Joy Subscriptions: OurRecommendation forSubscriptions

In short

Joy Subscriptions is our recommendation for subscriptions in Shopify. The app is easy to set up, pleasant to use day to day, and support answered reliably in our projects. We use it for supplements and coffee, so anywhere customers reorder regularly. One important point up front: if you switch from another subscription app, you have to recreate the subscriptions.

Our verdict: Recommended

For many brands, subscriptions are the most stable revenue there is. For that to work, subscribing has to be easy and customers have to be able to manage things without a support request. Joy delivers both. On the product page the customer chooses between subscription and one-time purchase, and you decide which option is preselected.

In their account, subscribers can reschedule, pause, skip or cancel themselves. That saves customer service a lot of emails.

What Joy does better

• Control the default. You decide whether the subscription or the one-time purchase is preselected on the product page. A small switch with a big effect on your subscription rate.
• Simple setup. Discounts, delivery intervals and the subscription widget are created quickly and fit well into the theme.
• Reliable support. When we had questions, a useful answer came back fast in our projects.

What to watch out for

• Switching from another app. Active subscriptions don't simply move over. After a switch you have to recreate the subscriptions in Joy. Plan time for that and inform your subscribers beforehand.
• Costs grow with you. The free version is limited to a small number of active subscriptions. The paid plans have a monthly fee plus a share of revenue.
• Think about a subscription page. A subscription sells better with its own page explaining what the customer gets. A checkbox on the product page alone is rarely enough.

When you don't need Joy

Shopify ships its own free subscription app, Shopify Subscriptions. For a simple subscription with a fixed interval and discount, that can be enough. Joy pays off when you want more control over presentation, default selection and the customer portal. If your products aren't reordered regularly, you don't need a subscription app at all. Which apps are really worth it is in our App Diet.

FAQ

Which products is Joy suited to? Anything that gets reordered regularly. We use Joy for supplements and coffee.

Can I bring my subscriptions over from another app? Not without effort. In our projects we had to recreate the subscriptions after the switch.

Can customers manage their subscription themselves? Yes. Rescheduling, pausing and cancelling all work in the customer account, nobody has to write in.

Will you set up Joy for us? Yes, usually as part of a project, including a subscription page and adapting it to the theme. If you first want to know which apps your store really needs, our Audit is the fastest route.