Find on Shopify App Store as Essential Subscriptions App
Grow recurring revenue with Subscriptions
Essential Subscriptions adds subscribe and save plans to any Shopify product in minutes: no code, no transaction fees. Offer recurring billing, give customers a self-service portal, and recover failed payments automatically.
- plan available
- Free
- average rating
- 5.0★
- transaction fees
- $0
A free Shopify app that adds recurring billing to any product
Merchants create subscribe and save campaigns, choose pay-as-you-go or prepaid billing on any delivery schedule, and give customers a self-service portal to skip, pause, or cancel, with no transaction fees.
We are Essential Apps, a Shopify app developer with 13 apps focused on helping merchants increase AOV, conversions and revenue. Essential Subscriptions works with Shopify customer accounts, GemPages, PageFly, Shopify Admin and your online store, no theme edits required.
Setup
How to add subscriptions to your Shopify store
Most stores are live with subscriptions in under 30 minutes. No developer, no theme edits.
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01
Install the app
Add Essential Subscriptions from the Shopify App Store. It connects to your store automatically, no manual configuration or theme code required.
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02
Create a subscription plan
Select which products to offer as subscriptions. Set your discount (percentage or fixed), billing frequency, and delivery schedule. Save and publish.
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03
Subscribers start rolling in
The subscribe and save widget appears on your product pages. Customers subscribe, get billed automatically, and manage their subscription from the self-service portal.
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Watch: getting started in under 5 minutes
A full walkthrough of installing the app, creating a subscribe and save campaign, and what the customer portal looks like.
Benefits
Why merchants add subscriptions
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Predictable recurring revenue
Turn one-time buyers into subscribers. Monthly recurring orders you can plan your inventory and cashflow around.
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Customers stay in control
Let subscribers skip, pause, or resume deliveries on their own. Fewer cancellations, fewer support tickets.
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Recover revenue you would otherwise lose
Smart dunning retries failed payments and sends email alerts so subscribers update their card before they lapse.
Add subscriptions to any Shopify product for free
Works straight out of the box with your Shopify theme. No transaction fees, no monthly platform charge, no developer needed.
Who it's for
Best Shopify subscription app for stores that sell repeatable products
Any store selling products people buy more than once can benefit. Here is who gets the most value from Essential Subscriptions.
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Consumables & replenishment
Coffee, supplements, skincare, pet food: anything customers run out of and reorder. The most common subscription use case.
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Physical subscription boxes
Curated or surprise boxes shipped on a weekly, monthly or quarterly schedule.
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Services
Ongoing services billed on a recurring schedule: cleaning, maintenance, consulting.
Features
Essential Subscriptions App Features
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Subscribe & Save
Fully customisable subscribe and save campaigns, no code needed
Add subscription plans to any product. Set percentage or fixed discounts that change over time to reward long-term subscribers. Choose pay-as-you-go or prepaid billing with any delivery frequency, on daily, weekly, monthly or yearly schedules.
Multiple widget styles, templates and custom CSS.
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Customer Portal
Self-service customer portal that reduces churn and support load
Every subscriber gets a self-service portal where they can skip a delivery, pause, resume, or cancel, without ever contacting your team. Integrates with Shopify customer accounts, and works with GemPages, PageFly and your online store.
Advanced subscription controls and analytics in the app.
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24/7 Support
Expert human support: onboarding, setup, and design customisation
Every merchant gets 24/7 access to a real human support team, not a chatbot. On average we respond in 10 minutes. The team helps with onboarding, widget customisation to match your brand, and building custom solutions for your store.
Average 10-minute response time, 24/7.
Placeholder image. Brief: The support team, with a list of what they help with: onboarding, app setup, custom design settings, fixing widget display issues.
Pricing
Completely free, no hidden fees, no transaction charges
Most Shopify subscription apps charge a monthly fee, a percentage of every order, or both. Essential Subscriptions does not.
