Recharge's 2026 price list, checked against Recharge's own pages
Recharge has four plans in 2026: a $25 plan for brand-new stores, Starter at $99 a month plus 1.49% + 19¢ per transaction, Plus at $499 a month plus 1.34% + 19¢, and Custom at quoted rates. We checked every figure below on October 31, 2026.
| Plan | Monthly fee | Per-transaction fee | Who it is for | Term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-50 | $25 | None | New installs with 50 or fewer lifetime customers | Month to month |
| Starter | $99 | 1.49% + 19¢ | Everyone else by default | Month to month |
| Plus | $499 | 1.34% + 19¢ | Brands that need bundles, loyalty, Concierge SMS or the storefront API | 12 months |
| Custom | Quoted | Volume-based | High volume; Shopify Plus stores may qualify for discounts | Set in the contract |
The 25-50 and Starter plans start with a 60-day free trial, counted from the day you install, with no transaction or processing fees.
The third-party guides that rank for "recharge pricing" disagree on four points. Here is what Recharge's own pages say.
- The $99 plan is called Starter, not Standard.
- Recharge's pricing page and its Shopify App Store listing both name it Starter.
- Some guides still use "Standard" and attach the $25 tier to the name "Starter". That mix-up makes it look as if Starter costs $25.
- The $25 plan comes after the trial, and it counts lifetime customers, not active subscribers.
- After the 60-day trial, a store that is not under contract and has 50 or fewer cumulative lifetime customers goes onto the 25-50 plan.
- The count includes active, inactive and test customers. Deleting a customer does not lower it.
- The plan is open only to stores that installed Recharge on or after February 9, 2026 and had never installed it before. Existing stores cannot downgrade to it.
- Once you pass 50 lifetime customers, you move to Starter automatically and never move back, even if your count later drops.
- The App Store listing says the $25 plan includes the entire Starter feature set. Guides that say it has no trial, or that it lacks failed-payment recovery, contradict Recharge's own listing.
- The current published rate is 1.49%, not 1.25%.
- The pricing page and the App Store listing both show 1.49% + 19¢ for Starter.
- Recharge's help center billing article, last edited July 28, 2026, still quotes "1.25% of the total amount of the transaction" in its billing-terms paragraph.
- We found no dated Recharge notice of when the rate changed. The rate you pay is the one in the billing terms your store owner accepts in the Recharge admin, so read that screen before you accept.
- The fee is charged on the whole order, including shipping and tax.
- Recharge's help center says transaction fees are calculated on "the total processed amount, including shipping, taxes, and refunded orders."
- Refunded orders still carry the fee, because Recharge has already processed the charge.
- The fee applies to one-time and recurring orders alike.
What changed after Recharge bought Skio
For merchants, nothing about Recharge's or Skio's published prices has changed since the deal, as far as we can confirm. Recharge announced on April 30, 2026 that Skio was joining the company. The release says the two together power more than 20,000 merchants and process over $20B in GMV a year. It did not disclose terms. Skio's founder said publicly that Skio sold for $105M cash at close, as TechCrunch reported the same day.
What is confirmed as of October 31, 2026:
- Recharge told merchants that "nothing is changing today" and that both platforms "will continue to operate as they have," with existing teams staying as the point of contact. It promised details of a combined roadmap "in the months ahead." We found none published yet.
- Skio's Shopify App Store listing now reads "Skio, a Recharge Company."
- Skio's price is unchanged in public: $599 a month, or $5,988 a year (about $499 a month), plus 1% + 20¢ on orders that involve a subscription.
- Some blogs say Skio merchants are guaranteed no forced migration or price change until 2028. We could not find that promise in any Recharge or Skio statement, so we do not rely on it.
Skio's pricing is built for larger brands. At our $40 example below, Skio on monthly billing would cost $779 a month at 300 subscribers and $1,199 at 1,000, so it rarely fits a box under 1,000 subscribers.
What Recharge costs a box business at 50 to 1,000 subscribers
On Starter, Recharge takes between 2.2% and 6.9% of a $40 box's revenue, depending on size. The fixed $99 weighs heavily at 50 subscribers and fades as you grow.
The monthly bill follows one formula:
Recharge Starter per month = $99 + (1.49% × order total + $0.19) × orders
Our assumptions:
- One renewal per subscriber per month, no one-time add-ons.
