Managed Pricing is now Shopify App Pricing, and it’s a significant upgrade. In addition to recurring subscriptions, Shopify App Pricing now supports usage-based billing, powered by the new App Events API and includes new App Pricing APIs with more accurate subscription data and functionality.
Below is the full breakdown: why we built this, what it does, and what comes next.
Why we built Shopify App Pricing
Merchants want consistent, transparent, predictable billing. That consistency builds trust in your app, in the platform, and in the decision to keep paying.
But up until now, apps that wanted to offer anything beyond a flat monthly fee had to build and maintain their own billing infrastructure. That created two problems:
- Every app’s billing looks different. Billing is configured independently, so every app has its own pricing page, its own invoice format, its own approval flow. When billing is confusing or inconsistent across apps, merchants feel it. So do developers, in support tickets, cancellations, and reviews.
- Flexibility came at a cost. The Billing API let you price how you wanted, but it meant building and maintaining a full billing stack. Engineering time that could go toward your product went toward billing plumbing instead.
In 2024, we released Managed Pricing as a first step toward Shopify-hosted billing. Apps on it saw smoother app reviews and fewer billing-related rejections, but its capabilities were limited to flat-rate subscriptions. If your app’s value scaled with merchant activity, Managed Pricing couldn’t represent that.
Developers should be free to price how they want without taking on billing as a side job. Shopify App Pricing eliminates that tradeoff. Same Shopify-hosted billing merchants trust, now with the flexibility to support any pricing model.
When developers don’t have to build custom and bespoke billing, merchants get the consistent experience that keeps them paying.
What’s new
The same Shopify-hosted billing system Managed Pricing gave you, now with more power and flexibility to support your revenue goals as you scale.
Pricing is configured once during app submission in the Partner Dashboard, and the rest is left to Shopify: the plan page, charge approvals, usage tracking, invoicing, and payment collection. Your app’s charges appear on the same Shopify invoice merchants already pay.
This is the biggest addition. Shopify App Pricing lets you choose from recurring subscription fees, usage-based charges, or a combination of both.
Stick with subscriptions or charge merchants based on how they actually use your app, whether it’s per message sent, per order processed, per image optimized, etc. Three pricing structures are supported:
- Fixed - uniform rate per unit
- Graduated - tiered rates summed across usage bands
- Volume - single rate based on total usage tier
Shopify App Pricing ships with new APIs split across two surfaces:
A. Send usage from your app to the App Events API
Usage-based pricing works through the new App Events API. You define meters in the Partner Dashboard, then send usage events from your app. Shopify matches events to your meters, aggregates usage, calculates charges, and invoices the merchant automatically.
The App Events API also supports negative reporting. Which means it automatically corrects a usage charge (a message bounced, a transaction was reversed, a job was retried) without having to deal with refund processing or support tickets.
B. See a more accurate report of your apps billing data
The new Active Subscription and Historical Events APIs solves key limitations in the current GraphQL Admin API by providing persistent data beyond uninstall, so you can accurately track revenue, reconcile billing history, and report on the full merchant lifecycle.
- Active Subscription API: Real-time subscription status (active / pending / cancelled / frozen) that persists beyond uninstall. The old AppSubscription object in the GraphQL Admin API only reflects the most recently accepted charge, which doesn’t always match the true subscription status. This API gives you the real state of the merchant’s subscription.
- Historical Events API: Full event log of installs, uninstalls, subscription changes, charges, credits, and usage, for reporting and reconciliation. This API is enriched with more detail than past APIs and is built with Shopify App Pricing in mind.
Merchants now see a billing card on your app’s page in their Shopify admin. It shows their current plan, subscription status, usage charges, and upcoming pricing changes — including downgrades. This is the same information surfaced through the Active Subscription API on your side.
For apps with usage-based pricing, merchants see itemized breakdowns of what they’re being charged for and why. This should significantly decrease those “why is my bill higher this month?” support tickets landing in your inbox.
The Billing API keeps running, however, Shopify App Pricing is where billing gets built going forward, including usage-based pricing, better subscription data, automatic usage corrections, etc. New apps default to Shopify App Pricing today.
