Billing & payments

Public apps charge merchants through Shopify. The charge appears on the merchant's Shopify invoice, and Shopify pays you out. App Store apps can't use Stripe or other external billing for app fees.

Two ways to charge

	Managed Pricing	Billing API
Setup	Define plans in the dashboard	Write GraphQL mutations
Plan selection page	Hosted by Shopify	You build it
Flexibility	Recurring plans + trials	Recurring, usage-based, one-time, discounts, custom logic
Best for	Simple tiered plans	Usage pricing (e.g. per WhatsApp message), complex plans

Billing API building blocks

Mutation	Charge type
appSubscriptionCreate	Recurring (every 30 days or annual), optional trial, optional usage component
appUsageRecordCreate	Add a usage charge against a subscription's capped usage line
appPurchaseOneTimeCreate	One-time charge
appSubscriptionCancel	Cancel

The flow

Recurring + usage example (FlowFlex-style)

mutation {
  appSubscriptionCreate(
    name: "Growth"
    returnUrl: "https://admin.shopify.com/store/my-shop/apps/my-app"
    trialDays: 7
    test: true
    lineItems: [
      { plan: { appRecurringPricingDetails: { price: { amount: 29, currencyCode: USD }, interval: EVERY_30_DAYS } } }
      { plan: { appUsagePricingDetails: { cappedAmount: { amount: 200, currencyCode: USD }, terms: "$0.01 per WhatsApp message" } } }
    ]
  ) {
    confirmationUrl
    appSubscription { id lineItems { id } }
    userErrors { field message }
  }
}

Then, when messages are sent:

mutation {
  appUsageRecordCreate(
    subscriptionLineItemId: "gid://shopify/AppSubscriptionLineItem/123?v=1&index=1"
    price: { amount: 1.50, currencyCode: USD }
    description: "150 WhatsApp messages"
    idempotencyKey: "shop-123-2026-10-22"
  ) { appUsageRecord { id } userErrors { field message } }
}

In the React Router template

const { billing } = await authenticate.admin(request);
await billing.require({
  plans: ["Growth"],
  isTest: true,
  onFailure: async () => billing.request({ plan: "Growth", isTest: true }),
});

Rules to remember

• test: true on dev stores. Test charges are never billed.
• A merchant can only have one active subscription per app. Creating a new one replaces the old (upgrade or downgrade).
• Usage charges can't exceed the capped amount. Ask the merchant to approve a higher cap with appSubscriptionLineItemUpdate.
• Listen to app_subscriptions/update to keep your database in sync.
• Prorating, trials and charge timing follow Shopify's billing cycle. Read the billing docs for the specifics.

Revenue share

Shopify takes a share of app revenue above a threshold. Reports from mid-2025 say the $1M exemption became lifetime rather than annual, with 15% above it.

Unverified

These terms couldn't be confirmed on an official Shopify page while writing this. Check the current Partner Program Agreement before planning pricing.

Project step: require a $9/month "Basic" plan with a 7-day trial before showing the orders page.

Check yourself

1. Merchant is on Growth and picks Pro. What happens to the Growth subscription?
2. How do you charge per message without surprising the merchant?