Shopify Pricing: Plans, Fees, and Hidden Costs 2023

Duncan Lambden
A head shot of Natasha Willett - a blonde woman in a work shirt with a blue background

Our site is reader-supported – by clicking our links, we can match you with a potential supplier, and we may earn a small commission for this referral.

Shopify pricing starts at $5 per month going up to $299 per month with two other price points in between, as well as a bespoke plan. In this costs guide we'll break down the pricing and plans Shopify currently offers to online merchants.

Shopify regularly updates its pricing and plans, so it's no wonder you've come here to get some clear answers. What's more, the transaction fees and hidden costs can get a bit confusing so we'll take the time to explain all those as well.

In our independent testing, we scored Shopify 3/5 for overall value for money. This is on a par with competitors BigCommerceAmericommerce and Pinacle Cart – all of which scored the same as Shopify in terms of how their range of services compared with the prices charged.

Shopify Pricing: How Much Does Shopify Cost?

We've created this side-by-side comparison table of costs for Shopify plans. There are five plans available, ranging in price and scale to match the particular needs of your business. Let's take a look at the main features you get at each Shopify price tier.

Swipe right to see more
0 out of 0
Plan

Starter

Plan

Basic Shopify

Plan

Shopify

Plan

Advanced Shopify

Plan

Shopify Plus

Price (billed annually)

$5 per month

Price (billed annually)

$29 per month

Price (billed annually)

$79 per month

Price (billed annually)

$299 per month

Price (billed annually)

Custom pricing (bespoke product)

Best For

Selling on social media

Best For

Starting a small online store

Best For

Growing your business

Best For

Large online stores

Best For

High volume retailers

Key Features

Get shoppable links (URLs)

Product pages

Basic order management

Customer support

Key Features

Sell an unlimited number of products

Up to two users

Sell in 33 currencies (2% conversion fee)

Key Features

Five staff accounts

Ecommerce automations

Five inventory locations

Standard reports

Key Features

Third-party calculated shipping rates

15 staff accounts

Sell in five languages

Variable international pricing

Key Features

Faster checkout

Manage 10 stores (or more at additional cost)

Automate workflows

Migration within weeks

Transaction Fees

5%

Transaction Fees

2%

Transaction Fees

1%

Transaction Fees

0.5%

Transaction Fees

0.3%

Like most ecommerce platform providers, Shopify offers a free trial of 14-days so you can test out a price plan to see whether it's the right fit.


Shopify Starter Pricing Plan

  • What: Sell products via URLs and a simple landing page
  • Who: Mobile-first merchants of lower-priced goods
  • Why: Easy to sell via social media channels
  • How much: $5 per month – no discounts available for multi-year purchase

Note this plan is only available to new merchants or those on the free trial.

The Shopify Starter plan (formerly called “Lite”) is the cheap option for online sellers to send “shoppable” product links in instant messages over WhatsApp, Instagram, SMS and email. This means your customers click a URL link and buy your product directly or add to a cart and buy some more. It's not a full online store and you'll need your own social media channels or website to post the links on. It's aimed at mobile device users because there isn't loads of space for product specs, product videos, lengthy descriptions or customer reviews.

You're encouraged to use Shopify's free landing page app called Linkpop which lets you list products directly for sale. The idea is you can put this landing page link in your social media bio for users to quickly find your products for sale. It's much simpler than a full online shop, and much less formal, hence the cheaper subscription price. For this reason you can expect to sell merchandise, homeware, handmade gifts, clothing, accessories and the like. It's not a platform aimed at expensive or regulated items such as precious jewellery and medical supplies.

Shopify lite linkpop screengrab

Shopify Starter Transaction Fees

Transaction fees: 5.0% for all third-party payment providers
Online credit card rates: 5% + 25p

Shopify Starter Features

– One user
– Unlimited product pages
– Customer support inbox
– Shopping cart
– Order management
– Analytics


Basic Shopify Pricing Plan

  • What: Build an ecommerce website where customers buy your products
  • Who: Small-scale merchants, independent boutiques and startups
  • Why: Sell from a professional ecommerce website
  • How much: $26 per month – paying for one year up front ($29 month-to-month)

This is the lowest price you can pay to set up your own Shopify webstore. You create your own online shop using the Shopify drag-and-drop website builder and gain access to Shopify's ecommerce platform. This means you can display your products, take payments and manage order fulfilment all from one place.

