Recharge
The world's leading subscription platform for Shopify brands
By Recharge, Inc. · HQ Santa Monica, US · 4.5/5 verified-buyer score
Positioning guardrails
Best for
- Shopify DTC brands running a subscription or recurring-order program
- Health & wellness, food & beverage and beauty brands monetising repeat purchases
- Retention and lifecycle teams consolidating subscriptions, loyalty and win-backs
- High-volume merchants processing thousands of recurring orders per month
Ideal size: 10–500 people · Established DTC brand with a live Shopify subscription program
Not for
- Non-Shopify storefronts; the platform is built for and natively integrated with Shopify
- Brands selling only one-time products with no recurring revenue model
- B2B software or services firms needing contract-based invoicing
- Teams that need to fully own and self-host their subscription infrastructure
Value metrics scorecard
Time-to-Value
2–4 weeks to first production value
~30 days to first production value
Total Cost of Ownership
$5,988/yr
Starts at $1,188 · Monthly platform fee (Starter $99/mo, Plus $499/mo, Custom volume-based) plus usage fees of 1.49% (Starter) or 1.34% (Plus) + $0.19 per transaction.
Implementation Friction
2/5
Engineering + admin effort required
Buyer Score
out of 5 · verified buyers
Full cost breakdown
Mandatory implementation fee
None
Seat tiers
No seat tiers; plans are Starter, Plus and Custom, with Plus and Custom on 12-month terms.
Add-on costs
- Concierge SMS messaging: $0.03 US/Canada or $0.06 international per message segment
Company & support
Who is behind Recharge, and how your team gets help once it is live.
Company
- Founded
- Not recorded
- Headquarters
- Santa Monica, US
How you get support
- PhoneNot listed
- EmailNot listed
- Live chatNot listed
- Support portal / ticketsNot listed
- Community forumNot listed
- Help centre / docsAll plans
- Dedicated account managerNot listed
- In person / on-siteNot listed
- Hours
- 24/7
- Response time
- 8 hours (Starter), 6 hours (Plus), live video support within 4 hours (Custom)
The pricing plan comparison lists 24/7 Support under Support & Services and gives per-plan response times; live video support is noted as business hours (Mon–Fri, 6AM–6PM PST). The contact page points existing merchants to a self-serve Help Center. Custom plan adds dedicated priority technical…
“Not listed” means the vendor’s public pages don’t mention that channel, not that it is unavailable. Ask about it during evaluation.
Market position
Where Recharge sits relative to every other solution in the database. Toggle axes to compare on cost, speed, friction, or buyer score.
Quadrant view
Implementation friction × Verified buyer score
Stack fit signal
Compatibility with standard B2B ecosystems.
No supported MCP path today, so it cannot be driven from an AI client.
AI & MCP readiness
What Recharge ships in AI, and what it asks of your ecosystem.
AI features shipped
The homepage cites predictive analytics for subscriber acquisition and churn prevention. Pricing references AI-powered Concierge SMS and AI-powered failed-payment retries, but no model-provider detail, user-supplied keys or AI audit logging is published.
In your ecosystem
- AI connection
- Not supported
- Model key
- Not recorded
- AI usage audit
- Not recorded
Industry verdicts
How Recharge speaks to each vertical it serves — same data, sector lens.
Retail & CommerceSell everywhere, stock nothing twice.
Best for in Retail & Commerce
- Shopify DTC brands with subscription or replenishment products
- Beauty, personal care and home-goods brands growing subscriber LTV
- Merchants consolidating subscription, loyalty, referrals and win-back tooling
- Teams running 100+ prebuilt ecommerce integrations without developers
Not for
- Pure marketplaces or wholesale-only sellers
- Retailers with no recurring purchase behaviour
- Non-Shopify or bespoke commerce stacks
This is Recharge's core vertical: it reports powering 71% of subscriptions sold on Shopify stores, 20,000 brands served and $42B in Shopify GMV, with retail case studies including Harry's, POV Beauty and Naked Paper. The product covers subscription checkout, customer portal, bundles, upsell/cross-sell, loyalty, failed-payment recovery and analytics, plus a storefront API/SDK for custom experiences.
