Subi vs. LoyaltyLion: Choosing the Right Shopify Retention App

Introduction

Choosing the right technology for a Shopify store often feels like a balancing act between solving immediate problems and planning for future growth. Merchants frequently find themselves stuck between choosing specialized tools for a single function or broader platforms that handle multiple parts of the customer journey. When it comes to retaining customers, the choice is even more critical because the cost of acquiring a new buyer is significantly higher than keeping an existing one. Subi: Subscriptions & Loyalty and LoyaltyLion: Rewards & Loyalty are two popular choices that approach retention from different angles, one focusing on recurring revenue models and the other on high-engagement reward programs.

Short answer: Choosing between these two depends on whether your business model relies primarily on recurring subscription orders or on building a points-based loyalty community. Subi is excellent for stores needing a mix of subscriptions and basic rewards, while LoyaltyLion is a heavyweight in the loyalty and referral space for brands that prioritize high-engagement membership experiences. Integrated platforms can often help by reducing the operational overhead associated with managing these distinct customer experiences separately.

This comparison provides a neutral look at both apps, breaking down their features, pricing models, and how they fit into a wider tech stack. By the end of this analysis, you will have a clearer understanding of which tool aligns with your specific business goals, whether you are a small store just starting or a high-volume merchant scaling on Shopify Plus.

Subi: Subscriptions & Loyalty vs. LoyaltyLion: Rewards & Loyalty: At a Glance

The following table summarizes the foundational differences between Subi and LoyaltyLion. This comparison is based on provided data and common merchant use cases for each tool.

Detailed Comparison Analysis

To understand which app fits your store, it is necessary to look beyond the surface level and examine how these tools function in a live environment. Both apps aim to increase customer lifetime value, but they use different mechanisms to achieve that goal.

Core Features and Subscription Workflows

Subi: Subscriptions & Loyalty is primarily built for merchants who want to generate recurring revenue. Its architecture is designed to handle the complexities of "subscribe and save" models, memberships, and curated boxes. One of its standout capabilities is the support for mystery boxes and subscription bundles, which are effective ways to increase average order value (AOV). For a merchant selling consumables or service-based memberships, Subi provides the necessary infrastructure to manage billing cycles, failed payment retries (dunning), and customer-facing portals.

The loyalty component within Subi serves as a secondary layer to the subscription engine. It allows subscribers to earn points and rewards, which adds an extra incentive for them to keep their subscriptions active. This "all-in-one" subscription and loyalty approach is unique because it ensures that the loyalty program is tightly coupled with the recurring payment cycle. It includes a self-service portal where customers can skip, pause, or cancel their subscriptions, reducing the burden on customer support teams.

LoyaltyLion: Rewards & Loyalty, by contrast, does not handle subscription billing or recurring orders. It is a dedicated loyalty and engagement platform. Its feature set is focused on creating a comprehensive rewards ecosystem. This includes points for purchases, social media follows, and reviews. A significant part of the LoyaltyLion value proposition is its referral system. By incentivizing existing customers to refer friends, it helps lower customer acquisition costs.

LoyaltyLion also emphasizes the shopper journey by integrating a dedicated loyalty page directly into the storefront. This creates a cohesive brand experience where customers can see their points balance, available rewards, and VIP status in one place. While Subi includes loyalty points, LoyaltyLion offers more nuanced "positive behavior" incentives, such as rewarding customers for specific actions beyond just buying a product.

Customization and Brand Control

Customization is often where a merchant’s brand identity lives or dies. Subi offers widget customization and four different widget templates in its Growth plan. These templates allow the subscription "subscribe and save" option to blend naturally with the product page design. In higher tiers, Subi offers more control over the subscriber portal and email notifications, ensuring that the communication regarding recurring orders feels professional and on-brand.

However, Subi’s loyalty customization is more functional than aesthetic. It provides the tools to run a program but may not offer the same level of visual storytelling as a dedicated platform. For many merchants, the ease of an "auto-adding widget" and an embedded app within the Shopify admin is more important than deep visual design control, as it reduces the need for custom coding or developer intervention.

LoyaltyLion places a high premium on the visual integration of the loyalty program. Their Classic plan even includes a free loyalty page design (valued at $1,500 in their description). This suggests that LoyaltyLion is geared toward brands that want their loyalty program to be a centerpiece of their website, rather than just a button on the checkout page. The ability to customize rules and rewards allows for a highly tailored experience that can match the sophisticated branding of high-growth stores.

The distinction here is clear: Subi is built for utility and ease of use in managing recurring billing, while LoyaltyLion is built for brand-led engagement and community building. If a store needs its rewards program to look like a bespoke part of the site architecture, LoyaltyLion has the edge. If the priority is a quick setup for a subscription box with a simple points system, Subi is likely the more practical choice.

