10 Best Subscription Platforms For eCommerce In 2023

It’s free to use Square Online Checkout to set up subscription sales, even if you end up having to use Square Invoices to process recurring payments.

If you use Square Online Checkout, you’ll need to use Square as your payment processor. Customers can pay using any credit or debit card, and they won’t need a Square account to do so.

Square will charge you its standard payment processing fees of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. That is well within the normal range of payment processing fees.

If you already have a full website or don’t think you need one, Square Online Checkout might be just what you need to sell subscriptions online. Here’s what this platform delivers:

• Sales of services, physical products, and digital downloads
• Solicitation of regular donations
• Buy buttons you can use anywhere, including email, text message, social media, or any web page
• Payments with any credit card
• Easy-to-set-up subscription checkout
• Customized checkout button style and text
• Marketing campaigns with checkout links
• Weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual payments
• Payment links you can send to individuals or a full mailing list

Note: If you already have a Square account, you may need to use Square Invoices to set up recurring payments.

As our Stripe review shows, this is a well-regarded pay-as-you-go processor that does not charge any setup, monthly, or hidden fees. When you use Stripe, you’ll pay only standard payment processing fees.

When you use Stripe Connect to power your subscription sales, you’ll pay a standard payment processing fee of 2.9% + $0.30 for each transaction processed with Stripe.

The fact that you can use Stripe Connect to process recurring payments makes this a good option for a subscription business. Here’s how Stripe Connect supports subscriptions:

• Set up subscriptions for connected accounts that also use Stripe for payment processing
• Accept payments on your website or a marketplace
• Add fees to subscription pricing
• Automate recurring subscriptions
• Calculate and collect sales tax, VAT, and GST automatically
• Accept payments online or in-person
• Track your sales with custom reports

Be aware that you must perform some light coding duties to set up subscriptions with Stripe. Visit Stripe’s subscription page to get a feel for how much coding is required and how well you’ll perform.

Shopify plans cost between $9-$299/month. To sell subscriptions on a Shopify store, you will need to add on a third-party integration.

In the Shopify App Store, you’ll find 21 free apps that enable subscriptions and 11 paid options. Paid options run from about $5-$299/month, with plenty of price points in between to fit nearly any budget.

You’ll need to use one of these payment gateways if you want to sell subscriptions on a Shopify store:

• Shopify Payments
• PayPal Express
• Authorize.net
• Stripe

Some of these payment options may not be available to all sellers. Some customers may be able to use Shop Pay and Apple Pay as well.

Payments processed with gateways other than Shopify Payments may be subject to Shopify transaction fees of 0.5% to 2%, depending on your Shopify subscription level.

To sell subscriptions on a Shopify store, you’ll need to add an app, and with 32 options to choose from in the Shopify App Store, the features you find will vary. Apps are rated by users, so you can get a feel for how well they’ll meet your business’s needs.

Here are some of the features you should look for in a Shopify subscription addon:

• Recurring payments
• Adjustable intervals for shipments
• Recurring orders or build-your-own-box options
• Customizable themes
• Mobile friendly
• Dynamic discounts
• Payment options
• Memberships and donations
• Smooth integration with Shopify stores
• Promo codes
• Mixed cart (subscription and one-time purchases)
• Personalized/automated emails
• Custom shipping rates
• Cancellation management
• App integrations
• Performance trackers
• Cut-off window or specific date for subscription changes

You’ll need a paid subscription to either Lightspeed Retail POS or Lightspeed Payments before you can use Lightspeed Subscriptions.

Lightspeed POS lets you accept cash, credit, debit, checks, gift cards, and store credits. Card payments are processed through Lightspeed Payments.

Lightspeed Payments offers competitive processing fees of 2.6% + $0.10 per tapped, inserted, or swiped payment and 2.6% + $0.30 per manual or online entry.