HealthcareMore patients, less paperwork.
Best for in Healthcare
- Health & wellness brands selling supplements or consumables on subscription
- Brands needing failed-payment recovery and churn prevention at scale
- Wellness DTC brands running loyalty and referral programs
Not for
- Clinical providers, payers or regulated health systems
- Prescription or medical-device fulfilment needing clinical workflows
- Any buyer requiring a HIPAA claim, which Recharge does not publish
Recharge names Health & Wellness as a leading vertical and publishes case studies with quip, Arrae, Auri and BUBS Naturals. The fit is consumer wellness commerce, not healthcare IT: Recharge handles subscriptions, retention flows and analytics for DTC brands, and no HIPAA, HITRUST or equivalent certification is stated on the vendor pages reviewed.
Restaurants & Food ServiceThinner margins demand tighter control.
Best for in Restaurants & Food Service
- Meal-kit, coffee and pantry brands shipping recurring orders
- Food & beverage DTC brands with tasting or replenishment subscriptions
- Merchants that need skip, delay and swap self-service for subscribers
Not for
- Restaurants needing reservations, POS or delivery dispatch
- Operators without recurring shipment logistics
- Food businesses selling only in-venue or one-time
Food & Beverage and Meal Kits are named verticals with case studies such as ButcherBox (400,000 subscribers migrated in 76 business days), Oats Overnight and Sightglass Coffee. Recharge addresses recurring order cadence, product transitions, win-backs and shipping integrations (ShipBob, Shipstation, ShipperHQ), but it does not provide restaurant operations, POS or reservation functionality.
Compliance attestations
* IAPP AIGP certifies individuals, not products. It means named staff hold the credential — not that the platform does.
Bottom line
Recharge is a Shopify-first subscription and retention platform used by 20,000+ brands and powering 71% of subscriptions sold on Shopify stores. Starter is $99/month plus 1.49% + $0.19 per transaction; Plus is $499/month and adds loyalty, bundles and Concierge SMS. Core value is retention: no-code subscription tools, failed-payment recovery, analytics and win-backs, backed by hands-on implementation. It is tightly bound to Shopify, and no compliance certifications or MCP path are published.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Recharge cost?
Starter is $99/month for emerging brands, Plus is $499/month for scaling brands and Custom is volume-based for high-volume merchants. Every plan adds usage fees: 1.49% + $0.19 per transaction on Starter and 1.34% + $0.19 on Plus. Concierge SMS is billed separately at $0.03 US/Canada or $0.06 international per message segment. Plus and Custom run on 12-month terms.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. Recharge offers a 60-day free trial on the Starter plan, starting the day the app is installed. No fees are charged during the trial; monthly billing begins after the first full billing cycle following the trial.
Does Recharge work with platforms other than Shopify?
Recharge is built for Shopify. The vendor states it powers 71% of subscriptions sold on Shopify stores and markets the product as 'Made for Shopify', with native integration into Shopify discounts, tax and shipping. Some payment-vaulting features do not apply within the Shopify checkout integration, so non-Shopify stacks should be assessed carefully before buying.
How long does implementation take?
Starter is a self-serve Shopify app install. Plus adds hands-on implementation with project support and check-ins, and end-to-end migration support with data validation and a cutover strategy; Recharge cites a 400,000-subscriber migration completed in 76 business days. Most brands should plan for a few weeks to first production value, longer for large migrations.
What support is included?
The pricing comparison lists 24/7 support with an 8-hour response on Starter, 6 hours on Plus, and live video support within 4 hours on Custom, plus a self-serve Help Center. Custom adds dedicated priority technical support and recurring enterprise business reviews. Live video support is limited to business hours (Mon–Fri, 6AM–6PM PST).
Does Recharge use AI?
Recharge advertises predictive analytics for subscriber acquisition and churn prevention, plus AI-powered Concierge SMS for subscriber self-service and AI-powered failed-payment retries. The vendor does not publish which models are used, whether customers can bring their own model keys, or how AI activity is logged or audited.