Key takeaways
- The core difference: pep.app is a partnership. Its founder builds the business with you on pep.app’s platform, including supplier vetting, processor introductions and a marketing playbook. Torva OS is software: you build and run the store yourself.
- Cost: pep.app lists $1,899 (white-label) or $6,500 (custom build) up front, then $699 a month. Torva OS has a $0 setup fee and costs $99, $199 or $399 a month, with the first 20 Command stores at $799 (a founding offer, until October 15, 2026).
- How you start: pep.app starts with a 15-minute fit call and says it takes two founders at a time. Torva OS starts with a free store preview at torvaos.com/start, with no call and no card.
- Payments: on both, the processor account is yours. pep.app describes access to several high-risk processors with routing between them; Torva OS connects your own Stripe account (Authorize.net and NMI are coming this week) and builds in Zelle, Cash App and Venmo with a confirmation step.
- Refunds: Torva OS refunds the first subscription payment within 30 days, no reason needed; we did not find a money-back guarantee on pep.app’s site. pep.app is month-to-month with 30 days’ notice and no early-termination fee.
- Last verified 2026-09-26 against getpep.app. Corrections are welcome at hello@torvaos.com.
The short answer
Torva OS (torvaos.com) and pep.app (getpep.app) both give a research peptide store a storefront, checkout, COAs on product pages, an age and research-use gate, shipping labels, affiliates and AI help, on software built for the category rather than a general platform. The real difference is not a feature list. It is how much of the business you want someone else to build with you.
pep.app describes itself as a partner with “skin in the game”: its founder runs a research-peptide brand on the same platform and takes on a small number of founders at a time to build alongside, from vetting suppliers and COAs to cold-chain shipping and a customer-acquisition playbook. It says capital for inventory is required and that it starts every engagement with a fit call.
Torva OS is software only. You choose your own suppliers, processor, carriers and marketing, and the platform gives you the tooling to run all of it from one workspace, the Desk: a research-use gate, claim removal and continuous scanning with Torva Watch, a policy reviewer, pay-by-app payments with confirmation, EasyPost batch shipping, email automations and a Claude connection. You can build and see your store before paying anything.
Who each is best for
Both are reasonable choices for a research peptide brand. They suit different founders.
- pep.app is likely the better fit if you want an experienced operator working beside you on the whole business, not only the website: supplier vetting, introductions to processors that serve the category, and a marketing playbook. That suits a founder who has inventory capital ready, values guidance over speed of starting, and is comfortable with a fit-call process and possibly waiting for a slot.
- Torva OS is likely the better fit if you already know your suppliers and products, want to start today without a sales call, want the lowest up-front cost, want Zelle, Cash App or Venmo alongside cards, or want the compliance review done by software on every save. It also suits an existing store that wants to see its current site rebuilt as a preview before deciding.
- Either may be wrong for a store whose products are not lawful where it operates or ships. Both leave you responsible for what you sell and say.
Side by side: what you are buying
The tables below cover 24 questions in 5 groups. Every pep.app cell is taken from pep.app’s own public website and linked in the sources at the end of this page. “Not listed on their public site as of Sept 2026” means we could not find it on that site, which is not the same as saying pep.app does not offer it: ask them directly.
| Torva OS | pep.app | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Hosted, self-serve ecommerce software built only for research-supply and research peptide stores | A peptide ecommerce partner: its founder builds the business alongside a small number of founders at a time (two, per the site), on pep.app’s own commerce platform |
| Store software | Torva OS itself, hosted and updated by Torva; one workspace (the Desk) runs the store | pep.app’s own platform: storefront, operations console, compliance engine, fulfilment, affiliates and analytics |
| Who builds the store | You do, from one of eight themes or, on Growth and Command, a rebuild of your current public site; Command adds a guided launch with a dedicated contact | pep.app sets the store up with you: a white-label store on its platform, or a fully custom design and build |
| How you start | Self-serve: build and preview your store free at torvaos.com/start, no call and no card | A free 15-minute fit call; none of the listed prices is a checkout, and it says capital for inventory is required |
| Hosting | Included in the subscription | Hosting and infrastructure included in the monthly fee |
Side by side: cost and terms
| Torva OS | pep.app | |
|---|---|---|
| Up-front cost | $0 setup fee | $1,899 one-time white-label setup, or $6,500 one-time custom build, each paid half at kick-off and half at go-live; an optional $300 fit audit is credited toward setup |
| Monthly cost | Core $99, Growth $199 or Command $399; the first 20 Command stores pay $799 for as long as they stay (founding offer, until October 15, 2026) | $699 a month flat (hosting, updates, support and marketing tools); payment-processing and SMS carrier fees passed through from the providers |
