Select the Best Magento 2 Subscription Extension for Business Success
Categorized as : Ecommerce and Magento 2 Extensions
E-commerce stores running on Magento 2 are adopting subscription and recurring payments models more and more often nowadays to increase sales and customer loyalty. Subscription services allow consumers to receive their favorite products or services on a regular basis, while businesses get regular, predictable profits. To effectively manage subscriptions, you need reliable extensions. In this article, we'll take a look at three popular Magento 2 subscription extensions - Advanced Subscription Products by Aheadworks, Subscribe Now Pro by MageDelight, and Subscription and Recurring Payments by Amasty. We will review them based on several key criteria and see what they have to offer.
All extension details are listed on the date of this article publication and taken from the official websites of the developers.
See Also - Business Cases: How to Sell Subscriptions
1. Email Notifications: Enhancing Customer Communication
Without an effective email notification system, customers can get lost in the subscription process. Clear and timely notifications can significantly improve customers’ experience and retention. Let’s see how these Magento 2 recurring payments extensions manage to keep customers informed and engaged.
Advanced Subscription Products by Aheadworks gives you full control over email notifications. The extension allows you to customize notifications for various events: next billing reminders, payment confirmations or failure alerts, subscription updates notifications. To simplify things even more, the extension comes with pre-designed templates for each type of email. Moreover, there is a native integration with Klaviyo, which boosts the quality of email marketing to the whole new level.
As for Subscribe Now Pro by MageDelight, the extension provides similar email notification options and templates. However, the configuration process may require more steps compared to Aheadworks solution. For instance, instead of entering a unified BCC email address(es) for all notifications, you must input it separately for each email type. In addition, the extension doesn't have that deep integration with email marketing platforms.
In the Subscription and Recurring Payments by Amasty the notification system is quite basic and may not match the other two in terms of customization. It is limited to subscription purchases or cancelations emails, and trial period reminders, like days remaining and end of trial period alerts.
2. Storefront Subscription Management: Empowering the Customer
This feature is one of the most vital as it allows your customers to self-manage their subscriptions, which increases their satisfaction level and reduces your support team's workload, hence cuts down its cost.
Aheadworks Advanced Subscription Products offers an incredibly powerful storefront subscription management portal. Customers can not only create and cancel subscriptions, but also pause them, skip a particular product for the next delivery, change the subscription plan as well as the delivery date and address. From their account, customers can update payment info and easily switch between payment methods, all without needing to go through the checkout again. What is more If a user wants to add a new product to their subscription, this too can be done in a couple of clicks. This functionality makes the interface user-friendly and intuitive, giving flexibility and control over subscription and recurring payments management.
Subscribe Now Pro shares almost the same key features of the storefront subscription management. However, there are important limitations here: customers cannot change payment methods, subscriptions with the same delivery date and address do not merge into a single order as they do in Aheadworks extension. The latter means that each subscription has to be managed separately. The UI itself seems less user-friendly, as it takes a bit more clicks to get things done.
Subscription and Recurring Payments provides a very restricted self-service portal. Customers can only view and cancel their subscriptions, which greatly limits their flexibility and usability.
3. Discount Management: Encouraging Loyalty and Driving Sales
Discounts are effective tools for increasing customer loyalty and driving sales. Let's take a look at how three extensions support them in the context of Magento 2 recurring payments.
Advanced Subscription Products by Aheadworks stands out for its flexibility. Not only does it support discounts on both the initial subscription order and subsequent payments, but it also allows you to set up complex scenarios, for example: ‘for every 2nd order, starting with the 3rd’. This is a useful option because many customers subscribe to get a discount on the first order and then cancel. By allowing more tailored discount structures, Advanced Subscription Products gives merchants tools to keep customers engaged longer.
Subscribe Now Pro by MageDelight also offers discounts on both the first and subsequent subscription orders. However, the set of scenarios here is a bit simpler - you can set the discount for a certain number of orders or start applying it after a number of cycles. This is a good tool, but not as flexible compared to Advanced Subscription Products.As for Amasty's Subscription and Recurring Payments, it allows you to set up discounts only for the first N number of subscription cycles. However, the customisation interface is quite user-friendly, which can be a plus for users who value ease of management.
This should be interesting - How to improve the discount management system for subscription businesses
4. Service as Product Support: Catering to SaaS and Service-Based Businesses
All three extensions are great at supporting subscriptions for physical and digital, downloadable products, making them useful for most online stores. But what if you need to offer subscriptions for services or exclusive content?
When it comes to service subscriptions, Aheadworks Advanced Subscription Products truly excels with its “Service Mode”. This mode is great for businesses offering access to exclusive content, privileges or memberships rather than physical products. Unlike standard product subscriptions, Service Mode automates subscription renewals, freeing customers from having to re-subscribe. This is especially useful for SaaS companies and online services that need to ensure continuous access to services without disruption.
While Subscribe Now Pro and Subscription and Recurring Payments do support service subscriptions, they treat services simply as products eligible for subscriptions, without offering any specialized features. As a result, they seem less tailored for Service Business models compared to Advanced Subscription Products by Aheadworks with its automatic renewals.
