In this story 7 sections
Picking a subscription platform feels like a software decision. It’s really a churn decision. Your cancel flow, your dunning and your customer portal all live inside it, and moving off it is real work: Stay AI quotes “up to 2 weeks” for a migration1. So we put Stay AI and Skio side by side on what each company publishes, and checked which brands in our scan run each one.
Same price. The real choice is churn tools or the box, and who owns the roadmap.
Pick Stay AI if
- Churn is your main problem and you want every feature on one public plan.
- You want a 30-day free trial and $499 a month without a yearly contract.
- You want a team-led migration and a dedicated account manager from day one.
Pick Skio if
- Build-a-box, bundles or gifting sit at the center of your offer.
- You want loyalty and referrals inside the subscriber portal, not in another app.
- You’re fine with Recharge owning Skio’s roadmap, or already happy in that world.
Our take: the Stay team’s support is the best we’ve worked with. See the public ratings
Side by side
Thirteen things a founder actually asks on the first sales call. Where one platform clearly comes out ahead on the published facts, we say so. Where it’s close, it says even.
Stay AIIndependent
SkioPart of RechargeStay AISkioStay AISkioStay AISkioStay AISkioStay AISkioStay AISkioStay AISkioStay AISkioStay AISkioFrom each company’s pricing page and Shopify App Store listing, read Oct 10, 2026.
What it costs
If you’re choosing on price, flip a coin. Stay AI’s Pro plan is $499 a month1. Skio’s Scale plan is $499 a month billed yearly, or $599 month to month3. The transaction fees are a penny apart. The one real gap: if you don’t want to sign up for a year, Stay AI is $100 a month cheaper.
So the decision comes down to which problem keeps you up at night, churn or the box, and how you feel about Recharge owning Skio’s roadmap a year from now.
Support
Support is the part of a subscription platform you only notice when something breaks, usually on a renewal day with a few thousand charges in the queue. Both companies sell it hard. Stay AI says every plan comes with a dedicated account manager and support team, included in the price1. Skio’s pricing page promises “Award-Winning Support” from people who came from Shopify and Recharge, and lists a dedicated success manager on its Enterprise plan3.
The public ratings are close. As of Oct 10, 2026, Stay AI holds 4.9 stars from 148 reviews on the Shopify App Store2. Skio holds 5.0 from 2434. Reviews of both name their success managers again and again.
4.9★148 reviews · 98% five starsStay AI5.0★243 reviews · 98% five starsSkioStay AIon the Shopify App Store“Product is great, where Stay really shines is in their customer support.”
“Amazing customer service and simple to use!”
“Whenever we’ve had an issue they jumped on help immediately.”
Skioon the Shopify App Store“My CSM, Matt, has been incredibly responsive and supportive of our goals.”
“The level of customer support has been exceptional.”
“The customer service has been excellent.”
Not every review is glowing. A three-star review from Rootless Coffee Company on June 13, 2026 says the sales team promised regular meetings with a customer success manager and proactive recommendations, and that “since implementation, that simply hasn’t happened”2. It’s one review out of 148, but it’s the right question for either company: how often will we meet, and who’s on our account?
The ownership question
On April 30, 2026, Recharge announced that Skio is joining the company. Recharge and Skio say they power more than 20,000 merchants and process over $20B in GMV a year5. Skio’s own post says both platforms will keep running and keep shipping features while the teams “figure out the best path forward” over the next 12 months or so6. TechCrunch reported the deal at $105M in cash, citing Skio founder Kennan Frost. The press release didn’t disclose terms7.
Skio looks stable. Its long-term roadmap now runs through Recharge.
If you’re signing today, Skio looks stable, and both companies say the platform keeps shipping. Those roadmap calls haven’t been announced yet. We wouldn’t let that scare anyone off Skio. Stay AI is still independent.
Which brands run each
From our Oct 9, 2026 scan of public storefront code. Tap a logo for that brand’s Brand Tested page.
All 48 brands we detected running Stay AI
A Pup Above, alice mushrooms, Arey, Be LOVE, Beekeeper's Naturals, Begin Health, Big Ass Luxuries, Boerne Brand, Breath Death, Bubble Skincare, Cali Sober, Cann, Clevr Blends, Cowboy Colostrum, David Protein, DRMTLGY, Feals, Fishwife, FOND Bone Broth, Freestyle, Ghia, GRADE Supply, Graza, Happy Aging, Higher Dose, Joggy, Kettle & Fire, Lemme, Lomi, Love Me Gluten Free, Magic Spoon, Manukora, maude, My Happy Flo, Nutcase, OLIPOP, Peppertux, Portland Pet Food Company, Promix, Seya Health, Surely, Sweet Addison's, Tmpl8 Hair, UNDO Gummies, Venus Et Fleur, Veracity Health, VitaHustle, Wandering Bear
All 50 brands we detected running Skio
Aloha, Aqua Omega, Beauty Bakerie, BeePop, Big Bold Health, BIOLOGICA, Buoy, Chippin, CURE, Dad Grass, Dandylion, De Soi, Deeps, Diaspora Co., Dog is Human, Dune Suncare, Elemind Store, Experiment, Gorilla Mind, Guests on Earth, HabitONE, Hippeas, IM8, immi, KilgourMD, Kin Euphorics, KraveBeauty, LUS Brands, Magic Mind, Magna, MiLa, Muscle Nation, OLIPOP, On the Brightside, Plant People, Rejuvia, Remedy Science, Ripple Foods, Sleep Karma, Summer Fridays, Supergoop!, Supergut, SURI, Taste Salud, Tea Drops, Tower 28, Tuft & Paw, Vaca Chips, Wizard Wellness, ZBiotics
Who should pick which
Stay AI fits
- Replenishment brands (food, beverage, supplements) where month-two churn decides profitability.
- Teams that want strategy help included. Stay AI says every plan comes with a dedicated account manager1.
- Brands moving off Recharge that want a clean break. Stay AI publishes a merchant quote about exactly that move1.
Skio fits
- Brands with build-a-box, bundles or gifting at the center of the offer.
- Subscription programs that want loyalty and referrals inside the portal instead of a separate app3.
- Brands already happy in the Recharge world.
If you forced us to call it for a replenishment brand making its first real subscription push, we’d start from the problem. People canceling around month two is a Stay AI conversation. Customers who love building their own box is the reason Skio exists. Whichever way you go, get the migration plan in writing before you sign anything.
Sources
- Stay AI pricing: stay.ai/pricing, read Oct 10, 2026.
- Stay AI Subscriptions on the Shopify App Store, reviews: apps.shopify.com/stayai-subscriptions, read Oct 10, 2026.
- Skio pricing: skio.com/pricing, read Oct 10, 2026.
- Skio on the Shopify App Store, reviews: apps.shopify.com/skio, read Oct 10, 2026.
- Recharge press release, Apr 30, 2026: prnewswire.com
- Skio, “The Best Teams in Subscriptions, Together”: skio.com/blog/skio-is-now-part-of-recharge
- TechCrunch, Apr 30, 2026: techcrunch.com
- Brand detections: Brand Tested storefront scan of public site code, Oct 9, 2026.
The Brand Tested Score measures how distinct a brand is (Brand DNA, 40%) and how well its own online store sells (Site Experience, 60%). Scores are Brand Tested’s opinion, built from public storefront pages and the apps we detected on the scan date and our published v2.0 methodology. They aren’t statements of fact about any company. See something wrong? Request a correction.