PSA: Be aware of data hostage practices
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Welcome to a battle between two ecommerce solutions optimized for businesses selling physical products through a subscription model. In this regard, Subbly and Bold are two of the best at putting control in the hands of merchants and their end customers.
Both Subbly and Bold offer a variety of different features making it possible for you to create the business that you imagined in the first place. Yet, they are still different, especially when it comes to price and complexity. Perhaps the biggest difference is that Subbly is a full-featured, standalone ecommerce platform, whereas Bold is a subscription plugin that requires another platform to use.
A subscription-first business deserves a subscription-first™ platform
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Customizable checkouts & subscriptions
Collect information from your customers, allow them to pick their products, and even to customize their subscriptions
Automate your
business
Automate marketing, management and operations, and run complex business models with no code
World-class human
support, available 24/7
Get the help you need from our excellent support team
Since the beginning, Subbly has had only one goal: to become the #1 solution for building a subscription business.
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While other platforms have tried to solve this problem through integrating with larger, more established ecommerce players, anyone can bring their idea to life with Subbly alone - without the need for (or cost of) any other platform or third-party payment plugin or other app (although Subbly has integrations too - click
for more info).
With Subbly, you don’t need to be a designer or a coder, or hire freelancers to help you get set up - a simple and complete solution is only a few clicks away for a fraction of the price.
Last but not least, Subbly’s customer support is second to none. We take great pride in our hands-on approach to store setup, and provide ongoing education around features that help you build a better subscription business. Don’t just take our word for it, read what our customers have to say
We make it super easy to migrate your subscription business to Subbly.
Being a standalone ecommerce solution, Subbly doesn’t integrate seamlessly into other ecommerce platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce. This means that if you’re already using either of these and simply want to add subscription options as a feature, Subbly may not be a perfect fit, although integrating Subbly with Shopify is still possible.
The other thing to note is that Subbly is only integrated with a handful of payment processors. Although this isn’t a problem for many merchants who use (or are willing to use) Stripe, some merchants may want to use specific gateways, or offer their customers different options such as automated clearing house (ACH) payments. However, we are constantly expanding our payment integrations to ensure every business owner is able to use the payment gateways they want.
Lastly, Subbly’s features were not originally developed for membership-based businesses, such as gyms or premium content providers, although it is entirely possible (and there are many examples). The good news is that thanks to hundreds of requests from Subbly users, these features are being developed as we speak.
Integrating Bold Subscriptions with your Shopify store enables you to offer all of your products on a recurring basis - with no coding skills required.
Bold isn't just a Shopify subscription app - it's also a BigCommerce subscription app and integrates with WooCommerce too (among others). It even offers a public API for tech-savvy entrepreneurs looking to build their own solutions. Speaking of integrations, Bold works with over a dozen payment processors, giving merchants and customers plenty of options.
The list of in-house developed apps and integrations Bold has to offer is quite extensive. Outside of their Bold Subscriptions app, you can also install other apps to obtain further functionalities necessary for growing and managing your business.
Last but not least, Bold takes great pride in their exceptional customer service team, which can be contacted both by phone and live chat.
If you’re still in the idea stage or you’re an existing business without a website and online subscription store, Bold might not be right for you. If you do decide to use Bold, you will have to first build your website using another platform, then install Bold Subscriptions as well as other apps, complicating your setup.
Bold, as a plugin itself, can contribute to
which can ultimately increase the cost and lead to many different failure points due to the amount of separate services involved.
Because using Bold requires you to also use other platforms, it’s more complicated and more expensive, even for the most basic tier. A growing (or large) business will likely require more paid apps and integrations, and thus more expensive plans. While it may not sound like much to begin with, it can run up quickly over time as your business grows and gets more complex. This also doesn’t include Bold's flat 1% transaction fee, as well as the varying processor transaction fees.
Starting to sound expensive? Your monthly price using Bold can easily skyrocket the more features you need, while Subbly includes everything you need and more all in one platform.
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The main difference is that Subbly is an all-in-one solution offering a more complete set of features for much less, while still allowing integrations if desired. Bold, on the other hand, is a tool that integrates with established ecommerce solutions like Shopify and BigCommerce, forcing you to buy and use multiple platforms.
The final choice really depends on a couple of factors: price point, ease of use and setup, depth of available integrations, and your use case.
Don’t just take our word for it. Check other users' experiences with Subbly
, and with Bold
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Already using Subbly?
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