In short:
- Three core Shopify plans (Basic, Shopify, Advanced) cover most US stores, with monthly fees from roughly $39 to $399 on the standard pricing card.
- Transaction fees are the line item most operators underestimate, with online card rates ranging from about 2.4% to 2.9% plus 30 cents depending on plan.
- Shopify Plus starts near $2,300 a month and is built for high volume merchants, multi store rollouts, and B2B catalogs.
- Annual billing typically trims around 25% off the monthly sticker, which materially changes the breakeven math for stores under $1M in revenue.
- The real cost is plan price plus payment fees plus apps plus theme work, not the headline number on the marketing page.
Why Shopify pricing matters more in 2026
Shopify is now the default checkout for a wide slice of US e-commerce, from indie brands to publicly traded retailers. The platform powers roughly one in ten US online stores by some industry counts, and that share keeps climbing. For founders comparing platforms, the question is rarely whether Shopify can run a store. It is whether the total cost of running on Shopify makes sense at your specific revenue.
The headline plan price is the easy part to read. The harder part is the stack of variable fees layered on top, which scale with your sales and your app footprint. A store that does $40,000 a month in revenue on Basic can quietly spend more on payment processing and apps than on the plan itself. That gap between sticker price and effective cost is what trips up most first time merchants. For a broader comparison across the major platforms, see our pillar on How to choose the right e-commerce platform for your store, which covers Shopify alongside BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and the headless alternatives.
Pricing also matters because Shopify keeps refining the tiers. The platform has nudged transaction fees, repackaged POS pricing, expanded Plus into B2B, and added Shopify Markets for cross border selling. Each shift changes the calculus for a different segment of merchants. A 2024 fee schedule does not match the 2026 reality, which is why this guide is written against the current pricing card and verified against merchant invoices.
The plans, in plain language
Shopify sells four public plans in the United States, plus the Plus enterprise tier, plus a lightweight Starter plan for social sellers. Most US merchants land on Basic, Shopify, or Advanced. The differences across those three are real but narrower than the marketing pages suggest.
Starter
Roughly $5 a month. No online store, no themes, no abandoned cart automation. You get a checkout link, a buy button, and a basic admin. It is built for creators who sell through Instagram, TikTok, or a Linktree style page, not for anyone who wants a real storefront. Skip it if you plan to grow.
Basic
Around $39 a month on month to month billing, closer to $29 on annual. Includes a full online store, unlimited products, one location, two staff accounts, and the standard reporting suite. Online card rate on Shopify Payments sits at 2.9% plus 30 cents in the US, with a 0.5% transaction fee added when you use a third party payment processor. Basic is the right starting point for stores under about $25,000 a month in revenue.
Shopify (the middle plan)
Around $105 a month, or roughly $79 on annual. Five staff accounts, more reporting depth, and slightly lower transaction fees (2.6% plus 30 cents online via Shopify Payments, 0.5% third party fee). The big jump versus Basic is the reporting and the staff seats. The card rate savings only become meaningful once you cross about $30,000 to $40,000 a month, which is roughly where the middle plan starts to pay for itself.
Advanced
Around $399 a month, or close to $299 on annual. Fifteen staff accounts, custom reports, third party calculated shipping rates at checkout, and the lowest standard card fees on the public plans (2.4% plus 30 cents online via Shopify Payments, 0.5% third party). The custom report builder is the underrated piece. For stores doing serious volume, the difference between Shopify and Advanced often comes down to whether finance and merchandising want their own dashboards.
Shopify Plus
Starts at about $2,300 a month on a one year commitment, or a revenue based variable fee once you cross the $800,000 a month threshold. Unlocks B2B catalogs, ten storefronts under one organization, dedicated launch managers, the checkout extensibility API, and lower negotiated card rates. Plus is not just a bigger Shopify. It is a different operating model, with its own staffing assumptions and its own partner ecosystem.
The pricing card at a glance
| Plan | Monthly (month to month) | Monthly (annual billing) | Online card rate (Shopify Payments, US) | Third party processor fee | Staff accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | ~$5 | n/a | 5% (Buy Button) | n/a | 1 |
| Basic | ~$39 | ~$29 | 2.9% + 30¢ | 0.5% | 2 |
| Shopify | ~$105 | ~$79 | 2.6% + 30¢ | 0.5% | 5 |
| Advanced | ~$399 | ~$299 | 2.4% + 30¢ | 0.5% | 15 |
| Plus | ~$2,300+ | ~$2,300+ | Negotiated | 0.15% (typical) | Unlimited |
Card rates above apply to domestic Visa, Mastercard, and Discover transactions on Shopify Payments. American Express, international cards, and in person rates differ. Shopify publishes the current schedule on its pricing page, which is the authoritative source if you need the latest decimal.
