# What Shopify Customs Apps Cost: Pricing Models Compared — Origova

> Four pricing models dominate customs apps, and the model matters more than the price. What each one costs at 500, 5,000 and 50,000 SKUs.

Canonical: https://origova.com/shopify-customs-app-pricing-compared

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# What Shopify customs apps cost: the four pricing models, compared

_By [Spencer Flaherty](https://origova.com/about), founder of Origova_

Comparing customs apps on headline price is how people end up on the wrong plan. A $9/month app with a per-fix credit system can cost more in one catalog cleanup than a $15/month unlimited plan costs in a year. A per-order duty engine looks cheap until international volume triples. **The pricing model tells you more than the price does**, because it determines what the bill scales with.

Four models cover essentially the whole category.

> **Where does your catalog stand?** — Cost modelling is easier once you know how many products actually need fixing. Origova scans your whole catalog free, at any size. [Run the free scan →](https://apps.shopify.com/origova)

## The four models

| Model | Bill scales with | Best when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Flat subscription** | Nothing | Predictable ongoing hygiene | "Unlimited" that turns out to cap edits rather than products |
| **Per fix / per credit** | Catalog size and churn | One-off remediation of a known set | A 5,000-SKU cleanup can exceed a year of flat pricing |
| **Per order** | Sales volume | Duty quoting at checkout | Model it at your growth case, not this month |
| **Percentage of duty** | Your duty bill | High-value, low-volume shipping | It aligns the vendor’s revenue with your duty going _up_ |

## Total cost at three catalog sizes

The useful comparison is not monthly price, it is what a full remediation plus twelve months of upkeep costs. Churn matters here: assume roughly 10–15% of a catalog turns over or gains variants in a year, and every one of those needs classifying.

| Catalog | Flat subscription | Per-credit model | Which usually wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| **500 SKUs** | ~$90–180/yr | Initial fix + ~60 new SKUs/yr | Close. Credits can win if the catalog is static. |
| **5,000 SKUs** | ~$90–180/yr | 5,000 initial + ~600/yr | **Flat**, usually by a wide margin |
| **50,000 SKUs** | ~$180/yr, if genuinely unlimited | 50,000 initial credits | **Flat**, decisively — check the cap is real |

Two things this table cannot do for you. It cannot tell you the vendor’s current credit price, which changes; and it counts _variants_, not products, because HS code and country of origin are stored per variant. A 500-product catalog with five sizes each is 2,500 records to fix, and per-credit pricing bills on the second number.

## Hidden costs worth asking about

- **Variant vs product billing.** Ask which one a "fix" counts as. The difference is often 3–5×.
- **Re-scans.** Some tools charge for repeat catalog scans. Ongoing hygiene needs them.
- **Undo.** If reverting a bad batch costs credits, your undo has a price tag on it.
- **Exports.** Broker-ready CSV is sometimes a higher tier.
- **Seats.** If an ops person and an owner both need access, check whether that is one plan or two.
- **Annual lock-in.** Discounted annual pricing is fine; annual pricing on a tool you have not tested is not.

## What Origova costs, and why it is priced that way

Flat subscription, deliberately. A free tier scans a catalog of _any_ size and includes 30 fixes; **$7.99/month** covers up to 1,000 fixes a month; **$14.99/month** is unlimited. Full detail on the [pricing page](https://origova.com/pricing).

The reasoning: the job is ongoing rather than one-off. A catalog is never finished — every supplier import and new variant reopens the gap — so a model that bills per fix quietly penalises the behaviour you actually want, which is fixing things as soon as they appear. Flat pricing means running a scan weekly costs the same as running one a year.

What Origova does not price for, because it does not do it: duty quoting at checkout, duty collection, and customs filing. If you need those, [the comparison with Zonos](https://origova.com/origova-vs-zonos) covers the difference honestly, and [the buyer’s guide](https://origova.com/customs-compliance-software-shopify) explains why the two categories get confused.

> **Not customs advice** — This page compares software pricing, not duty rates or classification. Prices for third-party tools change without notice — check the vendor’s current pricing page before deciding, and treat the ranges here as structure rather than quotes.

## The short version

Pick the model before the vendor. Flat subscription for ongoing catalog hygiene; per-order for duty quoting; per-credit only for a bounded one-time cleanup; be cautious with percentage-of-duty. Count variants rather than products when you model it, ask whether re-scans and undo consume credits, and get a free scan of your real catalog before paying anyone — including us.

## Frequently asked questions

### How much do Shopify customs apps cost?

Catalog data tools are typically flat subscriptions between roughly $5 and $30 per month. Duty calculation engines usually bill per order or as a percentage of duty collected. Enterprise trade platforms are annual contracts quoted after a sales call, generally five figures and up.

### Is per-credit or flat-rate pricing better?

Flat rate wins for anything beyond a small static catalog, because customs data is an ongoing job rather than a one-time cleanup. Per-credit can be cheaper for a single bounded remediation you never expect to repeat, but it penalises frequent re-checking, which is exactly the habit that keeps a catalog compliant.

### Do customs apps charge per product or per variant?

This is the single most important question to ask, and it varies. HS code and country of origin are stored per variant in Shopify, so a 500-product catalog with five sizes each is 2,500 records. Tools that bill per variant can cost several times what the headline implies.

### What hidden costs should I check for?

Whether repeat scans consume credits, whether undo costs anything, whether broker-ready CSV export is gated to a higher tier, whether extra seats cost extra, and whether "unlimited" caps edits rather than products.

### How much does Origova cost?

A free tier that scans a catalog of any size and includes 30 fixes, then $7.99 per month for up to 1,000 fixes monthly, and $14.99 per month for unlimited fixes. Flat pricing, no per-variant credits, and re-scans and undo do not cost extra.

### Should I buy a duty calculator or a catalog data tool first?

Catalog data first. A duty calculator reads the HS code on your variant — if that field is empty or malformed it falls back to a padded estimate or fails the quote. Data quality sits upstream of duty quoting.

Origova pricing is published in full on the [pricing page](https://origova.com/pricing). Third-party prices change frequently — verify against each vendor’s own pricing page.

Related: [Customs compliance software buyer’s guide](https://origova.com/customs-compliance-software-shopify) · [Best customs data tools for Shopify](https://origova.com/best-customs-data-tools-shopify) · [Origova vs Zonos](https://origova.com/origova-vs-zonos) · [Origova pricing](https://origova.com/pricing)