Shopify pricing 2026: all plans explained

Shopify's pricing structure is more nuanced than the monthly subscription figure suggests. Transaction fees, app costs, theme investments, and the specific features gated behind higher tiers all affect what you actually pay to run a store. This article breaks down every Shopify plan available in 2026 — what's included, what the real cost is, and how to choose the right tier for your revenue level.

All prices below are in USD, billed monthly. Annual billing gives a 25% discount — at the Basic level, that takes the monthly cost from $39 to $29.

Basic — $39/month

The Basic plan is Shopify's entry point for new merchants and smaller stores. It includes:

• Unlimited products
• 2 staff accounts
• Up to 1,000 inventory locations
• Shopify POS Lite (in-person selling, basic features)
• 24/7 chat and email support
• Shipping discount with carrier-negotiated rates (up to 77% off standard USPS/UPS/DHL rates)
• Basic reports (overview, acquisition, behavior, sales)
• Abandoned cart recovery emails

Transaction fees: If you use Shopify Payments (available in France, UK, US, and 20+ other countries), there are no transaction fees. Credit card processing rates on Basic are 2.0% + $0.30 per transaction for online orders. If you use a third-party payment gateway (PayPal standalone, Stripe directly), Shopify charges an additional 2% fee on top of that gateway's own fees.

What's missing at Basic: You only get basic analytics — no profit reporting, no custom report builder. You have 2 staff accounts, which limits team-based operations. Shipping label discounts are lower than on higher plans. No third-party calculated shipping rates at checkout (UPS/FedEx real-time rates require Shopify plan or Annual Basic).

Who it fits: Merchants doing under €300K/year with a small team (1–2 people managing the store). Solo entrepreneurs, early-stage DTC brands, brick-and-mortar stores adding an online channel.

Shopify — $105/month

The mid-tier plan adds features that matter as soon as you have a small team or want better data:

• 5 staff accounts
• Professional reports (including profit reports if COGS is configured)
• Third-party calculated shipping rates at checkout
• Higher shipping discounts (up to 88% off)
• Lower credit card processing rate: 1.7% + $0.30 online (vs. 2.0% on Basic)
• eCommerce automations via Shopify Flow

Transaction fees on third-party gateways: Reduced to 1% (vs. 2% on Basic). If your volume requires using a specific payment provider not offered by Shopify Payments in your country, this difference matters.

The rate savings calculation: A store processing $500,000/year online saves approximately $1,500/year on credit card rates moving from Basic (2.0%) to Shopify (1.7%). At $105/month vs. $39/month, the plan costs $792/year more. At that volume, the rate saving doesn't justify the upgrade on fees alone — but the staff accounts and reports often do.

Who it fits: Merchants doing €300K–€1.5M/year with 2–5 team members. Stores that need real profit reporting to make informed buying decisions. Operations using Shopify Flow for order tagging, customer segmentation, or fulfillment routing.

Advanced — $399/month

The Advanced plan is designed for merchants who need granular reporting, multiple staff, and better economics at volume:

• 15 staff accounts
• Custom report builder (build any report from Shopify's data model)
• Third-party calculated shipping rates (included, not an add-on)
• Lowest standard credit card rate: 1.5% + $0.30 online
• Shipping discounts up to 88%
• Duties and import tax at checkout (for international selling)
• Enhanced analytics with comparison time periods and export

Transaction fees on third-party gateways: 0.5% (vs. 1% on Shopify plan).

The rate savings at Advanced: A store doing $3M/year online saves approximately $15,000/year on credit card processing vs. Basic (0.5% difference on $3M). The plan costs $4,320/year more than Basic. The math justifies Advanced from approximately $1.5M–$2M/year in GMV, assuming Shopify Payments usage.

Custom report builder: This is the feature that unlocks Advanced for analytics-driven teams. You can build cohort analysis by acquisition channel, first-order product reports, geographic revenue breakdowns — anything from Shopify's data warehouse. For merchants using an external BI tool (Looker, Metabase), this becomes less critical.