When billing becomes a platform capability, the entire ecosystem wins
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Merchants get billing experiences they can trust. When every app’s pricing page, invoice, and charge approval looks and works the same way, merchants don’t have to figure out how billing works for each app they install. They just read the price, approve the charge, and move on. For you, that means fewer billing-related support tickets, fewer cancellations, and more merchant trust.
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Make billing decisions faster. When pricing is configuration instead of code, you can add, adjust, or scale your billing to grow with you. Notice features that drive retention through App Events? Price for it instantly or run $0 tests to verify the approach before you ship it – all without ever redeploying code. App Store reviews go smoother too, because your billing is already built into the platform.
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You get more time building apps, not billing. Plan selection, charge approvals, proration, metering, invoicing, all handled by Shopify. The engineering time you used to spend on billing plumbing goes back to building the features merchants are actually paying for.
Get started with Shopify App Pricing
Shopify App Pricing is the default option when you start a new app.
If you have an existing app, you’ll soon be able to opt into Shopify App Pricing by switching your APIs over. Migration tooling will be available shortly to make this transition as seamless as possible, so your merchants won’t need to resubscribe or take any action.
Using Mantle to configure your app pricing? No worries, we are working closely with them to ensure you have a smooth transition. Details to come soon.
For more details on how to set up Shopify App Pricing, check out our dev documentation.
Have questions? Ask us or share your feedback below. We’ll be actively monitoring this thread as we continue to make Shopify App Pricing available to all apps and pricing plans.
FAQ
Q: Is my billing going to break?
No. Your current billing on Managed Pricing or the Billing API continues to work exactly as it does today. Nothing will break.
Q: Do I have to migrate to Shopify App Pricing?
Your current billing will keep working if you don’t migrate, however, Shopify App Pricing is the default billing solution going forward because it addresses several limitations of the Billing API and Managed Pricing, including:
- Subscription status not reflecting a merchant’s real subscription state (only the last accepted charge)
- Billing data disappearing after app uninstall
- The Usage API adding separate line items per call instead of true metering
These gaps can cause inaccurate reporting, billing disputes, and merchant experiences that feel inconsistent with the rest of Shopify. Shopify App Pricing fixes this with real-time subscription status, persistent billing history, native metering, and automatic usage corrections. It’s also where all new investment is going and we intend to expand Shopify App Pricing’s capabilities to offer the best solution for all apps.
Q: Is the Billing API being deprecated?
As of now, the Billing API is legacy. Shopify App Pricing is now the default billing solution for apps.
Q: Will one-time charges be supported?
While there’s no standard one-time charge support on Shopify App Pricing currently, we found that the majority of use cases that rely on one-time charges can be represented as usage-based pricing, which Shopify App Pricing does support. If your app currently uses one-time purchases, take a look at whether usage-based pricing could work for your model. We’re evaluating additional pricing features for future releases.
Q: Are there limits on usage-based pricing?
Yes. Up to 5 usage meters per plan, up to 6 pricing tiers per meter. Usage charges must be billed monthly. They can’t be combined with yearly-only plans. Usage caps aren’t supported yet. Full details in the dev docs.
Q: Does subscription data work the same on Shopify App Pricing as it did on Managed Pricing?
Shopify App Pricing uses the Partners API for subscription data, not the GraphQL Admin API. Subscription changes aren’t delivered via webhooks. See the dev docs for details.
Q: I’m on Managed Pricing, do I need to update my code?
Yes. Beyond plan configuration updates, you’ll need to move subscription queries to the Partners API and update code that relies on webhooks for subscription notifications. See the dev docs for details.
Q: Will merchants see usage breakdowns in their email notifications?
Not at launch. Merchants can view usage details on their Shopify invoice and in the charge approval flow. We’re working on adding usage details to email notifications.
Q: Is historical billing data available right away?
New billing data is available immediately. Historical data backfill is in progress and coverage will build over the coming months.
Q: Shopify App Pricing doesn’t support the pricing features I need. Can I request they get added?
We’re exploring more use cases to add to Shopify App Pricing in future releases. If you have feedback and feature requests, we want to hear them.
Q: I’m currently using Mantle to configure my pricing. Do I have to migrate?
We are working closely with Mantle to ensure you have a smooth transition, with little to no disruption to your Shopify settings and Mantle set up. Details to come.