Shopify Pricing Plans and Fees - How much does Shopify cost in 2026?

Calculating your total monthly Shopify fees shouldn't be a guessing game.

Your bottom-line costs for running an ecommerce store depend on your subscription tier, your payment processing configuration, and secondary ecosystem variables.

Shopify costs range from $5 per month on the Starter plan to $2,300 or more per month on Shopify Plus. The three core plans in between are Basic at $29, Standard at $79, and Advanced at $299 per month.

Every plan adds payment processing of roughly 2.4% to 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction through Shopify Payments. For a scaling store, apps and development usually cost more each month than the plan itself.

It is reviewed by the craftberry engineering team. craftberry is a certified Shopify Plus partner based in Europe, with over a decade of work exclusively inside the Shopify ecosystem.

Here is the comprehensive Shopify fees explained to help you protect your margins, evaluate your overhead, and scale your business efficiently.

• Shopify's entry price is $5 per month (Starter); its enterprise tier starts at $2,300 per month (Plus).
  
  

• Payment processing applies on every plan and is a higher cost than the subscription for most stores.
  
  

• Using a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments adds a per-transaction fee of 0.15% to 2%, depending on the plan.
  
  

• Shopify Plus moves to variable pricing at 0.25% of monthly revenue once a store passes roughly $800,000 per month.
  
  

• Real monthly cost equals plan plus processing plus apps plus development, and the plan is often under 15% of the total.

The number that dominates most pricing conversations is the one that matters least.

This is the lens craftberry applies to every cost audit: total cost of ownership and revenue per visitor, not the sticker price of the plan.

Shopify offers four main subscription tiers for different business sizes. Plans range from $5/month for social media selling to $2,300+/month for enterprises.

At a glance, the Shopify Pricing plans are:

Key Insights:

• While the Shopify Starter plan streamlines early social commerce, it doesn't allow you to build a standalone storefront or leverage Shopify’s powerful backend tools to their full potential, acting instead as a simple "Buy Button" for social media pages.
  
  

• High-volume brands require Shopify Plus as an enterprise solution, brick-and-mortar retailers need Shopify POS Pro, and the Shopify Agentic plan is designed strictly as a specialized infrastructure for autonomous AI sales channels.
  
  

• The vast majority of scaling merchants find their perfect fit among Shopify’s three core subscription tiers (Basic Shopify, Standard, and Advanced Shopify) to unlock complete customization, lower transaction fees, and a fully functional e-commerce website.

Choosing how to pay for your subscription can significantly impact your operational overhead.

While paying month-to-month offers maximum flexibility, switching to an annual billing cycle allows you to lock in substantial discounts on your core Shopify pricing plans.

Below is the breakdown of the upfront monthly fees versus paid-annually monthly costs to help you choose the most cost-effective path for your e-commerce operations.

Before we jump into Shopify’s active plans, let’s take a look at Shopify’s cheapest option - their 3-day free trial followed by a 3-month trial for $1.

All core plans include SSL certificates and secure web hosting.

With Shopify's free trial, you can:

• Build and customize your store, add products and collections, and you can play around with the admin settings for managing and fulfilling orders.
  

• Explore Shopify’s extensive apps and integrations to extend your store’s functionality.
  
  

• Leverage a development store environment free of charge to design and iterate without any time pressure.

However, keep in mind that checkout capabilities remain inactive until you launch a live Shopify website by choosing a paid plan.

Without a live subscription, customers cannot add items to their carts or complete purchases. To start selling, you need to choose a paid Shopify plan.

Similar Post - Shopify Success Rate

The Starter plan costs $5/month but lacks a full storefront. Shopify's pricing plans can include sales through social media and basic reporting features.

Starter plan streamlines and simplifies the entire sales process. You can:

• Centralize and efficiently manage your order processing, inventory management, and customer communications all within one user-friendly interface.
  
  

• Easily integrate various social platforms into Shopify’s platform to share product links directly with your audience.

Overall, the Shopify Starter plan is a cost-effective solution for those just getting started with their e-commerce journey.

