Do you want to start a subscription model on your website? You’re in the right place. Here, we’ll have a look at the best subscription plugins for WooCommerce!

What is a Subscription Model?

In a subscription business model, customers pay a recurring fee – usually every month or year – to have access to a product or service.

Nowadays, subscription models are on the rise. Spotify, Netflix, MailChimp, HelloFresh, and many other famous companies out there use this type of model. You can subscribe to anything: from physical products to digital products like online magazines, streaming services, and music, to services like aged-care.

Subscription models are so popular today that around 70% of American households have at least one subscription and an average U.S. citizen used 3.4 subscribing services in 2019.  Therefore, a lot of companies are switching from the classic one-time payment to the subscription model, including e-commerce websites.

Benefits of Subscription Models

So why are subscription models so trendy? There are certainly lots of reasons but these are the top three:

1. Customers love it

Would you rather pay 200 USD at once or 20 USD a month to have access to certain products or services? The answer is clear. Many subscription models don’t even have a lock-in period so if customers lose interest they can opt-out paying only for the time they’ve used the product. So paying as you go is very attractive for users because it gives them the flexibility to stop paying for the product or service at any time.

2. Predictable revenue

With this kind of payment collection method, you have a recurring income so you know in advance the amount you’ll earn the next month or year. This helps you better manage your cash flow and better plan your expenses which results in the substantial and sustained growth of your business.

3. It creates bonds with customers

Subscription models help you retain a large proportion of customers. So the bonds you create with them throughout the months and years can turn into precious opportunities for up and cross-selling. This way, you can increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV), one of the most important metrics in eCommerce.

Now that you know the main benefits of subscription models, how can you implement it on your site? The best way to do it is with a plugin. There are many options out there so to make your life easier, this is our list of the best subscription plugins for WooCommerce.

Best Subscriptions Plugins for WooCommerce

1. Woo Subscriptions

Woo Subscriptions is one of the top subscription plugins for WooCommerce. The idea behind it is to help you build and manage an online store of subscription products. This tool comes with very powerful features and allows you to create numerous subscriptions for products, both physical and digital. Additionally, it integrates with more than 25 payment gateways, including PayPal and Stripe, and has flexible billing schedules.

Pros

• Flexible billing schedules for different needs
• 25 payment gateways including PayPal and Stripe
• Ability to set up free trials and sign-up fees
• Control over subscriptions for the customers
• Multiple types of support, including support for manual renewal payment and automatic rebilling on failed payment
• Most importantly, Woo Subscriptions is the best when it comes to managing various subscriptions
• Many more

Cons

• It can be a bit heavy, especially for WordPress sites that are already burdened with plugins and add-ons. However, it’s understandable since it’s so feature-rich
• High price

Price

• Everything comes at a cost. Starting at 199 USD per year, Woo Subscriptions may cost you a little more than other subscription tools

2. YITH WooCommerce Subscription

Considered for many as the best alternative to Woo Subscriptions, YITH WooCommerce Subscription has a lot to offer. With more than 21,000 customers, a rating of 4.4/5, and 98% customer satisfaction as reported in support, this is one of the best subscription plugins available in WooCommerce.

Pros

• Basic features that let you sell both static and digital products
• Free trials for customers
• Full compatibility with WPML
• Translation ready
• Notification feature that lets you let customers know when their subscription is about to expire
• Many more wonderful features in the pro version, such as automatic suspension of subscription, the ability to pause and restart subscription, and many others.

Cons

• It doesn’t include as many features as Woo Subscriptions
• The free version is pretty limited
• Not as many payment gateways integrations
• Limited subscriptions management

Price

• YITH WooCommerce Subscription is a freemium plugin. It has a very limited free version and different premium plans that start at 99 USD per year

3. Subscriptions for WooCommerce Premium

Launched by webtoffee, Subscription for WooCommerce Premium is an excellent plugin that includes excellent features. It allows you to create subscriptions for physical and digital products and it’s compatible with most add-ons. Additionally, it can be synchronized with Stripe, PayPal, and other payment gateways.

Considering features, value for money, and user satisfaction, Subscription for WooCommerce Premium is one of the best subscription plugins for WooCommerce.

