++++ Plate 00 · App pricing modelSimulator
Ecosystem Strategy · Model the reprice with no signup

Your heaviest users are underpaying you.

On flat pricing, the merchant doing 50x the volume pays the same $29 as the median. This simulator models moving your power users to a higher tier: the MRR lift, the new ARPA, and the churn you can absorb before the move goes negative. Run the math before you touch the pricing page.

5 inputs~60 secondsNo email to see your lift
✓ See your MRR lift and churn headroom instantly. No signup to view your result.
By Taylor Sicard · early Shopify, helped build and scale the Partner Program · sold his own app (Uptime) to Tiny, a publicly traded company · advisor to app founders on pricing and packaging
The math behind a tiered reprice

This models one move: taking the share of your paid base whose usage dwarfs the median and putting them on a higher tier. New MRR is the untouched base at today's ARPA, plus the repriced cohort at ARPA times the multiple, less the merchants who leave over the change. The number worth arguing about is not the lift, it is the breakeven. At a multiple of m you can lose 1 minus 1 divided by m of the repriced cohort before the move goes backwards.

  • ARPA = MRR divided by paying merchants. Power users = paying merchants x the power-user share.
  • New MRR = merchants x (1 - power share) x ARPA, plus merchants x power share x (1 - repricing churn) x ARPA x multiple.
  • Breakeven churn = 1 minus 1 divided by the multiple. At 2x you can lose half the cohort, at 3x two thirds, at 4x three quarters.
  • Headroom = breakeven churn minus the churn you expect, in percentage points. At zero or below, the move loses money as modelled.
  • Inputs: MRR, paying merchants, power-user share, price multiple (1.5x to 4x), expected repricing churn (0 to 20%).
  • Common mistake: rolling new tiers onto the existing base first. Put them in front of new installs, where cohort data tests the churn assumption before your App Store rating pays for it.
Worked example. $28,000 of MRR across 900 merchants is $31.11 of ARPA. Move the top 15%, 135 merchants, to a 2x tier and assume 5% of them leave. The 765 untouched merchants still bill $23,800. The repriced cohort bills 135 x 0.95 x $31.11 x 2 = $7,980. New MRR is $31,780: a lift of $3,780 a month, 13.5%, about $45,360 a year. Breakeven churn at 2x is 50% and you assumed 5%, so you have 45 points of headroom.
Source: Taylor Sicard, Taylor Sicard Consulting · Updated August 2026
The thinking behind the number
Pricing is the fastest lever most apps never pull.
Ecosystem Strategy
Shopify app pricing strategy
Value metrics, tier design, and why flat pricing quietly caps your growth.
Read post →
Ecosystem Strategy
How long should your free trial be?
Trial length, billed trials, and the conversion math behind the choice.
Read post →
Ecosystem Strategy
Partner billing transparency
What the billing stack actually lets you see, and what that means for pricing changes.
Read post →
Method

How the repricing lift is calculated

New MRR = your non-power-user base at today's ARPA, plus the power-user share that survives the reprice at the higher tier: paid x (1 - p) x ARPA + paid x p x (1 - churn) x ARPA x multiple, where p is the share of paying merchants who are power users. The breakeven churn is pure arithmetic, 1 - 1/multiple: at 2x you can lose half the repriced cohort and break even, at 1.5x about a third. The distance between your expected churn and that line is your headroom, and it is the number that decides whether the move is safe.

Lift with headroomExpected churn under half the breakeven: usage has outgrown the price, this is deferred revenue you're finally collecting.
Lift, but fragileThe churn assumption is doing the heavy lifting. Test the new tier on new installs before touching the base.
Negative or breakevenThe tier structure is wrong. Price the value metric, not the ambition.

New pricing means new revenue share math, so check what you keep in the revenue-share calculator, and watch what the expansion revenue does to retention in the NRR calculator. Both live in the free Shopify app calculators suite alongside this one.

Questions

Common questions

How should I price a Shopify app?
Price on a value metric first: orders, SKUs, sends, seats, whatever tracks the value the merchant gets. Flat tiers are where most apps start, and where most apps stall, because the merchant doing 50x the volume pays the same $29 as the median. A top tier priced on usage is how the heaviest users fund the roadmap.
What is a good ARPA for a Shopify app?
It depends on your acquisition cost, not on an industry table. Across the apps I've built, advised, and diligenced, sub-$15 ARPA rarely survives real CAC math: there is not enough revenue per account to pay back acquisition inside a sane window. If your ARPA is down there, pricing is usually the problem to fix before marketing.
How much churn does a price increase cause?
The useful frame is the breakeven, which is pure arithmetic: at a 2x price multiple you can lose up to half the repriced cohort and break even, at 1.5x about a third. Your expected churn from the move should sit well under that line, and if it doesn't, the tier structure is wrong for the value delivered.
Should I grandfather existing users when I reprice?
Usually yes, on a platform where reviews are the moat. Grandfather existing merchants or migrate them with generous notice, and put the new pricing in front of new installs first. A repricing that torches your rating costs more than the lift is worth.
Does usage-based pricing raise net revenue retention?
It is the main expansion lever. When your revenue per account grows as the merchant's store grows, expansion revenue can outrun churn and push NRR above 100%, which is the single clearest multiple-expander an app has. Compute yours in the NRR calculator.
How does Shopify's revenue share affect my pricing?
Shopify takes 0% of your first $1M of lifetime partner revenue, then 15% above it. If you are past the threshold, the platform keeps 15 cents of every new dollar your repricing adds, so price it in when you set the tiers.