Recharge Pricing 2026: Starter, Plus and Transaction Fees

Recharge costs $99 a month plus 1.49% and 19 cents per transaction on its Starter plan in 2026, after a 60-day free trial. Plus is $499 a month plus 1.34% and the same flat per-transaction charge on a 12-month term, and Custom is a volume-based quote. Every figure here was read on Recharge's pricing page on 18 October 2026.

Our read: the monthly fee is the small part of a Recharge bill. On any store doing real subscription volume, the transaction fees are most of what you pay, which makes your order count and average order value the two numbers that decide the price, not the plan name.

Toolradar data: Recharge is one of 89 subscription billing tools on Toolradar, the software directory we run, and 30% of those 89 offer a free plan while Recharge does not, as of October 2026. It is listed as an alternative to 7 other tools, against a category median of 3. The record is Recharge on Toolradar, and the category figures sit on the subscription billing statistics page.

How does Recharge charge per transaction?

Recharge bills a fixed monthly fee plus usage fees, and its pricing FAQ says the usage fees apply to all transactions Recharge processes in the month. Each transaction carries a percentage of its value plus a flat charge, and a month's usage is billed with the next monthly cycle, so a busy renewal month shows up on the following invoice.

That flat charge is the part store owners underestimate. On a $50 subscription order it adds 0.38 points to the percentage, so Starter's effective rate is about 1.87% before the monthly fee. On a $25 refill, such as coffee pods or pet treats, the same charge adds 0.76 points and the effective rate climbs to about 2.25%. Low-ticket subscriptions pay proportionally more on Recharge than high-ticket ones, and that gap does not close on Plus, because the per-transaction charge is identical on both published plans.

Recharge's FAQ also states that its pricing sits on top of everything else the store pays: the ecommerce platform, the payment processor and any other apps. A Shopify store running Recharge pays Shopify's own plan and card processing as separate lines, broken down in our Shopify fees explained guide.

What does each Recharge plan include?

Starter is a complete subscription stack rather than a stripped trial tier. The pricing page lists a subscription widget for product pages, a no-code customer portal, upsell and cross-sell tools, cancellation prevention flows, failed payment recovery, win-back offers, automated workflows, gift subscriptions, and analytics with industry benchmarks. Recharge claims its failed payment recovery wins back up to 88% of failed payments; that is the vendor's figure, not ours.

What Starter leaves out is specific, and it is the list that pushes brands toward Plus:

• Concierge SMS, which lets subscribers skip, delay or add products by text.
• Customizable bundles and tiered discounts.
• Loyalty rewards and a referral program.
• The JavaScript SDK and Storefront API, needed for a headless or heavily customized storefront.
• Configurable API rate limits.

Plus adds those, along with hands-on implementation and end-to-end migration support, which matters if you are moving thousands of active subscribers from another app. Custom adds custom implementations, dedicated priority technical support, a solution architecture review and recurring business reviews.

Support speed also changes by plan. The comparison table lists a response within 8 hours on Starter, within 6 hours on Plus, and live video support within 4 hours on Custom. For a brand that renews most subscribers on the same day, a slower reply during a failed billing run means more orders stuck until someone answers.

When does Recharge Plus pay off?

Plus costs $400 more a month than Starter and saves 0.15 points on the percentage fee, while the flat per-transaction charge stays where it is. The two plans cost the same at about $266,700 a month in transactions processed, because 0.15% of that volume equals the $400 gap. Below it, Starter is cheaper on fees alone; above it, Plus is.

That break-even is high: about 5,330 subscription orders a month at a typical $50 order, and close to 8,900 at $30. Most brands that move to Plus below that volume do so for the features, not the rate, so price the step up as a feature purchase: $4,800 a year for SMS, bundles, loyalty and the SDK, minus whatever the lower rate returns at your volume.

Two contract terms change the risk. Plus and Custom run on year-long terms, and the FAQ says you can upgrade during a term but downgrade only when it expires. A brand that buys Plus for loyalty and then finds its loyalty program underused keeps paying the Plus base for the rest of the year. If loyalty is the main draw, compare a standalone program from our best loyalty program software list, such as Smile.io, against the $400 monthly step.

How much does Concierge SMS cost?

Concierge SMS is not on Starter at all. On Plus and Custom, Recharge bills $0.03 per message segment in the US and Canada and $0.06 internationally, on top of the plan fee and transaction fees.

The cost scales with subscribers, not orders. A store with 2,000 active subscribers that sends each one a renewal reminder and a reply, two segments a month, sends 4,000 segments, which is $120 a month at the US rate. A longer message can split into more than one segment, so a chatty reminder template costs more than a short one. For a brand already paying for SMS through its email platform, check whether that tool can send the renewal reminders before paying Recharge for a second channel; our Klaviyo pricing breakdown shows what SMS costs there.

