In these interviews a couple of dozen brands describe a completed subscription platform move or one already underway, and most brands running a subscription platform describe none — an observation from interviews, not a measured switching rate. Two things stand out. Eight of the twenty-four moves, about a third, came with a change of online store. In two the buyer names the store change as the reason; in three the subscriptions lived inside the old store, so leaving it meant leaving them; in three the two changes came together without the buyer saying one caused the other. In all eight the new subscription tool suited the new store. And the moves between a brand's own subscription build and commercially provided subscriptions ran one way: several brands had replaced their own build, or were replacing it, with a subscription app, a billing platform or the subscriptions built into their commerce platform, and none described going back. Missing features are the complaint named most often, then price, support and a poor fit with the subscription model. Recharge is the platform left most often, and the one run most widely. The companion reads are what subscription-management buyers wish they'd known, where the ratings live, and top complaints about subscription management platforms.
The pressure that builds: why brands switch subscription platforms
The complaint buyers name most often about the platform they leave is missing features, followed by price, support and a platform that does not fit the brand's subscription model. A single move can carry several reasons, so the shares overlap. These are the pressures; the events follow.
Missing features and poor subscription-model fit
Missing features are the complaint named most often by the brands here that left a subscription platform, and missing features or a poor fit for the subscription model are cited in eleven of the twenty-one moves with a stated reason, just over half. The gaps run from what customers can do for themselves to a model the platform cannot represent at all. A beauty company that sells by instalment ran a custom build where “Customers can't pause their subscription, add products to the subscription, all of that,” and found its model “very unique that Shopify and a lot of their subscription partners could not accommodate,” a story told below. A pet-supplies retailer that moved to plugins on its new store found “functionally they work but they are not a great customer experience.” Why rigid platforms force custom work is on top complaints about subscription management platforms.
Named in this context: Shopify · Magento
Price, and what the money buys
Price comes next, usually alongside a feature or support complaint rather than alone, and more often in moves from one app to another than in moves off a brand's own build, where the cost of running the build comes up instead. The fees and the moves made on price are on what buyers actually pay for subscription-commerce software.
Named in this context: Recharge · Ordergroove · Skio
Support and help getting it right
Implementation help and account management come up in several moves between apps. They rarely stand alone: a buyer weighing a move usually names a missing feature or the price as well. The complaint form of this is on top complaints about subscription management platforms.
Named in this context: Recharge · Stay.ai · Ordergroove
The cost of running your own build
Brands leaving a system they built themselves name the build's upkeep and its limits, not the price of a platform. A consumer-hardware brand moved off “a custom-built subscription tool” when it moved its store, a story told below. A magazine publisher moving its subscriptions onto a billing platform says “it allows us to have much more capabilities around customizing pricing and the speed at which we can update pricing,” and that “we have more capabilities based on different currencies, which has been a struggle.”
Named in this context: Recharge · Chargebee
The event that fires the decision
In about two in three moves with a stated reason, buyers also name an event — in line with the CRM and CMS moves we have tracked, so not unusual in itself. What stands out is which event.
A change of online store
The most common event by far: about a third of the moves came with a new store. In some the store change was the stated reason — one brand chose its new platform “Because it works better with Shopify as a part of our new stack,” and a consumer-goods company dropped its old vendor because “when we move to Magento, Magento manages all of the subscriptions, so we didn't need them anymore.” In others the subscriptions lived inside the old store, so leaving the store meant leaving them. In a few the two simply came at the same time, and the buyer does not say one caused the other. How the store shapes the tool is covered below.
Named in this context: Shopify · Magento · Recharge
The program changed
Some moves follow a change to the subscription program rather than to the tool. One cosmetics brand moved to Skio “because we had actually turned off our subscription program” and was relaunching it. Others closed or paused the program and took no new platform, covered below.
Named in this context: Skio · Recharge
A newer version of the commerce platform
A platform upgrade can do what a replatform does. The beauty company that sells by instalment is moving off its custom build to its commerce platform's own subscriptions: “Now we're in the process of upgrading to the newer version of the platform that does have subscription management.”
Named in this context: Shopify
Do you have to change subscription platform when you change ecommerce platform?
No. Changing ecommerce platform does not automatically mean replacing the subscription platform: one retailer in these interviews kept its subscription platform through a move to Shopify. But eight of the twenty-four moves here, about a third, came with a change of online store, and in each the new subscription tool suited the new store. Brands moving onto Shopify took a Shopify app; brands moving onto Magento used Magento's own subscriptions or a plugin; a brand moving to a headless commerce build put its subscriptions on a billing platform. Of those eight, in two the buyer names the store change as the reason, in three the subscriptions lived inside the old store, and in three the two only came together — so for those three the page does not claim the store caused the move. One more brand, a beauty company, is moving its subscriptions onto a newer version of the commerce platform it already runs because that version has subscription management; that is an upgrade, not a change of store, so it is not among the eight. A brand that rejected one leading app because it was “predominantly a Shopify-integrated solution” shows the same logic from the other side. Replatforms set the date in other categories too, so this is about a third, as with the PIM and CMS moves we track, not more than any other category. When the subscription decision gets made inside a replatform is on how long a subscription platform migration takes.
Where do brands switch to?
