Choosing the right e-commerce platform is one of the most critical decisions you’ll make for your online business. With its robust features, scalability, and user-friendly interface, Shopify is a top contender for millions of merchants worldwide. But before you can start building your empire, you need to answer a fundamental question: how much does it all cost? Navigating the various shopify pricing plans can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.
This comprehensive guide will demystify the entire shopify pricing structure. We’ll break down each of the shopify plans, explore the different shopify tiers, and uncover any potential "hidden" shopify fees so you can make a fully informed decision. Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur or a high-volume enterprise, we’ll help you understand the shopify cost and find the perfect plan for your budget and business goals.
Table of Contents
- Shopify Pricing at a Glance: Core Plans Overview
- Deep Dive: The Main Shopify Subscription Plans
- Beyond the Core: Specialized Shopify Tiers
- Understanding Shopify’s Additional Costs and Fees
- How to Choose the Right Shopify Plan for You
- Frequently Asked Questions
Shopify Pricing at a Glance: Core Plans Overview
At its core, Shopify offers three main subscription plans designed to grow with your business. Each plan offers a different combination of features and fees, catering to merchants at various stages of their journey. Here’s a quick look at the main plans shopify offers.
| Plan | Price (Monthly) | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39/month | New businesses and individuals |
| Shopify | $105/month | Growing businesses with a single retail store |
| Advanced | $399/month | Scaling businesses that need advanced reporting |
Understanding the difference between shopify plans is key. As you move up the tiers, the monthly subscription fee increases, but your shopify transaction fees and credit card processing rates decrease, and you unlock more powerful features. We’ll explore the specific shopify plan features for each in the next section.
Deep Dive: The Main Shopify Subscription Plans
Let’s dissect the primary shopify pricing and plans to see what you get for your money. A thorough shopify plan comparison will help you see which option aligns with your business needs.
Basic Shopify Plan
The Basic Shopify plan is the most popular entry point for new e-commerce businesses. It gives you everything you need to launch a beautiful, fully functional online store.
- Who It’s For: Perfect for entrepreneurs just starting, businesses with a small product catalog, or those testing a new online venture. It’s widely considered the cheapest shopify plan for a full-featured online store.
- Cost: The shopify basic plan cost is $39 per month when billed monthly.
- Key Features: The shopify basic plan features include a comprehensive online store, unlimited products, 2 staff accounts, 24/7 support, basic reporting, and the ability to sell in over 130 currencies.
- Fees: When using Shopify Payments, the shopify credit card processing fees are 2.9% + 30¢ for online transactions. If you use a third-party payment provider, Shopify charges a 2.0% transaction fee on top of what your provider charges. The shopify basic plan price offers tremendous value to get started.
Shopify Plan
The "Shopify" plan is the next step up, designed for businesses that have established their footing and are beginning to scale.
- Who It’s For: Growing businesses with increasing sales volume and a need for more robust reporting and staff management.
- Cost: This shopify plan costs $105 per month.
- Key Features: You get everything in the Basic plan, plus professional reports, 5 staff accounts, and e-commerce automations. The reporting tools are a significant upgrade, offering insights into sales trends, customer behavior, and marketing effectiveness.
- Fees: The fees are lower on this tier, making it more economical for businesses with higher sales volume. Online credit card rates drop to 2.6% + 30¢, and the third-party transaction fee is reduced to 1.0%. This is a key part of the shopify plans and pricing model—as you grow, your costs per transaction can decrease.
Advanced Shopify Plan
The Shopify Advanced plan is the top-tier option before entering the enterprise-level Shopify Plus. It’s built for scaling businesses that require the most powerful features Shopify has to offer.
- Who It’s For: Large businesses processing a high volume of orders that need advanced analytics, lower transaction fees, and precise shipping calculations.
- Cost: The shopify price per month for this plan is $399.
- Key Features: This plan includes everything from the Shopify plan, plus 15 staff accounts, a custom report builder, and third-party calculated shopify shipping rates at checkout. This feature alone can save significant money and improve conversion rates by providing customers with accurate, real-time shipping costs.
- Fees: This plan boasts the lowest fees of the core shopify ecommerce plans. Online credit card rates are just 2.4% + 30¢, and the third-party transaction fee is only 0.5%.
Beyond the Core: Specialized Shopify Tiers
Beyond the three main plans, Shopify offers solutions for merchants at both ends of the business spectrum.
Shopify Starter (formerly Shopify Lite)
For those not yet ready for a full online store, the Shopify Starter plan is an ultra-affordable option. It was previously known as Shopify Lite.
- Who It’s For: Individuals, artists, or influencers who want to sell products through social media, messaging apps, or an existing website/blog without building a complete storefront.
- Cost: Priced at just $5 per month, the shopify lite plan functionality is perfect for casual selling.
- Key Features: This plan provides "Buy Buttons" that you can embed anywhere online, a simple link-in-bio storefront (Linkpop), and access to Shopify’s secure checkout and order management tools.
Shopify Plus
For large, high-volume businesses, there is Shopify Plus. This is Shopify’s enterprise-level solution that powers some of the biggest brands in the world.
- Who It’s For: High-growth merchants, large enterprises, and businesses with complex needs, such as shopify wholesale pricing or shopify b2b pricing requirements.
- Cost: The shopify plus pricing is tailored to each business. The shopify plus cost typically starts at $2,000 per month and can increase based on sales volume. To know how much is shopify plus per month for your specific business, you’ll need to contact their sales team.