It's not by chance we've named Shopify as one of our best ecommerce platforms for small businesses. The convenience of the Shopify Basic plan is the ability to streamline your order purchase and fulfilment workflow. You'll be able to print shipping labels and track packages through Shopify and pay your shipping costs in the same monthly bill as your subscription.

Basic Shopify Transaction fees

Third-party transaction fees: 2.0%
Online credit card rates: 2% + 25 cents
Online international/Amex credit card rates: 3.1% + 25 cents
Currency conversion fee: 2.0%

Basic Shopify Features

– Up to two users
– Online ecommerce website and blog
– Maximum four inventory locations
– Unlimited products
– Order management

Shopify UK apps screengrab eight icons with various logos

Many apps (to add website features) are available for free on Shopify, while some have free trials and others require paid monthly subscriptions.


Shopify Main Pricing Plan

  • What: A solid ecommerce website with workflow automations
  • Who: Managers of growing online stores
  • Why: Save time on manual tasks with ecommerce automations
  • How much: $71 per month – paying for one year up front ($79 month-to-month)

Shopify's mid-tier price plan doesn't have a name, it's simply called “Shopify”. But we've given it the nickname “Shopify Main” to make things a bit clearer because all of the price plans are named “Shopify” in some form or another.

Shopify's main plan includes all the features you get with lower-priced tiers, including an ecommerce website with social media channel integration so you can sell across several platforms. This is really handy because you save on the individual costs of a website such as hosting and a security certificate.

Now, the main new benefit you get with this plan compared with Basic Shopify is ecommerce automations. These features equip leaders of growing online stores to build workflows and save time on manual tasks, making it well worth the investment.

Although the price of this tier goes up significantly compared with the Shopify Basic plan, you won't make big savings on credit card fees: the charge for online credit cards is just 0. 3% lower compared with the Basic plan. However, transaction fees are 1% which is a decent saving compared with 2% on the Basic plan. To save real money here you'd need to be selling in far greater quantities than you would be on the Basic plan.

Shopify Main Transaction fees

Third-party transaction fees: 1.0%
Online credit card rates: 1.7% + 25 cents
Online international/Amex credit card rates: 2.7% + 25 cents
Currency conversion fee: 2.0%

Shopify Main Features

– Up to five users
– Ecommerce automations
– Maximum five inventory locations
– Unlimited products
– Order management

Shopify SEO snippet preview

Shopify's search engine listing preview lets you easily edit the snippet for your products.


Advanced Shopify Plan

  • What: Ecommerce website with advanced reporting and more international options
  • Who: International sellers with medium or large stores
  • Why: Improved control on international selling and cost transparency for buyers
  • How much: $266 per month – paying for one year up front ($299 month-to-month)

The Advanced Shopify plan is aimed at international sellers with medium-to-large scale ecommerce businesses. At this tier, you'll benefit from 1.5% duties and import taxes rates (0.85% if you use Shopify's own payment gateway) and country-specific features such as international pricing. The advantage of functions like these is greater pricing control for merchants and better cost transparency for ecommerce customers.

This is the cheapest Shopify price plan at which you can get third-party calculated shipping rates. Unlike the three cheaper Shopify price plans, Advanced Shopify lets you set specific price points for products in various international locations. Again, there are slight savings to be made on credit card fees but the currency conversion fee remains the same as the other price plans at 2%.

Advanced Shopify Transaction fees

Third-party transaction fees: 0.5%
Online credit card rates: 1.5% + 25 cents
Online international/Amex credit card rates: 2.5% + 25 cents
Currency conversion fee: 2.0%
Duties and import taxes: 1.5% (with Shopify Payments: 0.85%)

Advanced Shopify Features

– Up to 15 users
– Set variable international price points
– Maximum eight inventory locations
– Advanced report builder
– Third-party calculated shipping rates

Does Shopify Have a Free Plan?

Shopify doesn't have a free plan but it does offer a 14-day free trial so you can test its ecommerce services free of charge. This is on par with its competitors, most of whom also offer a two-week trial period at no cost. To make it easier to start using Shopify's features without commitment, Shopify won't ask for your payment details until the end of the two-week period at which point you can simply walk away if you're not comfortable signing up.

