Billing requirement 1.2 — free connector app for a standalone (non-Shopify-exclusive) SaaS with external subscription

Shopify App Store
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Hi all,

Before we start building, we’d like to confirm how App Store billing requirement 1.2 applies to our specific model, as we want to be fully compliant before submitting a public app.

Context — this is important: Our product is a standalone SaaS platform for AI image/video generation. It is NOT a Shopify-exclusive app. It already exists as an independent web application with its own users, its own dashboard, and its own subscriptions — the large majority of our users never interact with Shopify at all. The Shopify app we want to publish is a connector/integration to this existing platform, not a Shopify-only product.

Proposed model:

  1. The Shopify app itself is free — it does not charge merchants anything through Shopify.

  2. Merchants who want a paid plan subscribe to our standalone SaaS on our own website, billed through our payment provider (a Merchant of Record), completely independent of the Shopify install.
    Our platform uses a prepaid credit wallet: users purchase credits on our website through our payment provider, and those credits are consumed across the entire platform. The Shopify connector draws from the same external wallet — it never sells or charges for credits inside Shopify. Merchants installing via Shopify receive a recurring monthly free credit allowance.

  3. Inside the Shopify app we offer a genuine recurring free tier (a set number of generations per month, free forever), plus real in-app utility regardless of credits — e.g. generated pushing images directly as Shopify product media and catalog/media sync.

Our questions:

  1. Given that the paid relationship is with our pre-existing, non-Shopify-exclusive SaaS, does requirement 1.2 (“all charges associated with your app must go through Shopify’s Billing API”) still mandate that we route subscription charges through Shopify Billing — or does it not apply because the app itself charges nothing and the paid product exists independently of Shopify?

  2. If the app is genuinely free on Shopify with a recurring free tier and real in-app functionality, is the external/standalone subscription considered compliant, or is it treated as a charge “associated with the app”?

  3. What specific signals during review distinguish an acceptable free connector to an external SaaS from a non-compliant “free app that only redirects to an external paywall”? We want to make sure our in-app value is sufficient.

  4. Is there anything in this model that would block App Store approval that we should address before building?

We’ve read requirement 1.2 and the Help Center note on apps that bill externally, but we’d like an authoritative confirmation for this exact connector + standalone-SaaS scenario before we invest in development.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

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Hey @VyndraAI - thanks for reaching out.

Generally, for a public App Store app, if a Shopify merchant needs to pay for the service, subscription, or credits in order to use paid functionality connected to the Shopify app, that paid path needs to go through Shopify App Pricing or the Shopify Billing API.

A real free tier/free monthly allowance is totally fine, but it does not by itself make an external paid credit wallet compliant if Shopify merchants are being directed to buy credits or subscribe off-platform for usage associated with the app.

The distinction I’d plan around is:

  1. Existing customers who already pay for your standalone SaaS before installing the Shopify connector generally don’t need to be migrated just because they connect Shopify.
  2. Merchants who discover/install through the Shopify App Store should have a Shopify-billed path for paid plans, paid credits, or paid usage.

For your model, the safest build would be to keep the recurring free Shopify plan/allowance, then route any Shopify-acquired paid upgrades or usage through Shopify App Pricing or the Billing API. Usage-based pricing may be a good fit for the credit-style model.

Your standalone SaaS model would need to qualify for an off-platform billing exception though (for custom plans, etc we do sometimes allow for exemptions), and I’d reccomend raising that through out Support folks before building, but we can’t guarantee the exemption would be granted.

Let me know if I can clarify anything on our end here, hope this helps a bit!

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Thank you so much, for your reply and for your time.