Shopify Subscription App Fee Calculator
Enter your monthly subscription orders and average order value to see what Loop, Recharge, Skio, Seal and Shopify's own app would cost each month on their published fees, and where one plan overtakes another. Every fee in the table is an editable input, so you can drop in a quote, a negotiated rate or next month's price change. It is for store owners and agencies choosing a subscription app who want the all-in cost, not just the headline monthly price. It compares fees only, not features. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded, stored or sent.
Disclosure: the author sells Shopify apps under Orbitloft; none of these subscription apps is ours and we have no affiliate link with any of them. See the disclosure page.
Assumption: the percentage fee applies to 100% of subscription order value unless you change the last box. Vendor pages do not always say. Payment processor fees are not included.
| Plan | Monthly fee ($) | % fee | Per-order fee ($) | Subscription cap | Monthly total |
|---|
Break-even between two plans
Cheapest plan by volume
Uses your average order value and the fees above; plans over their subscription cap are skipped.
| Orders per month | Cheapest plan | Monthly total |
|---|
How it works, and what it does not cover
For each plan the calculator adds three parts: the fixed monthly fee, the percentage fee on subscription revenue, and any flat per-order fee. Revenue is orders times average order value, scaled by the "share of order value" box. Recharge, for example, lists 1.49% plus 19 cents per transaction on Starter, so 500 orders of $50 cost $99 + $372.50 + $95 = $566.50. Loop lists percentage-only fees (1.0% on Starter, 0.75% on Pro) and Seal lists a 0% fee with monthly tiers capped by subscription count. The default table matches the worked example in our comparison guide.
Reading the break-even number
Higher plans trade a bigger fixed fee for a lower percentage. Loop Starter ($99 and 1.0%) and Pro ($399 and 0.75%) cross at 2,400 orders a month at a $50 average order value: below that Starter is cheaper, above it Pro wins. Change the average order value and the crossover moves, because the percentage fee scales with it. Per-order flat fees do not scale with order value, so they matter more for low-priced products.
Assumptions and gaps
- Percentage basis. Assumed to be full subscription order value. Skio says its fee applies to "orders involving a subscription"; whether that includes one-time items in the cart is not stated on the page we read.
- Not stated by the vendor. Shopify Subscriptions is listed as free, but its listing says pricing and transaction fees apply without stating them, so its defaults are zero and flagged. Loop's free tier shows no fee on the page we read. Skio's page shows no currency symbol and we could not read its trial answer.
- Contract terms. Recharge Plus and Custom run on 12-month terms per its page. Skio's lower price needs annual billing; the table includes both. Trials (Loop 14 days, Recharge Starter 60 days, Seal 30 days) are not modeled.
- Not included. Payment processor fees, other apps in your stack, enterprise or negotiated rates, overages, migration costs, and every feature difference. A cheaper plan that lacks bundles, API access or retention tools is not a like-for-like saving.
This is arithmetic on published rates, not a quote. Confirm every number with the vendor before you sign.
Data last verified 2026-10-23. Prices, hours and rules change; confirm fees, limits and program terms with the official source before you rely on a number.
Sources
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Are these the real prices I will pay?
They are the published prices the author read on each vendor's own page on 2026-10-23, entered as editable defaults. Vendors change pricing, add plan conditions and negotiate at higher volume, so confirm on the vendor page the day you buy. Payment processor fees are separate and not included.
What does the percentage fee apply to?
The pricing pages do not always say. The calculator assumes the percentage applies to the full value of subscription orders, which is the most natural reading and the highest-cost one. Use the "share of order value" box to lower it if a vendor confirms the percentage applies to only part of the order. Skio's page says its fee applies to orders involving a subscription, which may include one-time items in the same cart.
Why are some plans marked over their cap?
Seal and the free tiers limit the number of active subscriptions, not orders. Enter your active subscriber count if it differs from monthly orders; leave it blank to treat each monthly order as one subscriber (true for monthly billing).
What is the break-even volume?
The monthly order count at which two plans cost the same under your inputs. A plan with a higher monthly fee but lower per-order cost wins above that point; below it the cheaper-monthly plan wins. If the two never cross, the tool says so.
Does it cover features, support or migration?
No. It compares fees only. Features are gated by plan and differ a lot between apps (bundles, API access, upsells, retention tools), and moving subscribers between apps is the hardest part of switching. See the comparison guide for features.