If you are evaluating Shopify subscription apps right now, you are probably overwhelmed. Every app claims to be the best. Every pricing page requires a calculator. And the real costs only become clear after you are locked in.

This is a straightforward comparison of the four platforms worth considering in 2026: Recharge, Skio, Loop, and ModuloX. No fluff. Just pricing, features, and what actually matters at different revenue stages.

Pricing: What You Actually Pay

This is where most merchants get surprised. The monthly platform fee is never the full cost. Transaction fees on every order add up fast.

Recharge starts at $99/month on their Starter plan plus 1.25% + 19 cents per transaction. Their Pro plan jumps to $499/month with 1% + 19 cents per transaction. On $50,000/month in subscription revenue with 2,000 transactions, you are paying roughly $1,000/month all in on Starter.

Skio starts at $399/month (or $299/month paid annually) plus 1% + 20 cents per transaction. On that same $50,000/month, you are paying roughly $900 to $1,000/month. Their Growth plan with Build-a-Box jumps to $599/month.

Loop starts at $99/month on their Growth plan plus 0.75% of subscription revenue with no per-order fee. On $50,000/month, that is roughly $475/month. Their Pro plan is $399/month plus 0.75%.

ModuloX starts at $49/month plus 0.5% per transaction. On $50,000/month, that is roughly $299/month. No per-order fee. No surprise jumps.

At $50,000/month in subscription revenue, here is the real monthly cost comparison:

• Recharge Starter: ~$1,000/month

• Skio: ~$900/month

• Loop Growth: ~$475/month

• ModuloX Starter: ~$299/month

The gap widens as your volume grows. At $100,000/month, Recharge and Skio cost $1,500 to $2,000/month while ModuloX stays under $550.

Checkout: Who Actually Lets You Own It?

Recharge uses Shopify's native checkout. You get the standard Shopify checkout experience with some customization through checkout extensions. It works, but you are limited to what Shopify allows.

Skio also uses Shopify's native checkout and positions itself as deeply integrated with Shopify Plus. The checkout experience is solid but again limited to Shopify's checkout framework.

Loop follows the same Shopify native checkout pattern. Functional but not differentiated.

ModuloX gives you a fully customizable branded checkout with a drag-and-drop designer. Your logo, your colors, your layout, your fonts. Desktop and mobile layouts configured independently. You own the entire checkout experience instead of being confined to Shopify's default.

If your brand identity matters at checkout, this is a significant difference.

Payment Processing: The Feature Nobody Else Offers

This is where ModuloX is fundamentally different from every other app on this list.

Recharge, Skio, and Loop all process payments through Shopify Payments or a single connected gateway. If that gateway goes down, has an outage, or freezes your account, your subscription renewals stop. There is no failover.

ModuloX supports multi-gateway payment routing across Stripe, Authorize.net, and NMI simultaneously. You set routing rules for priority, volume distribution, and automatic failover. If Stripe goes down, transactions route to Authorize.net. If one processor hits its monthly cap, volume flows to the next one.

No other Shopify subscription app offers this. For merchants processing serious volume or anyone who has experienced a gateway outage, this alone justifies the switch.

Failed Payment Recovery

Recharge has built-in dunning with automated retry and customizable recovery emails. It works but the most useful recovery features require the $499/month Pro plan.

Skio offers automated retry on optimized schedules with dunning communications. Solid implementation included on all plans.

Loop includes dunning management with retry logic and cancellation flows. Their retention focus means this is a strength.

ModuloX gives you configurable retry policies where you control the delay between retries (6 to 72 hours), max attempts (1 to 10), and cutoff window (7 to 30 days). Plus, failed renewals can retry on a different gateway, which none of the others can do. Abandoned cart recovery is also built in, covering both abandoned checkouts and failed payment attempts.

Analytics and MRR

Recharge offers analytics but the advanced dashboards are locked behind the Pro plan at $499/month.

Skio includes cohort analysis, LTV tracking, and churn diagnostics on all plans. This is one of Skio's genuine strengths.

Loop provides retention analytics and subscription performance data. Solid but not as deep as Skio.

ModuloX includes real-time MRR tracking, conversion analytics, checkout funnel metrics with a sessions vs unique visitors toggle, per-MID volume tracking, and checkout footprint analysis. All included on every plan.

Who Each Platform Is Actually For

Recharge is for established brands doing $100,000+ per month that need deep integrations with Klaviyo, Gorgias, and the broader Shopify Plus ecosystem. You are paying a premium for maturity and ecosystem breadth.

Skio is for Shopify Plus brands that prioritize customer portal UX and passwordless login. The subscriber experience is genuinely best in class but you pay for it.

Loop is the middle ground. Lower cost than Recharge and Skio with strong retention features. Good fit for growing brands that have outgrown basic apps but are not ready for enterprise pricing.

ModuloX is for Shopify brands that want full control over their checkout, need multi-gateway payment routing, and do not want to pay $500+ per month for features that should be standard. It is the only platform that treats payment infrastructure as a first-class feature instead of an afterthought.

The Bottom Line

If you need the largest ecosystem of integrations and have the budget, Recharge works. If subscriber portal UX is your top priority and you are on Shopify Plus, Skio is strong. If you want solid retention tools at a moderate price, Loop is reasonable.

If you want the lowest cost, a checkout you fully control, and payment routing that no other subscription app offers, ModuloX is the answer.

Start your free trial at modulox.io.