3-month prepaid
$113.97
Charged once · $37.99 per box · buyer saves $6.00
- Your profit
- $27.63
- Margin
- 24.2%
- Monthly plan, expected
- $30.17 over 2.8 boxes
- Prepaid vs monthly
- −$2.54
- Break-even discount
- Up to 2.8%
Founder calculator
Prepaid and Gift Subscription Pricing Calculator
Price 3, 6, and 12 month prepaid and gift plans for your subscription box. See what each plan costs the buyer, what it earns you after every per-box cost and fee, how much cash you collect up front, and whether the discount beats what a monthly subscriber would bring in at your churn rate.
Enter your numbers
The defaults describe a $39.99 box with free shipping, about $17 in products, packaging, and packing, and $9.95 to ship a 2 lb box. Replace them with your own numbers.
Prepaid vs monthly
Monthly box: $10.79 profit per box, 27% margin
At these discounts, every prepaid plan earns less than a monthly subscriber is expected to at 7.0% monthly churn. Lower the discounts toward the break-even figures below, or accept the trade for the upfront cash.
6-month prepaid
$215.95
Charged once · $35.99 per box · buyer saves $23.99
- Your profit
- $44.28
- Margin
- 20.5%
- Monthly plan, expected
- $54.44 over 5.0 boxes
- Prepaid vs monthly
- −$10.16
- Break-even discount
- Up to 5.6%
12-month prepaid
$407.90
Charged once · $33.99 per box · buyer saves $71.98
- Your profit
- $66.10
- Margin
- 16.2%
- Monthly plan, expected
- $89.66 over 8.3 boxes
- Prepaid vs monthly
- −$23.55
- Break-even discount
- Up to 9.9%
"Monthly plan, expected" is the profit a monthly subscriber brings in over the same months when 7.0% cancel each month. The break-even discount is the largest discount at which the prepaid plan still earns that much.
Cash up front and deferred revenue
A prepaid plan puts the whole payment in your account on day one, but most of it is still owed to the customer as future boxes. Keep enough cash to ship every box you have been paid for.
| Plan | Cash up front | Still owed after box 1 | Boxes still to ship | Cost to ship them |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-month | $113.97 | $75.98 | 2 | $53.90 |
| 6-month | $215.95 | $179.96 | 5 | $134.75 |
| 12-month | $407.90 | $373.91 | 11 | $296.45 |
"Cost to ship them" is your products, packaging, packing, and postage for the remaining boxes. That is the part of the upfront cash you should not spend on anything else.
Rounding and shipping checks
Two places prepaid plans go wrong in practice: a plan total that does not divide evenly into boxes, and shipping that gets multiplied by the number of deliveries on top of a price that already includes it.
| Plan | Plan total | Exact per box | Rounded per box × boxes | Shipping in the plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-month | $113.97 | $37.9900 | $113.97 (matches) | Free shipping |
| 6-month | $215.95 | $35.9917 | $215.94 (−$0.01) | Free shipping |
| 12-month | $407.90 | $33.9917 | $407.88 (−$0.02) | Free shipping |
If a row shows a difference, set the plan up as one total price where your platform allows it, or adjust the total so it divides evenly. If you charge shipping, check that your checkout charges the shipping total shown here once, not again on top of it.
Gift subscription pricing
Gift plans are priced at the full monthly price times the number of boxes, plus any gift premium you set, and they carry the cost of gift extras such as a card or wrapping.
| Gift plan | Gift price | Per box | Your profit | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-month gift | $119.97 | $39.99 | $30.36 | 25.3% |
| 6-month gift | $239.94 | $39.99 | $64.22 | 26.8% |
| 12-month gift | $479.88 | $39.99 | $131.92 | 27.5% |
Gift extras are counted once per order. Margin follows the same lines used across this site: 40% to 55% is healthy, 30% to 40% is thin, and below 30% is the danger zone.
