Subscription Products

Use Checkout Links with subscription products to create shareable links where the subscription plan is already pre-selected — perfect for subscribe-and-save campaigns, win-back flows, and recurring revenue growth.

This guide requires a subscription app (such as Recharge, Appstle, Loop, or Shopify Subscriptions) to be installed with selling plans configured on your products.

What are Selling Plans?

Selling plans are Shopify's standard way to offer subscriptions, deposits, and payment plans on products. Subscription apps like Recharge, Appstle, and Loop create selling plans on your products — and Checkout Links detects them automatically.

When you add a product with selling plans to a checkout link, you can select which plan to pre-select for customers. No configuration or setup needed — it just works.

Compatible Subscription Apps

Checkout Links works with any subscription app that uses Shopify's standard selling plan API:

App	Description
Shopify Subscriptions	Shopify's native subscription app
Recharge	Leading subscription management platform
Appstle	Subscriptions, memberships, and build-a-box
Loop	Subscription management with bundling
Bold Subscriptions	Recurring orders and subscription boxes
PayWhirl	Subscriptions and payment plans
Seal Subscriptions	Simple subscription management

Any app that creates standard Shopify selling plans will work with Checkout Links automatically. If your subscription app isn't listed here, it almost certainly works — just add a subscription product to a link and check.

How the Integration Works

Checkout Links integrates with subscription apps through Shopify's native selling plans:

Your subscription app creates selling plans on your products (e.g., "Subscribe & Save — Deliver every 30 days")
Checkout Links detects these selling plans when you add products to a link
The first selling plan is auto-selected by default — you can click Edit on the line item to choose a different plan or select One-time purchase if you don't want a subscription
Customers see the subscription pre-selected when they click your link — no need to choose manually

This integration is automatic — once your subscription app is installed and configured, the subscription options appear in Checkout Links.

Why Use Checkout Links for Subscriptions?

Native Shopify cart permalinks don't support selling plans. Checkout Links bypasses this limitation by using the Storefront API, which fully supports selling plans. This means you can:

Create direct subscription links — Customers go straight to checkout with the subscription pre-selected
Share anywhere — Email campaigns, SMS, social media, QR codes, customer support conversations
Combine with promotions — Add free shipping, discounts, or free gifts to sweeten the deal
Track performance — Use attribution and analytics to measure subscription campaign conversions
Remove friction — No need for customers to find the subscription option themselves

Creating a Subscription Link

Start a new link — From your Checkout Links dashboard, click **Create Link** and give your link a name.

Add a product with selling plans — In the **Cart** section, click **Browse** and select a product that has subscription selling plans configured.

Select the subscription plan — Checkout Links automatically pre-selects the first selling plan when you add a subscription product. Click **Edit** on the line item to see all available plans and choose the one you want (e.g., "Subscribe & Save — Deliver every 30 days"), then click **Done**. To create a one-time purchase link, select **One-time purchase** instead.

If you don't see selling plans when editing a line item, make sure the product is published to the Checkout Links sales channel. See Sales Channel Configuration for help.

Add optional promotions — Enhance your campaign by adding free shipping, free gifts, or discounts.

Customize your link — Change the slug to something memorable like subscribe-save or monthly-bundle. Add attribution parameters to track campaign performance. Set usage limits if you want to cap redemptions.

Save and test — Click Save to create your link. Then click Visit Link to test it — you'll see the subscription plan already selected in the cart.

Alternative: Create from Shopify Admin

You can also create subscription links directly from any product page in Shopify:

Open the product — Go to the product in your Shopify admin.

Access the quick action — Click **More Actions** at the top of the page, then select **Create Checkout Link**.

Configure the subscription — The product is already in the cart. Click **Edit** on the line item and select the subscription selling plan.

Finalize your link — Add any promotions, customize the slug, and click **Create Link**.

Dynamic Subscription Links

You can also create subscription links dynamically using URL parameters. Add the selling plan ID as the third value in the li parameter:

?li=variantId,quantity,sellingPlanId

This is useful for building subscription landing pages or integrating with external tools. See the Dynamic Links docs for full examples and code snippets.

Use Cases

Subscribe & save campaigns — Drive recurring revenue with one-click subscription checkout
Win-back flows — Re-engage churned subscribers with a direct link to re-subscribe
Upgrade flows — Send customers a link to switch from monthly to quarterly and save
Klaviyo and email automation — Include subscription links in automated email sequences
SMS promotions — Direct link to checkout with subscription pre-selected
Customer support — Send a link with the exact product and subscription plan during a conversation

Use UTM tracking to measure which channels drive the most subscription conversions.

Looking for deposit or payment plan links instead? See the Downpay guide.

Related Resources

Dynamic Links - Personalize checkout links with customer data
Analytics - Track subscription campaign performance
Promotions - Configure discounts and offers