Shopify’s new Starter plan lets you sell online for just $5 per month, and full-featured stores start at $29 per month. Use our calculator below to determine your monthly Shopify fees.
Shopify Pricing Plans for 2023: How Much Does Shopify Cost?
Meaghan has provided content and guidance for indie retailers as the editor for a number of retail publications and a speaker at trade shows. She is Fit Small Business’s authority on retail and ecommerce.
Agatha Aviso is a writer of the Reviews Section at Fit Small Business, focusing on order fulfillment and eCommerce platforms. Agatha has a decade’s worth of experience writing online content for small businesses and marketing industries. She also served as a content strategist and digital marketing manager for many entrepreneurs.
This article is part of a larger series on Retail Management.
Shopify is our top pick for the 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, expect to pay $250 to $500 in startup fees and around $50 to $100 in monthly expenses at the start, including add-ons. If you need to sell in-store as well, 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).
This guide covers Shopify’s pricing plans and feature inclusions. But more importantly, it details how much Shopify truly costs—including setup, add-on, recurring, and incidental fees you may incur managing a Shopify store.
Shopify Pricing & Fees at a Glance
Shopify Lite | Basic Shopify | Shopify | Advanced Shopify | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly Fees* | $5 | $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) | 5% | 2% | 1% | 0.5% |
Best For | Selling on social media (no standalone store) | Storefronts and small online sales | Growing ecommerce businesses | High-volume sales |
*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 for advance payments—save 10% if you prepay one year; save 20% for two years.
Shopify Fees
Shopify’s pricing plans have varying rates and fees, such as credit card rates and third-party transaction fees.
With Shopify Payments, you can fully integrate your checkout within your store without needing to redirect customers to a different platform, such as PayPal, to complete a purchase. If you accept offline payments with a point-of-sale (POS) system, you can use Shopify’s POS with Shopify Payments to consolidate online and in-store sales. What we like about Shopify Payments is that it doesn’t restrict you from accepting other payment types. You can still activate PayPal, Amazon Pay, and more for your checkout options.
Another advantage of using Shopify Payments is having the Shop Pay feature and the ability to set up a local currency on your checkout page. Shop Pay allows customers to save payment details between Shopify stores for faster checkout. It’s similar to Apple Pay and Google Pay in that shoppers can complete orders in one click.
Shopify Fees Calculator
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 that don’t need a Shopify website can sell securely on blogs and Facebook for just $5 per 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 per month. Meanwhile, Shopify and Advanced Shopify support growing and volume sellers by adding a range of advanced reporting, marketing, and shipping functionality for $79 and $299 per month, respectively.
Shopify Pricing Plans Comparison: How Much Does Shopify Cost?
Shopify Starter | Basic Shopify | Shopify | Advanced Shopify | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly Fees | $5 | $29 | $79 | $299 |
Standalone Store | N/A | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Staff Accounts | 1 | 2 | 5 | 15 |
Inventory Locations | 1 | Up to 4 | Up to 5 | Up to 8 |
Shipping Discounts | N/A | Up to 77% | Up to 88% | Up to 88% |
Sell in Multiple Languages | N/A | Up to 20 | Up to 20 | Up to 20 |
In the News:
In June 2022, Shopify introduced a new entry-level plan, Shopify Starter ($5/month), which provides you with a checkout link and allows you to sell through social media channels. It replaces the Shopify Lite plan.
Interested in learning more about Shopify’s features? Read our Shopify review.
Additional Costs to Launch a Shopify Store
After considering the cost of Shopify’s monthly plans, you also need to consider the extra costs 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 wanting to develop their branding to establish credibility and reputation |
Shopify Website Themes | Starts at $100, one-time fee | Businesses wanting more variety for their website design | |
Add-ons and Integrations | Depends on plug-in | Businesses wanting to improve or strengthen their website’s performance and streamline operations | |
Shopify Email | Free for first 10,000 emails sent, $0.001 for every email after | Businesses wanting to perform online marketing—engage customers better and generate more leads |
*Shopify POS Pro is free with a Shopify Plus plan (for enterprise users).
Here’s a full breakdown of the additional Shopify fees listed above.
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 solution 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 retail POS systems, multichannel POS systems, and POS inventory systems. Interested in finding out more about Shopify POS? Read our Shopify POS review and learn how to use Shopify POS.
Here are sample hardware solutions for Shopify POS.
 |  |  |
$49 | $149–$185 | $229–$329 |
Best for: Mobile sales | Best for: Brick-and-mortar stores | Best for: Retailers with large inventory or sales volume |
If you plan to use Shopify POS for a temporary market, pop-up sales, or on a seasonal basis, you can rent its hardware through Shopify’s partnership with Fello.
