Best Platforms To Sell Subscriptions will be described in this article. Looking for the finest subscription sales platform? You are in the proper location. The beautiful thing about selling subscriptions is that you can keep billing your consumers, giving you a steady monthly income.
However, selling subscriptions and memberships is different from selling other kinds of tangible and intangible goods; it calls for a particular kind of ecommerce platform.
You should select a platform that at the very least has a flexible payment system that enables you to bill clients on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis. Additionally, it should ideally have extra services like paid communities and online courses that assist you in developing digital subscription goods.
In this article, we’ll contrast the top subscription services available. To help you in choosing the most suitable option for your company, we’ll examine their essential attributes, advantages and disadvantages, and cost.
Ready? Let’s get going!
Summary of the top subscription platforms
TL;DR:
Best for simplicity is Sellfy. Create a straightforward online store to sell subscriptions with Sellfy, or do it directly from your website.
The top e-commerce subscription platform for content producers is Podia. Additionally, you can market courses and other digital goods.
Strong shopping cart software: ThriveCart. Use it to market digital goods, subscriptions, and other things.
Payhip is an all-in-one platform for selling physical goods, digital downloads, memberships, and courses.
The best e-commerce platform that accepts subscription payments is Shopify. However, subscriptions are not natively available. Shopify has integrations with several different subscription management systems.
Top 11 Best Platforms To Sell Subscriptions
1. Sellfy
Our #1 choice for the finest subscription ecommerce platform overall is Sellfy. With this straightforward and user-friendly store design tool, you can sell subscriptions, tangible goods, print-on-demand products, and more.
With the help of Sellfy, you can quickly build a polished, optimized digital storefront. Your store’s design can be readily modified, and you can include necessary components like a functioning shopping cart.
Several services provided by Sellfy can assist you in managing and improving your online subscription business, including
- manual trickle of content
- Notifications to subscribers
- Allowing customers to access their own pages, files, and subscriptions through subscriber self-management
- Schedules for billing that are weekly, monthly, or yearly
Additionally, the application interacts with well-known payment processors like PayPal and Stripe to make sure that all transactions are secure for both you and your clients. This is another Platforms To Sell Subscriptions.
A ton of marketing tools are also integrated into Sellfy, including upselling tools, discount code choices, and email marketing. Overall, it’s a simple and cost-effective alternative for both more established companies and new internet retailers. Also check Organic Traffic Strategy
Key Features
- A simple store constructor
- Schedules for yearly, monthly, or weekly billing
- Features for managing subscriptions such as content drip and subscriber self-management
- characteristics for marketing and upselling
- Sell anything, not only memberships, products
Pros Cons
- Easy to use interface Entry-level premium plan with low revenue cap
- built-in marketing capabilities
- Zero transaction costs
Pricing
Paid plans begin at $22 per month and come with subscription services by default.
2. Podia
Podia is a platform for subscription commerce created for content producers. It includes all the resources you require to build exceptional subscription goods and market memberships, digital downloads, online course subscriptions, and other services.
One of the platforms on this list with the most features is Podia. It includes the website builder, payment system, variable pricing, shipping options, and other essential ecommerce features you’ll need to start an online store and sell memberships.
However, it also includes a number of tools to assist you in actually creating your subscription items.
For instance, you can construct and host your online course using the fully integrated course builder. You may divide courses into parts and individual classes, conduct exams, add multimedia content, and more with its incredibly simple to use interface. This is another Platforms To Sell Subscriptions.
Podia can be used to build subscriber-only premium communities. You may create a members-only community area with a few clicks that serves as an online forum for subscribers to post questions, comments, and engage in conversation. Additionally, you can create many membership plan tiers with various benefits at each level.
You could also combine goods to provide your high-tier members more value (for instance, you might combine an online course with community access and extra digital downloads).
A robust integrated email marketing solution, an incorporated booking calendar (so you can sell coaching & consultations in addition to subscriptions), a built-in affiliate marketing system to help you boost sales, and hosting for webinars and workshops are just a few of the amazing things Podia offers.
The best thing, though? Through Podia’s Free plan, you can enjoy the most of those features without paying a dime.
Key Features
- Course creator
- Product packages
- Communities
- Adaptable pricing
- Access restriction
- Website creator
- Tools for Customer Relationship Management
- Webinars
- electronic downloads
- Integration of PayPal and Stripe
- Affiliate promotion
- email advertising
Pros Cons
- Easy to use Does not support tangible goods
- Strong community tools No mobile application
- Many digital subscription products supported, but site builder might be improved
- Great value for the money
- Large set of features
Pricing
Podia provides a complimentary plan with 8% transaction fees on each transaction. Paid subscriptions with no transaction costs begin at $33 per month when invoiced annually.
