With more than 2.1 million active daily users, Shopify is one of the leading players in eCommerce, simplifying the launch and management of your own online store.
Whether you’re a seasoned seller looking to expand or a complete newcomer to online retail, this guide is your roadmap to choosing the right Shopify plan for your business needs.
We’ll cover the available Shopify pricing plans, transaction fees, and possible eCommerce platform alternatives to set your store up for success quickly and easily.
Shopify pricing plan overview
Shopify offers a range of pricing plans for different business needs and available budgets.
Compare the monthly and annual pricing for each Shopify plan, as well as the corresponding transaction fees that will likely add up in the long run.
So, let’s dig in and explore the specifics.
Plan | Pricing (Monthly) | Pricing (Annual – 25% off) | Transaction fees |
---|---|---|---|
Start | $5/month | – | 5% plus $0.30 per online transaction |
Basic | $39/month | $29/month | 2.9% plus $0.30 per online transaction |
Retail | $89/month | $79/month | 2.9% plus $0.30 per online transaction |
Shopify | $105/month | $79/month | 2.7% plus $0.30 per online transaction |
Advanced | $399/month | $299/month | 2.5% plus $0.30 per online transaction |
Shopify Plus | Starting at $2,300/month | – | The lowest fees of any plan, vary by country |
While it’s important to go through the details to find the absolute best Shopify site plan for your store, you can also first try Shopify free and get the next three months for $1/month.
Find the best Shopify plan for your store
To accurately figure out which Shopify subscription plan works best for your online store, it’s clear that you need more than just a raw pricing overview.
We’ll go over all the available Shopify plans in more detail, covering everything you need to know before making a choice for your new or existing website.
Shopify Starter Plan
The Shopify Starter plan is not only the cheapest option – it’s also the friendliest for eCommerce newbies. It’s available if you’re new to Shopify or in a trial period.
All you’ll need to get started is an image and a description of what you’re selling.
Features:
- Selling on social media. Use Linkpop to sell on popular social media platforms and messenger apps like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and TikTok.
- Mobile Shopify Point of Sale. Sell anywhere in person with your smartphone.
- Online store. With this Shopify plan, you’ll get your own contact and personalized product pages, as well as an integrated Shopify checkout.
- Efficient order management. Keep inventory and fulfill customer orders without directly getting involved in the fulfillment process by using the Shopify Fulfillment Network.
- Store Analytics. Access essential metrics on your sales and customers.
Best for:
- eCommerce newbies
- Social media influencers
- Casual sellers
- Starting and small businesses
- Test driving new ideas
Pricing and transaction fees:
- $5 every month
- Shopify transaction fees of 5% plus $0.30 if you use Shopify Payments
Shopify Basic Plan
Once you’ve outgrown the Shopify Starter plan and notice it doesn’t have all the features you need, the Basic Shopify plan is your obvious next step in obtaining additional site functionality.
Basic Shopify was created to help your business scale with ease.
Features
- Two admin accounts. Give two individuals within your organization access to the Shopify admin panel to enhance business operations.
- Custom online store. Use Shopify’s online store builder to change the appearance of your website.
- Built-in blogging engine. Publish articles, share updates, and directly engage with your audience.
- Basic reports. Gain access to the analytics page and view product analytics, as well as finance, acquisition, inventory, behavior, and marketing reports.
- Shopify fulfillment. Up to 1,000 inventory locations and up to 77% discounts on shipping rates from DHL Express, UPS, or USPS.
Best for:
- Individual sellers
- Small businesses
Pricing and transaction fees
- $39 monthly or $29 per month on the annual plan
- A fee of 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction if you use Shopify Payments
Shopify Retail Plan
This Shopify pricing plan offers tools that help you easily manage and oversee your inventory, staff, and customer interactions.
It includes a combination of basic and advanced Shopify plan features and is better than the Basic Shopify plan if you have a retail location.
Features:
- Two admin accounts. Give two individuals access to your store’s admin panel, making store management and collaboration among team members a lot more efficient.
- Unlimited Point of Sale logins. Onboard your entire team and streamline in-person sales across all of your locations.
- Spotlight theme. Craft a distinctive Shopify store by adding a cover photo, business logo, relevant store information, and freely customize the theme colors.
- Shopify fulfillment. Add up to 1,000 inventory locations.
Best for:
- Retail businesses selling online and on-site
Pricing and transaction fees
- $89 monthly or $79 per month with the annual plan
- 2.9% plus $0.30 per online transaction with Shopify Payments
Shopify Plan
The Shopify standard pricing plan is made to support a growing business.
It has all the features of Basic Shopify plus lower transaction and credit card processing fees.
Features:
- Five admin accounts. Give access to your store’s admin panel for up to five individuals, simplifying store management and collaboration between teammates.
- Shopify POS Pro. Enjoy unrestricted access to the Shopify Point of Sale system for your whole team with additional features like automatic discounts and retail store analytics.
