Shopify Pricing Plans 2023: Which Plan Should I Pick?

If you are deliberating on whether it is worth investing your hard-earned money in the Shopify ecommerce platform or whether it offers the best value for money, then please take the time to read through our detailed review of Shopify pricing and everything you need to know about all prices involved in using the leading ecommerce solution.

We will discuss the pricing of the Shopify plans, as well as other ongoing fees such as transaction fees, app fees, and more, and ways to avoid any additional fees or at least pay less.

Since we know how important it is to find the best deal and pay as little as possible for starting up a new online store, we have done in-depth research of all aspects of Shopify pricing and additional costs associated with its use.

This can help you avoid the surprise and frustration of getting higher fees than expected. This is especially important for people who are just starting a new online retail business and are on a limited budget.

While the price is a vital feature, there are other essential factors to consider when choosing the best e-commerce platform and deciding whether Shopify is the best online store builder solution for your needs, budget, and business goals.

SEO for Ecommerce – The Complete Guide 2023

Other elements to look for include the ease of use, the ecommerce features and tools included in the offer, the scalability, the design and customization, and more.

So, read on to find out how much Shopify costs per month and what added or hidden payments you should prepare for when paying the Shopify cost per month.

You can check out the latest Shopify price plans on their website.

Shopify Plans

Shopify offers users three main plans, including:

• Basic Shopify costs $29 a month and has a 2.0% transaction fee per sale
• Shopify costs $79 a month and has a 1.0% transaction fee per sale
• Advanced Shopify is $299 a month and has a 0.5% transaction fee per sale

Shopify offers a 10% discount if you sign up for any of the above plans for 1 year and a discount of 20% if you pay for two years.

Apart from these three main plans, Shopify offers a Shopify Lite and a Shopify Plus plan.

The Shopify Lite plan costs just $9 per month and will allow you to sell items from any existing website or Facebook profile.

The Shopify Plus plan is a custom-tailored premium plan for enterprises. Its price starts from $2,000 per month.

Compared to other leading ecommerce solutions and platforms, Shopify is most definitely not the most inexpensive solution. Then again, it offers some of the most powerful built-in ecommerce tools and hundreds of additional ecommerce apps you can add to your internet store.

You can test the platform completely free, thanks to the Shopify 14-day free trial here.

How Much Is Shopify?

The monthly plans offered by Shopify are from $29 up to $299 per month. You can choose between the Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify plans.

There are also additional plans, including Shopify Plus and Shopify Lite, which we will examine later.

Shopify Plans Comparison

The different Shopify pricing plans include different features and are suitable for online stores and businesses of different types and sizes.

You can check out the details regarding each Shopify plan here.

Here is an overview of what you can expect from each Shopify pricing plan:

Basic Shopify ($29/month)

The Basic Shopify pricing plan includes all of the essential features for starting a brand-new online business.

For $29 per month with the Shopify Basic plan, you will receive access to the following features:

• Unlimited product listing and sales
• An easy-to-set-up online shop, with an included website and blog, and user-friendly navigation
• Multiple sales channels, including social media and marketplaces
• Up to 2 staff accounts for Shopify admin and POS access per Shopify Basic plan
• Inventory management of up to 4 locations, including pop-ups, warehouses, or stores
• Discount code and Gift card creation
• A free SSL certificate and hosting for the website and online store
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Access to 24/7 live chat and phone support
• Shipping rate discounts from UPS, DHL Express, and ESPS of up to 64%
• Shipping label printing
• Fraud analysis for the payments
• Online credit card rates of 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction
• In-person credit card rates of 2.7% + 0 cents per transaction
• An added transaction fee of 2.0% (when not using Shopify Payments)
• Access to Shopify POS (Point of Sale) Lite
• Sales in 133 different currencies

Shopify ($79/month)

The Shopify Shopify pricing plan suits existing and growing online stores and businesses. This is a suitable plan for businesses that are scaling up and which have sales volumes of about $5,000 per month.