Three subscription stores, priced

These scenarios use list prices, a $50 average order and one transaction per order. They are our arithmetic, not quotes, and they count platform fees only, not features. The rivals are read on their own pricing pages: Loop Subscriptions, Bold Subscriptions, Skio and Stay AI.

The pattern holds at every size: Recharge is the most expensive published option once volume builds, because it is the only one in the set charging both a percentage above 1.3% and a per-order fee. At 2,000 orders a month, Starter costs about $870 more than Loop Starter, roughly $10,400 a year. At 8,000 orders, even Plus costs about $4,000 a month more than Loop Pro.

The small store is the exception where Recharge holds up best. At 300 orders a month, Starter costs less than Skio, Stay AI or Loop Pro, because those three carry a base of $399 or more. Bold Scale and Loop Starter still come in lower, and Loop's FAQ also lists a Free Forever plan for up to 50 active subscriptions, which suits a brand testing whether subscriptions sell at all.

What the table leaves out is what each fee buys. Recharge's Starter tier lists cancellation flows, win-backs, upsells and failed payment recovery, while Bold's three cheaper tiers list dunning, prepaid subscriptions and custom frequencies, with advanced cancellation prevention reserved for its $399.99 Ultimate Retention plan. The Recharge review weighs those features against the premium, and the best subscription ecommerce platforms list covers the rivals in depth.

Costs the headline price does not show

• The per-transaction fee on every order. The flat charge sounds small, but at 8,000 orders a month it adds up to $1,520 on its own, on either published plan.
• Twelve-month terms on Plus and Custom. Downgrades wait for the term to end, so a slow quarter after the holidays does not lower the base.
• SMS billed per segment. Concierge SMS adds $0.03 a segment in the US and Canada and twice that abroad.
• Platform and processor fees on top. Recharge's charges sit beside Shopify's plan and card processing, and our Shopify pricing guide covers that side of the bill.
• Custom has no list price. Recharge says Shopify Plus merchants may qualify for discounted rates on Custom, but the discount is set by sales, so a Shopify Plus brand should ask for a written rate before migrating.

How to keep a Recharge bill down

Start on Starter and use the full 60 days. The trial begins the day you install the app, Recharge charges no fees during it, and billing follows the first full cycle after it ends, so a brand can measure how many renewals the recovery and cancellation tools save before paying anything.

Raise the order value before you change plans. Because the per-order charge is flat, moving a $25 monthly refill to a two-month refill at twice the price halves the per-order charge as a share of revenue. Prepaid subscriptions, which Recharge supports on every plan, collect several shipments in one charge and have the same effect.

Negotiate at volume. Past the Plus break-even, ask for a Custom quote and compare it in writing with Loop Pro and Bold Scale at your actual order count. Our best Shopify apps list and best tools for DTC founders guide show where subscriptions fit in the rest of the stack, and the Shopify and Klaviyo records on Toolradar list the tools most often bought alongside it.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Recharge cost per month?

Recharge Starter costs $99 a month plus 1.49% and a flat charge per transaction. Plus costs $499 a month plus 1.34% and the same flat charge, on a 12-month term. Custom is quoted on volume. At 2,000 orders a month worth $100,000, Starter comes to about $1,969 in total.

Does Recharge have a free plan or free trial?

There is no free plan. Starter comes with a 60-day free trial that starts on the day you install the app, and Recharge charges no fees during it. Plus and Custom start with a conversation with Recharge's sales team rather than a self-serve signup.

What is Recharge's transaction fee?

Starter charges 1.49% plus 19 cents per transaction, and Plus charges 1.34% plus the same flat charge. The fees apply to every transaction Recharge processes in a month, on top of your payment processor's own card fees.

Is Recharge Plus worth the upgrade?

On fees alone, Plus pays off only above about $266,700 a month in transactions processed, where its lower rate covers the $400 higher base. Below that, buy Plus only if you need Concierge SMS, bundles, loyalty or the JavaScript SDK, and accept a year-long commitment.

Is Recharge cheaper than Loop or Skio?

Not at most volumes. At 2,000 orders a month worth $100,000, Recharge Starter costs about $1,969, against $1,099 on Loop Starter and $1,899 on Skio Scale billed yearly. Recharge Starter beats Skio and Stay AI only at low volume, where their higher monthly base dominates.

Can I cancel or downgrade Recharge Plus?

Plus and Custom run on 12-month terms. Recharge lets you upgrade at any time, but a downgrade waits until the term commitment expires.

How we priced this

Every Recharge price on this page was read on 18 October 2026 on Recharge's pricing page, including its plan comparison table and FAQ. Rival prices come from the pricing pages of Loop, Bold, Skio and Stay AI on the same date. The store bills and break-even volumes are our arithmetic on list prices, with the same average order value as the scenario input. The Toolradar figures come from Recharge's Toolradar record, October 2026. This page reads published prices and does not assess the apps in use. Prices and terms change, so confirm them with Recharge before you sign.

Cite this: Retailpresso, "Recharge Pricing 2026: Starter, Plus and Transaction Fees", October 2026.

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