They can explore many of Shopify’s features at a fraction of the cost of other plans.

Shopify's Basic plan costs $39/month for a full online store.

The Shopify Basic plan includes everything you need to create your Shopify store, ship products, and process payments.

The Basic plan includes features for launching an online store such as unlimited products and 24/7 support.

With Basic Shopify, you can:

• Take advantage of features like abandoned cart recovery, which are common across Shopify's plans.
  
  

• Customize your store and make it an omnichannel sales machine, controlled from Shopify’s admin panel.

When it comes to card processing and payment processing fees, the Basic Shopify plan carries standard rates for both online and offline transactions.

If you use Shopify Payments, you won’t face any other transaction fees from the platform.

However, opting for a third-party payment gateway incurs their standard processing rates plus an additional 2.0% Shopify transaction surcharge.

The Shopify plan, priced at $92 per month, is tailored for small businesses experiencing rapid growth and in need of a more robust e-commerce toolbox.

This plan builds upon the features offered in the Basic Shopify plan, providing additional tools and capabilities essential for scaling businesses.

• Advanced analytics and reporting
  
  

• Reduced processing and transaction fees
  
  

• Features for international sales via Shopify markets
  
  

• Abandoned cart recovery
  
  

• Gift card functionality
  
  

• Automation workflows via Shopify Flow
  
  

International selling features include handling local currencies and taxes.

When it comes to card processing and transaction fees, Shopify applies specific baseline rates for online checkouts and in-person payments on this tier.

These operational fees fluctuate based on your store's regional billing location and the type of credit card processed.

If you use Shopify Payments, you won’t have to pay any extra fees.

However, if you use a third-party payment provider, you’ll have to pay them a processing fee and an extra 1% transaction fee to Shopify.

The Advanced plan supports up to 15 staff accounts for $399/month.

The Shopify Advanced plan:

• Empowers high-growth, medium-to-large enterprises to scale complex operations.
  
  

• Unlocks advanced market metrics and deep data analytics.
  
  

• Includes lower payment processing rates and robust support for international selling.

The Shopify Advanced plan brings a variety of features to the table, such as:

• Custom reporting and analytics

• Third-party calculated shipping rates

• Lower transaction fees

• 15 staff accounts

• Cart recovery

• Discount codes

• Gift card support

When it comes to payment processing, Shopify Advanced offers significantly reduced baseline rates for both online and in-person transactions, though the exact percentages vary depending on your store's regional location.

Shopify Plus starts at $2,300/month and includes unlimited staff accounts.

It’s an all-in-one solution for multi-channel selling, built for performance and scalability. Businesses seeking performance optimization can benefit from Shopify Plus offerings.

The platform excels in performance, handling over 10,000 checkouts per minute, and provides advanced security and fraud protection.

• 24/7 priority enterprise support.
  
  

• Deep checkout customization experiences through the advanced Shopify checkout.
  
  

• Native wholesale and B2B expansion using Shopify Collective.
  
  

• A vast ecosystem of dedicated enterprise apps and integrations.
  
  

• Higher-tier plans offer better discounts on shipping and logistics.
  

Moreover, the extra transaction fee that you pay to Shopify if you use a payment processor other than Shopify Payments is just 0.2% of your transaction. Again, if you stick to Shopify Payments, there are no extra transaction fees.

Overall, while these exact numbers may change, Shopify Plus offers the cheapest card processing and transaction fee rates out of any Shopify plan.

For more up-to-date information, see Shopify Plus pricing.

With its ability to support large-scale operations, Shopify Plus is an ideal choice for businesses aiming for significant growth and requiring a platform that can accommodate high traffic volumes and complex operational needs.

Shopify Plus lists at a $2,300 monthly platform fee on a standard multi-year term, but high-volume merchants do not stay on the flat rate.

Once monthly revenue passes roughly $800,000, Plus shifts to variable pricing calculated at 0.25% of monthly revenue, capped at $40,000 per month.

A merchant processing $2,000,000 a month therefore pays around $5,000 in platform fees rather than $2,300.