3. ThriveCart
With the help of the robust shopping cart software called ThriveCart, you can build checkout pages and market subscriptions, digital goods, and other things. This is another Platforms To Sell Subscriptions.
One of the most adaptable shopping carts available is ThriveCart. It may be used to build sophisticated funnels that increase average order values and convert website visitors into customers.
You may establish split payments, recurring sales, discount offers, flexible subscriptions, free trials for your consumers, and more with ThriveCart. Even ‘pay what you want’ pricing is an option.
Key Features
- Page carts
- Simple upsell channels
- Renew offerings
- Customizable subscriptions
- Free samples
- Course development
- integrated carts
- Integrations
- Analytics
- Determine sales tax.
- Automations
Pros Cons
- extensive integrations expensive up front
- converting well cart pages
- large feature set
- excellent functionality for handling VAT
- Pricing
- A lifetime license for ThriveCart is $495. Although it costs a bit up front, you just need to pay for it once.
4. Payhip
Another strong all-in-one ecommerce platform is Payhip. It can be used to market tangible things, memberships, courses, and digital downloads.
Payhip’s ease of use is one of its best features. Everything can be set up in a matter of minutes so you can begin receiving regular payments. Payhip automates customer administration, email updates, and content delivery so that you don’t have to worry about a thing.
You can create numerous plans with various price ranges, repeating times, free trials, etc. and publish restricted content that is only accessible to subscribers who have purchased a specific package.
All of your clients will have access to a members-only area created by Payhip where they can maintain their accounts and view premium content. This is another Platforms To Sell Subscriptions.
The automatic handling of VAT is another aspect of Payhip that we truly like. It can be configured to charge each of your customers the appropriate amount of sales tax, which helps with compliance.
Key Features
- Member administration
- Post content that is only accessible to members
- individual billing cycles
- Free samples
- Notifications via email
- Embeds
- Security
- Several strategies
- an efficient checkout
- Taxes and VAT
- promotional items
- store designer
- electronic downloads
- Physical things
- Coaching
Pros Cons
- Generous transaction fees for free plans on free and plus plans
- Supports the majority of product kinds, but might be improved
- Adaptable pricing
- Nice UI
Pricing
A free plan with 5% transaction fees is provided by Payhip. The monthly cost of the Plus plan is $29 with 2% transaction fees, while the Pro plan is $99 with no transaction expenses. All plans come with unlimited items and income in addition to all features.
5. Lemon Squeezy
Another excellent, user-friendly platform for selling subscriptions and other kinds of digital goods is Lemon Squeezy.
the Lemon Squeezy website
It has every feature you would anticipate from an all-in-one ecommerce platform, such as a site builder, product administration, marketing, and sales tools, analytics, tax tools, and more.
You may sell software, ebooks, audio, and pretty much any other type of digital download with Lemon Squeezy in addition to recurring subscriptions.
The price structure of Lemon Squeezy is what sets it apart. The platform is free to use on a monthly basis. Instead, you’ll pay a tiny percentage of each sale you make, which decreases as you generate more money. This is another Platforms To Sell Subscriptions.
So, when you first start out, you provide Lemon Squeezy 8% of each sale as a charge. You will only pay 5% each sale after your lifetime earnings reach $100,000, though. As a result, it serves as a solid scalable platform for expanding organizations.
Key Features
- electronic downloads
- Software
- Continuous subscriptions
- Payment Overlay
- Packages and upsells
- email advertising
- coupon codes
- a lead magnet
- business information
- Invoicing
- management of sales tax and VAT
Pros Cons
- Fees for all tools combined (4%–8%)
- Scalable
- Simple to use
Pricing
Although using Lemon Squeezy is free, there are costs of 5% + 50 per sale.
6. Shopify
The most widely used and perhaps greatest ecommerce platform is Shopify. It includes everything you require to set up your online store and run your e-commerce company.
Shopify does not automatically offer subscription sales, in contrast to Sellfy. To manage recurring orders and sell memberships and subscriptions, you’ll need to combine it with a third-party subscription app.
Thankfully, it couldn’t be any simpler. One of the systems with the most support and native connectors is Shopify.
You can add subscription functionality to your Shopify store with dozens of free and paid apps available in the Shopify App Store, like Appstle and Recharge Subscriptions.
Shopify is superior to competing subscription ecommerce platforms for several reasons in addition to its outstanding extensibility. Best-in-class store and order management capabilities, a wide variety of themes, top-notch marketing and sales tools, and a killer checkout that converts like crazy are all included.