The Shopify plan, which costs $79 per month, includes the following features:

• A web-based store, website, and blog builder
• Hosting and a free SSL certificate
• Listing and selling unlimited products
• Up to 5 staff accounts and admin and POS accounts per plan
• Multiple sales channels for many marketplaces and social media networks
• Inventory management in up to 5 locations
• Manual order creation
• Gift cards and discount codes
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Professional reports about the performance of the store
• 24/7 customer support
• Shipping discounts for DHL Express, USPS, and UPS of up to 72%
• The ability to print shipping labels
• USPS Priority Mail Cubic Pricing
• Fraud analysis
• Online credit card rate of 2.6% + 30 per transaction
• In-person credit card rate of 2.5% + 0 cents
• Added fees for payments other than Shopify Payments of 1.0%
• POS (Point of Sales) Lite
• 133 available currencies
• Sales in up to 2 languages, including English
• Manual exchange rate settings for foreign sales
• The setting of multiple international domains for your store

Advanced Shopify ($299/month)

The Advanced Shopify pricing plan is perfect for online businesses planning to grow rapidly. It has the best-advanced reporting and the lowest fees for transactions.

The Shopify Advanced plan is suitable for online stores with monthly revenues of about $10,000.

The Advanced Shopify plan, which costs $299 per month, includes the following features:

• Hosting, SSL, for your web store and blog
• Unlimited product listing and sales
• Up to 15 staff accounts per Shopify Advanced plan
• Multiple sales channel options for expanding your visibility
• Inventory management of up to 8 retail locations
• Manual orders, discount codes, and gift cards
• Abandoned cart recovery feature
• An advanced report builder and professional reports
• Automatic third-party real-time carrier shipping rates at checkout
• Shipping discounts with USPS, UPS, and DHL Express of up to 74%
• Shipping label printing
• Pricing for USPS Priority Mail Cubic
• Fraud analysis
• Credit card rates for online payments of 2.4% + 30 cents per transaction
• In-person credit card rates of 2.4% + 0 cents
• Added fees for transactions other than Shopify Payment of 0.5%
• Shopify POS (Point of Sale) Lite
• Sales in up to 5 languages and 133 currencies within the plan
• Manual exchange rates and international domains for international sales

As you can see, the more advanced the monthly plan, the lower the credit card rates and the transaction fee per purchase.

With the most expensive plan, you will get access to some useful instruments to run better your rapidly growing business, such as advanced reporting tools and third-party shipping rates calculators.

You can try out the features offered by Shopify for free for 14 days here.

How to Save 20% on Shopify

If you are sure that you want to commit to Shopify to set up and to run your online business, then you can save some serious cash if you decide to opt for a 1-year or a 2-year plan.

Shopify offers a 10% discount for users who sign up for any of its plans for one year and pays the fee upfront annually. This can help you save from $35 to $360 per year.

If you pay upfront for two years, the discount is twice as big – 20%. This will help you save from $140 up to $1,435 for two years.

The month-by-month plans offer the benefits of canceling your subscription at any time and thus allow you more flexibility.

On the other hand, in the long run, you can save some serious money if you opt for the one or two-year Shopify pricing plans too.

Shopify Prices: Monthly vs. Annual Costs

The monthly price of the Basic Shopify plan is $29 per month. For 1-year it is $26.10 per month and only $23.20 per month if you pay upfront for two years.

For the Shopify pricing plan, you can lower the regular price of $79 per month to $71.1 monthly when paid annually and to $63.20 per month when paid for two years.

The discounts for the annual and biannual payment of the Advanced Shopify plan are the biggest, and your monthly fee will drop from the regular price of $299 monthly to $276.10 per month for a year and to $239.20 per month if you pay upfront for a 20-year period.

Remember that you can test the Shopify ecommerce builder platform and all Shopify pricing plans completely free for 14 days, thanks to the free trial the company offers.

What About Shopify Lite and Shopify Plus?

If you can’t seem to fit into either of these main Shopify plans, you can try one of the alternative plans offered by the ecommerce builder.

Here is what to expect from Shopify Lite and from Shopify Plus:

Shopify Lite

The Shopify Lite Plan costs just $9.00 per month, and you won’t get an entirely new online store but rather the opportunity to start selling from your pre-existing site or your Facebook profile page.

The Shopify Lite pricing plan will allow you to add buy buttons to your website or social media page, accept payments via credit card, issue invoices, chat with customers, and more.

With the Shopify Lite plan, your orders and inventory will be updated automatically, and you will gain access to different useful marketing and other ecommerce tips and resources.

