Recharge vs Skio: Which Subscription App Fits Your Shopify Store?

For most Shopify stores, RechargeRechargeSubscriptionsRecharge is a subscription billing app for Shopify stores that sell recurring orders. Paid from $25/mo, 60-day trial.Click for Scout's full analysis is the better choice: it starts at $25 a month for your first 50 subscribers, and its $99 Starter plan costs less than SkioSkioSubscriptionsSkio is a subscription app for Shopify brands that run recurring orders. Paid from $599/mo.Click for Scout's full analysis until you process roughly $86,000 to $107,500 a month in subscription orders (at a $40 average order). Skio makes sense for established subscription brands that want its cancel-flow and build-a-box tooling and are big enough for its lower percentage fee to offset a $599 monthly plan.

One thing to know first: Skio's own Shopify App Store listing is now titled "Skio, a Recharge Company", meaning Recharge acquired Skio. The two still sell separate apps with separate pricing on the Shopify App Store, so the choice is still a real one.

Quick comparison

*Ratings as listed on the Shopify App Store in November 2026.

Pricing: the real difference

Both apps charge a monthly plan fee plus a cut of each subscription transaction. The difference is the balance between the two.

RechargeRechargeSubscriptionsRecharge is a subscription billing app for Shopify stores that sell recurring orders. Paid from $25/mo, 60-day trial.Click for Scout's full analysis (per its Shopify App Store listing, November 2026):

• $25/month with no transaction fees for your first 50 subscribers. It includes the full Starter feature set.
• Starter: $99/month plus 1.49% + 19¢ per transaction. 60-day free trial.
• Plus: $499/month plus 1.34% + 19¢ per transaction, with what Recharge calls scalable transaction rates. Plus adds hands-on implementation and extra features (listed below).

Recharge's help center has shown a lower Starter fee of 1.25% + 19¢, so confirm the current rate when you sign up. The math below uses the listing figure.

SkioSkioSubscriptionsSkio is a subscription app for Shopify brands that run recurring orders. Paid from $599/mo.Click for Scout's full analysis:

• Scale: $599/month billed monthly, or $5,988 a year (which works out to $499/month), plus 1% + 20¢ per transaction.
• Enterprise: custom pricing.

So Recharge has the lower fixed fee and Skio has the lower percentage. The bigger your monthly subscription volume, the more Skio's lower percentage claws back.

Where the costs cross

Assume an average subscription order of $40, each order counted as one transaction, and Shopify's payment processing left out (it applies either way).

• Recharge Starter: $99 + 1.49% of revenue + 19¢ per order
• Skio Scale, monthly billing: $599 + 1% of revenue + 20¢ per order

Skio's fixed fee is $500 higher. Each $40 order costs 0.49% × $40 = 19.6¢ more on Recharge in percentage fees but 1¢ less in per-order fees, so Skio saves about 18.6¢ per order. It takes about 2,690 orders a month, or roughly $107,500 in monthly subscription revenue, to make up the $500. On Skio's annual billing ($499/month), the gap is $400 and the crossover drops to about 2,150 orders, or roughly $86,000 a month.

If your average order is larger, the crossover comes sooner, because the percentage fee is a bigger share of each order. If Recharge's Starter fee is 1.25% when you sign up, the crossover moves much higher. Recharge Plus has a lower percentage than Starter, but its $400 higher base fee only pays for itself above about $267,000 a month, so most stores comparing the two will be looking at Recharge Starter against Skio Scale.

What it costs at three sizes

At the small end the difference is about $600 a month in Recharge's favor. At 3,000 orders a month, Skio is slightly cheaper. Recharge Plus also mentions scalable transaction rates, so a brand of that size should get a quote from both.

Features compared

Both apps cover the basics of a Shopify subscription program: a no-code customer portal where subscribers manage their own orders, payment recovery, cancellation prevention and bundles. The differences are in emphasis.

RechargeRechargeSubscriptionsRecharge is a subscription billing app for Shopify stores that sell recurring orders. Paid from $25/mo, 60-day trial.Click for Scout's full analysis lists:

• A no-code customer portal where subscribers skip, swap and reschedule on their own
• Churn prevention: stopping cancellations, recovering failed payments and winning back lapsed buyers
• Bundles, either built by customers or curated by you
• Loyalty rewards in the form of credits
• Retention analytics that compare your cohorts with thousands of other brands

Plus adds hands-on implementation, customizable bundles and tiered discounts, Concierge SMS, loyalty rewards and referral programs, and a JavaScript SDK and Storefront API for custom builds.

