How app subscription charges work

You're billed in advance for Shopify and app subscriptions, with invoices every 30 days. If you're considering removing an app, it's important to remember that charges begin as soon as you approve the subscription and at the beginning of each app's 30-day billing period.

If you decide to uninstall an app soon after adding it, you may still see charges for it on your next bill. This happens because the billing is associated with the start of the billing cycle, rather than the date you uninstall the app.

How Shopify and app subscription charges work

When you add an app with recurring charges to your Shopify store, Shopify takes care of collecting these charges on behalf of the app developers. This means that the fees for any app subscriptions are included in your regular Shopify billing cycle, which occurs every 30 days.

However, it's important to note that each app subscription you sign up for operates on its own separate 30-day billing cycle. This separate cycle can affect how and when you see these app charges on your Shopify bill.

For your Shopify subscription, you receive an invoice every 30 days, which covers the cost of the next 30 days in advance. Similarly, recurring charges for apps are billed on their own 30-day cycle but are included with your Shopify subscription payment. This setup might result in your seeing charges for an app subscription on your Shopify bill that covers the app's service period overlapping with your billing period. For example, if your Shopify bill is issued on May 5th, it will include charges for an app subscription from April 20th to May 20th. The next bill, on June 4th, will then cover the app subscription from May 20th to June 19th.

From your Shopify admin, you can view which subscriptions including which app subscriptions, have recurring charges.

Uninstalling apps with recurring charges

If you're considering uninstalling an app with recurring charges, remember that these charges are triggered the moment you approve an app charge. Additionally, each app follows its own monthly billing schedule, which begins on the day you first approve the charge.

This billing approach means that if you decide to uninstall an app soon after adding it—say, a few days later—you might still see a charge for that app on your next Shopify bill. This happens because the charge for the app's subscription is tied to the start of its billing cycle, not to the app's installation or uninstallation date. So, even if the app is no longer in use or has been removed from your store, if its billing cycle has started, the charge for that period will still apply and appear on your Shopify invoice.

App prorating, upgrades, and downgrades

Should you decide to upgrade to a more expensive app plan during a billing cycle, Shopify will prorate the charge based on the price difference and the remaining days in the cycle. For example, if you upgrade from a plan costing $5 to one costing $15 halfway through the cycle, you'll only be charged an additional $5, totaling $10 for that billing period. Conversely, if you downgrade to a cheaper plan, Shopify automatically provides a credit for the difference, which you can use towards any future app purchases.

Questions?

Please contact our support team at hello@getfreshly.io and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.