| Time to a live store | A preview in minutes; after subscribing, a setup guide walks from business details to go-live | “Live in days, not months” |
| Contract | Monthly subscription; cancel to stop future payments | Month-to-month with 30 days’ written notice and no early-termination fee; the $699 rate is locked for the first year |
| Money-back guarantee | First subscription payment refunded in full within 30 days, no reason needed | Not listed on their public site as of Sept 2026 |
Side by side: payments
| Torva OS | pep.app | |
|---|---|---|
| Card processing | Your own Stripe account (embedded onboarding, with Apple Pay and Google Pay); Authorize.net and NMI coming this week | Access to multiple high-risk processors that serve the category, with routing to another rail if one has an issue |
| Who owns the processor account | You do; Torva never holds merchant funds and takes no share of sales | Merchant accounts in your name; you are the merchant of record |
| Zelle, Cash App and Venmo | Built in: your handle and QR code at checkout; the order waits as awaiting payment until you confirm receipt | Not listed on their public site as of Sept 2026 |
Side by side: research-store tooling
| Torva OS | pep.app | |
|---|---|---|
| Certificates of analysis | Attached per product, shown on the product page and a documentation page | A “COA-first” storefront; product pages open the Certificate of Analysis |
| Age and research-use gate | 21+ research-use gate on every storefront, confirmed again before checkout (a self-declaration, not ID verification) | 21+ age check at sign-up and checkout, restricted-state blocking and a research-use agreement on every order |
| Compliance checks on your copy | Health and dosing claims removed at build; Torva Watch rescans catalog, storefront, email and affiliate content on every save; a policy reviewer | A signed, timestamped audit trail of every order; its FAQ says a compliance team keeps your rules current |
| Moving an existing store | On Growth and Command, Torva reads your current public site (WooCommerce, Shopify or custom) and rebuilds it as a preview; products import by CSV; COA files are attached by you | Its FAQ says launching or switching takes “days, not months”, with catalog, COAs and storefront brought up on its infrastructure |
Side by side: running the store
| Torva OS | pep.app | |
|---|---|---|
| Email marketing | Order emails on every plan; campaigns and automations on Growth and Command | A “full marketing toolset” in the monthly fee, with email and SMS named as channels |
| Affiliate program | Command: tracked links and codes, commission states, tiers and payout records | Tiered commissions with 30-day attribution |
| Shipping labels | Your own EasyPost account; batch shipping with pick lists; return labels | Labels, tracking and packing slips in its fulfilment console |
| AI | Ask Torva assistant in the Desk; Claude connects through MCP (read on Growth, draft editing on Command) | A weekly business recap written by Claude from your own order, customer, funnel and inventory data |
| Your data if you leave | Product CSV export at any time; developer API on Growth and Command; webhooks on Command | Its FAQ says your customer list, order history and brand are yours |
| Support after launch | The Help Center and Ask Torva on every plan; priority support on Growth; a guided launch and a dedicated contact on Command | “Support from real operators” in the monthly fee, plus ongoing blog and SEO content and a weekly price benchmark |
| Look before you talk to anyone | A read-only Desk demo and eight theme demos, no sign-up | An interactive recreation of its admin console and a storefront you can click through without logging in |
Cost over a first year
List prices only, in USD, before payment-processing fees on either side. pep.app says processing fees and SMS carrier costs are passed through from the providers with no markup; on Torva OS, processing fees are paid directly to your own processor. Neither figure includes inventory, which pep.app notes is the larger number.
| Option | Up front | Monthly | First 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Torva OS Core | $0 | $99 | $1,188 |
| Torva OS Growth | $0 | $199 | $2,388 |
| Torva OS Command | $0 | $399 | $4,788 |
| Torva OS Command, founding offer (first 20 stores, until October 15, 2026) | $0 | $799 | $9,588 |
| pep.app white-label setup | $1,899 | $699 | $10,287 |
| pep.app custom build | $6,500 | $699 | $14,888 |
Reading the numbers fairly
pep.app’s monthly fee is flat and, per its FAQ, locked for the first year, and it includes things Torva OS does not sell, such as ongoing blog and SEO content and a weekly price benchmark. Torva OS costs less at every plan except Command at full price, needs nothing up front and refunds the first payment within 30 days, but the building and marketing work is yours. Compare against the hours you would otherwise spend, using evaluate commerce platform cost.
Payments and compliance tooling
Both put the merchant account in your name. pep.app says you are the merchant of record and describes day-one access to several high-risk processors, routing to another rail if one has a problem. Torva OS connects your own Stripe account (with Apple Pay and Google Pay); Authorize.net and NMI gateways, which is how many high-risk merchant accounts connect, are coming this week; Zelle, Cash App and Venmo show your handle and QR code at checkout and the order waits until you confirm payment. Neither can promise a processor will approve or keep an account. See Stripe for research peptide stores and Zelle, Cash App and Venmo payments.