How the calculator works
Plan total = monthly price × (1 − discount) × boxes + shipping charged × boxes, rounded to the cent and charged once
Plan profit = plan total − (plan total × fee %) − one fixed fee − boxes × (box cost + shipping cost)
Expected monthly boxes = 1 + (1 − churn) + (1 − churn)² + … for the same number of months
Monthly plan, expected profit = expected monthly boxes × profit per monthly box, where each monthly box pays its own fixed fee
Deferred revenue after box 1 = plan total × (boxes − 1) ÷ boxes
Worked example
A $39.99 box with free shipping costs $17 in products, packaging, and packing, plus $9.95 in postage. With fees of 4.39% plus $0.49, each monthly box earns about $10.79, a 27% margin. A 12-month prepaid plan at 15% off is $407.90, charged once. After 12 boxes and one fee, it earns about $66.10. A monthly subscriber at 7% churn is expected to pay for about 8.3 of those 12 boxes, worth about $89.66 in profit. So at these costs, the 12-month plan only beats monthly at a discount of about 9.9% or less, though it does put $407.90 in your account on day one.
Setting your prepaid discounts
- Fix the monthly margin first. A prepaid discount comes straight out of your margin. If the monthly box is under 30%, there is little room to discount. The pricing calculator shows the price your costs need.
- Use your real churn. The higher your monthly churn, the more a prepaid commitment is worth, and the bigger the discount you can afford. Measure it with the churn calculator.
- Keep longer plans cheaper per box, but not by more than they save you.Compare each plan's discount with its break-even discount above.
- Check shipping weight. Postage is usually the biggest cost after products, and it is paid on every box in the plan. The shipping calculator shows how box size and weight change it.
Prepaid and gift pricing FAQ
How do I price a prepaid subscription box plan?
Start from your monthly price, multiply it by the number of boxes in the plan, and take off a discount. Then check two things. First, the plan's profit after every per-box cost, including shipping and payment fees. Second, how that profit compares with what a monthly subscriber is expected to bring in over the same months, given your churn rate. This calculator does both and shows the largest discount that still beats the monthly plan.
What discount should I give for a prepaid subscription?
There is no single right number. The discount you can afford depends on your margin per box and your monthly churn. A prepaid subscriber is guaranteed for every box in the plan, while a monthly subscriber may cancel, so a bigger discount makes sense when churn is high. When margins are thin, even a 10% discount can leave you with less profit than a monthly plan. Enter your own numbers and read the break-even discount for each plan length.
Is a prepaid plan better than a monthly subscription?
On cash, usually yes: you collect the whole plan up front and pay one transaction fee instead of one per box. On profit, it depends on the discount. If the discount is larger than the break-even discount shown above, you earn less from a prepaid subscriber than you would expect to earn from a monthly one over the same months. The upfront cash can still be worth it if you need it for inventory, as long as you keep enough to ship every box you owe.
What is deferred revenue on a prepaid subscription?
Deferred revenue is money a customer has paid for boxes you have not shipped yet. On a 12-month prepaid plan, after the first box ships, eleven twelfths of the payment is still owed to the customer as future boxes. It is cash in your account, but it is not yet earned. Treat it as money already spoken for, and ask your accountant how to record it for your business.
Why does my prepaid price come out a cent off per box?
Because a plan total does not always divide evenly by the number of deliveries. A $100 plan over 3 boxes works out to $33.333 per box. If a store rounds that to $33.33 and multiplies by 3, it collects $99.99. Set the plan up as one total price where your platform allows it, and check the rounding check above for each plan length.
Should I charge shipping on a prepaid plan?
If you charge shipping on monthly boxes, a prepaid plan has to cover shipping for every delivery, so shipping in the plan is the per-box charge times the number of boxes. Some subscription setups add that automatically, which can double-count shipping if it is already in your plan price. Check the shipping total shown above against what your checkout actually charges.
How should I price a gift subscription?
A common approach is to price a gift plan at the full monthly price times the number of boxes, with no discount, because the buyer is paying once for someone else. Add the cost of any gift extras such as a card or gift wrap, and add a premium if you include something extra. The gift section of this calculator shows the price, profit, and margin for 3, 6, and 12 month gift plans.
What fees does the calculator assume?
The default fee is 4.39% plus $0.49 per charge: Shopify Payments' basic US online card rate of 2.9% plus 30 cents, plus the Recharge Starter plan's 1.49% plus 19 cents per transaction. Change both fields to match your own payment processor and subscription app. A prepaid plan pays the fixed part of the fee once, while a monthly plan pays it on every box.