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 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 nine free and more than 90 premium website themes, with prices starting at $100. You can hire a Shopify expert if you need help customizing a paid theme.
Shopify’s OS 2.0 Theme: Dawn (Free) (Source: Shopify)
Shopify consistently launches new themes. Its latest theme, Online Store 2.0 (OS 2.0), introduces sections and blocks which offer modularity, flexibility, and, to some extent, drag-and-drop capabilities. The new free theme for OS 2.0, Dawn, is mobile-first and 35% faster than Shopify’s themes for the previous version of the store builder (now referred to as “Vintage”).
Add-ons & Integrations
One of the reasons Shopify is a popular and highly rated ecommerce platform is its fantastic app store. If you want extra functionalities such as dropshipping or membership programs, you might benefit from signing up for add-ons in the Shopify App Store.
There are free and paid integrations, which usually charge a monthly fee. Thousands of integrations available, so you should know the most popular add-ons used by Shopify owners to get an idea of which features you can add to your store. These plug-ins and add-ons can significantly improve your online store’s usefulness and your business’ performance.
Find our recommended Shopify apps for sourcing and selling, merchandising, fulfillment, customer service, and more.
Shopify Email
Email marketing is essential to boosting your online store’s conversions. Shopify has its own feature, Shopify Email, where you can send 10,000 free emails per month. After you reach your monthly limit, each email costs $0.001. You don’t get billed for the additional emails until the cost reaches $0.005.
You can use Shopify Email instead of third-party services like Mailchimp and Active Campaign.
Shopify Email offers templates for promotions, store announcements, product highlights, and special occasions.
Shopify Pricing vs Other Ecommerce Platforms
Best For | Monthly Plans | Start-up Costs | Transaction Fees | Full Review | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Businesses selling primarily online and multichannel retailers | Starts at $5 | $250–$500 | 2.9% + 30 cents per sale (if using Shopify Payments) | |
| High-volume sellers | Starts at $29.95 | $800–$1,000 | Zero transaction fees; separate merchant account required | |
 | Businesses with existing online shops within WordPress | Free | $500–$1,000 | 2.9% + 30 cents per sale plus monthly fees for payment provider | |
Considering all the add-on costs, expect to initially shell out around $250 to $500 to launch a Shopify store. We compared our cost estimate to other ecommerce platforms’ startup costs and found that creating a Shopify store is the more economical option.
For example, WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin; however, it requires you to invest in 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 around $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, expect to pay a few thousand more.
What you can save on start-up fees with Shopify might go to its monthly transaction fees on your online sales. BigCommerce does not have transaction fees, making it an ideal solution if you are a high-volume seller or plan to use a processor other than Shopify Payments.
If Shopify’s startup budget is too much for you, you can explore our top picks for free ecommerce platforms. While they can be limited in features, you might find one that is enough to start your online store and upgrade when business is more profitable.
Shopify Pricing Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How much does Shopify cost to use?
When building a Shopify store, expect to pay $250 to $500 in startup fees. Monthly fees will depend on your subscription plan and any add-ons you use to operate your online store, but we estimate expenses to be around $50 to $100. However, if you need to sell in-store, too, you need an additional $30 to $300 for hardware purchases plus an $89 per location monthly fee for using Shopify POS Pro.
What Shopify plan is right for me?
It depends on your business needs. If you are a new seller and plan to only sell through social media and messaging apps, Shopify Starter ($5/month) is perfect for you. However, if you need an online store and multichannel sales capabilities, go with Basic Shopify ($29/month). Once you scale and need advanced selling features, upgrading to Shopify ($79/month) is worth it because you also save on card and transaction fees. If you are already a high-volume seller, maintain multiple warehouses, and need the full powerhouse features Shopify provides, Advanced Shopify ($299/month) is the perfect plan for you.
What is the cheapest plan on Shopify?
Shopify’s entry-level plan, Shopify Starter, is priced at $5/month. It provides a checkout link and allows you to sell through social media channels.
How much does Shopify charge per transaction?
Shopify’s transaction fees depend on your chosen subscription plan. Shopify transaction fees range from 0.5%–2% under the Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify plans. If you go with the Shopify Starter, transaction fees are at 5%.
Bottom Line
Shopify prices its ecommerce plans to meet virtually any small business’s budget and selling needs. At $5 per month, Shopify’s entry-level plan provides you with a checkout link and allows you to sell through social media channels. Full-featured plans starting at $29 per 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. It might be worth getting a higher-tiered plan to save on transaction fees. For example, if you sell more than $25,000 per 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.
Consider additional costs when setting up your Shopify store, but don’t be discouraged by them. 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 free trial before choosing a plan—no credit card required.
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