“Product subscription” sounds like a feature you switch on in the store settings. In practice no Ukrainian platform has such a feature, and in the international ones it is tied to payment systems that do not operate here. So the answer to “do I need a developer” depends on where your store lives.
Below, each typical case separately. Common to all of them: recurring charges go through your LiqPay or Plata by Mono, the money lands in your account, and the scheduler, retries and customer dashboard are handled by the subscription service. What that means technically is in the article on recurring payments in Ukraine.
Two ways to connect
It all comes down to two mechanisms, and the choice between them decides whether a developer is needed.
The subscription checkout page. A separate Neocarts page for each of your products: frequency choice, address, card. An ordinary link leads to it — from a button on the site, from Instagram, from Telegram. Your site does not change at all. No developer.
The widget. Embedded in the product page and the cart on your site; the customer goes nowhere. Needs a script in the template and a few API calls so orders land in your admin. A few developer hours to start.
The first is cheaper and faster, the second feels more natural to the customer. You can start with the first and move to the second once subscriptions have proved they are worth it.
Horoshop
Horoshop has no subscriptions and none are planned. Code in the template is limited and there is no backend of your own — so the widget is not an option. The working route is a “Subscribe” button on the product page linking to the checkout page. Placed through the editor, on any plan. No developer. Details on the Horoshop page.
Tilda
Tilda can do recurring payments, but only through CloudPayments, bePaid and YooKassa. For a Ukrainian business that means it cannot. The route is the same as for Horoshop: a button with a link in any block, the Tilda cart kept for one-off purchases. No code, works on the free plan. The Tilda page.
Prom.ua
On Prom you can place neither code nor a link to an external checkout page in the product card — marketplace rules. The “Smart subscription” there is about delivery, not repeat orders. If Prom is your only channel, subscriptions have to be sold outside it: a separate landing page or the checkout page, linked in the conversation after the first purchase. No developer, but you need a channel to the customer outside Prom.
OpenCart, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Magento
Self-hosted platforms; you have access to the template and the backend. The widget works here: a developer places the script in the product page and the cart and wires up webhooks so subscription orders are created in your admin. A few hours of work, not weeks. Ready-made modules for these platforms are in development; until release this is the only route, after it the module removes the manual part.
An OpenCart 4 nuance: it has built-in subscriptions, but the LiqPay and mono payment modules do not serve them, so the charges never go through. Details on the OpenCart page. WooCommerce is the only platform with a plugin alternative: WooCommerce Subscriptions plus a Pro plugin for mono. The cost comparison is on the WooCommerce page.
Shopify
Apps from the Shopify App Store do not charge through Ukrainian gateways — there is no Shopify Payments here. Options: the widget in the theme (a developer, a few hours) or the checkout page with no theme changes. Why that is and how it compares with a custom build is in the article on the Recharge alternative for Ukraine.
A custom site
Any site with code access — the widget and the REST API. If an outside contractor builds the site, ask them for three things: place the script in the product page and the cart, accept the new-order webhook, pass on the shipment status. Everything else already exists.
No site at all
A brand on Instagram or Telegram selling through conversations is not an obstacle. The subscription checkout page becomes your single link: in the bio, in stories, in the reply to “how do I order”. What that takes and what it does not is in the separate article on subscriptions for an Instagram brand.
When a developer is needed after all
- You want the customer never to leave your site — the widget.
- Subscription orders must flow automatically into your CRM or accounting system — webhooks.
- You run your own logistics with an API rather than Nova Poshta — a delivery integration.
- Fiscalisation through Checkbox or Vchasno.Kasa — connected on the charge event. How that works is in the article on fiscal receipts for recurring charges.
All of this is hours, not months, because the billing, the scheduler and the dashboard do not have to be written. What exactly the 5% fee covers and which niches subscriptions fit best are on the use cases page.