On compliance, pep.app lists a 21+ age check at sign-up and checkout, restricted-state blocking, a research-use agreement on every order and a signed, timestamped audit trail. Torva OS puts a 21+ research-use gate on every storefront, re-confirmed before checkout, removes health and dosing claims when a store is built or imported, rescans your catalog, storefront, email and affiliate content on every save with Torva Watch, and reviews your policy pages. These are review aids on both sides, not legal advice; read the research-use-only disclaimer template.
Moving an existing store
pep.app’s FAQ says launching or switching takes “days, not months”, with your catalog, COAs and storefront brought up on its infrastructure. On Torva OS Growth and Command, Torva reads your current public site, for example a WooCommerce or Shopify store, and rebuilds it as a better version of itself in a free preview; products can also be imported by CSV, and COA files are attached by you. Either way, keep the old store live until the new one has passed a full test order, and redirect every old URL: see move to Torva without losing SEO.
What Torva OS costs, in full
Torva OS is a monthly subscription with a $0 setup fee: Core $99 (up to 300 orders a month, 2 themes), Growth $199 (up to 750 orders, 6 themes, a rebuild of your current site, email automations and campaigns, customer accounts and a developer API) and Command $399 (unlimited orders, all 8 themes, affiliates, webhooks, a guided launch and a dedicated contact). As a founding offer, the first 20 Command stores pay $799 a month for as long as their subscription stays active; the offer ends on October 15, 2026 or when all 20 seats are taken, whichever comes first.
You can build and preview your store free at /start with no card. If you subscribe, the first subscription payment is covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee: ask within 30 days and it is refunded in full, with no reason needed. Payment-processing fees go to your own processor, not to Torva, and Torva takes no share of sales.
How to decide in an afternoon
Whichever way you lean, run the same short test before you commit money or months.
- Write down what you need in the first 90 days: products, payment methods, shipping volume, email and affiliates. Anything not on the list is not a reason to choose.
- Price the first year in full: up-front fees, monthly fees, hosting, plugins, support after launch and your own hours.
- Ask each provider who owns the processor account, the domain, the customer data and the code or store if you leave.
- Look at a real store or demo on your phone: open a product, its COA, the cart and checkout.
- Build a free Torva OS preview with your own brand and three real products, and compare it with what you would get from the alternative.
How this comparison was made
pep.app facts were read from its home page (including pricing and FAQ), platform tour and website terms on 2026-09-26. We did not buy a pep.app service or see a private proposal, so anything agreed privately may differ from what the site publishes. Torva OS facts come from the product itself, including its plan catalog; where Torva lacks something, the table says so.
pep.app is named here only to compare published facts; its name belongs to its owner, and Torva OS is not affiliated with it. Torva OS at torvaos.com is also not affiliated with torva.com or any other business named Torva. If anything here is out of date, email hello@torvaos.com and we will re-check and correct it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Torva OS and pep.app?
pep.app pairs its commerce platform with a founder who builds the business alongside you, including suppliers, processors and marketing, and takes on a small number of founders at a time. Torva OS is self-serve software for research peptide stores: you build and run the store yourself, starting with a free preview.
How much does pep.app cost compared with Torva OS?
pep.app lists a $1,899 white-label setup or a $6,500 custom build, both one-time, then $699 a month. Torva OS has a $0 setup fee and costs $99, $199 or $399 a month; the first 20 Command stores pay $799 a month (a founding offer, until October 15, 2026). Processing fees are extra on both.
Who owns the payment processor account?
You do on both. pep.app says the merchant accounts are in your name and you are the merchant of record. Torva OS connects your own Stripe account (Authorize.net and NMI are coming this week) and never holds merchant funds.
Can I start without a sales call?
On Torva OS, yes: build and preview your store free at torvaos.com/start with no card, and subscribe when you are ready. pep.app starts every engagement with a free 15-minute fit call.
Does either offer a money-back guarantee?
Torva OS refunds the first subscription payment in full if you ask within 30 days. We did not find a money-back guarantee on pep.app’s public site; it says its agreement is month-to-month with 30 days’ written notice and no early-termination fee.
Is Torva OS affiliated with pep.app?
No. They are separate companies. This page compares published facts only, and every pep.app fact links to pep.app’s own website.
Sources
Preview your store on Torva OS — no card needed — or explore the Desk demo, the eight themes and the plans. Questions: hello@torvaos.com.
General information for merchants, not legal, tax or financial advice. Check the rules in your jurisdiction and with your providers.