- A $40 box with shipping built into the price, so the order total is $40.
- Starter plan, because Plus only gets cheaper than Starter above about $266,667 a month in processed orders (around 6,667 orders at $40). Below that, Plus costs $400 more in base fee than its lower rate saves.
| Subscribers | Monthly revenue | Recharge bill | Share of revenue | Recharge cost per box |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | $2,000 | $138.30 | 6.9% | $2.77 |
| 100 | $4,000 | $177.60 | 4.4% | $1.78 |
| 300 | $12,000 | $334.80 | 2.8% | $1.12 |
| 500 | $20,000 | $492.00 | 2.5% | $0.98 |
| 1,000 | $40,000 | $885.00 | 2.2% | $0.89 |
A store on the 25-50 plan pays $25 at 50 subscribers. In practice few boxes stay there long: churned customers still count toward the 50, so a box with 50 active subscribers has usually passed 50 lifetime customers already.
Box price changes the share only a little:
| Subscribers | Share of revenue at $35 | Share of revenue at $45 |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 7.7% | 6.3% |
| 100 | 4.9% | 4.1% |
| 300 | 3.0% | 2.6% |
| 500 | 2.6% | 2.4% |
| 1,000 | 2.3% | 2.1% |
If you charge shipping on top instead, the fee base grows. A $40 box with $8 shipping is a $48 order, so the variable fee rises from $0.79 to $0.91 per box. That is about $119 a month more at 1,000 subscribers, before any sales tax you collect.
Add Shopify Payments to see the full cost of collecting payment
Recharge does not replace your card processing fee. Recharge's help center says its pricing is separate from your platform and payment processor fees, and Shopify Payments charges its own rate on every renewal. On Shopify's Basic plan ($39 a month), US online cards cost 2.9% + 30¢, which is $1.46 on a $40 order.
| Subscribers | Recharge Starter | Shopify Payments | Combined | Share of revenue | Combined per box |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | $138.30 | $73.00 | $211.30 | 10.6% | $4.23 |
| 100 | $177.60 | $146.00 | $323.60 | 8.1% | $3.24 |
| 300 | $334.80 | $438.00 | $772.80 | 6.4% | $2.58 |
| 500 | $492.00 | $730.00 | $1,222.00 | 6.1% | $2.44 |
| 1,000 | $885.00 | $1,460.00 | $2,345.00 | 5.9% | $2.35 |
Two things follow. First, at 50 subscribers, collecting a payment costs more than a dollar in every ten. One merchant review on the Recharge App Store listing in March 2026 said its fees came to "over 10% of our recurring revenue." Second, from 300 subscribers up, card processing is the bigger of the two costs, and every subscription app pays it.
Shopify's Grow plan ($105 a month) cuts the card rate to 2.7% + 30¢. The extra $66 a month pays back above about $33,000 a month in card sales, which a $40 box reaches at roughly 825 subscribers.
What the fees do to a 40% margin
If your 40% margin was worked out before payment and app fees, Recharge and card processing pull it down to 29–34%. Our margin standard counts every per-box cost, shipping and fees included: 40–55% is healthy, 30–40% is thin and under 30% is danger. The table assumes a $40 box whose product, packing, fulfillment and shipping costs leave $16, or 40%.
| Subscribers | Margin after Recharge Starter + Shopify Payments | Margin points lost to Recharge alone | Zone |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 29.4% | 6.9 | Danger |
| 100 | 31.9% | 4.4 | Thin |
| 300 | 33.6% | 2.8 | Thin |
| 500 | 33.9% | 2.5 | Thin |
| 1,000 | 34.1% | 2.2 | Thin |
On the 25-50 plan, the same 50-subscriber box keeps 35.1%. Card processing alone takes 3.65 points at any size, whichever app you use.
The fix is usually in the price, not the app. If a healthy margin matters to you, set the price so that 40% survives after fees. Our pricing calculator works backward from a target margin, and our profit calculator lets you enter app and processing fees as their own lines. For what counts as healthy and why, see what is a good profit margin for a subscription box.
How to project your Recharge bill at three times your size
Recharge's bill grows more slowly than your revenue, because the $99 is fixed and only the per-order part scales. Recharge publishes the full Starter rate card, so you can project it exactly with the formula above. Plus says only "scalable transaction rates," and Custom is quoted, so neither can be projected without a sales quote.
