Recharge vs Stay AI: which AI ad creative tool should you use?
Both ship real product. They are not the same tool. Here's the honest pick by use case — pricing, output focus, and when neither is the right call.
TL;DR
Pick Recharge if your bottleneck matches its strength: category leader; deepest subscription feature set; integrates with everything — at $99/mo Standard.
Pick Stay AI if your bottleneck is closer to its strength: best-in-class churn prediction model; dunning recovery built in; founder-led product velocity — at $199/mo + 1% of subscription revenue.
Pick neither if you're shipping fewer than 5 creatives a month, or you just want to see whether AI ad creative is right for your brand. Use the free Frontier Visions tool to render 3 demos first, no signup required.
Side-by-side
| Recharge | Stay AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing (entry) | $99/mo Standard | $199/mo + 1% of subscription revenue |
| Pricing (mid) | $499/mo Pro + 1% of revenue | $499/mo + 0.75% Pro |
| What it does | Subscription billing for Shopify — the default for sub box and replenishment brands. | Modern subscription platform for Shopify with AI-driven churn prediction and dunning recovery built in. |
| Ideal user | Shopify brands with a subscription SKU as a meaningful revenue line. | Shopify subscription brands at $100K+ MRR tired of Recharge's churn surface. |
| Strength | Category leader; deepest subscription feature set; integrates with everything. | Best-in-class churn prediction model; dunning recovery built in; founder-led product velocity. |
| Trade-off | Transaction fees on top of the monthly bill scale with revenue. | Smaller integration ecosystem than Recharge; revenue share scales with you. |
| Funding / status | $277M raised; valued at $2.1B in 2021. | $15M Series A, 2024. |
| Customer base | 20,000+ subscription brands. | 1,000+ subscription brands including Liquid Death, Jones Road. |
When to pick Recharge
Subscription billing for Shopify — the default for sub box and replenishment brands. Category leader; deepest subscription feature set; integrates with everything. Ideal user: shopify brands with a subscription sku as a meaningful revenue line.
Trade-off: Transaction fees on top of the monthly bill scale with revenue.
Try them: Recharge
When to pick Stay AI
Modern subscription platform for Shopify with AI-driven churn prediction and dunning recovery built in. Best-in-class churn prediction model; dunning recovery built in; founder-led product velocity. Ideal user: shopify subscription brands at $100k+ mrr tired of recharge's churn surface.
Trade-off: Smaller integration ecosystem than Recharge; revenue share scales with you.
Try them: Stay AI
When neither is right
Two cases where you're paying for capacity you don't need:
- You're testing whether AI ad creative is right for your brand at all. Both tools have trial paths, but you still have to sign up and configure a brand kit. If you want a sample of what AI can do for your specific product first, the free Frontier Visions tool renders 3 demos in 2 minutes with no signup.
- You're shipping fewer than 5 creatives per month. Even Stay AI's entry tier ($199/mo + 1% of subscription revenue) assumes meaningful volume. If you're shipping 1-2 ads a month, render demos through a free tool, modify the winners, and only commit to a paid subscription once your testing cadence justifies it.
What we'd actually do
If you're at $30K-$200K MRR and new to AI creative: start with the free tool, render demos for your top 3 products, run them against your current control as a one-week test. If they win or tie, commit to a paid subscription — pick Recharge if your bottleneck is category leader; deepest subscription feature set; integrates with everything., pick Stay AI if it's best-in-class churn prediction model; dunning recovery built in; founder-led product velocity.
If you're at $200K-$500K MRR and already shipping 10+ creatives a month, pick the tool whose ideal user matches yours more closely. The other can be added later as a supplement.
Full ranking of 8+ tools by use case: best AI ad creative tools for DTC brands (2026). Want to clone this entire stack for your own niche? See the SaaS early access.
Try the free tool first — 3 AI ad creatives + Meta Ad Library audit, no signup. Get my demos →
Disclosure: tool links above may be affiliate-tracked. We may earn a small commission if you sign up after clicking. No effect on what you pay or which one we recommend — picks are based on the actual use cases above.