Balance 
Balance Due vs Depo
Depo is one of the longest-standing deposit apps and covers more order types than Balance Due. The main difference is how you pay for it.
At a glance
Competitor details are as of September 2026. Check Depo's current listing before deciding.
- Balance Due pricing
- Flat monthly, no per-order fee
- Depo pricing
- Monthly plus a processing fee on orders
- Both
- Native Shopify checkout, automatic balance charge
- Only Depo
- Draft orders, POS, cash on delivery
- Only Balance Due
- Automatic native fulfilment hold, included
- Shopify Plus required
- Neither
The short version
Depo charges a monthly subscription plus a processing fee on deposit orders (its listing shows tiers from a low monthly price with a percentage fee up to a higher price with a smaller fee, as of September 2026). Some merchant reviews mention the fee applying to manual orders marked as paid. Balance Due is a flat monthly price with no percentage and nothing charged on manual orders. If your average deposit order is large, that difference is the whole decision.
Depo covers order types that Balance Due does not: deposits on draft orders, at the till on Shopify POS, and balances collected on delivery in cash-on-delivery markets. Balance Due is online orders only, and in exchange does the follow-up on those orders without configuration: the native hold, the retry ladder, the reminders and the customer page on every plan.
On a £9,000 kitchen, a 1% fee is £90 on one order. Starter is £19.99 for the month.
Side by side
| Balance Due | Depo | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Flat monthly, no per-order fee | Monthly plus a processing fee on orders (check listing) |
| Deposit at native checkout | Yes, Shopify purchase option | Yes |
| Automatic balance charge from saved card | Yes (Shopify Payments, PayPal) | Yes |
| Instalments | No, a deposit and one balance | Yes (check listing for limits) |
| Pay link fallback | Yes | Yes, invoices from its dashboard |
| Fulfilment hold until paid | Native Shopify hold, automatic | Check listing |
| Draft order deposits | No | Yes |
| POS deposits | No | Yes |
| Cash on delivery balance | No | Yes, with COD-focused pricing |
| Shopify Plus required | No | No |
Which is the better fit
When Depo is the better fit
Depo's breadth is real. If your deposits do not all come through the online checkout, Balance Due cannot take them and Depo can.
- You take deposits on draft orders or at the till on Shopify POS
- You sell into cash-on-delivery markets and want the balance collected on delivery
- You want an established app with a long review history
When Balance Due is the better fit
If every deposit order comes through checkout and the orders are worth real money, the flat price and the included follow-up are the case.
- Your deposit orders are high value and a percentage fee would cost more than the subscription
- You want the fulfilment hold, retries, reminders and the customer payment page working without configuration
- You sell online only and want Shopify's outstanding amount to be the single source of truth
What Balance Due includes on every plan
Native fulfilment hold
Shopify's own hold on every deposit order, released the moment the balance clears. Your 3PL and shipping apps respect it without setup.
Retries and payment links
A failed charge sends a payment link that accepts any card and retries after 1, 3 and 7 days. The retry ladder itself is on Starter and above.
Reminders and receipts
The schedule after checkout, a reminder three days before, a receipt after, and overdue notices if it comes to that.
Customer payment page
One link, no login, on your storefront domain: what is paid, what is left, and pay now.
Switching from Depo
Orders already placed with Depo keep their Depo schedule. Balance Due only manages orders placed on its own plans, so the switch is a handover rather than a migration.
- 1
Install Balance Due
It checks your payment settings and provider. Nothing changes on the storefront yet.
- 2
Create your plans
The same percentages and balance rules you use today. A plan carries one deposit and one rule.
- 3
Move the products
Remove Depo's purchase option from a product and attach the Balance Due plan. Only one app should attach purchase options to a given product.
- 4
Run both for a while
Depo collects the balances on its existing orders; Balance Due collects on new ones. Nothing is double-handled.
- 5
Remove Depo
Once the last Depo order is paid in full, uninstall it.
Related
Pricing
Every Balance Due plan, no per-order fees.
Downpay alternative
The other established option.
Native Shopify deposits
What Plus stores get built in.
Depositly alternative
Newer apps compared on what actually happens after checkout.
SPD Split Payment alternative
SPD does four things; Balance Due does one of them thoroughly.
Questions
Can I switch from Depo mid-flight?
Orders already placed with Depo keep their Depo schedule; Balance Due only manages orders placed on its own plans. Run both until the old orders are paid, then remove Depo.
Do both use Shopify's native checkout?
Yes. Both create purchase options through Shopify's deferred purchase options rather than a custom checkout.
Does Balance Due charge anything per order?
No. A flat monthly plan through Shopify, with nothing per order, per transaction or on manual orders.
Can Balance Due take deposits at POS?
No. Deferred purchase options are an online checkout feature. If POS deposits are part of your business, Depo is the better fit.
Does either app need Shopify Plus?
No. Both work on Basic, Shopify and Advanced.
Is the fulfilment hold really automatic?
Yes. Balance Due places Shopify's own fulfilment hold when the deposit order comes in and releases it when the balance clears, on every plan including Free.
What does Balance Due cost?
Free for up to 3 orders with an open balance at any one time, then £19.99, £49.99 or £99.99 a month in GBP through Shopify.
Try it on a test order
The fastest comparison is a deposit order on your own dev store with Shopify's test gateway.