How transaction fees actually work
Transaction fees on Shopify come in two flavors that often get confused. The first is the payment processing fee, which is what the card networks and the processor charge to move money. On Shopify Payments in the US, that fee runs from 2.4% to 2.9% plus 30 cents per online order depending on plan. The second is the Shopify platform fee, which only applies when you use a third party processor like Stripe, PayPal, or Authorize.net instead of Shopify Payments. That fee is a flat 0.5% on Basic, Shopify, and Advanced, on top of whatever the third party processor charges.
The math gets uncomfortable fast if you stack both. A merchant on Basic running Stripe at the standard 2.9% plus 30 cents will pay Stripe its fee, then pay Shopify another 0.5% on top, then potentially pay currency conversion fees if any orders are cross border. The same merchant on Shopify Payments pays one bundled fee. That is why the platform pushes Shopify Payments so aggressively, and why almost every merchant ends up using it.
There are legitimate reasons to use a third party processor anyway. Some merchants need a processor that does not freeze funds as aggressively. Some need a processor that handles their specific vertical (CBD, firearms, supplements) better than Shopify Payments will. For those merchants, the 0.5% Shopify fee is just the cost of staying on the platform. Budget for it from day one.
In person rates on Shopify POS are lower than online rates, typically 2.4% to 2.7% depending on plan, with no extra 30 cent fee for tap and chip transactions. That gap matters for hybrid retailers who run both an online store and a physical location. If most of your volume is in store, the effective Shopify cost is materially lower than the online math suggests.
Plus pricing, demystified
Shopify Plus pricing has shifted twice in the last three years, and the current structure surprises merchants who last looked at it in 2022. The headline number is $2,300 a month for the base contract, billed annually with a one year minimum. Once a store crosses $800,000 a month in gross merchandise volume, the contract converts to a variable fee of 0.4% of GMV, capped at $40,000 a month. Below that threshold, Plus merchants pay the $2,300 floor.
The variable structure was introduced to keep Plus competitive at the very high end, where flat fee competitors like commercetools or Salesforce Commerce Cloud could undercut on price. For most Plus merchants, those doing between $500,000 and $5,000,000 a month in GMV, the effective monthly fee lands between $2,300 and $20,000. That is the realistic range you should model when planning a migration.
Plus also unlocks features that simply cannot be bought on lower tiers. B2B catalogs with company specific pricing, ten themed storefronts under one organization (useful for multi brand portfolios), checkout extensibility for custom payment logic, and the wholesale channel. The platform also throws in a dedicated launch engineer and 24/7 priority support. For brands considering a replatform from BigCommerce Enterprise, Salesforce, or a custom build, the comparison is rarely about Shopify base versus Plus. It is about Plus versus a six figure custom stack.
What the plan price does not include
The plan price gets you the platform. The platform is necessary but rarely sufficient. Almost every store of any meaningful size runs a stack of paid add ons that materially change the monthly bill. Knowing which line items to expect makes Shopify pricing legible in a way the marketing page does not.
- Apps. Most stores run between five and fifteen paid apps. Average spend across the Shopify App Store sits around $200 to $500 a month per store, with email automation, reviews, subscriptions, and shipping apps doing most of the damage. Pick apps deliberately, because each one adds latency to the storefront and complexity to your stack.
- Theme. A free Shopify theme works for a clean MVP. A premium theme from the Shopify Theme Store runs $180 to $400 one time. Custom theme development from an agency starts around $5,000 and climbs fast. If you want a guide to picking one without going custom, see Choosing a Shopify theme that converts without custom code.
- Domain. Shopify will sell you a .com for about $14 a year or you can bring your own. Negligible line item, but worth registering through a registrar you control, not the store backend.
- Email and SMS. Shopify Email is free up to 10,000 sends a month then $1 per 1,000. Klaviyo, the most common upgrade, starts free and scales with list size. Most stores doing real revenue spend $150 to $1,500 a month here.
- Apps for vertical needs. Subscriptions, B2B price lists, loyalty, returns portals, customs paperwork for cross border. Each is a separate monthly fee, often $50 to $300, and they accumulate.
- Shipping. Shopify Shipping bundles USPS, UPS, and DHL rates with discounts that range from 30% to 88% off retail. The discounts are real, but the rates still flow through as a per order cost, not a platform fee.
For a working list of which apps and partners actually move the needle, look at our breakdown of Tools and vendors for shopify in 2026. That guide names specific vendors by category and explains where the spend tends to deliver and where it does not.