Worked examples on a $40 box:
- 100 to 300 subscribers. Revenue triples from $4,000 to $12,000. Recharge goes from $177.60 to $334.80, up 89%. Cost per box falls from $1.78 to $1.12.
- 300 to 900 subscribers. Revenue goes from $12,000 to $36,000. Recharge goes from $334.80 to $806.40, and cost per box falls to $0.90. Add Shopify Payments and the combined bill at 900 is $2,120.40.
- The jump off the 25-50 plan. Suppose you have 40 active subscribers when your 51st lifetime customer signs up. Your bill goes from $25 to $130.44 the next month ($99 plus fees on 40 orders), with no change in revenue. Plan for that month before you launch.
To model the subscriber growth itself, including churn, use our growth simulator, then apply the formula to each month's order count.
Is Recharge ever the cheapest option?
On app fees alone, Recharge is not the cheapest option at any size from 50 to 1,000 subscribers. Flat-fee apps like Appstle and Seal charge no transaction fee, and Loop is free up to 50 active subscriptions. Here is the app fee only, on a $40 box, checked on each app's Shopify App Store listing on October 31, 2026. Shopify Payments is the same under every app.
| Subscribers | Recharge Starter | Loop | Appstle | Seal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | $138.30 ($25 if eligible) | $0 (Free, 50 active) | $10 (Starter) | $0 (Free, 50 subscriptions) |
| 100 | $177.60 | $139 (Starter, $99 + 1%) | $10 (Starter, to $5,000/mo revenue) | $5.95 (to 100 subscriptions) |
| 300 | $334.80 | $219 | $30 (Business, to $15,000/mo) | $24.95 (to 500 subscriptions) |
| 500 | $492.00 | $299 | $100 (Business Premium, to $100,000/mo) | $24.95 |
| 1,000 | $885.00 | $499 | $100 | $89.95 (to 2,000 subscriptions) |
Loop has no per-order cents, so its gap to Recharge widens with every order. Its $399 Pro plan (0.75%) only beats its own Starter above $120,000 a month.
The useful question is whether Recharge earns back the difference. On a $40 box at 40% margin, each subscriber you keep is worth about $14.54 a month after card processing. So Recharge pays for itself against:
- Loop at 300 subscribers if its tools keep about 8 more people subscribed than Loop would ($115.80 ÷ $14.54).
- Seal or Appstle at 300 subscribers if they keep about 21 more, which is 7% of your base.
- Loop at 1,000 subscribers if they keep about 27 more, or 2.7% of your base.
- Seal or Appstle at 1,000 subscribers if they keep about 54–55 more.
What the premium buys is real. Recharge has been on the Shopify App Store since October 2014 and holds a 4.8 rating from 3,149 reviews. It lists 100 prebuilt integrations, including Klaviyo, Attentive, Gorgias, ShipStation and ShipBob. Smart Cancellation Prevention, Failed Payment Recovery and Win Back tools come with Starter, and chat and email support run 24 hours a day with an eight-hour first response. Recent reviews in October 2026 mostly praise fast, named support staff. The one- and two-star reviews from late 2025 and 2026 are mostly about cost at small sizes, slow support escalations and billing errors; older ones also object to being held to annual contracts. A December 2025 reviewer said there was "no tier for small businesses"; the 25-50 plan arrived on February 9, 2026.
Whether Recharge's retention tools save 8 subscribers or 54 depends on your churn, not on the app's marketing. Measure where you lose people with our cancellation analyzer, and read how to design a subscription box cancellation flow before you pay for software to do it. For features, migration and a side-by-side of Recharge, Bold and Appstle, see our Recharge vs Bold vs Appstle comparison.
Checklist before you install Recharge
- Count your lifetime customers, including churned and test ones. Above 50, budget for Starter from day 61.
- Confirm your install date. Only first-time installs on or after February 9, 2026 qualify for the 25-50 plan, and reinstalling does not restart the 60-day trial.
- Read the rate in the billing terms before the store owner accepts them. Check it says 1.49% + 19¢, not something else.
- Decide whether shipping sits inside the box price or on top. Shipping and tax both carry the 1.49%.
- Run your numbers at today's size and at three times it with the formula above, plus 2.9% + 30¢ for Shopify Payments on Basic.
- Check your margin after both fees, not before.
