Comparison
Loop Subscriptions vs Recharge
Loop Subscriptions vs Recharge for Shopify — pricing verified May 2026 (Loop entry $49 → $99), affiliate program differences, and verdict by store stage.
Loop Subscriptions
"Best Shopify Subscription App" — turn one-time buyers into loyal subscribers.
Recharge
"The world's leading subscription platform, powering 71% of subscriptions sold on Shopify stores" — Recharge homepage (getrecharge.com, May 2026).
Affiliate link. Pricing and terms are set by the vendor. details
On this page
At a glance
Loop Subscriptions and Recharge are both established Shopify subscription platforms with overlapping target audiences in the $20K-$200K MRR subscription-revenue band. Two things have shifted in 2026: Loop raised its entry tier from $49 to $99/mo (pricing-volatility flag — operator-reported on G2 "expensive for a starter brand"), and Recharge migrated its affiliate program from PartnerStack to in-house Lasso on March 15, 2026 and acquired Skio for $105M cash on April 30, 2026. The comparison turns on price-tier match and whether the operator wants to be on the consolidating or independent side of the category.
Quick stats
Starting price
Loop Subscriptions
$99/mo
Recharge
$25/mo
Rating
Loop Subscriptions
9.2/10
Recharge
8.1/10
Integrations
Loop Subscriptions
7
Recharge
8
Entry pricing (verified 2026-05-30)
Loop Subscriptions
$99/mo Essentials (raised from $49 in 2026)
Recharge
$25/mo Standard + 1% + $0.19/transaction
Affiliate program
Loop Subscriptions
No public affiliate program
Recharge
Yes — Lasso platform, 90-day cookie
Ecosystem positioning
Loop Subscriptions
Independent; younger entrant
Recharge
Acquired Skio April 30 2026 ($105M cash); largest combined merchant footprint
Notable operator quote
Loop Subscriptions
"Expensive for a starter brand. They should revert to their old plans of $49 for early stage brands" — G2 2026
Recharge
"Recharge has been the backbone of our subscription revenue for years" — G2 2025-2026
Pricing
Loop Subscriptions
$99/mo
- up to
- —
- Model
- tiered
Tiers: Starter $99/mo + 1.00% transaction fee + $0/order (DTC); Pro $399/mo + 0.75% transaction fee + $0/order (established); Enterprise custom Pricing gotchas: Annual contracts required on paid plans; transaction fee applies on subscription GMV (1.00% Starter / 0.75% Pro). Free plan: 14-day free trial; no permanent free plan Verified 2026-05-30
Recharge
$25/mo
- up to
- —
- Model
- tiered
Tiers: Starter $25/mo (first 50 lifetime subscribers, new merchants only, no transaction fees); Standard $99/mo + 1.49% + $0.19 per subscription transaction; Plus $499/mo + 1.34% + $0.19 per transaction (annual contract); Custom for high volume Pricing gotchas: Transaction fees apply on every subscription order (1.49% Standard / 1.34% Plus + $0.19/order); Plus and Custom require annual contracts. Free plan: 60-day free trial on Starter plan only Verified 2026-05-30
Recharge starts at $25/mo vs Loop Subscriptions's $99/mo.
Loop Subscriptions: Essentials $99/mo (raised from $49 — see operator pushback on G2); Growth $399/mo; Enterprise $1,199/mo + custom. Recharge: Standard $25/mo + 1% + $0.19/transaction; Pro $499/mo + 0.75% + $0.19/transaction; Enterprise custom. At low subscription volume Recharge is ~4x cheaper on entry; at $50K subscription revenue/month, Recharge per-transaction fees would add ~$500/mo making the gap narrower — model the exact break-even on your AOV.
Features
Loop Subscriptions
- Loop Flows (gamified subscriber journey) — Reward subscribers after N orders with freebies or points to drive retention
- Smart Cancel Flows (multi-stage) — Configure a visual multi-step cancel flow with pause / swap / discount offers
- Smart Dunning (up to 15 retries) — Payment recovery with up to 15 retries and one-tap card updates
- Bundle Builder (native) — Customizable subscription bundles built into the platform
- Loop Analytics (cohort) — Cohort analysis of subscriber retention across channels and SKUs
- 30+ API Endpoints — Rich public API for custom integrations
Recharge
- Shopify Checkout Integration — Subscriptions run inside Shopify's native checkout (no iframes)
- Concierge SMS — AI-powered SMS lets subscribers skip, delay, swap, or add products via text
- Bundles (curated and customizable) — Static and dynamic subscription bundles with tiered discounts
- Rewards & Referrals — Built-in loyalty/points and referrals tied to subscription behavior
- Cart and Cart Overlay Upsell — Convert one-time orders to subscriptions inside the cart with analytics
- Post-purchase Cross-sell — One-click post-purchase add-on offers for subscribers
Shopify integration
Loop Subscriptions
Deep native Shopify integration; Shopify App Store; Built-for-Shopify badge; native to Shopify checkout and Customer Accounts; focused on Shopify Plus
Recharge
Deep native Shopify integration; Shopify App Store; supports Shopify Plus and the Recharge–Shopify Checkout Integration; subscription billing engine native to Shopify checkout
Integrations
Only Loop Subscriptions
- GA4
- PostPilot
- Recart
- Sendlane
- Shopify Plus
- Zendesk
Both
- Shopify
Only Recharge
- Amazon
- Google Ads
- Meta
- Shopify Checkout
- Stripe
- Tapcart
- TikTok
Customer support
Support rating (aggregated from independent review platforms like G2, Capterra, Shopify App Store): Loop Subscriptions 9.7/10, Recharge 8/10. This is an editorial composite of channel availability, response speed, and resolution quality — see the individual reviews below for specifics.
