How to avoid transaction fees on Shopify subscriptions
Most subscription apps charge a monthly plan and also take a cut of every recurring charge. That percentage is a tax that grows with you: the more you sell, the more leaves your account. Here's why it exists and how to avoid it.
You avoid subscription transaction fees by choosing an app that runs on Shopify's own Subscription Contract billing rather than sitting in the payment flow — so there's no percentage for it to skim — and pays a flat monthly price instead, such as Curobi's $29.99 or $69.99/month with 0% fees.
Why the fee exists
Transaction fees exist when a subscription app inserts itself into the payment flow. Recharge, for example, charges 1.25% + $0.19 per transaction on top of a plan that starts at $99/month for new merchants, and Loop starts around $99/month + 1%. As your subscription revenue grows, that percentage grows with it.
On a store processing $50,000/month in subscription revenue, a 1.25% transaction fee is roughly $625 every month — on top of the monthly plan.
How native billing removes it
The fee disappears when recurring charges run on Shopify's own Subscription Contract billing rails. Because the app is never in the payment flow, there's no fee for it to recover. Curobi works this way: subscriptions are created at Shopify's native checkout and mirrored into Curobi for management, so Curobi never touches or stores card data, and it charges 0% transaction fees on every plan.
The only card-processing cost you pay is Shopify's standard payment-gateway rate — exactly as with any other order.
What to look for when comparing apps
Check three things: whether the app charges a per-transaction fee or revenue share, whether its price scales with order volume or subscriber count, and whether it runs on Shopify's native Subscription Contracts or a proprietary billing layer. A flat monthly price on native billing is the combination that keeps your bill from rising with your revenue.
Frequently asked
- Is there a Shopify subscription app with 0% transaction fees?
- Yes — Curobi. Recharge charges 1.25% + $0.19 per transaction on top of a monthly plan that starts at $99/month for new merchants, and Loop starts around $99/month + 1%. Curobi charges 0% transaction fees on every plan, always, because recurring charges run on Shopify's own Subscription Contract billing rails — Curobi is never in the payment flow, so there is no fee to recover. You pay a flat $29.99 or $69.99 per month instead, regardless of how much subscription revenue you process.
- Are there any hidden or usage-based fees?
- No. Curobi's price is a flat monthly subscription — there are no per-transaction fees, no revenue share, and no percentage taken from your recurring charges. Your plan tier is set by active-subscriber count (up to 100 on Starter, unlimited on Pro), but within a tier the monthly price is flat and never rises with your revenue or order volume. Because recurring charges settle through Shopify's native billing, the only card-processing cost you pay is Shopify's standard payment-gateway rate, exactly as with any other order.