Cratejoy vs Subbly (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Cratejoy if

• Fits if you sell subscription boxes and want a marketplace plus your own site
• Works for new box sellers who want recurring billing without custom development

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you sell a lot, since each order adds 1.25% plus $0.10 on every plan
• Not for you if you sell one-off products, as the plans are built for recurring boxes
• Skip it if you want a trial, because none is listed
• Watch out: marketplace orders and renewals carry a 15% referral fee, and monthly billing costs more on every plan

Pick Subbly if

• Fits if you run a subscription box or meal kit and want skips, swaps and pauses handled
• Works for moving subscribers from another platform along with their payment details

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you mostly sell one-off products, as $59 a month plus a cut of each sale pays for subscription tools you won't use
• Watch out: Subbly takes 1% + 19¢ of each sale, or 1.25% on other gateways, on top of processing fees
• Tight if more than one person runs the store, since the Subbly plan has 1 team member and 500 inventory items
• Skip it if you want a trial that simply ends, as this one needs a card after 3 days and moves onto the paid plan after 2 more weeks
• Watch out: bigger agent jobs cost credits, which Subbly puts at $10 to $50 for a new page and $100 to $250 for a first store

Cratejoy

• Every plan adds a transaction fee of 1.25% + $0.10 on top of the monthly price.
• Marketplace orders and renewals carry a 15% referral fee, which applies to Essentials and Advanced too.
• The plans are built for recurring boxes; the vendor does not position them for general one-off product stores.
• Prices shown are the yearly-billed rate; paying monthly costs more on every plan.

Subbly

• Subbly takes 1% + 19¢ of each transaction, or 1.25% on other gateways, on top of the payment provider's own processing fees.
• Larger agent work is paid in credits beyond the included usage; Subbly estimates $10 to $50 for a new page.
• The Subbly plan allows 1 team member and 500 inventory items; Max raises this to 5 members and 750 items.
• There is no free plan; after the 3 free days and 2 weeks at $1 a week, the account moves to the paid Subbly plan unless cancelled.

Cratejoy

Subscription renewals and shipping

Advanced rebilling and shipping features and built-in customer management tools aimed at recurring boxes.

Marketplace listing

Sellers list on Cratejoy's consumer Marketplace, which the vendor says draws about 4 million monthly page views.

Your own website

Essentials and Advanced include a custom site built on responsive templates, with app integrations and an API.

Checkout and currencies

Secure checkout supporting 138 currencies, with fraud protection included.

Dunning and tax

Advanced adds advanced dunning for failed payments and a native TaxJar integration.

Seller support

Support by live chat and email, with priority support included on Advanced.

Subbly

AI agent that builds the store

Describe a page, checkout or flow and the agent builds it. Everyday edits are included; Subbly puts a first full store at about $100 to $250 in credits.

Subscription checkout and offers

Sell subscriptions, bundles, build-a-box, gift cards and one-off products through a branded checkout with your own plans, steps, gifting and upsells.

Self-serve customer portal

Subscribers skip, swap, pause and upgrade on their own, in a portal laid out the way you choose.

Orders, shipping and stock

Filter orders, then change ship dates, mark them shipped or create shipping labels in bulk without exporting, and track inventory items.

Subscription analytics and retention

Reports on MRR, churn, lifetime value and predicted churn, plus funnels, cart recovery, save offers and automated messages.

APIs and free migration

Developers get APIs, an SDK and an MCP server, and Subbly moves stores from other platforms for free, subscribers and payment tokens included.

Cratejoy

• Marketplace Only$24.99

  per month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly)

  A listing on the Cratejoy Marketplace plus subscription tools. Adds 1.25% + $0.10 per transaction and a 15% referral fee on every order and renewal.

• Essentials$59

  per month, billed annually ($79 billed monthly)

  Your own custom website and themes plus a Marketplace listing. Adds 1.25% + $0.10 per order; Marketplace orders also carry the 15% referral fee.

• Advanced$159

  per month, billed annually ($199 billed monthly)

  Everything in Essentials, plus native TaxJar integration, advanced dunning, a referral app and priority support. Same transaction and referral fees.

Subbly

• Subbly$59

  per month, billed yearly ($79 billed monthly)

  1 team member, 500 inventory items, 100 AI-written automation messages and everyday agent use. Subbly takes 1% + 19¢ per transaction, 1.25% on other gateways.

• Max$149

  per month, billed yearly ($199 billed monthly)

  5 team members, 750 inventory items, 1,500 AI-written automation messages, 10 times the agent usage, the top model and custom checkouts and portals; same fees.

• Subbly X$499

  per month and up

  A dedicated account manager, a shared Slack channel, engineers who build custom features, and unlimited team and inventory; fees from 0.25% by volume.

Cratejoy

• Annual discount

  Lower rate for yearly billing

  The pricing page shows each plan cheaper when paid yearly: $24.99 vs $29, $59 vs $79 and $159 vs $199 per month.

Subbly

• Annual discount

  Pay yearly to get 3 months free

  Subbly costs $711 a year ($59 a month) against $79 billed monthly, and Max $1,791 a year ($149 a month) against $199.

• Other savings

  6 months free when you switch, until 31 December

  Stores that move to Subbly from another platform before 31 December get 6 months free, with migration included at no charge.