Selling subscriptions can transform your ecommerce business. With a recurring revenue model, you can enjoy predictable income, reduced churn, and closer customer relationships.
But operating a subscription business comes with unique complexities. Without the right platform, critical pain points emerge:
Managing recurring billing and payments becomes tedious and error-prone without automation. Key tasks like failed payment recovery and subscription changes are hugely time-consuming.
Lack of self-service capabilities frustrates customers. Subscribers expect portals to easily manage subscriptions without contacting your support team.
Incentivizing subscriptions is difficult without capabilities like free trials, introductory discounts, and subscribers-only content.
Subscription metrics and reporting are critical for understanding subscriber behavior and optimizing offers. Most ecommerce platforms come up short here.
Thankfully, purpose-built subscription management platforms resolve these issues through automation, self-service portals, and advanced analytics.
Beyond recurring billing, leading solutions also provide powerful features like:
Customer self-service portals for managing subscriptions, updating payment methods, viewing history, and more without involving support.
Flexible billing schedules from weekly to annual, metered plans based on usage, installment plans, and other options.
Automated drip content delivery for digital subscriptions like online courses, podcasts, box subscription items, and more.
Affiliate and partnership management to incentivize others to promote your subscriptions and share in recurring revenue.
Sophisticated segmentation of subscriber base for targeted offers and personalized email journeys to maximize renewals.
With core requirements clear, let’s explore the top subscription ecommerce platform options available today.
Reviews of the Top 8 Subscription Platforms
1. ReCharge — Best Overall Subscription Management
ReCharge is purpose-built for ecommerce subscription management. Supporting physical and digital subscriptions along with one-time purchases, key capabilities span:
Flexible billing schedules — Weekly, monthly, annual, or fully custom
Failed payment recovery — Automatic retry system for successful renewals
Self-service subscriber portal — Manage subscriptions without contacting support
Drip content delivery — Automated fulfillment for digital subscriptions
Discount and promotion management — Intro offers, gifting, referrals, and more
ReCharge seamlessly integrates with ecommerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce. They also offer a standalone cart usable on any website.
With outstanding subscription management coupled with promotions to drive growth, ReCharge is our top pick.
2. MemberSpace – Best for Memberships and Courses
Perfect for selling memberships and online courses, MemberSpace excels at access control and automation. Capabilities include:
Granular access control — Limit access to courses, content, forums, and more by membership level
Group management — Set up private groups for subsets of members
Drip content delivery — Share course content over time based on schedules
Email automation — Send behavioral trigger and journey emails
Subscription management — Custom schedules, free trials, payment gateways and more
From yoga studios to coaches selling online programs, MemberSpace streamlines complex access while delivering recurring revenue.
3. PayPros — Most Flexible Recurring Billing
With maximum billing flexibility, PayPros meets the needs of diverse businesses:
Custom billing cycles — Daily, weekly, monthly plus fully dynamic options
Usage and meter-based plans — Bill based on product utilization
Installments — Break payments into multiple charges over time
Split payments — Charge multiple payment methods
Marketplace facilitation — Enable sellers to receive payouts
Developed by payment experts, PayPros capabilities also include failed payment recovery, portal management, and more. If you have complex subscription billing needs, explore PayPros.
4. Subbly — Made for Digital Subscriptions
Subbly provides specialized tools for managing digital subscriptions:
Membership portals — Organize digital assets into portals with access control
DRM — Digital rights management protects IP like videos
Usage metering — Charge based on views, logins, storage usage and more
Webhooks — Connect external apps for custom experiences
Subscription management — Free trials, custom billing cycles, coupons, etc.
From newspapers to cloud-based apps, Subbly serves diverse digital subscription models with protection, metering, and monetization.
5. Chargebee — Robust Billing and Revenue Operations
Spanning billing, revenue operations, and analytics, Chargebee brings together:
Billing — Usage pricing, metered plans, billing schedules, and much more
Subscription management — Upgrades/downgrades, cancellations, reactivations, and more
Revenue analytics — Metrics on growth, retention, and churn drivers
Data warehouse — Custom reporting on subscribers, charges, and revenue
With outstanding breadth across financial components of recurring business, Chargebee is unmatched. The extensive feature set does come with more complexity.
6. Memberful — Lightweight WordPress Plugin
For WordPress sites, Memberful offers a streamlined plugin for memberships and digital subscriptions.
Setup takes minutes with out-of-the-box integrations with Stripe, PayPal, and email systems.
Other capabilities include subscription management, member portals, and basic access restriction tools.
As a lightweight option for WordPress, Memberful lowers cost and complexity. Yet customization and some advanced features are limited.
7. MemberPress – Popular WordPress Membership Plugin
Alongside Memberful, MemberPress is a leading WordPress membership plugin.
With more advanced access rules, capabilities span:
Content restrictions — Control access to pages, posts, videos, and files
Membership management — Admin and front-end portals to manage users and plans
Email marketing — Send automated email for key lifecycle events
For WordPress sites with more complex membership models, MemberPress is a full-service option to consider.
8. MemberVault – Best for Coaches and Course Creators
Optimized for those selling online courses and coaching services, MemberVault is feature-rich:
Membership portals — Organize course content while protecting access
Marketing automation — Behavioral emails and flexible sales funnels
Coupons and bundles — Create offers and upsell opportunities
Subscription flexibility — Custom billing + payment plans, cancellations, etc.
With coaching and course creator needs covered through sales and subscription management, MemberVault is purpose-built for this segment.
How to Select the Right Subscription Platform
With top subscription platform options covered, here are key factors to weigh in your selection process:
Subscription Types Supported
Determine what you aim to sell on a recurring basis — physical products, digital goods, memberships, or some combination. Compare platform specialties.
Ease of Integration and Use
Evaluate how easily platforms set up and integrate across your tech stack like payment gateways. Also assess usability of administration portals.
Customizability to Support Business Model
Review subscription and billing flexibility for elements like installments, metered plans, billing cycles, etc.
Pricing and Predictable Cost
Understand pricing models across setup, transaction, and payment processing fees so costs are transparent.
Self-Service Capabilities
Assess member portal functionality for subscription management, content access etc. Limited portals increase customer support burdens over time.
Upsell and Retention Tools
Compare tools and automation capabilities purpose-built to maximize customer lifetime value through renewals, expansions etc.
By carefully weighing these factors against business requirements, an optimal subscription platform match emerges.
Marketing Tips to Improve Subscriptions and Retention
With the right platform in place, honing marketing approach is critical for subscription success. Useful techniques include:
Offer Time-Limited Free Trials
Encourage signup frictionlessly with free access for an initial period. This prompts more visitors to try before committing long-term.
Provide Subscriber-Exclusive Content
Special member access motivates paid signups. Consider subscriber-only discussion forums, bonus course modules, or discounts.
Send Behavioral and Segmented Emails
Leverage automation to send subscriber-only emails with personalized content based on interests and behaviors.
Streamline Renewals with Payment Updates
Allow subscribers to seamlessly update expired payment cards to avoid involuntary churn. Minimize manual renewals.
Surprise and Delight with Perks
Small extra incentives like free gift cards or product samples increase perceived membership value and loyalty.
With challenges transformed into opportunities, purpose-built subscription platforms empower ecommerce merchants to unlock recurring revenue at scale. Follow the recommendations outlined here to capitalize on the phenomenal subscription growth ahead.
