Side by side!
Copia vs Shopify Subscriptions
Shopify Subscriptions is Shopify’s own free app for selling products on a recurring basis. Copia runs in your Shopify store too, and is built around a CSA season.
Subscription app or CSA app?
Both run in your Shopify store, and members are Shopify customers either way. Shopify Subscriptions sells products on a recurring basis, with cards auto-billed weekly, monthly or yearly. Copia is built around a CSA: seasons and share sizes, pickup locations and hours, a plan for each delivery and a cutoff for changes. Shopify’s free Local Delivery app can plan routes from orders with any of them; Copia plans routes from each delivery date’s boxes and groups the pack list by route.
Choose Shopify Subscriptions if…
- You want subscriptions for free, from Shopify itself
- You want cards billed automatically each time a subscription renews
- You sell a few products on repeat rather than a season of shares
- You want the app supported by Shopify
Choose Copia if…
- You run a CSA season, with share sizes, pickup locations and a set delivery day
- You want to plan each delivery once: enter a full share and Copia works out every size, the harvest totals and the pack list
- You want delivery routes built from each delivery date’s boxes, split between drivers, with arrival times
- You want members emailed on your delivery schedule: pickup and delivery reminders, what’s in the box, and “Your box is here” from the driver
What each costs your farm
Your farm
Shopify Subscriptions
$0/mo
Free to install, from Shopify.
You pay only your Shopify plan.
Double your farm: no change
Card fees: 2.9% + 30¢ online through Shopify Payments (Basic plan), as with Copia
Copia
$68/mo
Seedling plan $49/mo for 50 members, plus 25 more at $0.75 each. After the first payment, members pay each bill from an emailed Shopify invoice.
Double your farm: +$31/mo
Card fees: 2.9% + 30¢ online through Shopify Payments (Basic plan)
At 75 members, Copia is $68/mo more than Shopify Subscriptions. Both run on your Shopify plan.
How each runs a CSA
From what each company publishes about itself.
For CSAs, Copia also has
Things Shopify Subscriptions’s site doesn’t mention.
- Harvest planning: enter a full share and every other size follows
- A pack list for each delivery date, with harvest totals and a slip for every member, grouped by pickup location or route
- A “what’s in your box” email for each delivery, sent from your harvest plan
- Customizable boxes members build each week
- A member cap on each share, with a waitlist when it’s full
- One-time trial boxes, for people who want to try a box first
- An offer to pause instead, when a member goes to cancel
- A check-in list at each pickup, to mark members off as they collect
- Where members sign up
- Shopify SubscriptionsA subscription option on your product pages; members manage it in their Shopify customer account
- CopiaA signup form on your own Shopify store; members become your Shopify customers
- Box types
- Shopify SubscriptionsSubscription plans for a single product or several
- CopiaSet shares, or customizable boxes members build each week; plan each delivery once and Copia works out every size
- Delivery frequencies
- Shopify SubscriptionsWeekly, monthly or yearly, with more than one frequency per plan
- CopiaWeekly, every other week or monthly for each season, and members can pick their own
- Billing options
- Shopify SubscriptionsCards auto-billed at each renewal, with dollar, percentage, buy X get Y or fixed-amount discounts
- CopiaEvery delivery, every 2, 4 or 8 deliveries, or once upfront; or one price for the whole season. After the first payment, members pay each bill from an emailed Shopify invoice; cards aren’t saved and charged automatically
- Add-ons
- Shopify SubscriptionsNot stated on their site
- CopiaExtras like eggs or bread, offered every delivery, every other, monthly or just once
- What members can change
- Shopify SubscriptionsSkip, pause, resume or cancel, and update their payment method and shipping address
- CopiaWhichever you turn on: skip a week, swap items, pause, add extras, or cancel (with a pause offered first), up to a cutoff you set
- Pickup and delivery
- Shopify SubscriptionsNot stated on their site
- CopiaPickup locations with hours; check-in at the stand or on Shopify POS; delivery routes split between drivers
- Automatic messages
- Shopify SubscriptionsEmail notifications about subscription orders, from customizable templates for order confirmations and payment reminders
- CopiaEmails for welcome, pickup and delivery reminders, skip and pause confirmations, a moved delivery and a delivered box. No texts.
- Help and support
- Shopify SubscriptionsApp support from Shopify
- CopiaGuided setup wizard, step-by-step help center and email support
Switching from Shopify Subscriptions
- 1
Export your members
Your members are already Shopify customers. Export them from Shopify’s Customers page as a CSV; Copia imports any file with an email column and uses the existing Shopify customer for each email.
- 2
Set up Copia and import them
Add Copia to your Shopify store and follow the setup checklist, then upload your member file and pick the season, billing and pickup or delivery for everyone at once. Or have us do it in a setup package.
How importing works - 3
Start after your last charge
Date your first Copia delivery after the last charge in Shopify Subscriptions, then cancel members’ subscriptions in Shopify Subscriptions so their cards aren’t charged again. From then on, members pay each bill from an emailed invoice.
Prices and descriptions from Shopify Subscriptions’s own site (App Store listing, help center) and Copia’s, as of October 22, 2026, using the Shopify Subscriptions plan that fits your farm and the Copia plan that costs least at your member count. Both need a Shopify plan, which isn’t included. Setup fees and card fees aren’t included in the monthly figures. Prices change, so check Shopify Subscriptions’s pricing page before you decide. Shopify Subscriptions is a trademark of its owner; Copia isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by Shopify Subscriptions. See something out of date? Email [email protected] and we’ll fix it.