Pros

• Ease of use is certainly one of its best features
• Simple and variable subscriptions support
• Multiple billing schedules
• Email notification
• Subscription management to let users add products or services they want to subscribe to
• Multi-language support

Cons

• It does its jobs well and comes with good features but it doesn’t excel at any of them or has any value-added features like some of its rivals.

Price

• Subscription for WooCommerce has 3 different premium plans that start at 89 USD per year for a single site.

4. Subscriptio

Even though Subscriptio enjoys a modest 6,474 sales on CodeCanyon and a 4.25/5 star rating, it has claimed the spotlight as one of the top WooCommerce subscription plugins.

This tool allows you to turn different types of product into subscriptions and charge a signup fee. Additionally, it’s compatible with the most popular payment gateways such as PayPal and Stripe. However, what makes Subscriptio stand out from other tools is its multiple hooks and customization options.

Pros

• The ability to turn various types of product into subscriptions
• All of the subscription transactions logged and displayed
• Multiple subscription list and subscription management tools for customers
• Numerous customization options with hooks and filters
• The ability to set any length for trial periods
• Add signup fees

Cons

• Support can be a bit slow

Price

• Even though it doesn’t have a free version, starting at 49 USD, Subscriptio is one of the cheapest subscription plugins

5. Sumo Subscriptions

With a rating of 4.78 out of 5, Sumo Subscriptions is among the top subscription plugins for WooCommerce. Claiming itself as the most comprehensive plugin, Sumo offers customers various types of subscriptions, from simple to variable and even grouped product subscriptions. Apart from creating subscription plans, you can also establish the duration and renewal number for each subscription.

Pros

• Lots of features including payment synchronization
• Customers are allowed to buy subscription and non-subscription products at once
• Automatic renewals and manual subscriptions
• Free and paid trials
• Translation ready
• Excellent customer support

Cons

• Some users experience some minor problems during installation. However, the support team is usually very quick to help.

Price

• Starting at 49 USD per year, Sumo Subscriptions is relatively cheap for a plugin with a rating of 4.78

6. WooCommerce Membership

Not only a subscription plugin, as the name suggests, WooCommerce Membership is also a membership tool. So, in addition to the subscription features, it comes with many other features. For example, it allows you to grant access to specific pages on your website among site members and guests. Additionally, you can establish different membership categories.

Pros

• Well coded and designed
• Very clean and easy to manage
• The ability to attach different products to different membership plans
• Reward customers with discounts
• Member import or export

Cons

• Since WooCommerce Membership is a two-tier plugin, it may not offer all features that a specialized membership plugin should have, such as plans linking.
• Expensive compared to other plugins on the list

Price

• This premium plugin starts at 199 USD per year

7. Paid Memberships PRO

If you haven’t found the perfect WooCommerce subscription plugin for you, here is another option: Paid Membership PRO. This powerful add-on offers plenty of integrations and can give you what others are missing. And with more than 90,000 active installs, it’s one of the most popular options in the market.

Pros

• Very powerful
• Fully focuses on membership plans
• Modular approach that lets you establish your solutions with the products
• 75 add-ons and integrations available
• It has been in the market for years and has a very good reputation

Cons

• Expensive compared to other plugins
• Some add-ons require purchase
• The guidance is quite detailed, but a large part of it requires coding knowledge

Price

Paid Membership PRO is a premium plugin and starts at 297 USD per year.

Conclusion on WooCommerce Subscriptions Plugins

All in all, subscription models have many advantages. It’s more attractive to customers, allows you to have a continuous stream of revenue, and generates customer engagement.

If you have an online store, you should consider using subscription models. The good news is that you set them up in no time with some of the best subscription plugins for WooCommerce that we introduced above. All of them provide customers with fundamental features such as turning various types of products into subscriptions, multiple payment gateways, automatic renewals, and more.

So which one should you choose? That depends on your needs. For example, if you have just started and you want to explore this type of model first, go for something simple and reasonably-priced like Subscriptio. If, on the other hand, you want something more robust with plenty of features, Woo Subscriptions is your best choice. Additionally, if you want to combine a subscription model with memberships, Paid Memberships PRO and WooCommerce Memberships are your best options.

Have you used any of these subscription plugins? Which other ones do you know? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!