It is a perfect solution for small stores, hobbyists, crafters, and users not planning to expand their online retail business.

Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus is a customized enterprise-level plan for the largest companies and online businesses. Shopify’s Plus plan starts at $2,000 monthly, and the fee will vary according to the sales volume.

Shopify guarantees its Shopify Plus users more sales, the latest ecommerce technologies, international sales, 99.99 uptime, advanced shipping and discount rates, and many more advanced features.

With the Shopify Plus plan, users will receive:

• Up to 18% increase in the conversion
• Up to 60% faster checkout time
• Localized stores and experience with store in different languages, currencies, and domains
• Customizable checkout
• Ability to offer advanced shipping and discount rates
• Easy management of the business via Shopify Admin
• Automatic campaigns, discounts, and other complex processes
• Avalara tax automation
• Quick and easy migration of an existing site and customer and product databases
• Start selling in under 90 days

The Shopify enterprise plan aims at enterprises with revenues of $1 million per year.

You will need to contact the Shopify sales service directly to get a customized quote for your specific needs.

Shopify Credit Card Rates Explained

As you may have noticed from the overviews of the different Shopify plans, credit card rates are charged for payments made on your site or in person.

Any time you use a credit card for an online or offline purchase, a processing fee is attached to the payment. It is the processing fee that payment processing gateways charge your bank for the payments made.

So, the only way to control the processing rates for credit card payments is by selecting a specific payment processing gateway.

The credit card processing rates on Shopify depend on the plan you sign up for and include:

• Basic Shopify plan – 2.9% + 30 cents online and 2.7% for in-person payments
• The Shopify plan – 2.6% + 30 cents online and 2.5% for in-person payments
• Advanced Shopify plan – 2.4% + 30 cents online and 2.4% for in-person payments

The credit card fees are charged per transaction and not per item, so you will be charged the percentage for the entire sum paid by a customer plus the 30 cents per payment.

If you use the Shopify POS system, the rates are lower, and there are no other added fees for payments.

With Shopify payments, you may be provided with the POS equipment and software to accept POS and in-person card transactions.

This in-house payment gateway offered by Shopify is available in the USA, UK, Puerto Rico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

If you are not in any of these countries, you can use more than 100+ other payment gateways supported by Shopify. You can take a look at the list of accepted payment methods here.

You can test Shopify completely free via the free 14-day trial here.

How to Avoid Shopify Transaction Fees

One of the main worries that online entrepreneurs have before signing up for Shopify is the transaction fees and how they may affect the profits from their online business.

The credit card processing rates charged vary from one plan to another and range from 2.9% + 30 cents for the Basic Shopify plan down to 2.4% + 30 cents for the Advanced Shopify plan.

But here is everything you need to know about Shopify’s transaction fees and credit card processing fees, which may help you decide whether Shopify is the best option for your store type, size, and sales volumes.

First of all, it is worth mentioning that fees for payments and sales are charged by many ecommerce platforms, and not just by Shopify.

Read on to find out everything about the Shopify transaction fees, how they compare to others, and how they can be lowered or avoided.

How do transaction fees work?

Shopify will charge you for each purchase made on your online store, and the transaction fee will vary depending on your Shopify plan.

The transaction fee for each payment varies from 2% per purchase for the Basic Shopify plan, 1% for the Shopify Plan, and 0.5% for payments made on the Advanced Shopify plan.

What are transaction fees for?

Shopify charges a transaction fee for each payment to cover the costs for the hardware, software, and resources needed to keep your online shop up and working, no matter the time of day or night, and no matter how many visitors and buyers are using it at the same time.

Shopify offers reliable uptime and speeds as well as 24/7 live customer support, so charging fees is quite understandable for the excellent service provided.

Doesn’t the monthly plan fee cover this already?

The answer to this question is both yes and no. While you may think that you are paying Shopify enough already with the monthly subscription fee, this fee mainly covers your online store’s setup and upkeep.

While the fees for transactions are used to keep the store powered at all times. They are charged only when a customer completes a purchase in your store.

What about other similar ecommerce builders? Do they charge transaction fees?

Here is a list of the best alternatives for Shopify and information regarding their transaction-based fees:

BigCommerce

 

Check our complete comparison between BigCommerce and Shopify.