Pricing Structure and Value for Money

Evaluating the cost of these apps requires looking at both the monthly fee and the revenue or order limits associated with them. Subi offers a multi-tier pricing structure that begins with a Free plan. This Free plan is quite generous, allowing for up to $300 in monthly subscription revenue and including core features like membership management and a customer portal. This makes it an attractive entry point for small businesses testing the subscription model.

The Growth plan at $19 per month removes the revenue cap and adds customization options, while the $69 Subi plan introduces the actual loyalty programs and rewards. For larger enterprises, the $299 Subi Plus plan provides a dedicated customer success manager and advanced analytics. This scaling path is predictable and allows a merchant to grow their costs in line with their subscription revenue.

LoyaltyLion’s pricing follows a different philosophy. While it offers a "Free to install" plan that covers up to 400 monthly orders, the jump to the next level is significant. The Classic plan is priced at $199 per month and covers 1,000 orders. This plan includes more advanced features, such as customizable rules and unlimited integrations. For many small-to-medium businesses, a $199 monthly starting price for the full loyalty experience represents a significant investment.

When comparing plan fit against retention goals, merchants must consider if their order volume justifies the LoyaltyLion price point. Subi offers a lower total cost of ownership for stores that are just beginning to experiment with loyalty, especially if those stores also need subscription functionality. However, for a high-volume store where referrals and VIP tiers are the primary drivers of growth, LoyaltyLion’s higher price may be justified by the increased returning customer rate it facilitates.

Integrations and Ecosystem Fit

A Shopify app does not live in a vacuum; it must work with the rest of the store’s tech stack. Subi integrates with several essential tools, including Klaviyo and Mailchimp for email marketing, and various payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize. It also works with "Translate & Adapt," which is vital for stores selling internationally. Because it is built into the Shopify admin, it maintains a clean integration with Shopify’s native checkout system.

LoyaltyLion has a broader list of integrations focused on the marketing and customer service side of the business. It works with Shopify POS, Shopify Flow, and advanced marketing tools like Attentive and Gorgias. It also integrates with other retention tools like ReCharge (for subscriptions) and Yotpo (for reviews). This "works with everything" approach is a core part of LoyaltyLion’s strategy. It allows the loyalty data to flow into helpdesk tools, email platforms, and even SMS marketing apps.

One major difference is how they handle the "other" side of retention. Subi has subscriptions built-in but relies on basic loyalty features. LoyaltyLion has advanced loyalty built-in but relies on an integration with an app like ReCharge or Subi to handle subscriptions. For a merchant, this means choosing between one app that does two things decently (Subi) or two apps that each do one thing excellently (LoyaltyLion + a subscription app). The latter approach often leads to higher costs and more complexity in the admin panel.

Analytics and Reporting

Understanding customer behavior is essential for any retention strategy. Subi includes "Overview and analytics" in its free plan and offers an "Advanced analytics dashboard" in its Plus plan. These reports generally focus on subscription health—churn rates, recurring revenue trends, and billing success. This data is operational, helping the merchant understand if their subscription revenue is stable.

LoyaltyLion’s analytics focus on engagement. The app provides insights into returning customer behaviors and segments customers based on their loyalty status. This helps merchants identify who their most valuable customers are and who is at risk of churning. While specific details on the depth of these reports are not specified in the provided data, the mention of "loyalty segments and insights" suggests a focus on behavioral marketing rather than just transactional reporting.

Customer Support and Reliability

Subi’s support structure is tiered based on the plan. Lower tiers get live chat and email support, while the Plus plan offers a private Slack channel, 1-on-1 meetings, and a dedicated customer success manager. With a 4.9 rating and 755 reviews, the sentiment among merchants suggests that the Subi team is responsive and the app is reliable. Their emphasis on "enterprise-grade 99.998% uptime" in the top tier indicates a focus on technical stability for large-scale operations.

LoyaltyLion holds a 4.7 rating with 507 reviews. They offer "5* onboarding" as part of their Classic plan, which is a significant benefit for brands that have complex requirements and need help getting the program off the ground. While they may have fewer reviews than Subi, their presence in the Shopify Plus ecosystem suggests they are well-equipped to handle high-traffic stores with demanding support needs.

The Alternative: Solving App Fatigue with an All-in-One Platform

Many merchants eventually reach a point where their Shopify admin is cluttered with a dozen different apps, each handling one small part of the customer journey. This "tool sprawl" or "app fatigue" creates several problems. First, it can slow down a website’s loading speed as each app adds its own code to the storefront. Second, it creates data silos; your loyalty data might not talk to your reviews data, and your wishlist data might be entirely separate from your email marketing tool.