If you’re already familiar with Lightspeed through its in-person POS or eCommerce software, you should find it easy to add Lightspeed Subscriptions to your stack. Here are a few of the added features you’ll find:

• Seamless integration with existing Lightspeed software solutions
• In-person or online payments
• Rolling or fixed subscriptions
• Adjustable billing intervals
• Easy refund options
• Automated attempts for failed payments
• Memberships

BigCommerce offers a free trial that gives new users 15 days to test the software. After that, you can choose from three paid plans, ranging from $29.95-$299.95/month. There’s also an enterprise-level plan with custom pricing.

To add subscriptions to your BigCommerce store, you’ll need to add an app. We found 13 subscription apps in the app market, including two free apps. Most of the paid apps offer custom pricing based on your needs.

BigCommerce offers recurring billing functionality via numerous payment processors. You’ll need to add an app from the marketplace to access this.

BigCommerce is a popular and easy-to-use eCommerce platform, and although you won’t find built-in subscription functions, it’s easy to add an app that will give you the power to sell and process recurring payments. You can even set up buy now, pay later (BNPL), making it easy for customers to buy from you.

Here are some other BigCommerce features that support subscription sales:

• Easy installation, with no coding required
• Customized payment options
• PCI-compliance
• Social media integrations
• POS options
• Coupons, discounts, and gift cards
• International payment methods

Although you can use the WooCommerce plugin for $0, if you want to add WooCommerce Subscriptions, you’ll need to pay $199/year. That payment entitles you to one year of extension updates and customer support from WooCommerce. You can test out WooCommerce Subscriptions with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Note that WooCommerce is not a fully hosted eCommerce platform. To use WooCommerce, you’ll need a paid WordPress subscription. You’ll also need to arrange for site hosting and security.

WooCommerce is known for its integrations with high-risk payment processors. If you want to set up a subscription business for selling vape, adult products, CBD, tobacco, or e-liquid, you can find a home for your store on WooCommerce, though you may need a plugin, depending on which processor you want to work with.

WooCommerce is an eCommerce plugin that works exclusively with WordPress websites. And although WooCommerce doesn’t support subscriptions out of the box, you can purchase a WooCommerce extension that lets you jump into the subscription business.

Here’s what you’ll get when you pay for WooCommerce Subscriptions:

• Free trials
• Variable subscriptions
• Personalized billing schedules
• Subscription management tools
• Subscriber account management tools
• Synchronized payments
• Customer upgrade/downgrade options
• Flexible product options
• Multiple subscriptions
• Coupons
• Automatic emails

While anyone can create a free Wix website, to gain eCommerce functionality you’ll need a paid business-level plan. While those run from $23-$49/month, you’ll need to subscribe at least at Business Unlimited ($27/month) to access subscription features.

And because the lower-priced plans include tight limits on storage and tax features and don’t include useful features like marketplace integrations, you might soon want to grow into a higher plan level.

You can use any of the four Wix payment gateways that support recurring payments: Wix Payments and Stripe are the best-known.

Wix offers some advanced eCommerce features to support subscription sales. Here’s a sampling:

• Flexible options allow subscriptions or one-time purchases
• Auto-renewals on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis
• Multichannel sales
• Global eCommerce and currency conversion
• Customization options
• Automated taxes
• Integrated member accounts
• Free and discounted shipping options
• Express checkout option
• Delivery and curbside pickup
• Sell curated boxes or set up recurring orders

In a welcome change, Recurly now offers a new plan, Core, that’s available to new customers for $0 for the first 12 months. This plan allows up to $40K in monthly revenue over the first year. Exceed that cap and you’ll pay a fee of 0.9% on sales above $40K each month. After the promotional period, the Core plan costs $249/month plus 0.9% of sales.

Two additional plans are available, with custom pricing. US plans can be paid annually or monthly, with a discount when you pay annually.

Recurly is available in the US, Great Britain, and Europe.