Any brand modeling a move to Plus should calculate cost against projected revenue, not the headline number, since the variable band changes the economics well before the cap.

Unlocking brick-and-mortar success requires breaking down the complete Shopify POS pricing structure to protect your real margins.

• Shopify POS Lite is included with all Shopify plans at no additional cost.

This basic version offers essential POS functionalities suitable for businesses just starting with in-person sales, pop-up events, or casual markets.

• Shopify POS Pro is a premium upgrade for full-scale retail locations. The cost for POS Pro is €89 USD per month for each physical store.

This upgrade fits omnichannel brands with physical retail locations that need to eliminate inventory discrepancies and streamline in-person operations.

• Enables buy-online-pick-up-in-store (BOPIS) and cross-channel returns to increase customer lifetime value.
  
  

• Reduces stockouts through automated demand forecasting and purchase order management using inventory management tools.
  
  

• Improves operational control with unlimited staff accounts and custom role permissions.
  
  

• Delivers granular reporting on daily sales, staff performance, and inventory turnover.

Using Shopify Payments eliminates extra transaction fees. Alternative hardware or external payment gateways incur standard plan-specific transaction fees.

Shopify Agentic optimizes your product infrastructure for autonomous AI buyers, conversational search engines, and LLM marketplaces.

This setup is built for high-volume enterprise brands looking to secure early market share in AI-driven commerce channels.

• Structures your product catalog data for immediate indexing and accurate recommendation by AI discovery engines.
  
  

• Eliminates traditional UI friction by using secure API protocols that allow autonomous AI agents to execute purchases directly.
  
  

• Validates inventory levels and dynamic pricing instantly during automated AI search queries.
  
  

• Tracks and analyzes conversion rates, revenue, and AOV originating specifically from AI assistants.

All transactions route through your established Shopify checkout, maintaining your standard enterprise credit card processing rates.

Compared to less specialized website builders like Squarespace, Shopify packs a mightier arsenal of features to help support your e-commerce operations, albeit at a higher price.

In terms of e-commerce features, Shopify’s closest match is Bigcommerce.

The two platforms are very close with regard to their pricing.

Shopify’s Basic and Standard plans are slightly more affordable than Bigcommerce, but the difference is even greater, if it’s your first year on Shopify, due to the $1 three-month trial period.

However, Shopify and Bigcommerce differ in their transaction fees.

• While Shopify charges transaction fees for third-party gateways, it does not cap your revenue or force upgrades based on sales volume.
  
  

• BigCommerce avoids transaction fees but locks you into rigid revenue thresholds that force you into higher pricing tiers as you grow.

Evaluating these platforms based on monthly software fees miscalculates your true costs.

Shopify lowers your overall operational costs and protects your margins through superior checkout conversion rates and reduced development overhead.

People often compare Shopify with open-source platforms like Woocommerce.

However, direct price comparisons with them do little justice to Shopify’s utility, robustness, customer support, and performance.

It has some of the best features to support your e-commerce journey and empower you to move with speed and confidence.

Platforms like Woocommerce may have lower costs upfront, but are more complicated to maintain and may require having a dedicated developer or administrator on your team.

Ultimately, investing in Shopify eliminates this technical debt, paying for itself through superior conversion rates and zero infrastructure headaches.

By migrating to a fully managed ecosystem, you shift your focus from fixing broken plugins to driving predictable revenue growth.

In the world of commerce, every time a credit card is used to facilitate a purchase, the merchant has to pay a credit card processing fee to their bank or payment processor.

Extra transaction fees on Shopify are applicable to all transactions that aren’t made through its in-house payment processor Shopify Payments.

However, Shopify Payments is currently available only in selected countries and regions.

If Shopify Payments isn’t supported in your location, there is no need to worry.

Shopify seamlessly integrates with over 100 alternative third-party payment providers globally to ensure your business can accept payments smoothly.

Yes, even if you refund or cancel an order, you won’t receive your credit card processing fee. Shopify is unable or unwilling to refund your fees, as the failed payments still incur costs on their end.

You may find information stating the contrary and this is likely because it hasn’t been updated.