- Professional reports. Generate a range of reports to track how your business is doing, including detailed sales, retail, and profit accounts.
- Shopify Markets. Use Shopify’s cross-border management tool to create tailored shopping experiences for different customer groups, target specific countries, and simplify your global expansion.
Best for:
- Retailers with a large team
- Online businesses looking for ways to grow fast
Pricing and transaction fees
- $105 monthly or $79 per month on the annual plan
- A fee of 2.7% plus $0.30 per transaction if you’re using Shopify Payments
Shopify Advanced Plan
The Advanced Shopify plan is for high-growth businesses requiring advanced eCommerce capabilities.
It will give you access to the best payment rates and additional features to support high sales volumes.
Features
- 15 staff accounts. Add up to 15 people to your Shopify admin panel.
- Unlimited POS logins. Your entire team can use the Shopify Point of Sale system without restrictions, ensuring seamless in-person transactions.
- Carrier-calculated shipping. Provide your customers with the most current shipping rates by integrating a third-party shipping service.
- Custom reports. Easily track business performance through Shopify’s default reports and modify them to create your own customized reports.
- Shopify Markets. Use Shopify’s built-in tool to calculate and collect duties and import taxes, adjust price percentages, and set product prices by country or region.
Best for:
- Rapidly growing online businesses
- Established brands
- Medium-sized to large businesses
Pricing and transaction fees:
- $399 monthly or $299 per month on the annual plan
- A fee of 2.5% plus $0.30 per transaction with Shopify Payments
Shopify Plus Plan
Shopify Plus is a custom enterprise-level solution tailored to your specific business needs.
It has all the features offered by Shopify Advanced and a little more.
Features:
- Unlimited staff accounts. Provide admin panel access to as many team members as you need without any restrictions.
- Organization Settings. Manage users, stores, and billing across multiple stores, streamlining your business operations and improving efficiency.
- 20 Shopify POS Pro locations. Easily sell products across multiple locations while efficiently tracking orders and inventory.
- Advanced Shopify apps. Gain access to apps made for high-growth merchants like B2B, Wholesale channels, and Launchpad.
- Shopify Plus Partners. Work with experts who understand your industry to boost revenue and enhance your business operations.
Best for:
- Large enterprises
- High-volume sellers
Pricing and transaction fees:
- Approximately $2,300 per month
Shopify Plans Compared
Hold on, why haven’t we explored Shopify Lite yet?
Although some Shopify users are still on the Shopify Lite plan, new merchants can no longer join.
The good news is that the Shopify Starter plan for the low price of $5/month is all you need to get a good idea of whether Shopify is the right platform for you.
This plan offers all the essentials for selling items through social media and messenger DMs.
If you want to increase the value and popularity of your small business, choose Basic Shopify for $39/month (or $29/month with the annual plan) to access a dedicated store and valuable marketing reports.
However, if you already have a profitable and financially stable business, it would make sense for you to go with the Shopify plan for $105/month (or $79/month yearly) or any other advanced plan.
Advanced Shopify plans offer both lower Shopify fees and tools that allow you to manage several store locations from one account and expand globally, taking your success to an entirely new level.
Start a Shopify eCommerce business with Printify
Join other successful Shopify websites in selling customized products by partnering with Printify.
Create products, list them in your store, and start selling!
Sign up
Create an account on Printify in just a few clicks.
Enter your email, create a password, or use your Gmail account to access our products and services.
Create products
Go through our Product Catalog with the biggest selection in the industry to find the right items to sell on your Shopify store.
Upload or create new designs with our free Product Creator – choose from a selection of custom graphics and use our design tools to position, layer, add text, and customize your artwork.
Connect your store
Use our integrations to link your store to Printify for easy product creation and automated order fulfillment.
We’ve connected to Shopify, as well as other eCommerce platforms and marketplaces, including Etsy, Walmart, and WooCommerce.
What are you waiting for?
Additional Shopify costs
Subscriptions and transaction fees are not the only expenses Shopify stores encounter on this eCommerce platform.
To run your store effectively, it’s important to review and understand all the features and services you’ll need – let’s take a closer look at all these extra costs!
Shopify POS
If you’re selling in person at your store location or at any outdoor or indoor events, Point of Sale (POS) is your clear way to ensure tracked inventory management and a seamless shopping experience for your customers.
For a full POS setup, you might need to consider additional software and hardware costs, all of which are provided by Shopify.
Subscription costs:
- Free – A POS Lite location is included in all Shopify’s pricing plans.
It offers limited staff access, customer profiles, and easy purchase returns and exchanges. - $89 per month/location (paid monthly) – An upgrade to POS Pro for your store locations.
It has more advanced features like unlimited staff logins, customer lifetime value reports, and local pickup.
Hardware costs:
- Free – Use Tap to Pay on your iPhone to accept contactless payments anywhere without needing additional hardware.
