--- title: "The true cost of Shopify apps vs owning your stack" description: "Real Shopify app prices for subscriptions, reviews, loyalty, bundles and B2B, plus transaction fees, compared with building the same features on Medusa." url: https://medusajs.com/kb/build-vs-buy/shopify-app-costs-vs-owning-stack last_updated: 2026-10-29T06:55:50Z topic: "build-vs-buy" type: "concept" applies_to: "Medusa v2.x" related: - "https://medusajs.com/kb/build-vs-buy/shopify-vs-custom-store.md" - "https://medusajs.com/kb/build-vs-buy/what-is-headless-commerce.md" - "https://medusajs.com/kb/b2b/shopify-b2b-alternatives.md" - "https://medusajs.com/kb/b2b/b2b-customer-specific-pricing.md" sources: - "https://www.shopify.com/pricing" - "https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/shopify-payments/third-party-transaction-fees" - "https://apps.shopify.com/subscription-payments" - "https://apps.shopify.com/skio" - "https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-subscriptions" - "https://apps.shopify.com/judgeme" - "https://apps.shopify.com/yotpo-social-reviews" - "https://apps.shopify.com/smile-io" - "https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-bundles" - "https://apps.shopify.com/simple-bundles" - "https://apps.shopify.com/sparklayer" - "https://apps.shopify.com/wholesale-gorilla" - "https://medusajs.com/pricing.md" - "https://docs.medusajs.com/resources/commerce-modules/inventory/inventory-kit" - "https://docs.medusajs.com/resources/commerce-modules/pricing/concepts" - "https://github.com/medusajs/b2b-starter" - "https://medusajs.com/blog/healthletic.md" --- # The true cost of Shopify apps vs owning your stack > Paid Shopify app plans for subscriptions, reviews, loyalty, bundles, and B2B run from $15 to $599 per month each, and some add per-transaction fees. Owning your stack with Medusa replaces those apps with modules you build once, guided by official tutorials, on Medusa Cloud from $29 per month with a 0% GMV fee. Developer time is the trade-off. ## Where Shopify app costs come from A Shopify store's running cost has three layers: the Shopify plan, the apps you install, and fees charged on sales. Apps are often the layer founders underestimate, because each one looks cheap on its own and many price by order volume or take a share of each transaction. All prices below are list prices from the Shopify App Store and Shopify's pricing page as of October 2026. They change, so check each listing before you budget. ## Typical Shopify app costs by category The table lists common apps for features a DTC brand adds after launch. Prices are monthly unless noted. | Category | App | Listed pricing | | --- | --- | --- | | Subscriptions | Shopify Subscriptions | Free | | Subscriptions | Recharge Subscriptions | $25 (no transaction fees for first 50 subscribers); Starter $99 plus 1.49% + 19¢ per transaction; Plus $499 plus 1.34% + 19¢ per transaction | | Subscriptions | Skio | Scale $599 plus 1% + 20¢ per transaction | | Reviews | Judge.me | Free; Awesome $15 | | Reviews | Yotpo Product Reviews | Free up to 50 monthly orders; Starter $15; Pro $119; price changes with order volume | | Loyalty | Smile: Loyalty Program Rewards | Free up to 200 monthly orders; $15, $79, or $199 by order volume, then $20 per 100 extra orders on Growth | | Bundles | Shopify Bundles | Free | | Bundles | Simple Bundles & Kits | Free for 3 bundles and 50 monthly orders; $24, $39, or $149 depending on your Shopify plan | | B2B and wholesale | SparkLayer B2B & Wholesale | Free; $49, $149, or $299 by B2B order volume | | B2B and wholesale | Wholesale Gorilla | $34.95, $69.95, or $149.95 | Sources: the [Recharge](https://apps.shopify.com/subscription-payments), [Skio](https://apps.shopify.com/skio), [Judge.me](https://apps.shopify.com/judgeme), [Yotpo](https://apps.shopify.com/yotpo-social-reviews), [Smile](https://apps.shopify.com/smile-io), [Simple Bundles](https://apps.shopify.com/simple-bundles), [SparkLayer](https://apps.shopify.com/sparklayer), and [Wholesale Gorilla](https://apps.shopify.com/wholesale-gorilla) listings. As an example only, a store on Recharge Starter, Yotpo Pro, Smile Standard, Simple Bundles at $39, and SparkLayer Growth pays $485 per month in app subscriptions, or $17,460 over three years. That is before Recharge's 1.49% + 19¢ on each subscription transaction. ## Transaction and platform fees on Shopify Shopify charges a third-party transaction fee when you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments. As of October 2026, [Shopify's pricing page](https://www.shopify.com/pricing) lists 