You’ll need to connect your own payment processor to your Recurly account. Recurly integrates with 20+ payment gateways, including international options. These include Adyen, Amazon Pay, Authorize.net, PayPal, Stripe, Worldpay, and more. ACH payment is allowed on plans with custom pricing.

Recurly is hub-and-spoke subscription management software you can use via a hosted payment page, with customizable forms, or through a flexible API. If you already have an eCommerce website you like, Recurly’s features can help you add subscriptions to your sales mix. Here’s how:

• Flexible integrations to your systems, including payment processors and CRMs
• Subscriber account management tools allow changes, cancellations, expirations, postponing, and pausing
• Multi-subscription support
• Unlimited automated invoices
• Custom subscription billing terms
• Dunning campaigns
• Monthly recurring revenue reports
• Tax and accounting integrations
• Comprehensive analytics and insights
• Customizable customer preferences
• Global sales
• Customer recovery strategies
• Automations
• Supports one-time sales
• Billing models include prepaid, use-based, fixed, quantity-based, and hybrid
• Central item catalog allows one-click price updates
• Coupons and gift cards
• Trials, promotional offers, and upselling
• Automated invoicing
• Email, phone, and live chat support

Subbly offers four tiers, with monthly pricing ranging from $19-159/month. You can save about 20% if you pay for a full year at a time.

You can test Subbly for free, with a 14-day trial.

You can process payments via Braintree or PayPal for 1%-1.25% transaction fees. If you use Stripe, you’ll see 1% transaction fees.

You’ll also pay transaction fees to Subby that range between 3%-5%, depending on your plan level.

Subbly features vary according to your plan level. All plans include an online store with unlimited products and unlimited subscribers. If you’re selling in up to five shipping regions, you can use the Lite or Basic plan. If you want to ship nationwide, you’ll need to subscribe to a more pricey plan.

The Lite plan is, as the name suggests, fairly light on features. If you sign up for the still reasonably priced Basic plan, you’ll be able to access a satisfactory range of features. Here’s a sampling:

• Full online store with drag-and-drop editing
• Embeddable checkout for any website
• Professional templates
• Free logo design tool
• PCI-compliant billing
• Local pickup and delivery
• Shipping integrations
• Inventory tracking
• Coupons and discounts
• Trial periods
• Cut-off and renewal dates
• Build-a-box billing
• Customizable billing and shipping cycles
• Abandoned cart followup
• Failed payment recovery and dunning
• Automations
• Branded checkout
• Refer-a-friend program with rewards
• Loyalty program
• Customer login
• Tools for reducing churn, including custom cancellation reasons
• Subscription-first funnels
• SEO and meta tools
• Integrations and API access

Podia offers three account levels, starting at $0/month for a limited plan and going up to $89/month. The Podia website currently advertises sales prices for its two paid plans. Although Podia doesn’t offer a free trial, you can sign up for the free plan to test the software.

The free plan comes with 8% transaction fees on all sales. The two paid plans do not include transaction fees.

You can accept Stripe and PayPal payments from customers on your Podia website. If you use Stripe, your customers can also use Google Pay, Apple Pay, iDEAL, SEPA Debit, Stripe Link, and more.

Transaction fees of 8% apply only to sales made on free Podia websites.

All Podia plans come with a full website and email marketing, Podia’s free plan allows only one digital download and one coaching product. Webinars are allowed only on the top-tier Shaker plan.

If you want to offer a range of courses and content, you will need to sign up for a paid plan. Once you do that, you unlock features like these:

• Unlimited downloads
• Unlimited coaching and courses
• Memberships
• Monthly or annual billing
• Scheduling app integrations (Calendly, Acuity Scheduling, YouCanBook.Me, and SavvyCal)
• Community with unlimited topics and members
• Video uploads
• Live chat messaging
• Custom domain
• Video website sections
• Coupons
• Waitlists
• Email marketing with link and sales tracking
• Google Analytics and Google Ads
• Facebook Pixel and Pinterest Pixel
• Zapier triggers