app comparison
A More Flexible Alternative to Seal Subscriptions
Seal Subscriptions handles the basics of recurring billing, but if you need memberships with gated content, tiered perks, or detailed analytics, Zendra is built for that from the ground up.
Why merchants switch to Zendra
Seal covers subscription billing, but merchants who need full membership functionality often find themselves working around its limitations.
member perks
Tiered benefits that scale
Create multi-tier membership programs with unique perks, discounts, and access levels at each tier. Seal’s subscription model doesn’t natively support tiered membership structures.
Content gating
Members-only content built in
Zendra lets you gate pages, products, and collections by membership tier — no workarounds or third-party apps needed. Seal focuses on subscription billing without native content restriction.
migration
Hassle-free migration
Moving from Seal? Zendra’s migration tools bring over your subscriber data so you can transition without disrupting your members or losing history.
analytics
Membership-specific insights
rack member engagement, tier distribution, churn risk, and lifetime value — not just subscription revenue. Understand how members actually interact with your program.
flexibility
More than just recurring billing
Zendra combines subscriptions, memberships, and loyalty into one app. Seal is focused primarily on subscription billing, so you’d need additional apps for a complete membership experience.
support
Responsive, expert support
Get help from a team that understands membership businesses. Fast response times and guidance on building effective membership programs, not just troubleshooting billing.
Feature by feature
A detailed look at where each app stands across the features that matter for membership businesses.
Content gating
Gate blog posts, pages, and product details to active members. Show teasers and CTAs to non-members.
No content gating functionality. Seal focuses on subscription billing only
Content dripping
Schedule content to unlock on a timeline relative to each member’s join date — e.g., “available after 14 days.”
No built-in content drip scheduling for subscription plans.
Members-only products
Hide details & description for specific products from non-members, so they only appear for active members.
No product visibility controls based on subscription status.
Purchase restrictions
Allow anyone to browse, but restrict adding to cart and checkout to active members only.
No cart-level or checkout-level purchase restriction based on subscription status.
Member discounts
Automatic order-level and product-level discounts for members, calculated at checkout. Supports percentage and fixed amounts.
No automatic member discounts at checkout or coupon restriction for members.
Shipping perks
Free shipping, shipping rate discounts, and members-only shipping rates (e.g., priority shipping for members only).
No members-only shipping rate restrictions or shipping perks.
Perk scheduling
Set start and end dates on any perk. Run member sales or seasonal benefits that activate and expire automatically.
No perk scheduling. Benefits are either active or inactive.
Membership billing
Weekly, monthly, annual, or custom intervals with free trials, signup fees, and minimum commitment periods.
Offers subscriptions with billing flexibility and customer self-service options.
Customer portal
Self-service portal inside Shopify’s native customer accounts. Members manage billing, view perks, and cancel with a confirmation step.
Customer portal focused on subscription actions — pause, skip, swap, reschedule. Not designed for membership program engagement.
Churn risk detection
Automated churn risk scoring based on member activity. Identify at-risk members before they cancel.
No built-in churn risk detection or member engagement scoring.
Smart tagging
Automatically tag customers in Shopify based on membership tier, status, and activity. Use in Shopify Flow and email automations.
Limited tagging based on subscription status.
Pricing
Free tier available. All features included at transparent price points. No hidden costs as you grow.
Free plan available with basic features. Paid plans for advanced subscription features.
0%
Transaction fees on any Zendra plan
50+
Membership features built into Zendra
5.0
Zendra’s Shopify App Store rating
★★★★★
Zendra was really easy to install & set up, I had my first plan added in about 10 minutes. Ian from chat was really helpful to suggest the perks I should include in my membership to get more signups!
Moon Shadow crafts
★★★★★
The team is responsive to questions, quick to turn around updates and feature requests, and has helped us troubleshoot and resolve numerous issues. Recommended without hesitation.
Norfolk Wine & Spirits
★★★★★
Easy set up for what we needed for our business. Team was great getting everything behind the scenes up and running and it looks amazing.
DBC Baby Bedding
Frequently asked questions
Yes! Zendra offers migration services to bring over your existing members, their billing history, and tier assignments. The process is designed to minimize disruption to your active members. Contact us to plan your migration.
Yes. Zendra includes full subscription billing — recurring payments, free trials, and flexible cycles — plus adds membership features on top.
Absolutely. Zendra works great for simple subscriptions as well as more robust membership & loyalty programs.
We find that as your program grows, you’ll naturally want to expand — and add content gating, membership tiers, or loyalty features. Starting with Zendra saves you a migration later, lets you add membership features whenever you want to, and saves you money on transaction fees — no tax on your earnings!
Seal is built as a subscription app, so while it can give out store credits periodically, its membership and loyalty features stop there.
Content gating, tiered membership perks, branded member portals, gift memberships, membership-specific analytics, and built-in loyalty programs are all first-class in Zendra. These are all native features, not add-ons or half-baked implementations.
Zendra’s pricing is competitive and transparent. When you factor in the additional apps you’d need alongside Seal to replicate Zendra’s membership features, the total cost often favors Zendra.
Ready to accelerate your brand’s growth?
100k+
Ecommerce stores have used our apps since we started working with Shopify.
43
Combined years of experience building Shopify apps in our small team.
98%
Customer happiness ratings from support CSAT scores.