Pros & cons
Loop Subscriptions
Pros
- White-glove migration team
- Generous free tier (50 active subscribers)
- Customizable cancel flows + smart dunning
Cons
- APIs not yet at full feature parity with web UI
- Pricing climbed from $49 to $99/mo entry
- Newer platform — smaller ecosystem of integrations vs. Recharge
Recharge
Pros
- Industry-standard Shopify subscription management
- Customizable customer portal
- Collections & dunning capabilities (9.0 G2)
Cons
- Built on legacy code — causes intermittent issues
- Limited out-of-box checkout customization
- Pricing & 12-month Plus contracts criticized
When each one wins
Winner: Recharge
Sub-$20K MRR subscription revenue, starting out
Recharge Standard at $25/mo is honest entry pricing for early-stage subscription programs where the question is still "do subscriptions work for this catalog." Loop Essentials at $99/mo after the 2026 price raise breaks the early-stage math; the G2 operator pushback on this point is real, not noise.
Winner: Loop Subscriptions
Brand $20K-$100K MRR evaluating per-transaction vs flat-fee math
At $50K subscription revenue/month with typical $40 AOV (1,250 transactions), Recharge per-transaction fees add ~$485/mo to the $25 base = $510/mo. Loop Essentials at $99/mo is materially cheaper at this volume. Verify the math against your own transaction count before migrating — break-even is sensitive to AOV.
Winner: Recharge
Want native affiliate program for own partnerships
Recharge runs an active affiliate program on Lasso (post-March 15 2026 migration from PartnerStack; 90-day cookie). Loop Subscriptions does not have a public affiliate program. For agencies or partners earning referral commissions, this is the deciding factor.
Our verdict
For brands under $20K MRR subscription revenue, Recharge Standard at $25/mo beats Loop Essentials at $99/mo on raw cost — the Loop entry-tier price jump made the lower-volume comparison harder to justify. For brands $20K-$100K MRR where per-transaction fees on Recharge add up, Loop becomes evaluable on the price-stability + UX axis. Recharge stays the partner choice (active affiliate program); Loop is editorial-only here.
Recharge
"The world's leading subscription platform, powering 71% of subscriptions sold on Shopify stores" — Recharge homepage (getrecharge.com, May 2026).
Related comparisons
- Loop SubscriptionsvsSkio
For new 2026 deployments, Loop Subscriptions is the cleaner independent bet — no parent-company question, UX-led subscriber-portal positioning, $99/mo entry tier that scales predictably. Skio is the right pick only when its specific feature set solves something Loop does not, AND with a calendar invite to re-evaluate at Q2 2027 when Recharge-side roadmap signals firm up. Neither is a partner — both pages editorial-only.
Open
- Loop SubscriptionsvsStay AI
Neither tool is a partner — both pages render editorial-only and PartnerAlternatives surfaces Recharge as the partner alternative in this category. For brands $20K-$100K MRR subscription revenue, Loop Essentials at $99/mo is the cheaper functional choice and ships UX-led subscriber-portal features. For brands $50K+ MRR subscription revenue where active churn is the measured leak, Stay AI Pro at $499/mo becomes evaluable — OLIPOP case study math applies. Below $20K MRR, neither is the right answer — start on Recharge Standard at $25/mo and migrate up when retention or UX is the actual constraint.
Open
- RechargevsStay AI
For brands under $30K MRR subscription revenue, Recharge Standard at $25/mo + per-transaction fees is the only honest choice — Stay AI Pro at $499/mo cannot pay back at that scale. Above $30K MRR subscription revenue where active churn is a measurable revenue leak, Stay AI becomes evaluable: the OLIPOP case study suggests the retention delta covers the price step-up at meaningful scale, but case-study results are top-end outcomes, not median ones. Pilot the migration on a 90-day window with churn instrumented before committing.
Open
- RechargevsSkio
For new subscription deployments in 2026, default to Recharge — it is the post-acquisition continuing platform with the active affiliate program (Lasso, 90-day cookie window). For existing Skio merchants, no immediate forced migration was announced, but treat the next 12-24 months as a stay-or-migrate window: stay if Skio specifically solves a pricing or feature edge you rely on, migrate if you want long-term roadmap certainty. Either way, evaluate what specifically broke for you on the platform you would migrate FROM before signing a new contract.
Open