Annual versus monthly billing
Annual billing trims roughly 25% off the monthly sticker on Basic, Shopify, and Advanced. The math is straightforward. Basic at $39 monthly versus $29 annual saves $120 a year. Advanced at $399 monthly versus $299 annual saves $1,200 a year. For a store doing $250,000 a year in revenue, that is real money.
The case against annual is mostly about cash flow and commitment. A new store with uncertain product market fit may not want to lock in 12 months at once. The case for annual is that almost no merchant cancels Shopify mid year once they have a working store. The platform is sticky by design, and the migration cost is high. If you are six months in and still selling, switch to annual at the next renewal. The savings compound across the years you do not realize you will stay.
One gotcha worth flagging. Shopify bills annual plans up front in one charge. A merchant who switches from Basic monthly to Advanced annual mid contract will see a single large invoice for the prorated balance. That is normal but startling if you are not expecting it. Schedule the switch when your cash position allows.
Pricing for international and cross border stores
Shopify pricing gets more layered the moment you start selling across borders. Shopify Markets, which is included on all plans, lets you serve multi currency pricing, local payment methods, and localized checkout from one store. The platform handles the FX conversion, takes a small currency conversion fee (1.5% in the US on Shopify Payments), and lets you set market specific pricing.
The hidden cost on cross border is not the platform fee. It is the friction in the buyer experience when listings, currencies, and shipping options are not properly localized. Our guide on Localizing product listings for cross border buyers walks through where merchants leak conversions and how to fix the obvious gaps. Pricing the platform correctly only matters if buyers can actually check out.
For stores doing meaningful international volume, the upgrade path is usually Shopify Markets Pro, which packages duties calculation, importer of record services, and localized fulfillment under one fee. Markets Pro is a per transaction fee model, typically a small percentage on top of card processing, and it can be the difference between profitable and unprofitable cross border on lower margin SKUs.
Common mistakes when budgeting for Shopify
The most common budgeting mistake is reading the plan price and assuming that is the line item. It is one of perhaps eight line items, and the bigger ones are usually variable. A founder who budgets $39 a month for Basic and then sees a $1,400 monthly bill (apps, payments, email, shipping) tends to lose trust in their own modeling. That is avoidable.
The second mistake is choosing a plan based on feature differences that do not matter at your stage. A store doing $5,000 a month does not need custom reports. A store doing $200,000 a month probably does. Match the plan to your reporting and staffing needs, not to a feature checklist you read once on a comparison blog.
The third mistake is over installing apps in the first 90 days. Each new app is a recurring cost, a new piece of code in your storefront, and a new dependency to keep current. Start lean. Add apps when a specific problem appears, not preemptively. For most stores, fewer than 10 apps is enough to operate well.
The fourth mistake is staying on Basic too long. The threshold is rough but predictable. When you cross $30,000 a month in revenue and start needing more reporting depth or extra staff seats, the middle plan pays for itself within weeks. Past about $80,000 to $100,000 a month, Advanced is usually correct. Plus is for stores that have either grown past $1,000,000 a month in GMV or need B2B from day one.
Worked example: pricing a $50,000 per month store
Run the numbers for a hypothetical US Shopify store doing $50,000 a month in revenue, 600 orders, AOV of about $83, mostly domestic, mostly card on file, no subscriptions, one location, three staff. Annual billing throughout.
| Line item | Monthly cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify plan (Shopify tier, annual) | $79 | Five staff accounts is enough. |
| Shopify Payments fees | $1,480 | 2.6% of $50,000 plus 30¢ x 600 orders. |
| Klaviyo | $150 | List around 30,000 subscribers. |
| Reviews app (Judge.me, Yotpo, or similar) | $50 | Mid tier plan. |
| Shipping app (ShipStation or Shippo) | $30 | Volume tier. |
| Two niche apps (returns, subscriptions, or B2B) | $150 | Vertical specific. |
| Theme amortized | $25 | $300 theme over 12 months. |
| Total | ~$1,964 | ~3.9% of revenue. |
The headline plan is $79. The real cost is closer to $2,000 a month, with payment fees doing most of the work. That ratio (around 4% of revenue) is the rough benchmark to target. If your stack is materially higher than that without a clear reason, something in the app or processor mix is leaking money.
Where Shopify pricing sits versus the alternatives
Comparing Shopify to BigCommerce, WooCommerce, or Wix is almost always a comparison of effective cost rather than sticker price. BigCommerce charges no transaction fees on top of card processing, which looks cheaper until you tally the implementation cost and the price of comparable apps. WooCommerce on WordPress has no platform fee at all, but you pay for hosting, security, and a stack of plugins that often add up to more than a Shopify plan once you account for performance tuning. Wix is cheaper at entry but has a smaller app ecosystem and weaker reporting, which becomes a ceiling around the $20,000 a month revenue mark for most categories.
