month + 1% of subscriber gross merchandise value (October 2026).Sources: Smartrr (Smartrr Pricing, Smartrr Subscriptions App on the Shopify App Store)
- Shopify Subscriptions for boxes
- Ruled out: bundles aren't compatibleShopify: "Bundles aren't compatible with the Shopify Subscriptions app," so a box needs a paid app's own bundle builder (October 2026).Source: Shopify Help Center (Shopify Subscriptions app eligibility considerations)
Deploi’s call
Loop Subscriptions is our pick for a subscription box that an off-the-shelf box builder can express. A custom build on Shopify's subscription application programming interfaces (APIs) is our pick once the box is a core revenue line with margin rules of its own. Either way, pick the box platform on curation and cycle-edit mechanics, not on price. The fee difference between these apps is small next to the cost of a box builder that can't express your curation rules.
BuyBuy Loop Subscriptions when
- Your box fits an off-the-shelf builder. Loop includes build-your-own and preset bundles from its $99 Starter plan, with no per-order fee (Loop Subscriptions, October 2026).
- Gift or prepaid boxes matter. Loop's $399 Pro plan lists "Flexible prepaid and gift subscriptions" (Shopify App Store, October 2026).
- You don't already run Recharge or Skio. If you do, add the box line there, so you don't run two subscription platforms.
- Retention runs on gifting, box logic and save flows, the profile our Loop versus native record scores BUY for Loop (October 2026).
BuildBuild on Shopify's subscription APIs when
- Our build-a-box record says building pays once boxes are a core revenue line at roughly $15M in revenue and up (October 2026).
- Margin floors, swap pricing, tier gating or inventory-weighted curation decide your box economics, logic the record finds box builders rarely ship.
- You won't let subscriber contracts and preference history accrue in a vendor's data model.
Basis: Should You Build or Buy a Build-a-Box Program on Shopify?, our Build vs. Buy decision record, scored BUILD.
Why can't Shopify's own Subscriptions app run a subscription box?
Shopify's own Subscriptions app can't run a subscription box, because Shopify documents bundles as incompatible with it: "Bundles aren't compatible with the Shopify Subscriptions app" (Shopify Help Center, October 2026). Fixed-cadence replenishment on Shopify Subscriptions ships the same stock-keeping unit (SKU) on a schedule, free to install (Shopify App Store, October 2026). A box is a different product. It assembles a changing set of SKUs, often chosen by the subscriber, often prepaid or gifted, and each cycle has to stay editable until it locks. So a box business shops among paid apps for the box builder, and the deciding question is which plan each vendor puts it on. The native app's other documented gaps have their own answer.
Which plan does each subscription app put its box builder on?
Loop Subscriptions puts its box builder on its cheapest paid plan, while Recharge and Smartrr put theirs on plans from $499 a month (Loop Subscriptions, Recharge and Smartrr pricing pages, October 2026). Each vendor names the feature differently, so the table quotes each vendor's own words.
| App | Box builder, in the vendor's words | Lowest plan with it (USD) | Prepaid and gift subscriptions | App Store rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loop Subscriptions | Build-your-own bundles; preset bundles | Starter, $99 a month + 1.0% per transaction, no per-order fee | Prepaid from Pro at $399 + 0.75%; gifting on Starter or Pro, per the note | 5.0 from 781 reviews |
| Recharge | Customizable bundles and tiered discounts | Plus, $499 a month on a 12-month term + 1.34% + 19¢ per transaction | Both with the Starter feature set: $99 + 1.49% + 19¢, or $25 for the first 50 subscribers | 4.8 from 3,130 reviews |
| Smartrr | Build-a-box bundles | Excel, from $499 a month + 1% of subscriber gross merchandise value (GMV) | Prepaid from Grow at $299 + 1% of GMV; gifting in subscription management on every plan | 5.0 from 71 reviews |
Which subscription box app fits which business?
Loop Subscriptions fits the default box business, Recharge or Skio fits a merchant already running one of them, and Smartrr fits a prepaid or sequential program.
- Loop Subscriptions fits the default case: a box business that wants box-building, bundles and gifting in one contract, at a flat plan fee plus 1.0% or less of each transaction. Loop shows 0¢ per transaction where Recharge charges 19¢ (Loop and Recharge on the Shopify App Store, October 2026). Loop's box builder comes on its cheapest paid plan, so the builder is the product here, not an add-on.