When selecting plans that reduce stacked tooling costs, it becomes clear that managing multiple subscriptions for specialized apps can quickly become expensive. This is why many growing brands are moving toward a "More Growth, Less Stack" philosophy. Instead of paying for one app for subscriptions, another for loyalty, another for reviews, and another for wishlists, they look for integrated platforms that combine these features into a single, cohesive experience.

Growave is built on this principle of consolidation. By checking merchant feedback and app-store performance signals, it is evident that a unified approach to retention is highly valued by the Shopify community. Rather than just offering loyalty points, Growave integrates loyalty points and rewards designed to lift repeat purchases with other essential retention tools.

For instance, consider the relationship between reviews and loyalty. In a fragmented stack, a customer might leave a review on one app but not receive loyalty points for it unless a complex integration is set up and maintained. In an integrated platform, collecting and showcasing authentic customer reviews automatically triggers rewards. This seamless flow encourages more user-generated content, which in turn builds the social proof needed to convert new visitors.

This integrated approach also improves the customer experience. Instead of seeing multiple widgets from different apps popping up on a product page, the customer interacts with a single, unified interface. This consistency builds trust and makes the brand feel more professional. Brands can see real examples from brands improving retention by moving away from a fragmented stack and toward a system where loyalty, reviews, and wishlists work together.

Furthermore, a consolidated platform provides a clearer view of the customer. When a pricing structure that scales as order volume grows is applied to an all-in-one tool, the merchant often finds they are getting significantly more value per dollar spent. They no longer have to manage four different support teams or keep track of four different billing cycles.

By scanning reviews to understand real-world adoption, merchants can see how others have successfully transitioned to this model. Whether it is through VIP tiers and incentives for high-intent customers or by using review automation that builds trust at purchase time, the goal is always the same: to create a flywheel of customer engagement that doesn't require a mountain of technical debt.

Ultimately, the choice between specialized apps like Subi or LoyaltyLion and an integrated platform like Growave depends on your specific needs. However, for those looking to scale without the headache of managing a massive app stack, looking at customer stories that show how teams reduce app sprawl can provide a roadmap for more sustainable growth.

Conclusion

For merchants choosing between Subi: Subscriptions & Loyalty and LoyaltyLion: Rewards & Loyalty, the decision comes down to your primary business driver. If your store's foundation is built on recurring revenue, subscription boxes, or membership perks, Subi offers a highly practical and cost-effective way to manage those payments while adding a layer of loyalty points. It is a utility-first choice for businesses where the transaction model is the most important part of the relationship.

On the other hand, if you are building a brand where community engagement, high-end VIP experiences, and customer referrals are the main engines of growth, LoyaltyLion provides a more specialized and design-heavy platform. It is better suited for established brands that have the budget for a higher monthly investment and want to create a bespoke loyalty destination on their site.

However, as a store grows, the complexity of managing these specialized tools often leads to app fatigue and inconsistent customer data. Merchants looking for a more streamlined way to handle retention might find that an integrated platform offers a better path forward. By combining loyalty with reviews, wishlists, and referrals, you can create a more cohesive experience for your customers while simplifying your back-end operations.

To reduce app fatigue and run retention from one place, start by reviewing the Shopify App Store listing merchants install from.

FAQ

Which app is better for a small business just starting with loyalty?

Subi: Subscriptions & Loyalty is often better for smaller businesses due to its Free plan and lower-cost entry points. If you only need basic loyalty points and rewards, Subi allows you to start without a high monthly fee. LoyaltyLion also has a free-to-install plan, but it is limited to 400 orders and lacks some of the advanced features found in its $199 Classic plan.

Can I use Subi and LoyaltyLion together?

While it is technically possible to install both, it is generally not recommended as they both offer loyalty point systems. Having two different apps trying to manage the same points balance for a customer would lead to confusion, data conflicts, and a poor user experience. If you need both subscriptions and an advanced loyalty program, you would typically use a subscription-only app alongside a loyalty specialist app like LoyaltyLion.

How does an all-in-one platform compare to specialized apps?

An all-in-one platform like Growave provides several features—such as loyalty, reviews, and wishlists—under one roof. The main benefit is that these features are natively integrated, meaning they share data and look consistent to the customer. This reduces the need for complex "glue" integrations between different apps and often results in a lower total cost. Specialized apps like LoyaltyLion may offer deeper features in one specific area but require more effort and budget to integrate into a full retention stack.

Does Subi handle physical and digital subscriptions?

Yes, according to the provided data, Subi supports recurring physical products, digital products, and services. This makes it a versatile choice for a wide range of business models, from coffee subscriptions to digital memberships or service-based businesses. It also includes specific features for subscription boxes and bundles to help increase average order value.