Shopify is our top pick for best ecommerce platform for small businesses because of its ease of use, robust features, and scalable yet affordable pricing plans. If you’re starting an online store using Shopify, then expect to pay $250 to $500 in startup fees and around $50 to $100 in monthly fees at the start, including add-ons. If you need to sell in-store as well, then that will be an additional $30 to $300 for hardware purchases plus an $89 per location monthly fee for using Shopify POS Pro (which we recommend).
In this guide, we give information about Shopify’s pricing plans and its feature inclusions. But more importantly, we go into detail on how much it costs to really set up and manage a store on Shopify.
You can actually try Shopify free for 14 days before choosing a plan. Start your free trial—no credit card required.
Shopify Pricing and Fees at a Glance
Shopify Lite | Basic Shopify | Shopify | Advanced Shopify | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly Fees* | $9 | $29 | $79 | $299 |
Shopify’s Online Credit Card Processing Fees | 2.9% + 30 cents | 2.9% + 30 cents | 2.6% + 30 cents | 2.4% + 30 cents |
Shopify’s In-Person Credit Card Processing Fees | 2.7% | 2.7% | 2.5% | 2.4% |
Additional Fees for Using Third-Party Payments (Transaction Fees) | 2% | 2% | 1% | 0.5% |
Best For | Sellers who don’t need a standalone ecommerce website | Sellers who need a standalone ecommerce website and multichannel sales capabilities | Volume sellers who need more advanced selling features than Basic Shopify provides | High-volume sellers who need to extend the capabilities of the full Shopify plan |
*Shopify collects sales taxes in certain states where it is required by law. The prices stated here do not reflect such taxes. Shopify offers discounts on its monthly fees if you pay in advance. Save 10% on your Shopify prices if you prepay one year; save 20% if you prepay two years.
A Note on Shopify’s Transaction Fees
Aside from the monthly cost of subscription, it’s important to be aware of the differences between credit card processing fees and transaction fees when it comes to Shopify’s specific pricing model.
Credit card fees are charged by Shopify and allow you to accept major credit cards, such as Visa and Mastercard, as payment in your online store.
Shopify charges transaction fees if you use a third-party payment provider to take payments. It covers the charge to integrate Shopify with your chosen provider. However, none of the plans charge transaction fees if you use Shopify’s payment processor, Shopify Payments.
For example, if you’re subscribed to Shopify Lite (using Shopify Payments), online purchases have credit card fees of 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction. If the purchase was made using a Shopify POS card reader and/or a mobile device app, credit card fees are at 2.7%. If you use a third-party payment gateway, expect to pay a 2% transaction fee for each sale on top of credit card rates.
How to Choose the Right Shopify Plan for You
Shopify pricing plans meet the needs of all types of sellers and a wide range of budgets. Sellers who don’t need a Shopify website can sell securely on blogs and Facebook for just $9/month, while businesses needing a website can launch one on any budget. For example, the Basic Shopify pricing plan delivers what most small online sellers need to get started for just $29/month. Meanwhile, Shopify and Advanced Shopify support growing and volume sellers by adding a range of advanced reporting, marketing, and shipping functionality for $79 or $299 per month.
Shopify Lite
Shopify Lite is ideal for sellers who want to add products to their existing blog or standard website and sell on Facebook or in-person using a mobile device. You can also send invoices and accept online invoice payments. Shopify prices this plan to be very startup-friendly.
Basic Shopify
Basic Shopify delivers everything the new or small business seller needs to sell online, market their website, create a blog, and sell in-person or on other channels like Amazon, Facebook, and Pinterest. Shopify prices this plan to be in line with the needs of small-volume online sellers.
Shopify
The Shopify plan gives you all of the features of Basic Shopify plus advanced capabilities like cart recovery, gift cards to optimize sales, and expanded reporting capabilities. With this plan, sellers using Shopify Payments to process credit cards also pay a lower processing rate. So, if you sell more than $25,000 per month, the Shopify plan is worth the higher monthly fee.
Advanced Shopify
Advanced Shopify is geared for high-volume sellers who use all the capabilities of the full Shopify plan, but need added features such as real-time shipping rates and customizable reporting. Advanced Shopify sellers also get the lowest Shopify Payments processing rates of all four plans. If you sell more than $110,000 per month, the Advanced plan is worth the higher monthly fee.
But, that’s not all. If you outgrow the Advanced Shopify plan, Shopify prices their Enterprise plan, Shopify Plus, to meet specific needs. On this plan, you can custom-tailor ecommerce features and save even more on credit card processing. This starts at $2,000 per month and includes custom discounted processing fees.
Interested in learning more about Shopify’s features? Read our Shopify review.
Additional Costs in Launching a Shopify Store
After considering the cost of Shopify’s monthly plans, you also need to take into account extra costs that you will incur when launching your store. We have listed additional options you might need and their corresponding fees.
Additional Feature | Pricing | Recommended For | |
|---|---|---|---|
In-person selling | Shopify POS Lite | Free | Pop-up shops, markets, and occasional sales |
Shopify POS Pro | $89/month per location* | Brick-and-mortar shops that do in-person selling and online sales | |
Shopify POS Hardware | $29 to $299, one-time fee | ||
Online Sales | Domain Name | Starts at $11/year if purchased through Shopify | Businesses that want to develop their own branding to establish credibility and reputation |
Shopify Website Themes | $100 to $180, one-time fee | Businesses that want more variety for their website design | |
Add-ons and Integrations | Depends on plug-in | Businesses that want to improve or strengthen their website’s performance and streamline operations | |
Shopify Email | Free for first 2,500 emails sent, $1 for every 1,000 additional | Businesses that want to perform online marketing—engage customers better and generate more leads |
*Shopify POS Pro is free with a Shopify Plus plan (for enterprise users).