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, and 0.2% on Plus. Shopify's help center says orders processed through Shopify Payments and manual payment methods don't carry this fee. Plan fees on monthly billing are $27 for Basic, $72 for Grow, $399 for Advanced, and from $2,300 for Plus. Percentage-based app fees, such as subscription transaction fees, stack on top and repeat on every renewal. ## What the same features cost when you own the stack Medusa is an open source commerce platform you host yourself or on Medusa Cloud. Instead of an app per feature, you add the feature to your own backend as a module. You pay developer time once and maintain the code, with no per-order app fee. | Feature | How Medusa provides it | Status | | --- | --- | --- | | Customer-group and B2B pricing | Price lists targeted at customer groups | Native | | Simple bundles | Inventory kits on product variants | Native | | Bundles with own price or split fulfillment | Bundled products tutorial | Official guide | | Subscriptions | Subscriptions recipe | Official guide | | Product reviews | Product reviews tutorial | Official guide | | Loyalty points | Loyalty points tutorial | Official guide | | Company accounts, quotes, approvals | B2B Starter | Starter | | Review syndication to Google Shopping, SMS loyalty campaigns | Integrate a third-party service | Custom | Medusa Cloud costs $29, $99, or $299 per month on the Develop, Launch, and Scale plans, with a 0% GMV fee and usage billed beyond each plan's limits ([Medusa Cloud pricing](https://medusajs.com/pricing)). You still pay your payment provider's processing fees. ## How to compare the two honestly Owning the stack replaces app fees with developer time. Put both on the same sheet: 1. List every app you pay for, with its monthly fee and any per-transaction fee at your volume. 2. Add Shopify's plan fee and, if you don't use Shopify Payments, the third-party transaction fee on your sales. 3. On the Medusa side, add the Medusa Cloud plan and expected usage, plus D (build time for each replaced app) and M (yearly maintenance). 4. Compare over three years, since build cost is paid upfront and fees recur. Shopify apps are the cheaper path when your apps are free or low tier and you have no developer. Owning the stack pays off when percentage-based fees grow with revenue, as they do for subscription brands. Healthletic, a subscription brand, paid $25,000 per month in Shopify Plus platform and transaction fees before moving to Medusa and building subscriptions as its own module, according to [Medusa's Healthletic case study](https://medusajs.com/blog/healthletic). ## Common questions ### How much does Recharge cost on Shopify? As of October 2026, the Recharge Subscriptions listing on the Shopify App Store shows a $25 per month plan with no transaction fees for the first 50 subscribers, Starter at $99 per month plus 1.49% + 19¢ per transaction, and Plus at $499 per month plus 1.34% + 19¢ per transaction. ### Does Medusa have subscriptions built in? No. Medusa core has no Subscription Module, but the official subscriptions recipe shows how to build one as a custom module with scheduled renewals, and the full example code is published. ### Does Medusa have an app store like Shopify? Medusa has an integrations directory and plugins, but most features covered by Shopify apps are built as modules in your own project, often by following an official tutorial. ### Do I still pay payment processing fees with Medusa? Yes. Medusa Cloud charges no GMV fee, but your payment provider, such as Stripe, charges its own processing fees. ## Documentation - [Subscriptions recipe](https://docs.medusajs.com/resources/recipes/subscriptions/examples/standard) - [Product reviews tutorial](https://docs.medusajs.com/resources/how-to-tutorials/tutorials/product-reviews) - [Bundled products tutorial](https://docs.medusajs.com/resources/recipes/bundled-products/examples/standard) - [Loyalty points tutorial](https://docs.medusajs.com/resources/how-to-tutorials/tutorials/loyalty-points) - [Price lists](https://docs.medusajs.com/user-guide/price-lists) ## Related - [Should I use Shopify or build a custom store?](https://medusajs.com/kb/build-vs-buy/shopify-vs-custom-store.md) - [What does headless commerce actually mean?](https://medusajs.com/kb/build-vs-buy/what-is-headless-commerce.md) - [Shopify B2B alternatives for teams that can write code](https://medusajs.com/kb/b2b/shopify-b2b-alternatives.md) - [How to build a B2B store with custom pricing per customer](https://medusajs.com/kb/b2b/b2b-customer-specific-pricing.md)