Or consider a one-time payment for some more dedicated hardware. - $49 for a small Tap & Chip Card Reader that accepts chip and contactless payments.
- $299 for a POS Go terminal with a barcode scanner and card reader.
- $349 for a Shopify POS Terminal that includes both a ‘POS Go’ and a suitable dock.
Among other features, you’ll be able to customize checkout with branded images.
Go to Shopify’s Retail Collection for docks, cases, tablet stands, and additional terminal kits to create the perfect countertop setup at your sales locations.
Shopify apps
The Shopify App Store offers various applications, from store customization and management to marketing automation and order fulfillment.
While many apps have free versions, some may require a subscription or a one-time purchase.
Set up with Printify to create and sell custom products. It’s 100% free, and you’ll only pay for order fulfillment.
Go through our list of the best free Shopify apps to grow your online business.
Shopify themes
This eCommerce builder offers all the essentials for running a successful business online, including a selection of high-quality website themes.
The Shopify Theme Store offers 12 free themes, but if none of them fit your business, there are also more than 170 paid themes, ranging from $140 to $400, or the option to use a theme created by a third party.
Check out our list of the best free Shopify themes to find the most suitable one for your store.
Domains
Your Shopify account comes with a default ‘.myshopify.com‘ primary domain, but you can change it to a new ‘.myshopify.com’ domain for free.
Alternatively, you can purchase a custom domain through Shopify or from an external domain registrar.
Domain costs can vary significantly depending on a variety of factors.
- Domain provider. There are various domain providers available to suit your specific business needs. Check out options offered by services like GoDaddy or stick with Shopify.
- Keywords. If you want to use search terms and phrases that are in high demand, your domain name will likely cost more compared to choosing less popular names.
- Top-Level Domain. The pricing of domains can vary significantly, with classic domains like ‘.com’, ‘.net’, or ‘.org’ sometimes being more expensive than others.
Take advantage of Shopify’s free domain name generator to run an instant domain search to see if your chosen domain is available for purchase.
Email hosting
To maintain effective communication with your customers through newsletters, follow-ups after online purchases, and other email marketing campaigns, you’ll need to ensure that you can easily send and receive emails.
Shopify doesn’t offer email hosting, but you can use its built-in marketing features to send out 10,000 free emails/month ($1 for every additional 1,000 emails).
Customers can also reply to your email campaigns, but these replies will be sent to a forwarding email address instead of your custom domain email.
With a Shopify-managed domain, you can set up an unlimited number of custom domain email addresses that forward the message to your personal or business email on services like Gmail or Outlook.
Alternatively – connect third-party hosting services like Google Workspace for $6-$18 per month/user or Zoho Mail with prices as low as $1 per user (billed annually).
Go through our Shopify email marketing tips and tricks for additional insights.
Shopify vs alternatives: A pricing comparison
It’s worth looking at other platforms and website builders similar to Shopify to see what works best for your eCommerce store.
Feature | Shopify | Wix | Squarespace |
---|---|---|---|
Starting price | $5 per month (Start plan) | $16 per month (Light plan) | $16 per month (Personal plan) |
Ease of use | User-friendly and packed full of features. | Beginner-friendly platform. | Simple store builder. |
Technical features | Shopify themes, apps, and store integrations. | Built-in support for 100+ languages, great speed, and support for store integrations. | A great number of design features and apps. |
Marketing and sales features | Good email marketing and blogging features. | Excellent email marketing and blogging features. | Email marketing only through a monthly subscription, various blogging features. |
Customer support | 24/7 customer support. | 24/7 customer support. | Support through live chat, email, and help center. |
Check out our blogs on Shopify vs Squarespace and Shopify vs Wix for a more detailed review of each platform’s features and their comparison.
Shopify pricing FAQ
To adjust Shopify plans and pricing, log into your Shopify account and navigate to Settings at the bottom left of the page.
Select Billing → Subscriptions → View all and choose your preferred plan.
Shopify offers a range of pricing plans starting at $5 and going up to $2,000/month.
Your store’s expenses will largely depend on all the extra features and services you enable.
Yes, if you go with the 3-month trial version to test things out.
Otherwise, the lowest-priced Shopify plan is the Shopify Starter, or ‘Start’ plan, which costs $5 per month.
There’s a free 3-day trial, and the next three months are $1/month for Shopify Starter, Retail, Basic, Shopify, and Advanced plans.
In the long run, you’ll be looking at the costs of your chosen Shopify plan plus additional expenses like domain registration, customizing your website, and any cool apps and integrations you add.
To summarize
From the main Shopify pricing plans to additional expenses – refer to our breakdown of features and choose a plan that best matches your needs.
Use Printify for free and earn a profit from selling custom merch online!The right plan, combined with effective strategies and dedication, can catapult your business to new heights in 2024 and beyond.