As of 2020, Shopify updated its terms of service to no longer refund card processing fees.

Absolutely not. Shopify is transparent with its prices and you shouldn’t be surprised by anything on your invoice.

However, there are additional costs for domain names, premium themes, and apps, which we will discuss more in the following section.

The most common hidden cost craftberry finds is not on the invoice at all.

When a merchant uninstalls an app, its code rarely leaves cleanly. Orphaned Liquid snippets, leftover metafields, and lingering script tags stay embedded in the theme, still loading on every page and still degrading Time to First Byte long after the subscription is cancelled.

On a typical audit our team removes dozens of these artifacts from stores that switched apps repeatedly over the years. The subscription stopped, the performance cost did not.

Getting started on Shopify doesn’t require more than paying for a monthly plan.

However, customizing your store, extending its functionality, and transforming it into the shop of your dreams will cost you extra.

Depending on the complexity of your requirements, these implementation costs can range from $10,000 to $150,000.

The Shopify App Store currently boasts over 17,600 apps. Each of them is designed to solve a specific problem that merchants face.

Apps can help you improve customer experiences, automate processes, extend and customize your store’s functionality, scale and streamline your operations, and more.

All Shopify apps vary in price, most often between $10 and $100 per month, but what they have in common is that they are vetted, reliable, and maintained by customer support teams.

All in all, if you have specific business requirements, you may have to include Shopify apps in your budget.

Shopify boasts a variety of free themes. However, they are limited in terms of functionality and customization options.

Premium themes usually range from around $140 to over $400.

Another cost that’s not covered by your Shopify plan is your domain name.

Although Shopify, can get you started with a myshopify domain ending, most businesses find that unprofessional so they opt for a custom domain.

Domain names typically cost $10 to $30 per year.

Shopify Email provides email hosting. This means that you don’t have to use a third-party integration if you want to leverage email marketing at the start. Costs there vary depending on your usage and the volume of emails sent.

The first 10,000 emails are free, and then each 1,000 emails cost $1, but this price gets lowered after your first 300,000 emails.

However, we consider Shopify emails to be an entry tool. For more sophisticated email marketing, we recommend integrating Kklavyio.

For scaling merchants, the plan fee is rarely the largest line on the invoice.

Real monthly spend aggregates five layers: the subscription, payment processing on total order volume, recurring app subscriptions, amortized theme and design cost, and development or maintenance work.

The table below models three common store profiles. Processing costs assume Shopify Payments at the tier rate.

The pattern is consistent across every craftberry migration audit: app subscriptions and development, not the Shopify plan, drive the cost curve as a store scales.

сraftberry Engineering Note:

App stacking is the most underestimated cost on Shopify.

A typical scaling store runs 8 or more paid apps, and each one injects third-party scripts that raise render-blocking time and erode Core Web Vitals.

The recurring fee is only half the cost. The other half is the conversion tax of a slower Largest Contentful Paint.

On multiple builds, our team has replaced four to six overlapping apps with a single custom application, cutting both the monthly subscription total and the third-party script weight that was throttling checkout performance.

In a nutshell, Shopify offers a range of pricing plans to suit different business needs, starting from the Shopify Starter plan at $5/month to the comprehensive Shopify Plus plan at $2300/month.

While the Starter, Plus, and Retail plans cater to specific niches, most established businesses find their needs met within the Basic, Standard, and Advanced plans.

Each plan comes with its own set of features and credit card processing rates, with higher-tier plans offering lower transaction fees.

Shopify's pricing is transparent, with no hidden fees, but merchants should budget for additional costs like apps, premium themes, domain names, third-party email hosting, and partner services.

A certified Shopify Plus agency can provide support for migrations and store builds.

Yes, Shopify has affordable plans that equip small businesses with all the tools they need to begin selling effectively online.

Moreover, Shopify’s robust backend, user-friendly interface, and rockstar customer support ensure that even non-tech-savvy owners will have an easy time setting up their online store.

The right Shopify plan for you will depend on your exact situation and business needs.