- Recharge or Skio fits one specific profile: a business already running either one for replenishment that adds a box line. Recharge's customizable bundles need its Plus plan at $499 a month, which runs on a 12-month term (Recharge, October 2026). Skio, now listed as "Skio, a Recharge Company", includes "Build-a-Box (Static/Dynamic)" in its single plan at $599 a month or $5,988 a year (Shopify App Store, October 2026). Consolidating beats running two subscription platforms and reconciling two subscriber tables.
- Smartrr fits a prepaid or sequential program: its $299 Grow plan lists Prepaid Subscription and Sequential Subscription, and its listing shows 71 reviews (Shopify App Store, October 2026). Its build-a-box bundles need the Excel plan, from $499 a month (Smartrr, October 2026), so a Smartrr box starts at the same $499 plan fee as Recharge Plus.
When is a subscription box app the wrong buy?
A subscription box app is the wrong buy when the box never changes, when its margin rules outgrow an off-the-shelf builder, when the plan is to leave Shopify, or when nobody owns the edit cutoff.
Deploi’s point of view
Our own position, from building on Shopify. Kept apart from the sourced facts above.
- Where we disagree
- The category sells box features as a tier upgrade. We read them as a different product, which is why a business that is genuinely box-first should evaluate box-first tooling rather than buying the top tier of a replenishment platform.
- What we ask every vendor to demo
- The cycle cutoff, before anything else. In our judgment box programs fail on that cutoff, not on the subscription: subscribers edit late, operations cut the pick list early, and support tickets pile up in the gap between those two dates. Ask every vendor to demo that window, in that order.
- What this page adds
- The parent establishes that curated boxes need a paid platform. This page names the plan each vendor puts its box builder on (Loop from $99 a month, Recharge and Smartrr from $499, Skio on its single $599 plan) and when Deploi's build-a-box record turns the purchase into a build.
Decision records behind this answer
When this answer changes
- Loop moves build-your-own or preset bundles off its $99 Starter plan, or settles which plan includes gift subscriptions.
- Recharge moves customizable bundles below its $499 Plus plan, or publishes a combined Recharge and Skio roadmap.
- Smartrr moves build-a-box bundles below its Excel plan, or changes its 1% subscriber GMV fee.
- Shopify makes bundles compatible with Shopify Subscriptions, which would reopen the free lane for fixed boxes.
- Your box becomes a core revenue line with margin rules of its own, where the build-a-box record says building pays.
Related questions
This follows from Can Shopify actually do subscriptions natively now, or do I still need Recharge/Skio/Loop?
- What subscription features does Shopify's native Subscriptions app NOT cover that force an upgrade to Recharge or Skio?
Shopify Subscriptions forces an upgrade only for bundles, which "aren't compatible" with it (Shopify Help Center, October 2026), and for retention tools such as cancellation saves (Shopify Help Center) and prepaid or gift subscriptions (Shopify Help Center).
- Is kitting the right solution for a subscription-box or bundle-heavy Shopify brand, or does that belong on the subscriptions/bundles app side instead?
Kitting is the right solution only for fixed sets, like a starter box, because a pre-built box can't follow changing contents.
Sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these. Official and vendor pages are checked on the date shown; Deploi records are our own published decisions.
- Shopify Help Center, Shopify Subscriptions app eligibility considerations
- Loop Subscriptions, Loop Subscriptions Pricing
- Loop Solutions Inc, Loop Subscriptions App on the Shopify App Store
- Shopify App Store, Shopify Subscriptions
- Recharge, Subscription pricing plans for every stage of growth
- Recharge, Recharge Subscriptions App on the Shopify App Store
- Smartrr, Smartrr Pricing
- Smartrr, Smartrr Subscriptions App on the Shopify App Store
- Skio, Skio, a Recharge Company on the Shopify App Store
- Subbly, Subbly vs Shopify: Comparison and Review (2026)
- Deploi Build vs. Buy, Should You Build or Buy a Build-a-Box Program on Shopify?
- Deploi Build vs. Buy, Loop Subscriptions vs. Native: What Do the Fees Buy?