The product almost certainly has no selling plan attached. Atlas displays subscription options that already exist; it does not create them. A product without a selling plan in a subscription app such as Shopify Subscriptions or Recharge will show no upgrade option, and no Atlas setting changes that.
Subscription upgrades only appear for products that have selling plans configured in a subscription app (like Recharge or Shopify Subscriptions). Products without selling plans will not show upgrade options.
In this article:
Step 1: Check the product has a selling plan
In your Shopify admin, go to Products and open the product.
Look for a Purchase options or subscription section.
Confirm a selling plan or subscription plan is attached.
If nothing is there, that is your answer. Add the product to a subscription plan in your subscription app, then check the cart again.
⚠️ Atlas cannot create subscription plans. If you do not have a subscription app installed, no amount of configuration in Atlas will produce subscription options. Install one, create a plan, and attach your products to it.
Step 2: Check the plan is active
A plan can exist and still not be usable.
Open your subscription app and confirm:
The plan is active rather than draft or paused
The product is genuinely attached to it, not merely eligible
The plan is available in the customer's market, if your app supports market restrictions
Step 3: Check the module is enabled on the live drawer
Open
Cart Upsellsand identify the drawer showingActive. Only one is live at a time.Open that drawer and select
Subscription Upgrades.Confirm it shows
Enabled.
If it is disabled: "Subscription upgrades are not shown because they are disabled. Activate to allow customers to upgrade cart items to subscriptions." Select Activate, then Save.
Editing a draft drawer while a different one serves customers is a common reason a correctly configured module never appears.
Step 4: Check the right product
Selling plans are attached per product, not per store.
If your test cart contains three items and only one has a plan, the upgrade option appears for that one item only. That is correct behaviour rather than a fault.
Test with a cart containing only a product you know has a plan.
If it works for some products only
That is the expected pattern, and it points straight at the cause: those products have plans and the others do not.
To fix it, attach the remaining products to a plan in your subscription app. Bulk tools in most subscription apps make this quick across a collection.
💡 Decide deliberately which products should be subscribable. Consumables and refills suit subscriptions; one-off purchases do not. Attaching everything to a plan is rarely the right answer just because it makes the module appear more often.
If it stopped working
Something changed outside Atlas. Check, in this order:
Your subscription app. Was it uninstalled, updated, or did its plan configuration change?
The product. Was it duplicated or re-imported? A duplicate does not inherit selling plans.
The plan's dates. Some apps let plans expire.
The active drawer. Did someone activate a different cart drawer where the module is off?
Still not appearing
Start a chat from the bubble in the bottom right of Atlas, or email support@helloatlas.io. Either way, include:
your store URL
the product URL
which subscription app you use
a screenshot of the product's purchase options in Shopify showing the plan attached
the name of your active cart drawer
The screenshot showing the plan attached is the key item. It rules out the most common cause immediately.