I was wondering if anyone else had issue with the new Shopify App Pricing.
We just went live with a new app with the new app pricing and it looked good first.
Now I have the following issues:
inside of the listing there is for each plan i publicly publish a checkbox whether development or partner stores can use that plan for free without subscribing.
I disabled this option everywhere but when I install the app on one of my development stores, I can subscribe to every plan without getting charged (no trials allowed also).
It states on the App Pricing page the following:
“These plans can be tested on this shop for free. As soon as you go live with your shop, the regular prices are charged”.
This is okay for some apps, but not for my app since we have usage charges that we charge for each unit since they cost money on our side (SMS fees) and there seems to be no way to disable this.
Is there any way to disable this since I don’t want to sit on a huge bill just because somebody sends out massive SMS without paying for them.
Shopify’s new app pricing automatically allows development and partner stores to test paid plans for free, and unfortunately there’s no way to disable that behavior—it’s built into the platform. Since your app relies on usage‑based charges like SMS fees, the only workaround is to implement safeguards in your code (e.g., limiting usage on development stores or blocking SMS sending unless the store is live). For a permanent fix, you’ll need to raise this with Shopify Partner Support, as they don’t currently provide a toggle to prevent free testing on dev stores.
Hello, @hobbydevs
Hope this message finds you in good spirits.
From what i know, this is expected behavior with Shopify new app billing. . Development and Partner stores can test paid plans for free until the store goes live. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s currently a way to disable this for usage based charges like SMS. You may need to limit those features on development stores or check with Shopify Partner Support for any available workaround.
This is a valid concern especially for apps that incur real costs through usage based billing like SMS.
Allowing free testing on development stores makes sense for subscription plans but it becomes much more challenging when every SMS sent results in a cost for the app developer. Ideally, there should be a way to disable free usage for development stores or at least prevent usage charges from being incurred without the developer’s approval.
If Shopify doesn’t currently provide that level of control, it may be worth implementing temporary safeguards within the app itself such as usage limits or requiring additional verification before SMS can be sent from development stores. Hopefully, Shopify considers adding more flexibility for usage based pricing under the new App Pricing model.
hello there @hobbydevs
What you’re seeing is normal for dev stores. You can ignore subscription plans and usage fees for testing until your store is live, and there is no way curently to turn off free access for development stores. A practical solution is to detect development or partner stores in your app and disable sending SMS (or limit it, or route the requests through a sandbox provider) until the merchant installs the app on a paid, live store.