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Typical subscription apps
$99-$299/mo
- 1-2% per transaction
- Monthly platform fee
- Costs scale with revenue
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Essential Subscriptions
$0/mo
Free to install. No monthly fee. No per-transaction fee on top of Shopify.
Add to Shopify for free- Unlimited subscription plans
- Subscribe and save campaigns with flexible discounts
- Pay-as-you-go and prepaid billing
- Self-service customer portal
- Smart dunning: automatic payment retry
- Branded email notifications from your own domain
- Multiple widget styles, templates and custom CSS
- Subscription analytics
- 24/7 human support
Shopify's standard payment processing fees apply to all transactions, as with any Shopify app. Essential Subscriptions adds nothing on top of them.
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Shopify built-in subscriptions
Free
- No fee
- Limited customisation
- No dunning or portal flexibility
Reviews
Essential Subscriptions App Reviews
5.0 rating on the Shopify App Store.
5.0 average on the Shopify App Store
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I have been looking for an app that is easy to use both for me and most importantly my customers, this app fits the bill. I have needed to contact the support line and they are super helpful, prompt, and easy to communicate with. They were quick to send updates to functional and aesthetic features. Highly recommend Essential Subscription app.
Dara's Soapery -
Another great app from Essentials. Setup was straightforward, we were able to customise widgets to completely fit our brand, customer portal setup was very easy too. Simple and reliable app for simple subscriptions.
BURGA -
This app works perfectly for e-commerce businesses looking to offer recurring orders through subscription plans. It is easy to navigate, user-friendly, and simple to set up. Sebastian from the support team has also been extremely helpful and provided valuable recommendations. Definitely worth trying.
Elfas Namuose
FAQ
Shopify Subscription App: Frequently Asked Questions
Don't hesitate to contact Support if you have any additional questions.
- Yes. Essential Subscriptions has no monthly fee and no per-transaction fee on top of Shopify's standard payment processing rates. There are no hidden charges: billing, customer portal, smart dunning and widget customisation are all included at no cost.
- Install Essential Subscriptions from the Shopify App Store, create a subscription campaign for the products you want to sell on a recurring basis, and the subscribe and save widget appears on your product pages automatically. No code or theme edits required. Most stores are live with subscriptions in under 30 minutes.
- Pay-as-you-go charges customers each delivery cycle: weekly, monthly, or on any schedule you set. Prepaid charges customers upfront for multiple deliveries at once, which typically improves cash flow and reduces churn because the commitment is made in advance. Essential Subscriptions supports both billing models on any delivery frequency.
- Yes. Every subscriber gets a self-service portal where they can skip a delivery, pause, resume, or cancel without contacting support. Giving customers this control reduces cancellation rates and support ticket volume.
- Essential Subscriptions retries the payment automatically and sends the customer a branded email so they can update their card before the subscription lapses. This smart dunning process recovers revenue that would otherwise be lost to failed payments, without any manual intervention.
- Both are free to use. Shopify's built-in subscriptions handle basic recurring billing with limited customisation and no dunning logic. Essential Subscriptions adds a customisable subscribe and save widget, smart dunning with automatic payment retry, a flexible self-service customer portal, branded email notifications and 24/7 human support, all with no transaction fees.
- ReCharge charges a monthly platform fee plus a percentage of subscription revenue. Appstle has a limited free plan followed by paid tiers. Essential Subscriptions is fully free with no monthly fee and no transaction fee: billing, customer portal, dunning and widget customisation are all included at no cost.
- Yes. The Essential Subscriptions support team helps with migration from other apps. Contact the team before switching so active subscriber data moves with minimal disruption to existing customers.
- Essential Subscriptions is the strongest option for a small store that wants recurring billing without platform fees or transaction costs. It is free to install, takes under 30 minutes to set up, and covers billing, a self-service customer portal, smart dunning and widget customisation, all at no cost.
Get Essential Subscriptions App Today
Free to install. No transaction fees. Set up subscribe and save in minutes, give customers a self-service portal, and recover failed payments automatically.