BigCommerce is the ecommerce platform that is the biggest competitor of Shopify. The ecommerce builder will not charge you a fee for every sale on your web-based store. On the other hand, if your sales volumes reach certain numbers per 12 months, your account will be scaled up to the next and more expensive plan automatically. On the other hand, Shopify will not force you to upgrade, no matter how fast and big your online business grows and how many sales you make.

Wix

Related: Wix vs. Shopify (2023) – Pros and Cons

Wix is one of the best ecommerce builders and platforms for newbies. It is easy to use and quick to set up. Wix doesn’t charge transaction fees, but you will need to sign up for the more expensive ecommerce or VIP plans if you want to sell products on Wix in the first place. You will also need to pay the processing fees to the Payment Gateways you use on your online shop too.

Volusion

Further information: Volusion vs. Shopify – Key Differences You Should Know (2022)

Volusion is another popular ecommerce solution that doesn’t charge transaction fees but has other limitations, including a limited bandwidth for your Internet store. If you happen to exceed it, you will need to buy more, which can quickly add to the overall costs of maintaining your online store.

So, as you can see, while many other ecommerce solutions do not charge fees for transactions like Shopify, they have other forms of charging users for growing their sales volumes and online business.

Is there any way to remove Shopify’s transaction fees?

Yes, there is. If you choose to use the company’s in-house Shopify Payments gateway on your online store, you will not be charged a transaction fee for each sale.

What’s the catch? Assuming if I use Shopify Payments and Shopify removes all transaction fees, how can they keep my ecommerce website powered?

Shopify Payments is the online payment gateway that will collect the money from your customers and send it into your company’s bank account. As such, Shopify Payments will charge its regular credit card processing fees. At the same time, you will not be charged with transaction fees when Shopify Payments is used because the fees have already been covered for the processing.

These processing fees are charged by all payment processors, so you will need to pay no matter which payment gateway you choose to use.

Will using Shopify Payments cost me anything more?

No, once you sign up for Shopify, you can use Shopify’s in-house payment gateway for free. It charges lower credit card processing rates than some popular gateways like PayPal, and the transaction fees per purchase will be waived.

There are no monthly fees for using the Shopify payment gateway, and the transaction fees are fixed no matter whether you sell locally or internationally.

This makes your monthly payments much more predictable.

Is using Shopify Payments going to save me more money compared to using other similar ecommerce builders?

In the long run, yes, it will. When compared to BigCommerce, which forces users to upgrade to more expensive plans once they reach certain annual sales volumes, Shopify will not require that you upgrade. So, you can stay on the lowest Basic plan even if you are making hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars per year.

With Volusion, your bandwidth will be limited, and you will need to purchase more if your web-based store exceeds the limit.

Shopify, on the other hand, offers unlimited bandwidth, unlimited sales, and unlimited products.

Are a lot of Shopify users using Shopify Payments?

Suppose you are wondering whether you can avoid the added transaction fees billed by Shopify by relying on the Shopify payments gateway in your country. In that case, you can rest assured if you are based in the USA, UK, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong or Singapore, where according to Shopify, 85% of their users are happy to use the payment gateway built by Shopify.

With Shopify Payments, Shopify users can save money from transaction fees, get lower credit card processing rates, and can begin making money and receive payments within 2 days of a purchase made.

FAQ Summary

Suppose you want to minimize the Shopify sales transaction fees and credit card processing rates. In that case, Shopify Payments is the payment gateway to opt for if you are in a country where this payment gateway is available.

By using Shopify’s payment gateway on your online store, you will not be charged with transaction fees and will need to pay lower credit card processing rates than other payment gateways like PayPal.

You can try the Shopify ecommerce builder via the 14-day free trial here.

Additional Shopify Costs to Be Aware Of

If you want to plan ahead and be informed of the cost of running an online shop with a Shopify plan, then here are the added charges (apart from your monthly plan subscription) which you should consider:

Apps

Although Shopify comes with a wide range of powerful integrated ecommerce tools and features, the platform also offers its users more than 1,400 different apps at its Shopify App Store.

Some apps are completely free, and some which are paid and can cost you monthly subscriptions amounting to $299 or more. Some of these ecommerce apps which you can add to your online shop include messaging apps, product sourcing, supply chain management, and other ecommerce, marketing, and other tools and features to improve the functionality of your shop.