Across all the moves from one app to another, Skio was the most common destination, all of them before Recharge acquired it. Recharge is the platform left most often, with seven documented departures, but it is also the most widely discussed: buyers at about fifty brands mention it as current users, former users or evaluators. Because that group includes brands that were never Recharge customers, the two figures do not make a churn rate. Recharge also gains brands, including several moving their store to Shopify. Ordergroove gained more brands here than it lost and is the main bought platform for brands not on Shopify. Stay.ai lost three brands here and gained one; on so small a base that is a count, not a trend. Billing platforms took the brands leaving their own builds for something more flexible. No completed move went to Shopify's own built-in subscriptions. These are observed moves, not churn rates or market share. The two most-compared platforms are side by side in Recharge vs. Ordergroove.
Where do brands go when they leave Recharge?
Of the seven brands here that left Recharge, two moved to Skio, both before Recharge acquired it, one to the billing platform Recurly and one to another subscription app. The other three took no new subscription platform: one closed its program, one paused it, and one dropped Recharge before it went live. Recharge is also the platform most widely discussed in these interviews, so seven departures is a count of observed moves, not a churn rate.
Are brands replacing custom-built subscription systems with commercial solutions?
Yes, and in these interviews only in that direction. Several brands had completed or begun moving off subscription systems they built themselves, most of them finished and two still underway. Their replacements were dedicated subscription platforms, from a Shopify app to Ordergroove, billing platforms, and the subscriptions built into their ecommerce platform, which are not the same kind of replacement. The beauty company with an instalment model is upgrading to a version of its commerce platform that has subscription management, not buying a standalone app. One more brand has signed with Ordergroove but not started, so it is not counted. No completed or underway move from commercial software back to an own build was described, even though buyers argue build versus buy both ways, as the pricing page shows. The reasons are the build's upkeep and its limits, not price. The numbers are small, so this is the pattern here, not a rule that nobody builds their own. How long leaving a custom system takes is on how long a subscription platform migration takes.
What happens when a brand leaves without a new subscription platform?
The program changes rather than the tool. A direct-to-consumer brand closed a program that, its leader says, “was actually profitable for us, but only at scale,” a story told below. Another paused its program: “It'll likely be relaunched with some other strategy probably next year.” A third dropped a platform it never got live. That is no new subscription platform, not necessarily the end of subscriptions.
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The counter-current: why most stay
Most brands running a subscription platform in these interviews describe no move at all, and the reasons to stay are concrete. The last move holds the next one: a skincare brand's chief executive says “I would replatform to Recharge in a heartbeat, but they had just made the switch to Ordergroove,” so “it doesn't really make sense right now to replatform it.” Live subscribers make a move feel risky: “We're worried about churn and any new bugs or issues that could come about by transitioning.” Tenure counts too — one brand stays because “it's been the historical subscription app for some time.” And a store change does not always take the tool with it: one retailer kept its subscription platform through a move to Shopify. Why moving live subscribers and their payment details is hard is on what subscription-management buyers wish they'd known.
What this means if you're weighing a switch
Buyers report that about a third of subscription platform moves came with a change of online store, that brands leaving their own builds for commercial software did not go back, and that missing features and price are the complaints named most often. Our recommendations, not practices buyers describe: if a replatform is coming, decide the subscription platform as part of it rather than after, since the new store often shapes which tool fits; if you run your own build, compare your commerce platform's own subscriptions as well as apps; before switching apps, count what the last move cost and how recently it happened; and if the reason is the program's economics rather than the tool, fix the program before buying a new platform. For the ratings, see what subscription-management buyers wish they'd known.
Common questions
Why do brands switch subscription platforms?
In these interviews the complaint named most often about the platform being left is missing features, followed by price, support and a platform that does not fit the brand's subscription model. In about two in three moves with a stated reason, buyers also name an event, and the most common is a change of online store. A move can carry several reasons, so the shares overlap.
Do you have to change subscription platform when you change ecommerce platform?
No, not automatically: one brand in these interviews kept its subscription platform through a move to Shopify. But eight of the twenty-four moves here, about a third, came with a change of online store. In two the buyer names the store change as the reason, in three the subscriptions lived inside the old store, and in three the two changes simply came together without the buyer saying one caused the other. In all eight the new subscription tool suited the new store: a Shopify app on Shopify, the platform's own subscriptions or a plugin on Magento, a billing platform on a headless build.
Are brands replacing custom-built subscription systems with commercial solutions?
Yes, and in these interviews only in that direction. Several brands had moved, or were moving, off a subscription system they had built themselves — most had finished, two were underway — to a subscription app, a billing platform or their commerce platform's own subscriptions, which are different kinds of replacement. None described moving from commercial software back to its own build. The usual reasons are the cost of maintaining the build and wanting more flexibility. The numbers are small, so this is the pattern here, not a rule.
Where do brands go when they leave Recharge?
Of the seven brands here that left Recharge, two went to Skio, both before Recharge acquired it, one to the billing platform Recurly and one to another subscription app; the other three took no new subscription platform, one closing its program, one pausing it and one dropping Recharge before it went live. Recharge is the platform run most widely, so it is the one left most often, and it gains brands too, including some moving their store to Shopify. These are observed moves, not a churn rate.
What happens when a brand leaves without a new subscription platform?
In these interviews the program changed rather than the tool. One brand closed a program that was profitable only at a scale it had not reached, one paused its program and plans to relaunch, and one dropped a platform it never got live. That is no new subscription platform, not necessarily the end of subscriptions.
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