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

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

Pick Swell if

• Fits if you sell subscriptions or wholesale and have a developer
• Works for brands that want a headless store on a flat monthly plan

Look elsewhere if

• Watch out: each plan has a trailing 12-month sales ceiling, then 2% on Starter, 1.5% Basic, 1% Standard and 0.4% Unlimited
• Pricey if you grow, as Unlimited is $2,250 a month
• Watch out: API requests, function calls and storage are capped, and extras cost $5 per 100K requests or per extra GB
• Watch out: roles and permissions and developer support are on the Unlimited plan only
• Skip it if you need to know the trial length first, as it is not stated

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.

Swell

• Each plan has a trailing 12-month sales ceiling; above it a percentage fee applies: 2% on Starter, 1.5% Basic, 1% Standard, 0.4% Unlimited.
• API requests, function calls and storage are capped per plan; extra usage is billed at $5 per 100K requests or calls and $5 per extra GB.
• Role-based permissions and developer support appear only on the Unlimited plan, and the trial length is not stated.

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.

Swell

Built-in subscriptions

Sell physical or virtual products as subscriptions with flexible order schedules and separate invoicing from fulfillment, on every plan.

Wholesale and B2B pricing

Serve retail and wholesale buyers from one store, with customer groups, bulk price rules and account management.

Themes or headless

Use a visual store builder and themes, upload Shopify themes, or run a headless storefront on the frontend and backend APIs.

Multi-gateway payments

Connect several gateways at once, including Stripe, Authorize.Net and PayPal, with split payments, saved cards and BNPL options.

Localization

Set prices in explicit currencies, add locales for multiple languages, and apply region-specific payment methods.

Swell Apps and functions

Extend the store with custom full-stack apps, app functions and a developer console for API calls and logs.

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.

Swell

• Starter$29

  per month, billed yearly

  Up to 2 admin users, $50K annual sales ceiling, basic reports, 100K API requests a month and 1GB of storage.

• Basic$79

  per month, billed yearly

  Up to 5 admin users, $250K annual sales ceiling, basic reports, 500K API requests a month and 3GB of storage.

• Standard$299

  per month, billed yearly

  Up to 15 admin users, $1M sales ceiling, advanced reports, priority support, international price lists and 2M API requests.

• Unlimited$2250

  per month, billed yearly

  Unlimited admin users, $5M sales ceiling, role-based permissions, developer support and 5M monthly function calls.

• CustomCustom

  For merchants above $10M in annual sales: negotiated pricing and priority technical support. Sold through sales.

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.

Swell

• Annual discount

  Save 25% by paying yearly

  The pricing page toggles between monthly and yearly billing and labels yearly billing as a 25% saving.