Generally speaking, if you are generating less than $5,000 per month you can stick to Shopify Basic, and if you are generating over $10,000 a month in sales, you can consider looking into the Advanced Shopify Plan.

Large companies and enterprises should check out Shopify Plus.

If you’d like some help finding out which is the best Shopify plan for you, you can get in touch with our team for a free Shopify consultation.

Yes! Shopify offers a free 3-day trial, followed up by a 3-month deal for $1.

You can also create a development store with which you can play around, but won’t be able to sell.

Exact credit card and transaction fees on Shopify depend on your Shopify Plan, as well as your payment processor, and the exact type of card.

Generally, more premium plans offer lower card processing costs and transaction fees.

If you’re using Shopify Payments, you aren’t charged any extra transaction fees, apart from the card processing fee.

Shopify templates or themes can cost anywhere from $100 to over $450 as a one-time purchase.

However, more advanced themes offer extended functionalities and customization options, which larger organizations require.

It’s difficult to put an exact number. Many apps have free, as well as paid versions.

Some apps cost a few bucks, while others can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars every month, while others depend on your usage.

Your monthly Shopify subscription is billed every 30 days. Apps that have subscription-based charges for merchants operate on their own independent 30-day billing cycles.

The cost of a headless Shopify build is usually in the tens of thousands and is dependent on multiple factors.

The price of a headless Shopify setup can vary based on several factors, including the scale and intricacy of the project, the geographical location of the developer, the nature of the development, the technology used, any bespoke features, integrations, and licensing fees.

If you are serious about exploring the possibility of a headless Shopify build, you can reach out to our team for a free consultation.

When it comes to saving money with Shopify there are two things you can always do.

First, paying for your plans annually or even 2 or 3 years in advance can make a big difference, compared to paying for it month for month.

Second, merchants should keep an eye on all the apps they use and cancel subscriptions that they don’t need since it’s common to forget about some apps altogether.

Another thing that many people miss is the ability to pause your Shopify subscription if you need to take a break from the platform or your priorities change.

Shopify’s prices are mid to high-tier compared to other e-commerce platforms when it comes to their more advanced plans.

However, their cheaper plans pack a mighty punch and offer features that competitors at Bigcommerce offer only in their more premium plans.

Moreover, the utility, user-friendliness, global performance, hassle-free maintenance, and stellar customer support make Shopify one of the global e-commerce leaders.

See also: Best Shopify Loyalty & Rewards Apps and Average Revenue of Shopify Stores.

Rarely on processing rates alone. The plan-fee gap between Advanced ($299) and Plus ($2,300) is roughly $2,000 a month, and closing that gap through the lower Plus card rate requires very high card volume.

The real trigger is capability: checkout extensibility, Shopify Functions, native B2B, higher API rate limits, and expanded staff accounts.

Most merchants move to Plus when those features unlock revenue or remove an operational ceiling, not when the processing math breaks even.

A custom app is a one-time build, often in the low-to-mid five figures, versus $500 to $2,000 or more per month for a stack of paid apps that compounds as the catalog grows. Break-even depends on the combined monthly cost of the apps it replaces.

When several overlapping apps each charge a monthly fee and degrade page performance, a single custom app usually pays for itself inside 12 to 18 months and improves Core Web Vitals at the same time.

Yes. Routing payments through a gateway other than Shopify Payments adds a per-transaction fee on top of the gateway's own processing rate, in the range of 0.15% to 0.30% on Plus.

Shopify Payments removes that additional transaction fee, though standard card processing rates still apply.

For high-volume merchants, the third-party transaction fee alone can outweigh a lower processing rate offered elsewhere, so the total effective rate should be modeled on real order volume.

Direct answer: the subscription is the smallest part. Migration cost is driven by catalog size, integration complexity, custom logic that must be rebuilt, and whether a redesign is in scope.

Directional ranges run from $5,000 to $15,000 for a small store, $15,000 to $50,000 for a mid-market build with ERP or CRM connections, and $50,000 or more for enterprise migrations involving custom architecture and multi-market setups.

The reliable figure comes from a technical audit of the current store, not a flat quote.