Do you need a subscription app, or is Shopify's free Subscriptions app enough?
What is the difference at a glance?
Shopify Subscriptions is Shopify’s own free subscription app, launched in January 2024 for basic subscribe-and-save, managed in the Shopify admin. Zubs is a dedicated subscription app. Both keep the customer’s portal inside Shopify’s customer accounts. These are the differences that decide most evaluations:
When is Shopify Subscriptions enough?
As a starting point. Shopify Subscriptions is the first-party app for simple replenishment: plans have a delivery frequency and a discount, and customers manage their subscription in Shopify’s customer accounts. Use it while you find out whether your customers subscribe at all. Nothing more, but nothing less.
When do you outgrow Shopify Subscriptions?
Subscriptions that last need more than a repeat order: subscribers stay when they can shape what they get, are rewarded for staying and get an alternative before they cancel. Each point below is something Shopify Subscriptions doesn’t do:
- Customers fill their own box. Shopify states that bundles aren’t compatible with the app. With build-a-box in Zubs, customers subscribe to a box and choose its items for every order in the portal.
- You want to know why people cancel and make them an offer. In Shopify Subscriptions, a cancellation ends billing and delivery immediately; it asks for no reason and makes no offer. Zubs asks for a reason, can ask a follow-up question and makes one retention offer per reason: a discount on the next order, a skip or a new date. See cancellation flow.
- You reward subscribers who stay. With sequential flows, a subscription changes at order milestones: a free gift with the 3rd order, 10% off from the 4th, or the full size after a starter kit.
- Your offers are more than one discount. Zubs plans can add an introductory discount on the first orders, on top of the regular subscription discount, and customers can pay upfront with prepaid billing, such as 6 months paid upfront with monthly deliveries. The app’s plans have a delivery frequency and a discount.
- Stock has to be there on billing day. When stock runs out, the app falls back to retries, flagged contracts, overselling or waiting. Zubs forecasts the units your customers need and holds them in Shopify before each billing date. See inventory reservation.
- Your emails and automations run on subscription events. The app sends no subscription events to Klaviyo and adds no Flow triggers of its own. Zubs sends subscription events to Klaviyo and has Shopify Flow triggers for subscription events and actions such as skipping the next order.
- You want to see why subscribers stay or leave. Zubs has a subscription analytics dashboard with churn, skip rate and cancellation insights.
- You want a team behind your subscriptions. Our team answers on Slack, email, WhatsApp or phone, whichever suits you, answers quickly and shares what we’ve learned from running subscription programs with other stores.
How do the two compare feature by feature?
Every capability from our fact sheet, with the source behind each cell and the day we checked it:
| Capability | Shopify Subscriptions | Zubs |
|---|---|---|
| Build-a-boxCustomers pick several products for one subscription box. | NoShopify's considerations page states: 'Bundles aren't compatible with the Shopify Subscriptions app.'Source, checked | YesCustomers subscribe to a box and choose its items for every order in the customer portal.Source, checked |
| Local pickupSubscription orders can be picked up locally. | YesSubscription orders can use local delivery and pickup in store. The contract CSV import supports a 'Local Pick up' delivery method with a location ID. Shopify's general subscription considerations page also says subscription orders can use local delivery and pickup in store.Source, checked | YesBuilt in: subscribers move between pickup locations and home delivery, and you can add pickup locations of your own.Source, checked |
| Inventory reservationStock is held for upcoming subscription orders. | NoNo forecasting or reservation. If stock is short at billing, the payment-retry settings apply, the contract is flagged, and you oversell or wait for restock and retry.Source, checked | YesForecasts the stock upcoming subscription orders need, reserves it in Shopify before each billing date and shows where it will run short.Source, checked |
| Prepaid subscriptionsCustomers pay upfront for several deliveries. | NoPlans have a delivery frequency and a discount; billing follows each delivery, with no separate billing interval.Source, checked | YesAny subscription plan can be prepaid, for example 6 months paid upfront with monthly deliveries.Source, checked |
| Retention toolsReasons and retention offers before a cancellation. | NoCustomers can cancel, skip or pause in their account. Cancelling ends billing and delivery immediately, with no reason asked and no offer made.Source, checked | YesCustomers give a reason when they cancel, and each reason can come with one retention offer: a discount, a skip or a new date.Source, checked |