Shopify POS
Shopify POS Lite is free with your Shopify ecommerce plan, and it works great for running temporary stores such as pop-up shops and farmers market locations. However, those who want to use the app for their brick-and-mortar operations will likely want to upgrade to Shopify POS Pro for $89 per location. The main difference between the two is access to advanced features such as smart inventory management and in-store analytics.
Shopify POS Hardware
If you sign up for the Shopify POS, then you will also need Shopify’s hardware options (such as a card reader) to support mobile and in-store sales. Each hardware includes free shipping, 30-day returns, 24/7 customer support, and a one-year warranty. One-time fees range from $29 to $299.
Shopify POS is a consistent top pick for best retail POS systems, best multichannel POS systems, and best POS inventory systems. Interested to find out more about Shopify POS? Read our Shopify POS review.
Domain Name
When you create a Shopify site, you automatically get a free “www.storename.myshopify.com” domain. However, you’ll probably want to upgrade to a custom domain name. You can use your own domain if you already have one or purchase a new one through Shopify. Domains purchased through Shopify start at $11 per year. The exact pricing depends on which top-level domain (TLD) extension you choose (such as .com, .net, .store, etc.).
Note that Shopify’s domain name registration doesn’t include any email hosting. We recommend that you compare these prices with other domain name registrars. If you go that route, then you can transfer it to Shopify.
Learn how to choose a domain name.
Shopify Website Themes
Shopify offers about 10 free and more than 70 premium website themes. If you choose to go with a premium theme, prices range from $100 to $180. If you need help customizing a paid theme, then you can hire a Shopify expert.
Add-Ons and Integrations
One of the reasons Shopify is a popular and highly-rated ecommerce platform is its fantastic app store. If you want to have extra functionalities such as drop shipping or membership programs, then you might benefit from signing up for add-ons available in the Shopify App Store.
There are free and paid integrations, which usually charge a monthly fee. There are thousands of integrations available so it is best that you know the most popular add-ons used by Shopify owners to get an idea on which features you can add to your store. These plug-ins and add-ons can greatly improve your online store’s usefulness, as well as your business’ performance.
Below are some of the add-ons we recommend:
Shopify App | Free Plan | Paid Plan Prices Start From | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
✔ | $29.90 | Adding drop ship products to your site | |
✔ | $15 | Increasing social media reach by automatically publishing new products and store updates to 12+ channels | |
✔ | $20 | Ranking higher in internet search results with free guided instructions | |
N/A | $59 | Adding a tailor-made customer support system to your site | |
✔ | $19 | Generating product reviews and collecting customer feedback | |
N/A | $9 | Fulfilling and shipping orders from multiple sales channels quickly and affordably |
Shopify Email
Email marketing is an essential aspect of boosting your online store’s conversions. Shopify recently launched a new feature called Shopify Email where you can send 2,500 free emails per month for free and then pay $1 for every 1,000 additional emails.
You can opt to use Shopify Email instead of a third-party service like Mailchimp or Active Campaign.
Shopify Pricing Compared to Other Popular Ecommerce Platforms
Considering all the add-on costs, expect to shell out around $250 to $500 initially to launch a Shopify store. We compared our cost estimate to other ecommerce platforms start-up costs and found that creating a Shopify store is a more economical option.
For example, WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin; however, it requires you to invest on hosting plans and other add-ons, so expect to pay around $500 to $1,000 as a startup (roughly includes shared hosting, a paid website theme, and a few paid plug-ins).
Meanwhile, with BigCommerce, startup costs are $800 or more, depending on your online store’s expected sales volume. This estimate comes with no website developer. If you prefer to work with a developer, then expect to pay a few thousand dollars more.
What you can save on startup fees with Shopify might go to its monthly transaction fees on your online sales. BigCommerce and WooCommerce do not have transaction fees, making them ideal solutions if you are a high-volume seller.
If Shopify’s startup budget is still too much for you, then you can also explore our top picks for free ecommerce platforms. While they can be limited in features, you might find one that is enough for you to start your online store and then upgrade when business is more profitable.
Bottom Line
Shopify prices its ecommerce plans to meet virtually any small business’s budget and selling needs. At $9 per month, Shopify’s entry-level plan enables bloggers to add Buy Buttons to their blog pages and even push products onto a Facebook Shop. Full-featured plans starting at $29/month allow beginner sellers to start their online store and give them room to scale.
Here are a few tips on deciding which Shopify plan is the best for your business:
- Evaluate the features of each Shopify plan. The best plan for your business should be based on the features you need.
- Consider Shopify’s transaction fees. Note that it might be worth getting a higher-tiered plan to save on transaction fees. For example, if you sell more than $25,000 month, the Shopify plan is worth the higher monthly fee because of its lower fees.
- Think about the savings you can take advantage of. For example, you can avoid additional transaction fees by using Shopify Payments. Additionally, you can have additional discounts on prepayments for one- and two-year subscriptions to Shopify.
- Consider additional Shopify costs. POS hardware costs, domain fees, and additional app subscriptions can add up.
Those additional costs must be considered when setting up your Shopify store, but what’s great about these investments is that they deliver more profit in the long run. We suggest you launch your store first and add more features (integrations) as the need arises.
Start your 14-day free trial before choosing a plan—no credit card required.
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- Learn how to open a Shopify drop shipping store
