Offering More Than 4 Price Tiers on Shopify Billing API?

Shopify Apps

Topic summary

Question about exceeding Shopify Billing API’s 4-plan limit for app pricing. The goal is to support legacy pricing for migrated users and create store-specific plans beyond the four shown on the app listing.

Proposed method: use the appSubscriptionCreate (and similar) GraphQL mutations, referencing Shopify’s documentation, to create ad‑hoc subscription terms that aren’t listed as public tiers.

Concerns raised:

  • Whether this practice aligns with Shopify’s Partner Agreement and intended API use.
  • If it’s effectively permissible to create unlimited custom tiers, even though only four are publicly displayed.
  • Whether Shopify might view this as a red flag during review or enforcement.

Status: Seeking confirmation or experiences from others; no answers or official guidance provided in the thread. The linked Shopify docs are central to the question, but no resolution or action items emerged.

Summarized with AI on December 15. AI used: gpt-5.
1

I’m working with the Shopify Billing API and have some questions about navigating around the 4 price tier/plan limitation.

For my app, I’d like to offer more than four plans. My primary use case would be to preserve legacy pricing available for users who switch to the Shopify App (which has a different pricing structure). But there are also other use cases where creating unique pricing for a particular store would be handy.

I’ve come across a potential workaround using appSubscriptionCreate and similar mutations to essentially bypass the 4-tier restriction. Shopify seems to indicate that this is an appropriate solution:

https://shopify.dev/docs/api/admin-graphql/2024-10/mutations/appsubscriptioncreate.

However, I’m concerned that implementing something like this might go against Shopify’s Partner Agreement or their intended use of the API.

If this is allowed, what’s stopping someone from creating as many pricing tiers ad-hoc whenever they might be useful? Granted, only four will be published on the app’s listing page.

Has anyone here tried offering more than 4 tiers, or know if using appSubscriptionCreate in this way would be a red flag for Shopify?

I want to stay within their guidelines, so any insights or experiences would be much appreciated!