battles / Subscriptions
Loop Subscriptions vs Ongoing Subscriptions
Loop Subscriptions ($399/mo/mo, vibe code 7/10) vs Ongoing Subscriptions ($29/mo/mo, vibe code 7/10). Ongoing Subscriptions is the easier one to rebuild yourself — here is what you lose either way.
Subscriptions
$399/mo/mo
- MVP
- 2-3 weeks
- Full replacement
- 6-9 months
Subscriptions
$29/mo/mo
- MVP
- 1 week
- Full replacement
- 1-2 months, due to Shopify Subscription API edge cases, app proxy integration, and payment retry logic
easier to rebuild
get the build prompt →price gap / year
$4,440/mo
running both / year
$5,136/mo
our call
Start with Ongoing Subscriptions — highest vibe code, weakest moat.
Loop Subscriptions
You can easily build a custom Shopify subscription app that eliminates Loop's 1% transaction fee using native Shopify APIs in a few weeks. However, replacing Loop's deep app store integration ecosystem, white-glove migration scripts, and battle-tested dunning algorithms requires significant ongoing development.
you can rebuild
- Basic recurring product subscriptions (Shopify Selling Plans integration)
- Self-serve customer portal for skips, pauses, and product swaps
- Basic cancellation save flows with pause/discount offers
- Automated payment recovery (dunning retries)
- Shopify Theme App Extensions for selling plan widgets on product pages
what you lose
- Managed migration support to transfer active vaulted payment tokens from older platforms.
- Out-of-the-box native integrations with marketing and support tools (Klaviyo, Gorgias, Attentive).
- Dedicated Customer Success Manager and shared Slack support channel.
- Gamified retention features like loyalty streak tracking and mystery rewards.
- Built-in A/B testing infrastructure for cancellation flows.
real moats
- Turnkey white-glove data migration pipelines from legacy systems like Recharge or Skio without subscription downtime or token loss.
- Deep ecosystem integrations (Klaviyo, Gorgias, Smile.io, Attentive) built over years with dedicated webhooks and state syncing.
- Battle-tested payment retry logic optimized against millions of historical transactions to maximize recovery rates.
Ongoing Subscriptions
Shopify handles payment vaulting and card processing natively through its Subscription Contracts API. Ongoing Subscriptions provides an admin dashboard, discount configurations, and an embedded customer portal. Rebuilding a custom in-house subscription controller for a single store with Claude/Cursor requires executing standard webhooks and GraphQL mutations.
you can rebuild
- Selling plan creation and product tier configuration
- Customer portal for order pausing, skipping, and cancelling via App Proxy
- Automated recurring order triggers via Shopify GraphQL Subscription API
- Custom recurring discount rules (e.g., 10% off recurring items)
- Subscriber transactional notification emails via Klaviyo or Resend
what you lose
- Turnkey setup with zero infrastructure to host or maintain
- Out-of-the-box Theme App Extensions for complex custom themes
- Pre-built edge-case handling for Shopify API version upgrades
- Pre-configured dunning schedules and automated credit card update prompts
- One-click migration scripts from Recharge, Bold, or Seal
real moats
- Deep native integration with Shopify Payments card vaulting
- Zero-maintenance infrastructure and API compliance upkeep
- Pre-configured compliance workflows for state auto-renewal laws
open source escape hatches
- Kill Bill Apache-2.0
- Cavaon Subscription Engine MIT
- Payum MIT
Questions people ask
Which is easier to rebuild with AI, Loop Subscriptions or Ongoing Subscriptions?
Ongoing Subscriptions. It scores 7/10 on vibe code with a moat of 3/10, so an AI-assisted MVP takes about 1 week and a full replacement about 1-2 months, due to Shopify Subscription API edge cases, app proxy integration, and payment retry logic.
Which one costs less, Loop Subscriptions or Ongoing Subscriptions?
Ongoing Subscriptions at $29/mo/mo for a typical mid-market store. The gap between the two is about $4,440/mo a year.
What do I lose if I replace Loop Subscriptions?
Managed migration support to transfer active vaulted payment tokens from older platforms. Out-of-the-box native integrations with marketing and support tools (Klaviyo, Gorgias, Attentive). Dedicated Customer Success Manager and shared Slack support channel.
What do I lose if I replace Ongoing Subscriptions?
Turnkey setup with zero infrastructure to host or maintain Out-of-the-box Theme App Extensions for complex custom themes Pre-built edge-case handling for Shopify API version upgrades
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