So, if you are using apps, make sure that you calculate how much each will cost you monthly and annually.

Domain Name

Although the monthly Shopify plans include hosting and SSL security, you will need to pay for a custom domain name for your site or store. You can register an existing domain name or purchase one from Shopify directly at a price starting from $14 per year.

Email Hosting

While Shopify does not offer email account hosting, you can set up a free and unlimited email account by a third-party email hosting service at your own Shopify domain.

The average price for a paid email hosting service can range from $1 to $5 per month.

You can try out all of the features offered by Shopify for free without any basic or added costs by signing up for the 14-day free trial here.

Shopify Prices: Summary

We hope that this in-depth overview of all of the costs related to using Shopify has helped you decide whether the leading ecommerce platform is the best option for your business and for your budget.

We have explained in detail how much Shopify costs for each plan and for each added app, domain, email, and the credit card processing fees and fees for transactions per month for Shopify are.

Shopify is among the most popular ecommerce builders on the market, and although it is not the least expensive one to use, it offers the best value for money.

The ecommerce solution offers some of the best and most powerful ecommerce tools and features to start and grow your business and increase your sales, like built-in abandoned cart recovery feature, gift cards, real-time carrier shipping, third-party calculated shipping rates, an advanced report builder, more than 100+ payment gateways and credit card payments.

The platform offers reliable hosting and security and provides access to over 1,400 additional apps to improve the functionality of your store. You will also receive reliable and timely 24/7 live chat and telephone support.

The store builder is easy to use and offers a wide variety of templates and an easy-to-navigate site editor, and there are plans that are suitable for businesses of all sizes and types.

If cost is your top priority when choosing the best ecommerce builder, then there are better options than Shopify.

But if you want to invest in the platform which offers the best value for money without hidden fees or setup fees, then Shopify is among the best choices you can find.

Shopify is a superb choice for people who want to set up a successful online shop and have goals to grow and expand their online business.

The Shopify pricing plans are reasonably priced, especially given the wide assortment of built-in ecommerce tools and features you will receive.

The cheapest Shopify Basic plan is $29 per month and is completely manageable for online merchants earning $1,000 and more. It includes excellent built-in features like abandoned cart recovery, point of sale payment gateways, inventory management, shipping discounts and calculators, and more features.

As your sales volumes and revenues start growing, you can upgrade from the Shopify Basic plan to a more expensive pricing plan of $79 per month in order to reduce the ongoing transaction and card processing fees.

If you want to eliminate the transaction fees, you can use Shopify Payments and then will need to pay only the card processing fees for each sale on your online store.

You can sell unlimited products and only pay the Shopify plan costs if you are not using apps.

So, unless you are a brand new store selling only a few items and making less than $200 per month, this is among the best platforms to choose from among the leading ecommerce solutions and its pricing is reasonable.

You can try it out completely free for 14 days here.

FAQs

Do I need a business license for a Shopify business?

The answer to this question depends on where you live, on your local legislation, and your state, city, or country’s sales tax policy.

If you have to pay sales taxes, then you may need to apply for a reseller’s sales tax certificate.

Does Shopify charge for refunds?

If a customer of yours returns a product or requests a refund, Shopify will not charge you for the transaction. If you have already been billed for a transaction that has been canceled and refunded, you will be credited for the fees in your next invoice by Shopify.

Keep in mind that some fees and processing rates will still be charged if only a partial refund has been made.

Does Shopify have any hidden fees?

The good news is that, unlike some other ecommerce builders and solutions, Shopify doesn’t have hidden fees and has transparent pricing. This makes planning your monthly and annual costs much easier and more predictable. You will need to pay for your chosen monthly plan and a domain name or email account you have added or for any premium plan you are using.

Of course, there are transaction fees (if you don’t use Shopify Payments) and ongoing credit card processing fees, but they are fixed and easy to calculate.

Can I use my own domain name?

Yes, you can use an existing domain name or buy one from Shopify directly. You will receive a free myshopify.com domain once you sign up, but if you want your online shop to look more professional to customers, it is worthwhile investing in a custom domain name.

Does Shopify offer discounted price plans?

Yes, you can receive a 10% discount from the monthly plan prices if you pay for one year and a discount of 20% if you pay upfront for a 2-year period.