Shopify wins on time to launch, predictable infrastructure, and the depth of the partner ecosystem. It loses on raw flexibility versus a headless build, and on absolute cost versus a well run WooCommerce setup at scale. The right answer depends on revenue, team, and the kind of customization your roadmap requires. Our pillar on How to choose the right e-commerce platform for your store goes deep on that decision and walks through the migration paths most merchants actually take, including the realistic timeline for moving off WooCommerce or BigCommerce onto Shopify Plus.
A short pricing playbook
If you are evaluating Shopify right now and want a clear next step, work through this checklist. It is the rough sequence we see successful operators follow, and it surfaces the cost surprises before they hit your card.
- Project revenue for the next 12 months. If projected revenue is under $250,000, start on Basic annual and switch to the middle plan only when reporting or staff seats become a blocker.
- Forecast payment volume. Multiply expected GMV by the relevant Shopify Payments rate (2.9%, 2.6%, or 2.4%) plus 30 cents times expected order count. That single line item is usually the largest in the stack.
- List required apps. Email, reviews, shipping, and one or two vertical specific picks. Add up the monthly cost. If the list passes 12 apps, you are probably over engineering the storefront for your stage.
- Budget a theme. Either a premium theme ($180 to $400 one time) or a small agency engagement ($3,000 to $10,000) covers most stores. Custom builds make sense only above $1,000,000 in annual revenue or for a unique merchandising model.
- Decide on annual vs monthly. If you are confident in the business beyond six months, take annual. The 25% saving compounds quickly and is the simplest free margin available on the platform.
- Re audit every six months. Plans, apps, and processor rates all drift. A quarterly review catches stranded app subscriptions, processor reserves that no longer apply, and tier upgrades whose payback has now arrived. The US Census Bureau retail e-commerce data can help benchmark your growth against the category before deciding whether to upgrade tiers.
None of this changes the headline pricing. It just makes the headline pricing accurate as a planning input rather than a wishful underestimate.
FAQ
How much does Shopify really cost per month?
The plan itself runs from about $5 (Starter) to $399 (Advanced) on the public tiers, plus Plus from around $2,300. The realistic total for a working store is the plan plus 2.4% to 2.9% in card processing, plus $200 to $500 in apps, plus email and shipping costs. A mid sized store typically spends 3% to 5% of revenue on the full Shopify stack.
What is the cheapest Shopify plan that includes a real online store?
Basic, at $29 a month on annual billing or $39 month to month. Starter at $5 does not include a full storefront, only a checkout link and buy button. For any merchant who wants product pages, themes, and abandoned cart automation, Basic is the floor.
Is Shopify Payments required?
No, but using a third party processor adds a 0.5% Shopify transaction fee on top of whatever the third party processor charges. For most merchants, Shopify Payments is the cheaper and simpler path. Use a third party when you have a vertical specific reason, like a niche underwriter or chargeback handling, that justifies the extra fee.
When should I upgrade from Basic to Shopify or Advanced?
Move to the middle Shopify plan when you cross roughly $30,000 to $40,000 a month in revenue or when you need more than two staff seats. Move to Advanced when you need custom reports, calculated third party shipping at checkout, or 15 staff seats. The card rate savings alone justify the upgrade once volume is high enough.
How much does Shopify Plus cost?
Plus starts at about $2,300 a month on an annual contract. Above $800,000 a month in GMV, the fee converts to 0.4% of GMV, capped at $40,000 a month. Most Plus merchants pay between $2,300 and $20,000 a month all in.
Does Shopify charge for support, themes, or domains?
Support is included on all paid plans. A free theme is included; premium themes cost $180 to $400 one time. Domains are $14 a year through Shopify or you can use a domain registered elsewhere at no extra cost.
Can I run Shopify in multiple currencies without paying extra?
Yes. Shopify Markets is included on every plan and supports multi currency pricing and localized checkout. Shopify Payments charges a 1.5% currency conversion fee on US accounts when a buyer pays in a non US currency. Shopify Markets Pro, the more advanced cross border package, has its own per transaction fee on top of that.
What is the typical app spend on a Shopify store?
Most stores running real revenue spend $200 to $500 a month across five to fifteen apps. Email and SMS, reviews, shipping, subscriptions, and analytics are the most common categories. Treat app spend as a recurring line item, not a one time install cost, and audit it every quarter.