SkioSkioSubscriptionsSkio is a subscription app for Shopify brands that run recurring orders. Paid from $599/mo.Click for Scout's full analysis lists:

• A no-code customer portal
• Automated lifecycle journeys, such as welcome flows, win-backs and upsells
• A multi-step cancel flow builder that offers pauses, swaps and saves instead of cancellations
• Static, dynamic and sectioned build-a-box
• Passwordless login and quick actions for subscribers
• Real-time analytics and segmentation
• Smart payment recovery
• Migration of your existing subscribers with no downtime

In short, Recharge leans on loyalty, referrals and benchmark analytics, with developer tools on Plus. Skio leans on the subscriber experience: passwordless login, cancel flows and build-a-box, all on its single Scale plan.

Who should choose Recharge

RechargeRechargeSubscriptionsRecharge is a subscription billing app for Shopify stores that sell recurring orders. Paid from $25/mo, 60-day trial.Click for Scout's full analysis fits:

• Stores starting subscriptions. The $25 plan covers the full Starter feature set with no transaction fees until you pass 50 subscribers.
• Growing programs that want to pay as they grow. At $99 a month, Starter is $500 cheaper in fixed cost than Skio Scale billed monthly.
• Brands that want loyalty and referrals built into the subscription app, or developer access through the SDK and Storefront API on Plus.

Watch out: the 1.49% Starter fee (per its Shopify listing) is higher than Skio's 1%. On high volume, that adds up, so recheck the math each time your program grows, and confirm the fee at sign-up since Recharge's help center has shown 1.25%.

Who should choose Skio

SkioSkioSubscriptionsSkio is a subscription app for Shopify brands that run recurring orders. Paid from $599/mo.Click for Scout's full analysis fits:

• Established subscription brands doing roughly $86,000 to $107,500 or more a month in subscription orders, where the lower 1% fee offsets the higher base.
• Brands that care most about the subscriber experience: passwordless login, multi-step cancel flows and build-a-box are all on the one Scale plan.
• Brands switching from another app that want a team to move subscribers over for them.

Watch out: no free plan, no free trial and no low-volume tier. At $599 a month before transaction fees, Skio is not designed for a store with a few dozen subscribers.

Which one should you choose?

• Choose RechargeRechargeSubscriptionsRecharge is a subscription billing app for Shopify stores that sell recurring orders. Paid from $25/mo, 60-day trial.Click for Scout's full analysis if you have fewer than 50 subscribers, are under roughly $86,000 a month in subscription orders, or want loyalty, referrals and developer tools.
• Choose SkioSkioSubscriptionsSkio is a subscription app for Shopify brands that run recurring orders. Paid from $599/mo.Click for Scout's full analysis if subscriptions are your core business at high volume, you want its cancel-flow and build-a-box tooling on one plan, and your numbers show its lower percentage fee wins.
• Get quotes from both if you are near the crossover. Recharge Plus mentions scalable transaction rates and Skio has an Enterprise tier.

If neither fits a smaller budget, apps with no transaction fees such as Appstle SubscriptionsAppstle SubscriptionsSubscriptionsAppstle Subscriptions is a Shopify app for pay-as-you-go and prepaid subscriptions, build-a-box and bundles. Free plan, paid from $10/mo, 14-day trial.Click for Scout's full analysis and Seal SubscriptionsSeal SubscriptionsSubscriptionsSeal Subscriptions is a low-cost Shopify app for auto-charging subscriptions and recurring invoices. Free plan, paid from $5.95/mo, 30-day trial.Click for Scout's full analysis are covered in our best subscription apps for Shopify roundup.

Common questions

Is Skio owned by Recharge? Yes. Skio's Shopify App Store listing is titled "Skio, a Recharge Company", meaning Recharge acquired Skio. Both apps are still listed separately on the Shopify App Store with their own pricing.

Is Recharge cheaper than Skio? For most stores, yes. Recharge Starter is $99 a month plus 1.49% + 19¢ per transaction per its Shopify listing, while Skio Scale is $599 a month plus 1% + 20¢. With a $40 average order, Skio only becomes cheaper above roughly $86,000 to $107,500 a month in subscription orders, depending on whether you pay Skio monthly or annually.

Does Recharge or Skio have a free plan? Neither has a free plan, and Skio has no free trial. Recharge has a $25 monthly plan with no transaction fees for your first 50 subscribers and a 60-day free trial on Starter.

Do transaction fees include Shopify's payment processing? The fees above are the apps' own charges as listed on the Shopify App Store. Your payment processing costs are separate and apply whichever app you choose.

How we put this together

We did not test Recharge or Skio hands-on. All prices and features come from the companies' own pages, read in November 2026: the Shopify App Store listings for Recharge and Skio, plus our fact sheets built from Recharge's billing help article and Skio's pricing page (checked November 2, 2026). Ratings are as listed on the Shopify App Store in November 2026. The cost examples are our own arithmetic on those published prices, using the assumptions stated. Fees change, so confirm them on each listing before you commit.