The enterprise platform tax, without the enterprise platform.
Recharge is powerful, but you pay for it three times over: a monthly fee, a percentage of revenue, and $0.19 on every single order, often locked into a 12-month contract. Joy gives you the same subscription and retention core at roughly half the percentage, zero per-order fees, and no contract.
- No per-order fees
- No annual contract
- Free managed migration
The honest bottom line
Choose Recharge if
you are a high-volume enterprise store that needs its mature integration library, SDK depth, and proven scale, and you are fine with a 12-month commitment.
Choose Joy if
you want a lower all-in cost with no per-order cents, the flexibility to leave anytime, and a deep retention toolkit that is not gated behind a $499/mo Plus tier.
Joy vs Recharge, on price
Recharge stacks three costs: a monthly fee, a percentage, and $0.19 on every order. Joy charges a percentage only, at roughly half the rate.
Joy’s percentage is roughly half of Recharge’s, and Joy has no $0.19 per-order fee. On low-AOV, high-frequency subscriptions, that per-order charge alone can exceed Joy’s entire fee.
Estimate your savings
You keep $578/mo · $6,940/year with Joy
Includes Recharge's $0.19 per-order fee, assuming a $60 average order value.
Feature by feature
Why merchants choose Joy
Stop paying $0.19 on every order
Recharge stacks a flat monthly fee, a percentage, and $0.19 per order. For a subscription doing thousands of renewals a month, that per-order line adds up fast. Joy charges a percentage only, no per-order cents, at roughly half Recharge’s rate.
No 12-month handcuffs
Recharge’s Plus and Custom tiers require annual contracts. Joy has no lock-in. You stay because the product earns it, not because you signed a year away.
The retention toolkit should not cost $499
Recharge reserves loyalty, referrals, bundles, the SDK, and hands-on migration for its $499 Plus tier. Joy’s deepest retention features and free managed migration are available far below that.
Switching is handled for you
Moving off Recharge should not cost you a weekend or a single subscriber.
Talk to a migration manager- Free, fully managed migration. A named manager moves your subscriptions, billing dates and customer data off Recharge, with no disruption to active subscribers.
- Build-to-Order runway. Building something custom? Up to 60 days free while we build it, so you are not paying two apps during the transition.
- No lock-in. Cancel anytime. Stay because the math works, not because you are stuck.
Common questions
How much lower is Joy’s fee than Recharge’s?+
Does Joy charge a per-order fee?+
Is there a contract?+
What does Recharge do better?+
How does migration from Recharge work?+
Keep the platform power. Drop the platform tax.
Lower fees, no per-order charge, no contract, free migration.