| Failed-payment recoveryFailed payments are retried and customers notified. | YesConfigurable number of retry attempts, days between retries, and a final action (skip, pause or cancel). The customer is notified in each case. The same settings apply to inventory failures.Source, checked | YesYou decide how often failed payments are retried, how far apart and what happens after the last attempt; the customer gets an email on each failure.Source, checked |
| Portal in Shopify customer accountsSubscriptions managed inside Shopify's customer accounts. | YesSubscribers manage subscriptions in Shopify customer accounts, reached from the store login or the 'Manage your subscription' email link.Source, checked | YesThe customer portal lives inside the customer accounts Shopify provides.Source, checked |
| KlaviyoIntegrates with Klaviyo. | NoThe app sends no subscription events to Klaviyo. Its App Store 'Works with' list shows Checkout, Customer accounts, Shopify POS and Shopify Admin.Source, checked | YesSends subscription events to Klaviyo and adds subscription details to customer profiles.Source, checked |
| Shopify FlowShopify Flow triggers or actions. | PartlyShopify Flow's built-in subscription triggers, such as 'Subscription billing attempt failure', fire on the app's contracts. The app adds no triggers or actions of its own.Source, checked | YesTriggers for subscription events such as a failed payment or a skipped order, and actions such as skipping an order, cancelling a subscription or adding a free item.Source, checked |
| LanguagesCustomer-facing portal, widget and email languages. | YesSubscription plan titles are translated automatically into 20 languages, including German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Turkish and Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal). Plans created before March 20, 2024 must be re-saved to get translations. The App Store lists 19 app languages.Source, checked | YesEach customer sees Zubs in their own language: the storefront widget and checkout in many languages, the customer portal and subscription emails in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch. You translate your own texts with Translate & Adapt.Source, checked |
| EU/DACH supportGerman-language UI or support, EU hosting or an EU office. | PartlyShopify contracts with EU merchants through Shopify International Limited in Dublin, Ireland (Terms of Service, section 13), and German and other EU-language translations are available. The App Store listing gives the developer as Shopify, Ottawa, Canada.Source, checked | YesMade by Zubs GmbH in Germany, running on servers in the EU (Netherlands). Admin, customer portal, subscription emails and support work in German; a data processing agreement (GDPR) is available on request.Source, checked |
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What does moving from Shopify Subscriptions take?
Shopify Subscriptions exports your contracts, and our team moves subscriptions from other Shopify subscription apps for free (see migration). Your subscribers keep their products and next delivery dates, and their next order bills on the day it was due.
Bottom line
Zubs is built for subscriptions that do more than repeat an order: customers build their own box, each cancellation reason can come with a retention offer, stock is reserved before billing day and customers can pay upfront. If that’s where your subscriptions are heading, book a call and we’ll go through your setup with you.
Frequently asked questions
- When should I switch from Shopify Subscriptions?
- When subscriptions are more than simple replenishment for your store, for example when customers should fill their own box, when you want to keep subscribers who are about to cancel or when customers should pay upfront. Our team then moves your subscribers to Zubs for free.
- Can I sell build-a-box subscriptions with Shopify Subscriptions?
- No; Shopify states that bundles aren't compatible with the Shopify Subscriptions app. In Zubs, customers subscribe to a box and pick its items for every order in the customer portal.
- What support do I get with Zubs?
- Our team answers on Slack, email, WhatsApp or phone, whichever suits you, in English or German. We answer quickly and share what we've learned from running subscription programs with other stores.
- Does Shopify Subscriptions retry failed payments?
- Yes. You set the number of retries, the days between them and whether to skip, pause or cancel after the last one, and Zubs gives you the same choices.
- Where do the facts on this page come from?
- From our fact sheet on both apps. Shopify Subscriptions claims link Shopify's help center or the App Store listing, Zubs claims the Zubs help center, and every cell in the table shows the day we checked it; we re-check every source at least once a quarter.