How Much Does Shopify Cost? A Practical Breakdown
Shopify pricing looks simple at first glance. A monthly plan, a checkout, and you’re ready to sell. But once you start digging, the real cost depends on more than just the number on the pricing page. Transaction fees, apps, themes, and payment choices all play a role, and they add up differently depending on how your store operates.
This article walks through Shopify’s costs in a straightforward way. No hype, no shortcuts. Just a practical look at what you actually pay, why those costs exist, and how they tend to change as a business grows. The goal is clarity, not persuasion.
Shopify Pricing Structure Explained
Shopify uses a subscription-based model, but that subscription is only the foundation. The total cost usually comes from four areas working together.
First, there is the monthly or yearly plan. Then come payment processing fees on every sale. After that, most stores add apps to cover marketing, reporting, or automation. Finally, design and setup choices can add one-time or recurring costs.
Understanding this structure matters more than memorizing plan prices. Shopify is predictable, but it is not flat-priced.
Shopify Subscription Plans Overview
Shopify structures its plans around business stage rather than feature overload. Each tier is designed to remove the kind of friction that tends to appear as a store grows, whether that friction comes from transaction fees, reporting limits, or team access.
1. Basic Plan
The Basic plan is built for new and small stores. It starts at $29 per month when billed yearly.
This plan includes:
- Core online storefront and checkout
- Inventory tracking across up to 10 locations
- Basic reporting
- 24/7 chat support
- In-person selling via phone or POS device
- Up to 77% shipping discounts
For many businesses, the Basic plan remains sufficient well beyond launch, especially while sales volume and operational complexity are still manageable.
2. Grow Plan
The Grow plan is designed for small teams with steady, repeat sales. It starts at $79 per month when billed yearly.
In addition to everything in Basic, it adds:
- Lower third-party transaction fees starting at 1%
- Professional reports
- Support for up to 5 staff accounts
- Improved shipping discounts and insurance, up to 88%
- Continued access to in-person selling tools
At this level, Shopify begins to feel less like a simple website builder and more like a platform that supports day-to-day business operations.
3. Advanced Plan
The Advanced plan targets scaling businesses and high-volume sellers. It starts at $299 per month when billed yearly.
This plan includes:
- Third-party transaction fees starting at 0.6%
- Advanced analytics and custom reporting
- Enhanced 24/7 chat support
- Local storefronts by market
- Support for up to 15 staff accounts
- Third-party calculated shipping rates and insurance
- Up to 88% shipping discounts
The Advanced plan typically makes sense once reduced transaction fees begin to offset the higher subscription cost.
4. Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus sits outside the standard pricing structure and is built for more complex businesses. Pricing starts at $2,300 per month on a 3-year term, or $2,500 per month on a 1-year term.
Key features include:
- Fully customizable checkout
- Unlimited staff accounts
- Priority 24/7 phone support
- Up to 200 inventory locations
- Local storefronts by market
- Wholesale and B2B selling
- Up to 200 POS Pro locations
- Competitive card rates for high-volume merchants
Rather than a fixed feature set, Shopify Plus pricing reflects scale, customization needs, and operational demands.
5. Starter and Retail Plans
Shopify also offers plans for specific selling scenarios.
The Starter plan costs $5 per month and is intended for selling through social media and messaging apps using simple product links, without a full online store.
The Retail plan costs $89 per month and focuses on in-person selling. It includes advanced staff management, inventory controls, and loyalty features designed for physical retail environments.
Both plans work well in narrow use cases but are not full replacements for a standard ecommerce store.
Transaction Fees and Payment Processing Costs
Every Shopify store pays transaction-related fees in addition to the subscription cost.
Shopify Payments Fees
When using Shopify Payments, there are no extra Shopify transaction fees. You only pay credit card processing rates, which depend on your plan.
Typical online card rates in the US:
- Basic: 2.9% + $0.30
- Grow: 2.7% + $0.30
- Advanced: 2.5% + $0.30
In-person rates are slightly lower. Rates may vary by country.
Third-Party Payment Fees
If you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify adds an additional transaction fee.
These fees are:
- 2% on the Basic plan
- 1% on the Grow plan
- 0.6% on the Advanced plan
This fee is charged on every sale and is separate from the payment provider’s own processing fee.
App Costs and Ongoing Tool Expenses
Apps are where Shopify costs quietly expand.
Most stores rely on apps for reviews, SEO, email marketing, subscriptions, analytics, or compliance. While many apps offer free plans, serious usage often requires a paid tier.
Typical app costs range from $9 to $99 per month, with advanced tools costing more. A store using ten modestly priced apps can easily add $100 or more to its monthly spend.