Who it fits: Merchants doing €1.5M–€8M/year. Teams of 5–15 people managing store operations. Stores with international selling needs (duties at checkout). Merchants who need to reconcile Shopify data with external accounting or ERP systems.

Shopify Plus — from $2,300/month

Plus is Shopify's enterprise tier, targeted at merchants doing $1M+ per month in GMV or brands with complex operational requirements.

Pricing: Variable. Starting at $2,300/month (typically for stores doing under $800K/month GMV), scaling to a revenue-based fee of 0.25% of monthly GMV for higher-volume merchants. Annual contracts are standard.

What Plus adds:

• Unlimited staff accounts
• Up to 9 expansion stores (separate storefronts, shared subscription)
• Shopify Functions (customize checkout logic, discount algorithms, delivery options in native Rust/WASM — no app intermediary)
• Checkout UI extensions (add custom UI blocks to checkout)
• B2B (wholesale portal with company accounts, custom pricing, net terms)
• Shopify Audiences (ROAS optimization via first-party audience sharing)
• Flow (unlimited automations)
• Dedicated merchant success manager
• Priority support with 24/7 phone access
• 99.99% uptime SLA (vs. 99.9% standard)

Transaction fees: 0.15% on third-party gateways.

Plus vs. Advanced for a €5M store: The monthly cost delta is roughly $1,900/month ($2,300 vs. $399). The value of Plus at this scale comes from: checkout customization (critical for conversion optimization), B2B capabilities (if relevant), and the expansion stores (if operating multiple brands or markets). For a single-brand DTC store doing €5M with no B2B, Advanced often suffices.

Hidden costs to factor in

Apps

Most Shopify stores require paid apps to cover gaps in native functionality. Common categories and typical monthly costs:

• Email marketing (Klaviyo): $60–$400/month depending on list size
• Reviews (Judge.me, Yotpo): $0–$120/month
• Loyalty programs (LoyaltyLion, Smile): $100–$400/month
• Upsell/cross-sell (ReConvert, Zipify): $30–$100/month
• Subscriptions (Recharge, Seal): $100–$500/month
• Search and merchandising (Boost Commerce, SearchPie): $30–$150/month
• Inventory and forecasting (Stocky is free; Inventory Planner is $250+/month)

A mid-sized store realistically adds $300–$1,000/month in app subscriptions. Factor this into TCO comparisons with self-hosted platforms.

Themes

Shopify's free themes are functional but limited. Premium themes from the Shopify Theme Store cost $180–$380 one-time. Third-party themes from marketplaces like ThemeForest run $50–$150 but may have slower update cycles. Budget for a theme customization project if you need significant design differentiation — typically $2,000–$10,000 with a Shopify Partner agency.

Domain

Shopify charges $14–$20/year for domains registered through Shopify. External domain registration (Namecheap, OVH) and connection is free and gives you more control.

POS hardware

Shopify POS Lite is included in all plans. Shopify POS Pro (needed for exchanges, staff permissions, full register reports) costs $89/month per location on top of the plan fee. Hardware: Shopify Chip Reader ($49), Shopify Terminal ($349), Shopify POS Go (handheld, $299).

Comparing Shopify TCO to self-hosted PrestaShop

A PrestaShop store doing €1M/year in revenue might carry:

• Managed VPS or dedicated hosting: $150–$400/month
• SSL, CDN (Cloudflare Pro): $30/month
• Key modules (loyalty, reviews, advanced search, GDPR): $500–$1,500/year, often renewed annually
• Developer maintenance (4–8 hours/month at $60–$120/hour): $240–$960/month

Total PrestaShop infrastructure cost: $450–$1,400/month, without counting the opportunity cost of developer time spent on maintenance rather than growth initiatives.

Shopify Advanced at $399/month plus $500/month in apps comes to $899/month. At the €1M/year revenue level, Shopify's total cost is comparable or lower, with better reliability, automatic security updates, and no infrastructure management burden.

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