With a simple, user-friendly interface that makes it simple to set up and manage your store, it’s also remarkably simple to use.
Shopify Payments is the company’s own internal payment system. The platform also accepts a large number of third-party payment gateways (such as PayPal, Stripe, etc.), although using them results in additional transaction costs. This is one of the main problems with the platform.
Key Features
- Internet hosting
- website creator
- Analytics
- inventory control
- product administration
- lightning-quick page loading
- Security
- Reminders for abandoned carts
- Outstanding checkout
- Calculations of shipping rates automatically
- No cost themes
- mobile application
- POS device
- Sales and marketing instruments
Pros Cons
- User-friendly If a third-party payment gateway is utilized, there will be additional transaction fees
- wide range of features Store builder just. Integration with third-party platforms is necessary for subscription payments.
- excellent applications and integrations
- Outstanding speed and uptime
Pricing
Plans begin at $29 a month. It has a 14-day free trial period.
7. Squarespace
Although Squarespace has strong built-in ecommerce capability, it is better known as a general-purpose website builder. It stands out for having the best collection of themes we’ve seen, superior design tools, and content management features.
Squarespace has a number of cost-effective plans, but you must choose the Advanced Commerce plan if you like to utilize it to sell subscription services. Although it is somewhat expensive, you get a lot for your money.
The incorporation of built-in tax tools makes compliance simple, and advanced billing features like automatic recharging and payment retries assist in increasing client loyalty.
The fact that you cannot sell digital products as subscriptions through your Squarespace store is a crucial distinction to make. This is another Platforms To Sell Subscriptions.
Only tangible goods and services may be sold as subscriptions. As a result, it’s an excellent option for selling subscription boxes but probably not for selling online courses, paid memberships, etc.
The templates from Squarespace are fantastic. There are more than 140 free options available, and they all have fantastic, contemporary, expert designs that will set your store apart from the competition.
The integrated CMS, photo editing tools, blogging tools, quicker checkout, product reviews, and various delivery options are additional elements we value.
Key Features
- Over 140 templates
- Tax preparation tools
- product evaluations
- inventory control
- website creator
- grocery cart
- accelerated checkout
- Scheduling appointments
- promotional items
- tools for design
- Blogging
- recurring charges
- recharges automatically
- Payment attempts
Pros Cons
- Beautiful templates are incompatible with subscription sales for digital goods
- Complex billing options Fewer integrations
- Excellent tax and shipping tools No selling in several currencies
- Excellent for content-focused websites
Pricing
When invoiced annually, the Squarespace Advanced Commerce plan costs $49 per month. There are more affordable plan tiers available, but you cannot sell subscriptions with them. Start with a free trial to get going.
8. SendOwl
An all-in-one solution called SendOwl was created especially for the sale of digital goods, subscriptions, and other things. The program includes a ton of features that can assist you in creating and maintaining an ecommerce site that sells things like e-books and online courses.
You can set up predetermined membership prices to give clients access to brand-new material every week, month, or year. In order to grant subscribers access to fresh content, community areas, and other things, you can set up reward systems. If you’re offering online courses, SendOwl also includes tools for drip material.
SendOwl is the ideal all-in-one solution because it also includes a ton of features that may help you sell your goods, keep your sales secure, and track your performance.
Key Features
- Customers may be billed weekly, monthly, or yearly.
- Features for subscriber and member benefits
- Drip features for content
- Analytics and marketing are included.
Pros Cons
- Not the best for selling physical goods, but designed for selling digital things and subscriptions
- Free program is offered
- Drip content and rewards functionality
Pricing
Although SendOwl offers a free plan, it retains 5% of all sales. Plans with a monthly cost of $19 start with 0% fees.
9. WooCommerce
When developing and running your subscription business, WooCommerce, an e-commerce platform that connects with WordPress, gives you a great deal of freedom. You’ll need to locate a hosting company that is optimized for use with WooCommerce if you want to use WooCommerce with WordPress; we suggest a choice like Nexcess.
WooCommerce allows you a ton of freedom and power when it comes to creating and managing every aspect of your online business, which is one of its biggest features. It allows you to set up safe subscription payments for your items and sell both physical and digital goods.
You must include a WooCommerce extension in your plugin in order to collect subscription payments. With WooCommerce Subscriptions, an official extension for subscriptions, you can set up numerous billing cycles, automated renewals, and even automatic rebilling for declined payments.
There are a ton of additional WooCommerce subscription extensions available, each with a different feature set.
One of WooCommerce’s biggest drawbacks is that, if you’re unfamiliar with WordPress and the plugin itself, it might be a little challenging to operate. However, WordPress does offer far more freedom and control than other e-commerce options if you have any experience using it for website development and management. Additionally, it is free. This is another Platforms To Sell Subscriptions.