This is really convenient for those looking to set up an online store and try out the best ecommerce platforms without committing financially at first. You can save your cash until you're absolutely sure which ecommerce provider is best for your particular business.


Shopify Fees and Costs: Billing Cycles, Ongoing Costs and Hidden Fees

Lots of services are included in all Shopify pricing plans including the following:

  • Website builder
  • Web hosting
  • SSL certificate
  • Unlimited products
  • Unlimited bandwidth
  • Web shop analytics

Shopify Billing Cycles

  • Shopify subscriptions are charged month to month unless you pay in advance for one, two or three years
  • Cancel your Shopify subscription at any time (however, you won't be refunded that month's fee)
  • You can downgrade or upgrade your Shopify plan at any time (however, you cannot downgrade to Shopify Starter)

Additional Shopify Website Costs:

  • Domain name that isn't myshopify.com
  • Themes (template designs) ranging from $140 to $180 each (or choose one of nine free ones)
  • Apps for additional website features
  • Emails: First 10,000 per month are free then $1 per 1,000 emails sent

Additional Shopify Sales Costs:

  • Third-party transaction fees of 2%, 1% or 0.5% with the Basic Shopify, Shopify and Advanced Shopify plans respectively
  • Currency conversion fees of 2%
  • Credit and debit card fees (these vary depending on price plan)
  • Duties and import taxes rates of 1.5% (applicable for Advanced Shopify)

However, you can avoid transaction fees by signing up for and using Shopify Payments, the company's proprietary payment gateway. With Shopify Payments the duties and import taxes rates on Advanced Shopify decreases to 0.85%.

Shopify Pricing Versus Competitors' Pricing

According to our independent research, Shopify is middle-of-the-road when it comes to Value For Money, scoring 3 out of a possible 5. This puts it on exactly the same level as BigCommerce, Americommerce and Pinacle Cart.

Competitors Which Scored Higher than Shopify in Value for Money:

Shopify was not the top-scoring ecommerce platform provider when our researchers looked into its value for money. The following providers are better value for money, according to our in-depth testing:

  1. Square: 4.7/5
  2. WooCommerce: 4.3/5
  3. Squarespace: 4.2/5
  4. Wix: 4.2/5

When you're working out which ecommerce platform provider is best for your particular business needs, you should be aware that BigCommerce, unlike Shopify, doesn't charge any transaction fees. Feel free to check out our complete guide to the best ecommerce platforms for small businesses if Shopify looks like the wrong fit for your strategic goals.

Expert Verdict

You've got plenty of pricing options with Shopify: five ecommerce price plans to choose. That's more than competitors including WooCommerce and Wix.

If you pay for a one-year price plan, the monthly Shopify cost comes to:

  1. Shopify Starter: $5 per month
  2. Basic Shopify: $26 per month
  3. Shopify: $71 per month
  4. Advanced Shopify: $266 per month
  5. Shopify Plus: Bespoke pricing

With a Value For Money score of 3/5Shopify is in the mid-range of delivering features versus taking your money. As ever, the way to get the most bang for your buck is to pay upfront for two or three years of Shopify. This way you'll benefit from a 20% or 25% discount versus paying month-to-month.

Shopify offers more convenience compared with WooCommerce because of its built-in hosting. However, you'll need to be a self-starter with Shopify because it's business support is a lot more hands-off than a provider like Americommerce, which offers ecommerce consulting and custom product development. Be sure to check out our full rundown of the best ecommerce platforms for even more in-depth research.

Written by:
Duncan Lambden
Duncan Lambden Software Expert

Duncan (BA in English Textual Studies and Game Design) is one of Expert Market’s local Software Experts. His articles focus on ecommerce platforms and business software that allows small businesses to improve their efficiency or reach, with an emphasis on invoice financing, project management, and customer relations.

Reviewed by:
A head shot of Natasha Willett - a blonde woman in a work shirt with a blue background
Natasha Willett Head of Research

For over 9 years Natasha has worked as a mixed method researcher working across a range of sectors from insurance and policy development, to business services and software. As a member of the Market Research Society, Natasha is an advocate for high ethical, commercial and methodological best practices.