- If a salesperson suggests Plus, ask for the 12-month term in writing and compare it with Starter at your real order count. Under about 6,667 orders a month at $40, Starter is cheaper.
- If you are on Skio or thinking about it, get any promise about future pricing in writing. Recharge has not published a combined roadmap yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Stripe enough to run a Shopify subscription box without Recharge or Bold?
No. Stripe is a payment gateway, not a subscription engine. On Shopify, recurring orders run through a subscription app built on Shopify's subscription system, and Shopify lists Stripe as a supported gateway for subscription apps only for select merchants. If you want to avoid app fees, Shopify's own Shopify Subscriptions app is free. It is rated 3.8 from 883 reviews, and Shopify notes that bundles do not work with it, which matters for curated boxes.
Does using a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments change the cost?
Yes. On Shopify's Basic plan, Shopify adds a 2% fee on orders paid through a third-party provider, on top of that provider's own rate and Recharge's fee. On Grow the extra is 1%, and on Advanced 0.6%.
How does Stay AI compare with Recharge on price?
Stay AI costs more than Recharge at box-business sizes. Its App Store listing shows $499 a month plus 1% + 19¢. Its own site shows $299 a month plus 1% + 19¢ on an annual contract. At 300 subscribers on a $40 box, that is $676 or $476 a month, against $334.80 for Recharge Starter.
Can I cancel Recharge Starter at any time?
Yes. The 25-50 and Starter plans are month to month with no contract. Plus and Custom run on 12-month terms, and Custom merchants generally cannot cancel during the contract.
Does Recharge charge sales tax on its own invoice?
In some states, yes. Recharge collects sales tax on its invoice if your business address is in Arizona, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington or West Virginia. Exempt businesses can send a certificate to Recharge's accounts team.
Why does my Shopify invoice show more than one Recharge usage charge?
Recharge bills on the first of each month, while Shopify bills apps on a rolling 30-day cycle. When the two do not line up, two Recharge usage charges from different periods can land on one Shopify invoice. It is not a double charge.
Sources
- Recharge, Pricing page, checked October 31, 2026: https://getrecharge.com/pricing
- Recharge Help Center, "Recharge billing and pricing," last edited July 28, 2026: https://support.getrecharge.com/hc/en-us/articles/360008682914-Recharge-billing-and-pricing
- Recharge Subscriptions, Shopify App Store listing and reviews, checked October 31, 2026: https://apps.shopify.com/subscription-payments
- Recharge, Integrations, checked October 31, 2026: https://getrecharge.com/integrations/
- Recharge, "Recharge welcomes Skio to build the future of subscription commerce," April 2026: https://getrecharge.com/blog/recharge-welcomes-skio-to-build-the-future-of-subscription-commerce/
- PR Newswire, Recharge release, April 30, 2026: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/recharge-welcomes-skio-to-build-the-future-of-subscription-commerce-302759194.html
- TechCrunch, "Y Combinator alum Skio sells for $105M cash, only raised $8M, founder says," April 30, 2026: https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/30/y-combinator-alum-skio-sells-for-105m-cash-only-raised-8m-founder-says/
- Fenwick, "Fenwick represents Recharge in acquisition of Skio," April 30, 2026: https://www.fenwick.com/insights/experience/fenwick-represents-recharge-in-acquisition-of-skio
- Skio, Pricing, checked October 31, 2026: https://skio.com/pricing
- Skio, Shopify App Store listing, checked October 31, 2026: https://apps.shopify.com/skio
- Shopify, Pricing, checked October 31, 2026: https://www.shopify.com/pricing
- Shopify Help Center, subscription considerations and payment gateways, checked October 31, 2026: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/purchase-options/subscriptions/considerations
- Shopify Subscriptions, Shopify App Store listing, checked October 31, 2026: https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-subscriptions
- Loop Subscriptions, Shopify App Store listing, checked October 31, 2026: https://apps.shopify.com/loop-subscriptions
- Appstle Subscriptions, Shopify App Store listing, checked October 31, 2026: https://apps.shopify.com/subscriptions-by-appstle
- Seal Subscriptions, Pricing, checked October 31, 2026: https://www.sealsubscriptions.com/pricing
- Stay AI, Pricing and Shopify App Store listing, checked October 31, 2026: https://stay.ai/pricing and https://apps.shopify.com/stayai-subscriptions
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