battles / Subscriptions
Ongoing Subscriptions vs Relo
Ongoing Subscriptions ($29/mo/mo, vibe code 7/10) vs Relo ($299/mo/mo, vibe code 6/10). Relo is the easier one to rebuild yourself — here is what you lose either way.
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
Subscriptions
$299/mo/mo
- MVP
- 1 week
- Full replacement
- 2-3 months, primarily to refine repurchase prediction math and build secure subscription upgrade links
easier to rebuild
get the build prompt →price gap / year
$3,240/mo
running both / year
$3,936/mo
our call
Start with Relo — highest vibe code, weakest moat.
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
Relo
Relo is an order interval calculator that pushes custom properties to Klaviyo and creates tokenized checkout links. Building the statistical replenishment prediction algorithm and sending event payloads to your existing email platform takes minimal custom code.
you can rebuild
- SKU-level dynamic reorder interval prediction
- Automated Klaviyo and Attentive custom profile property sync
- Tokenized 1-click cart pre-fill link generation
- One-time purchase to subscription upgrade links
- Replenishment conversion reporting dashboard
what you lose
- Pre-packaged Klaviyo email and SMS flow templates
- Cross-merchant benchmark data for default repurchase intervals
- Turnkey integrations with major Shopify subscription apps (Recharge, Skio, Loop)
- Hosted dynamic reorder portal widgets
- Automated cross-sell SKU recommendation engine
real moats
- Out-of-the-box integration matrix connecting Shopify, subscription apps, and Klaviyo
- Aggregated historical repurchase timing datasets across millions of DTC orders
- Frictionless checkout link routing infrastructure
open source escape hatches
- Medusa MIT
- Activepieces MIT
- PostHog MIT
Questions people ask
Which is easier to rebuild with AI, Ongoing Subscriptions or Relo?
Relo. It scores 6/10 on vibe code with a moat of 2/10, so an AI-assisted MVP takes about 1 week and a full replacement about 2-3 months, primarily to refine repurchase prediction math and build secure subscription upgrade links.
Which one costs less, Ongoing Subscriptions or Relo?
Ongoing Subscriptions at $29/mo/mo for a typical mid-market store. The gap between the two is about $3,240/mo a year.
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
What do I lose if I replace Relo?
Pre-packaged Klaviyo email and SMS flow templates Cross-merchant benchmark data for default repurchase intervals Turnkey integrations with major Shopify subscription apps (Recharge, Skio, Loop)
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