Building a Subscription Business: Subbly vs. Shopify 

Pros and Cons of each solution, who it’s for, who it’s not. Everything you need to know when deciding between Subbly vs. Shopify

*As with all articles, this post may contain affiliate links.*

Creating a subscription service on Subbly and building a subscription offering on Shopify are two popular options to bring your subscription service to life and creating  viable recurring revenue models. Technically they are WAY different and those difference matter a great deal based on your business model, technical prowess, and current ecommerce & marketing systems.

To fully comprehend the distinctions between these two platforms, it’s essential to delve into their features, capabilities, and fundamental differences.

Pros and Cons of Subbly 

The most obvious difference between the two platforms is that Subbly is a specialized platform exclusively designed for subscription-based businesses. It places a strong emphasis on simplifying the process of creating, managing, and scaling subscription services. So, if you’re in the subscription game, Subbly could be a great option for you.  

The main benefit to using Subbly is the seamless integration of subscription functionalities, making is super simple to start selling their subscriptions. Business owners, like you can quickly launch your subscription-based business without getting bogged down in building a site or hiring someone to do it for you. By streamlining the subscription setup, Subbly facilitates a straightforward creation and admin process for the owner and a wonderful user experience out of the box.

It’s also worth nothing that Subbly does enable one-time purchases as well… not just subscriptions.

Subbly’s subscription-centric model enables you to easily set up various subscription tiers and billing cycles, along with options for flexible billing frequencies (e.g., weekly, monthly, annually) and trial periods. Their platform offers built-in tools for managing customer accounts, handling billing and invoicing, processing payments securely, and addressing customer churn. Subbly’s reporting and analytics capabilities allow business owners to gain valuable insights into their subscriber base, enabling data-driven decisions to optimize performance and retention rates.  

Subbly Pros

• Flexible subscriptions and memberships
• Trial periods
• One-time product sales
• Drag and drop website builder
• Customizable checkout flows
• Customer login area
• Automations and integrations
• Multi-language and multi-currency
• Flexible shipping regions and rules

Subbly Cons

• Some integrations are still required if you want to build out CRM capabilities like Email and SMS
• Limited API partners
• Doesn’t handle large inventory/SKUs very well

Pros and Cons of Shopify

Building subscriptions on Shopify can be done and when done correctly, can be capitalize on the robustness and extensibility of the Shopify platform. Pretty much anything can be done with Shopify if you can leverage the power of their app network… subscriptions are no different.

Shopify users have the flexibility to design and customize their subscription site according to their unique branding and user experience requirements. This flexibility, however, comes with a slightly steeper learning curve and may require more technical expertise and development effort compared to Subbly’s out-of-the-box subscription-focused approach.

If you already have products for sale on your Shopify ecommerce site and you’re looking to add a subscription offering, it’s pretty simple. All you need to do is enable the PayWhirl app or another highly recommended Shopify app for subscriptions. You’ll want to find an app that works best with your current implementation of Shopify’s platform.

Shopify Pros

• Extremely robust ecommerce solution
• Thousands of API / App partnerships
• Ultimate control over all technical aspects of your website
• Robust documentation and Shopify community 

Shopify Cons

• Requires more technically expertise 
• Disjointed systems can make it more difficult to administer

In summary..

The primary technical difference between creating a subscription service on Subbly and building a subscription site on Shopify lies in their core focus and architecture. Subbly offers a dedicated and streamlined platform tailored explicitly for subscription businesses, reducing the complexity of setting up and managing subscriptions. On the other hand, building a subscription site on Shopify provides greater flexibility and customization options, making it an attractive choice for businesses that desire more control over their subscription offerings but require a deeper understanding of the platform’s features and integration possibilities. 

I love learning about new ecommerce technologies. If you’re using a tool to manage your subscription business, please comment below and tell me all about it!