5. Guest Subscriptions: Providing Convenience for Every Customers
Some customers prefer to remain a guest and not create an account. This preference for guest checkout is common among users who value privacy or simply want to avoid the hassle of registration. So, how convenient are the Magento 2 subscription extensions in these cases?
Advanced Subscription Products and Subscribe Now Pro allow guests to subscribe without having to register. This is great for customers who appreciate simplicity and don't want to create an account.
Subscription and Recurring Payments, on the other hand, requires registration at the checkout stage. As soon as the customers click the “Proceed to Checkout” button, they are prompted to create an account, which may scare off some users and lead to cart abandonment.
6. Functional Updates Frequency: Keeping Pace with Evolving Needs
Regular updates bring not only improvements in uptime stability, but also add new features that make using the extension more convenient and create new business opportunities. How often do developers spoil us with new features in releases? Let's see.
Aheadworks Advanced Subscription Products extension is characterized by a stable frequency of updates. New features are released every 1-2 months. This frequency allows the product to stay current, quickly adapt to changing market requirements and offer new business opportunities to merchants.
Subscribe Now Pro has released two feature updates in 2024 to date, and two in 2023 as well. The rest of the updates were technical enhancements and bug fixes, indicating a lower but stable frequency of new features.As to the Subscription and Recurring Payments, it received only one functional update in 2024 to date. Prior to that, since 2020, the product has been updated solely for maintenance and bug fixes, with no new features introduced.
7. Payment Methods Support: Flexibility and Security
A variety of payment methods is key to customer convenience and successful conversions. The more options your business has for accepting payments, the higher the chances that customers will find a method that works for them, which is especially important for subscription models where payments are made on a regular basis.
Advanced Subscription Products by Aheadworks and Subscribe Now Pro by MageDelight each offer 12 built-in payment methods, including popular options like PayPal and Stripe. And if you need more, they make it quite easy to add additional payment methods. However, only the extension by Aheadworks supports Adobe Payment Services, giving you more options for integration with the Adobe ecosystem. In addition, Aheadworks solution stands out for its automatic payment retry feature when a payment fails, which reduces the risk of canceling subscriptions due to accidental payment declines and helps retain customers. Subscribe Now Pro sends email notifications to the customer in such cases.
Subscription and Recurring Payments by Amasty in comparison to its competitors offers only 5 built-in payment methods and does not support Adobe Payment Services, which may limit the choice for users.
8. Hyvä Support: Embracing Modern Frontend Technology
Hyvä is a new, faster and more efficient alternative to standard Magento themes that offers faster page loads and simplified development. More and more stores are switching to this theme now, so it's important to consider its support.
Both Advanced Subscription Products and Subscribe Now Pro are integrated with Hyvä, which makes them a great choice for stores that want to utilize modern frontend technology and get high site performance without complex tweaks. Subscription and Recurring Payments, however, does not support Hyvä, which may discourage those who have already migrated or plan to do so in the future.
9. Price: Offering Value for Money
The pricing aspect is an important factor when choosing a subscription management extension, especially when different platforms offer different pricing models. It can be a deciding aspect when choosing the right Magento 2 subscription extension. Let's take a look at how the payment plans of the three solutions differ.
All prices are listed on the date of this article publication and taken from the official websites of the developers.
Advanced Subscription Products by Aheadworks costs $50 per month or $500 per year. This flat rate is the same for both Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce, making this extension convenient for any size of business. The price includes free installation, updates, and support throughout the subscription period, which is especially convenient for businesses that need uninterrupted operations and regular updates. This sets the product apart from the competition as there is no additional cost.
MageDelight Subscribe Now Pro sells for an initial fee of $699 ($999 without discount) for Magento Open Source. With installation it will cost more - $998 ($1298 without discount). For Adobe Commerce and Adobe Cloud, the price will be higher. The product includes 1 year of free technical support and updates, after which renewal will cost $359 annually. This solution also offers lifetime access to the source code.
Subscription and Recurring Payments by Amasty costs $399 for Magento Open Source, which includes 12 months of updates and support. For Adobe Commerce and Magento Cloud, the price is also higher. After the first year, updates and support will cost $245 per year.
Final Thoughts: The Best Magento 2 Subscription Extension?
After reviewing each extension, Advanced Subscription Products by Aheadworks clearly comes out on top. With its consistent updates, rich payment options (including Adobe Payment Services), and automatic retry features, it’s ideal for businesses that need flexibility, reliability, and future-proof functionality. Its Service Mode and user-friendly storefront subscription management add even more value, making it the ultimate solution for Magento 2 recurring payments and subscriptions.
So, if you're serious about growing your subscription-based business, Advanced Subscription Products by Aheadworks is your go-to choice. Get started today and unlock the full potential of your Magento 2 store!
Still in doubt whether to buy a Magento 2 subscription extension? - Check out these articles:
Do Subscriptions Worth It: Top 5 FAQ questions about eCommerce Website Subscriptions
7 Top Reasons For Your ECommerce Store To Offer Subscriptions
Top Magento 2 Recurring Payments Extensions Compared
