Frequently asked questions
Is Curobi still in beta?
No. Curobi Subscription launched on the Shopify App Store on 13 August 2026 and is generally available — there’s no waitlist, no invite code, and no beta program to join. Everything described in these docs is live in the shipped app. The developer API status table shows which API surfaces are available and which configuration-write scopes are published vocabulary but not working endpoints yet.
Does Curobi ever see or store my customers’ card details?
No. Recurring charges run entirely on Shopify’s own billing rails — Shopify collects payment and Curobi’s app fee. Curobi never touches or stores card data, which is also what makes 0% transaction fees possible: there’s no payment-processing markup being passed on to you.
What happens to a subscription if a charge fails?
On Starter and above (and during the Free plan’s trial), failed charges are retried automatically three times over 7 days, and the customer gets an email to update their payment method. If every retry fails, the subscription pauses — it’s never silently cancelled — so the customer can fix their card and resume later. On Free outside the trial, a failed charge starts no retry. See Failed-Payment Recovery.
Can customers change their subscription frequency themselves?
Not yet — Shopify’s customer-facing subscription API doesn’t currently expose frequency changes as a self-service action. Customers can pause, skip, cancel, change quantity, replace products, and reschedule their next billing date on their own (quantity, product replacement and rescheduling need Starter or above); a frequency change currently requires the merchant to edit the subscription directly.
What’s the difference between archiving a plan and deleting it?
Curobi doesn’t offer deletion — only archiving. An archived plan disappears from the storefront so no new customers can subscribe to it, but every existing subscriber on it keeps billing normally, and you can reactivate the plan at any time. This protects subscriber history and avoids ever accidentally breaking a live subscription.
Do I need Shopify’s Protected Customer Data approval?
Only if you’re serving real customers on a live store. Development stores work without it. Live stores need it before customer-facing features (like the self-service portal reading real customer data, or the CSV importer) can function against real customers — Curobi requests this approval from Shopify on your behalf during setup; it’s a Shopify review, not something you configure.
What happens when I reach the Free or Starter subscription limit?
Free allows 50 active Curobi subscriptions and Starter allows 250; Growth and above are unlimited. Paused and cancelled subscriptions don’t count, and orders, customers and revenue are never limited. Curobi shows a banner at 80% of your limit (40 on Free, 200 on Starter).
At the limit, existing subscriptions keep renewing and one-time purchases and other apps’ subscriptions are unaffected. Only new Curobi subscription checkouts are refused — the shopper sees “New subscriptions are temporarily unavailable. Please choose a one-time purchase or contact the store.” They open again when you upgrade or your number of active subscriptions drops. See Active subscription limits.
Does Curobi take a percentage of my sales?
No. Every plan has 0% Curobi transaction fees — you pay only the plan price. Shopify’s own payment processing fees still apply.
Do I need to enter a card to use the Free plan?
No. Free has no charge, and the trial doesn’t need a payment either.
Can I try a paid plan before paying?
Use the one-time 14-day trial on the Free plan: open Plan & billing in Curobi and click Start 14-day trial. It unlocks Starter’s tools, cohort analytics, Churn Insights and Curated Boxes, and ends without a charge. Paid plans don’t have a separate trial. See The free trial.
Which plan do I need for subscription boxes?
Pro. Curated boxes, Build-a-Box and one-time box sales are on Pro. You can try Curated Boxes during the Free trial; when it ends, box programs pause until you move to Pro. Business includes Mix & Match bundles, gifting and win-back, but not boxes.
Which plan do I need to charge every subscriber on the same date?
Pro. Fixed-calendar and seasonal schedules — every subscriber charged on, say, the 1st of the month, or the 15th of Feb, May, Aug and Nov for a quarterly box — are on Pro and aren’t part of the Free trial. Every plan can bill each customer from their own signup date. See Billing Schedules.
If I cancel, do I lose my data?
No. Your data is kept, and upgrading again unlocks it. Cancelling a paid plan keeps it until the end of the billing cycle; then your store moves to Free. See Changing or cancelling your plan.
Can I sell a curated box as a one-time purchase instead of a subscription?
Yes — any curated or build-a-box program can be sold as a one-time purchase with no subscription contract. Its contents still expand into the correct line items automatically, so fulfillment and inventory work the same either way. See Curated Boxes and Build-a-Box.
Will switching to Curobi lose my existing subscribers?
No — use the CSV import tool to bring subscribers over from another subscription app. It creates real Shopify subscription contracts for each imported row, and re-uploading the same file never creates duplicates.
Where do I configure which portal actions customers can use?
Settings → Portal actions — toggle skip, pause, cancel, edit address, edit quantity, swap product, and change next order date on or off individually. Your plan sets the ceiling: on Free, quantity edits, product swaps and rescheduling stay hidden whatever the toggles say. See Customer Portal.