- Fees: The shopify plus fees are custom and negotiated, but they include the lowest transaction and shopify credit card fees available on the platform. The shopify plus plan provides a dedicated success manager, unlimited staff accounts, and access to exclusive APIs for deep customization. Answering what is shopify plus pricing precisely requires a direct quote, but it’s built for enterprise-scale operations.
Understanding Shopify’s Additional Costs and Fees
Your shopify monthly subscription is the main expense, but it’s important to understand the full picture of what are the charges for shopify. Here are other costs to consider.
- Transaction Fees: As mentioned, Shopify charges a fee if you don’t use their in-house processor, Shopify Payments. These shopify platform fees are 2.0%, 1.0%, or 0.5% for the Basic, Shopify, and Advanced plans, respectively.
- Credit Card Processing Fees: If you use Shopify Payments, you avoid the extra transaction fee, but you still pay shopify payment processing fees. These are standard in the industry and cover the cost of processing a credit card transaction. The shopify payments fees vary by plan.
- Shopify POS Pricing: If you sell in person, you’ll need Shopify’s Point of Sale system. The shopify pos pricing includes a free "Lite" plan with any Shopify e-commerce plan. For more advanced retail features, you’ll need POS Pro, which costs an additional $89/month per location. There are also associated shopify pos fees for in-person credit card processing.
- Domain Names: You’ll need a domain name, which typically costs around $15 per year. You can buy one through Shopify or connect one you already own.
- Apps and Themes: While Shopify offers free themes and apps, many merchants invest in premium themes (a one-time cost of ~$150-$350) and third-party apps (often with a recurring shopify monthly fee) to add specific functionality. These can be considered potential shopify hidden fees if you don’t budget for them.
The total shopify store cost or shopify website cost is a combination of your subscription plan and any of these additional expenses.
How to Choose the Right Shopify Plan for You
So, what shopify plan should i choose? The answer depends on your unique situation. Here are some questions to guide your decision:
- What is your sales volume? If you’re just starting, the Basic Shopify plan is likely the best choice. As your sales grow, calculate the point at which the lower transaction fees on the "Shopify" or "Advanced" plan would save you more money than the increase in the subscription cost.
- Which Shopify plan is best for beginners? Without a doubt, the Basic plan is designed for this. It has a gentle learning curve and provides all the essential tools to get your business off the ground.
- Do you need advanced reporting? If you’re a data-driven business that needs deep insights into customer behavior and sales trends, the professional reports on the "Shopify" plan or the custom report builder on the "Advanced" plan are essential.
- How many staff members need access? Check the staff account limits for each shopify pricing plan.
Ultimately, the beauty of the shopify payment plans is their flexibility. You can start on a lower tier and easily upgrade as your business grows and your needs evolve.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a free shopify plan?
No, there is not a permanently shopify free plan for a full store. However, Shopify typically offers a free trial (often 3 days, followed by a promotional period for $1/month for 3 months) that allows you to build your store and explore its features before committing to a paid plan. The question of does shopify have a free plan is one of the most common, and the trial is the closest you can get.
How much is shopify per month?
The shopify cost per month varies based on the plan you choose. The core plans are Basic ($39/mo), Shopify ($105/mo), and Advanced ($399/mo). The Starter plan is around $5/mo, and Shopify Plus starts at $2,000/mo. So, when people ask how much is shopify plan, it depends entirely on their selection. The overall shopify monthly cost will also include any apps or other services you subscribe to.
Does Shopify charge per sale?
Yes, shopify seller fees apply to each sale. This is a crucial aspect of understanding how does shopify pricing work. There are two potential shopify fees per sale: 1) a credit card processing fee (e.g., 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic) if you use Shopify Payments, and 2) an additional transaction fee (0.5% to 2.0%) if you use a third-party payment gateway. The exact percentage what percentage does shopify take depends on your plan.
Did Shopify prices go up?
Yes. In early 2023, Shopify announced a price increase for its core plans for the first time in over a decade to reflect the value and new features added to the platform. If you’re wondering, did shopify prices go up, the answer is yes, to the current levels discussed in this article.
What is the Shopify Pause and Build plan?
The shopify pause and build plan is a low-cost option for merchants who want to take a temporary break from selling. For a reduced fee (typically $9/month), you can pause your store’s checkout but continue to access your Shopify admin, work on your site, and edit products.
Do you have to pay monthly for Shopify?
While the default billing is monthly, you can opt for a shopify yearly plan or even a two or three-year plan. Choosing a shopify annual plan typically comes with a significant discount (often 10-25%) on your shopify subscription fee, which can lower your overall shopify cost per year.
What is Shopify pricing?
In summary, what is shopify pricing is a tiered subscription model. You pay a recurring shopify subscription cost for the platform’s software, and in return, you get access to a suite of tools to build and run your online business. On top of that, there are variable shopify rates for payment processing and transactions.
How much are Shopify fees?
The main shopify selling fees are the credit card processing rates (starting at 2.9% + 30¢ online) and the transaction fees for using third-party gateways (starting at 2.0%). These fees decrease as you upgrade to higher-tier shopify pricing tiers.
What is Shopify pricing plan?
A what is shopify pricing plan query refers to the different subscription packages offered, like Basic, Shopify, and Advanced. Each shopify plan pricing package offers a different set of features and fee structures, allowing merchants to choose the one that best fits their business size and needs. The combination of all these options forms the complete picture of shopify plans and features.