Additionally, as we already discussed, you must pick a hosting company that supports WooCommerce. We advise Nexcess for this.
Nexcess: why?
Plans from Nexcess are available made especially for WooCommerce. They come with functions like Smart Monitoring, which alerts you to problems with your website if you modify your theme or plugin. Additionally, it tests your website to make sure it is constantly up and running well.
Key Features
- WordPress plugin available for free
- assemble construction equipment
- Extensions for subscriptions like WooCommerce Subscriptions
- several integrations and extensions
Pros Cons
- Flexible and comprehensive – useful for seasoned WordPress users; difficult for newbies to use
- Use is free
- There are numerous integrations and extensions offered.
Pricing
Although WooCommerce is a free plugin, you could have to pay for more extensions. A hosting plan will also cost money. Nexcess offers hosting for WooCommerce starting at $13 per month.
10. BigCommerce
Another incredibly well-liked e-commerce option that supports the sale of subscription goods is BigCommerce.
Bigcommerce lacks native subscription options, just as Shopify. But it works with a wide range of technologies, including those that can assist you in selling subscriptions for both digital and tangible goods.
ReCharge and Sticky.io are a couple of the subscription connections that are most helpful. These plugins can assist you in managing important subscription-related chores including setting up client portals, handling upsells and marketing, and more.
BigCommerce is a fantastic option for any kind of e-commerce business, including those that offer subscriptions, as it has nearly all the features you’ll need to create, run, and promote your store successfully.
From an easy-to-use store builder to more sophisticated options like multi-storefront administration, coupons, and discounts, there are a ton of tools available. This is another Platforms To Sell Subscriptions.
This is an excellent option to pick if you’re trying to sell subscriptions as a component of a larger e-commerce business or if you plan to expand your business in the future.
Key Features
- Numerous subscription integrations available
- Building stores intuitively
- Discounts and coupons
- Extraordinary e-commerce features
Pros Cons
- Innovative storebuilding tool Absence of specific subscription features
- Great for larger organizations, but not the most user-friendly tool
- good choice of subscription integrations available
Pricing
Plans begin at $39/month (an annual membership saves you 25%). Available for a free 15-day trial.
11. Wix
Wix is a sophisticated and user-friendly website-building platform ideal for promoting subscriptions for real products. Wix has a ton of options that make it very simple to sell things like subscription boxes.
You can choose to bill your clients weekly, monthly, or annually, for instance. Once a consumer has subscribed to a product, honoring subscriptions is simple because a new order will immediately appear in your dashboard each time it is due. This is another Platforms To Sell Subscriptions.
Customers may easily manage the information of their active subscriptions, make payments, and more by using your’my subscription’ sites, which you can also develop.
Wix is far more suited to physical things than to digital products like online courses, in contrast to some of the tools on this list. As a result, unlike some other solutions, it lacks content leaking and administration options.
For those who want to create a website quickly, it’s a fantastic tool. It’s a fantastic option if you want to launch an ecommerce business with the least amount of difficulty thanks to the drag-and-drop builder and variety of additional user-friendly options.
Key Features
- An intuitive website builder
- Features for auto-renewing subscriptions and fulfillment
- Lots of templates for e-commerce and subscription websites
- ‘Wix Owner App’ is a website management app.
Pros Cons
- Very user-friendly and straightforward No tools specifically for selling digital things like courses
- There is a good selection of themes for subscription sites.
Pricing
The Basic Business package for Wix costs $27 per month. This covers crucial e-commerce functions like handling payments.
Choosing the best subscription platforms for your business
A wonderful approach to make money is through selling subscriptions, especially given that e-commerce sales are predicted to hit $6.3 trillion globally by 2024.
As you can see, there are numerous approaches and resources to choose from. Why not choose one of our top 3 choices if you’re feeling overwhelmed by your options? As follows:
Sellfy is a user-friendly tool for creating online stores that may be used to sell subscriptions and other products.
Podia is a helpful e-commerce subscription service that is ideal for content producers.
Industry-leading e-commerce platform: Shopify. Create a whole online store using it, and combine it with other apps to collect subscription fees.
Therefore, there are several solutions available to help you sell subscriptions online, set up recurring billing, and manage your members with simplicity, whether you want to create an ecommerce subscription business or simply require a subscription management software.
Check out some of our other posts, such as 9 Best Dropshipping Websites For Your Ecommerce Store and 11 Best Platforms To Sell Digital Products, if you’re interested in learning more about selling digital goods and subscriptions.