Apps are not optional for many businesses, but they should be reviewed regularly. Removing unused tools is one of the easiest ways to control Shopify costs.
Theme, Design, and Setup Costs
Shopify includes free templates that are mobile-responsive and fairly customizable. Plenty of businesses run on a free theme.
If you want something more tailored:
- Premium themes usually cost between $140 and $450
- Custom design or developer work can add $2,000 to $5,000 or more upfront
These are not recurring Shopify fees, but they are real parts of launching or refining a store.
Domains, Hosting, and Infrastructure
Shopify includes hosting in every plan. You never pay separately for bandwidth or storage, even with traffic spikes.
A custom domain typically costs around $10 to $20 per year, whether you buy it through Shopify or a domain provider like GoDaddy. You can use a custom domain or stick with Shopify’s free subdomain.
This is one of the simpler parts of Shopify pricing compared to self-hosted platforms, where hosting, bandwidth, security, and backups are separate line items.
Shipping, Taxes, and Operational Costs
Shipping itself is not free, but Shopify offers discounted carrier rates and built-in tools for managing labels, taxes, and duties.
Depending on your plan and location, shipping discounts can be significant. While these do not appear as direct charges, they reduce operating costs over time.
For stores selling internationally, automated tax calculations and localized storefronts can also prevent expensive manual work or third-party tools.
What Shopify Costs In Practice
Costs vary a lot depending on your store’s size and needs. Here are some rough ranges many merchants experience:
Small or New Store
- Starter or Basic plan
- Shopify Payments
- Few apps
- Free theme
Estimated monthly cost: $50 to $80
Growing Brand
- Grow or Advanced plan
- More apps
- Premium theme
- Ads and marketing tools
Estimated monthly cost: $150 to $400+
High-Volume Or Enterprise
- Advanced or Plus
- Heavy app usage
- Custom tools and integrations
Estimated monthly cost: $500 up to several thousand
The key takeaway is that Shopify’s cost reflects how you use it. A simple store with a clean setup can stay affordable. A complex global operation will pay for functionality and support.
Extuitive: Predict Ad Performance Before You Pay For It
For many Shopify stores, advertising becomes the most unpredictable part of the budget. You can choose the right plan, manage apps carefully, and still lose money testing ads that never convert. That’s where we built Extuitive to change the equation. Instead of guessing which creatives or audiences will work, we help Shopify brands validate ads before they go live.
We connect directly to your Shopify store and use AI agents modeled after 150,000+ real consumer personas to test ad concepts in minutes. Messaging, visuals, audience fit, and purchase intent are evaluated upfront, so you know what’s likely to perform before spending real budget. What used to take weeks of trial and error, or expensive consumer research, now happens faster and at a fraction of the cost.
For growing Shopify businesses, this turns ad spend into a controlled input rather than a risk. Teams launch with confidence, scale winners sooner, and stop burning money on ads that never had traction. Extuitive isn’t about adding more tools. It’s about making paid growth predictable as your store scales.
Tips To Keep Shopify Costs In Control
Shopify can stay affordable if you treat it like an operating system, not a collection of add-ons. Small decisions made early often have a bigger impact than switching plans later.
- Choose annual billing when possible: Paying yearly lowers the monthly price of Shopify plans. If your store is stable and you’re confident you’ll keep using the platform, annual billing is an easy way to reduce fixed costs without changing how the store runs.
- Use Shopify Payments to avoid extra platform fees: When available in your country, Shopify Payments removes additional transaction fees that apply when using third-party gateways. Over time, this can save more money than downgrading a plan or cutting apps.
- Review apps regularly and remove what you no longer use: Apps solve problems, but they often stay installed long after the problem is gone. A quick review every few months can uncover tools that no longer justify their monthly fee.
- Start with free themes and upgrade only when there’s a clear reason: Free Shopify themes are reliable and well maintained. Upgrading makes sense when branding, layout flexibility, or conversion testing requires it, not just because a premium theme looks nicer.
- Upgrade plans only when sales volume justifies it: Moving to a higher plan can lower transaction fees, but it only pays off once order volume reaches a certain level. Upgrading too early raises fixed costs without real savings.
In practice, Shopify feels expensive when decisions are reactive. When choices are intentional, costs stay predictable and easier to plan around.
Final Thoughts
Shopify pricing is best understood as a system, not a single number. The monthly plan sets the baseline, but real costs reflect how a store grows, sells, and operates day to day.
For businesses that value reliability and reduced technical overhead, Shopify’s pricing model makes sense. The key is knowing where the costs come from and making deliberate choices as your store evolves.
That clarity is what turns Shopify from an expense into a tool you can actually plan around.
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