Shopify Pricing in 2026: Plans, Fees, and Real Cost Breakdown

Shopify pricing looks simple on the surface: plans start at $5 per month and climb to $2,300 or more. But the monthly subscription is only part of the story. Transaction fees, payment processing rates, POS costs, apps, and add-ons can easily double or triple what you actually pay each month. This guide breaks down every Shopify plan, the fees attached to each sale, and how to estimate your true monthly cost before you commit.

Shopify Plans at a Glance

Shopify Pricing in 2026: Plans, Fees, and Real Cost Breakdown - Shopify Plans at a Glance.

Shopify currently offers five main tiers: Starter, Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Plus. Here is how they compare on headline price and core capabilities.

Plan	Monthly Price	Annual Price (per month)	Online Card Rate	Third-Party Gateway Fee
Starter	$5	$5	5%	N/A
Basic	$39	$29	2.9% + 30¢	2.0%
Grow	$105	$79	2.7% + 30¢	1.0%
Advanced	$399	$299	2.5% + 30¢	0.6%
Plus	$2,300+	Negotiable	~2.15% + 30¢	0.20%

Annual billing saves 25% on Basic, Grow, and Advanced. The Starter plan stays at $5 regardless of billing cycle, and Plus pricing depends on contract length and revenue.

Shopify Starter: $5/Month

Shopify Pricing in 2026: Plans, Fees, and Real Cost Breakdown - Shopify Starter: $5/Month.

The Starter plan is not a full online store. It gives you a shareable checkout link you can post on Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, or in a link-in-bio. There is no theme customization, no full storefront, and no meaningful analytics dashboard.

The catch is the 5% transaction fee on every sale. At $1,000 in monthly revenue, that is $50 in fees on top of the $5 subscription. At $5,000, you are paying $250 in transaction costs alone.

Best for: Creators testing a single product, side hustles, or anyone selling through social channels without needing a full website.

Avoid if: You want a real storefront, blog, or any kind of scalable e-commerce operation. The moment your revenue grows, the 5% fee becomes more expensive than upgrading to Basic.

Shopify Basic: $39/Month ($29/Month Annual)

Shopify Pricing in 2026: Plans, Fees, and Real Cost Breakdown - Shopify Basic: $39/Month ($29/Month Annual).

Basic is where Shopify becomes a legitimate online store. You get a full storefront with themes, unlimited products, a blog, 24/7 support, and the standard checkout. You can sell on social channels and marketplaces, and you get access to Shopify's abandoned checkout recovery tools.

The limitations matter more than most new merchants expect. Basic includes zero staff accounts — only the store owner can log into the admin. If you have a co-founder, a fulfillment partner, or a marketing contractor who needs backend access, you are already pushed toward Grow. Basic also lacks real-time carrier-calculated shipping rates and professional reporting.

Best for: Solo founders doing under roughly $50,000 per month in revenue.

Example cost at $30,000/month revenue: $39 subscription + approximately $900 in credit card processing = about $939 per month.

Shopify Grow: $105/Month ($79/Month Annual)

Shopify Pricing in 2026: Plans, Fees, and Real Cost Breakdown - Shopify Grow: $105/Month ($79/Month Annual).

Grow is the plan most expanding brands settle on. It adds five staff accounts, professional reports, multi-market selling support, and shipping discounts up to 88%. The credit card rate drops to 2.7% + 30¢, and the third-party gateway surcharge falls to 1.0%.

The real value here is team access and data. As soon as you have a marketing person, a fulfillment lead, or a co-founder who needs to log in, Basic stops working. The professional reports also give you customer acquisition and retention data that Basic's basic analytics cannot.

Best for: Brands doing $50,000 to $200,000 per month with a small team.

Example cost at $150,000/month revenue: $105 subscription + roughly $4,080 in card fees = about $4,185 per month.

Shopify Advanced: $399/Month ($299/Month Annual)

Advanced is designed for brands selling internationally or needing serious reporting depth. You get 15 staff accounts, custom report builders, third-party calculated shipping rates, and automatic duties and import tax calculation. The checkout can handle 10 times the capacity of Basic and Grow, which matters during flash sales or seasonal spikes.

This tier also includes up to three markets (scalable to 50) and 10 inventory locations. Credit card rates drop to 2.5% + 30¢, and the third-party gateway fee falls to 0.6%.

Best for: Brands doing $200,000 to $800,000 per month, especially those shipping internationally.

Example cost at $500,000/month revenue: $399 subscription + roughly $12,800 in card fees = about $13,199 per month.

Shopify Plus: $2,300–$2,500+/Month

Plus is Shopify's enterprise tier, and its pricing works differently. It starts at $2,300 per month on a three-year term ($2,500 on a one-year term), but once you cross roughly $800,000 per month in gross merchandise volume, it switches to 0.35% of revenue, capped at $40,000 per month.

What you get for that price: full checkout customization through Checkout Extensibility (a Plus exclusive), up to 10 expansion stores, unlimited staff accounts, Shopify Flow for automation, a native B2B wholesale channel, dedicated support, and Shopify Audiences for ad targeting. Checkout capacity is 40 times that of standard plans.

Shopify reports that merchants using Audiences see up to 50% lower customer acquisition costs. Published case studies back this up, with brands like Nathan James reporting a 52% CAC decrease and 5.6x ROAS after switching to Audiences-powered targeting. For brands spending $20,000 or more per month on paid ads, that alone can justify the Plus price.

Best for: Brands doing $1 million or more in annual revenue, anyone running B2B alongside D2C, and multi-brand or multi-market operations.

Example cost at $2 million/month GMV: roughly $7,000 platform fee (0.35%) plus about $43,300 in card processing = approximately $50,300 per month.

Shopify Transaction Fees Explained

The subscription fee is only the entry point. Every sale carries a payment processing cost, and the rate depends on your plan.

Fee Type	Basic	Grow	Advanced	Plus
Online credit card rate	2.9% + 30¢	2.7% + 30¢	2.5% + 30¢	~2.15% + 30¢ (negotiable)
In-person card rate	2.6% + 10¢	2.5% + 10¢	2.4% + 10¢	Negotiable
Third-party gateway surcharge	2.0%	1.0%	0.6%	0.20%
Currency conversion fee	1.5%	1.5%	1.5%	1.5%

The most important rule: use Shopify Payments. It eliminates the third-party gateway surcharge entirely. The only reasons to use an external processor are if Shopify Payments is not available in your market or you have a contractual requirement with another provider.

The fee differences compound at scale. A brand doing $500,000 per month saves roughly $1,000 per month just by being on Advanced instead of Basic, purely from the lower credit card rate. That savings covers the plan upgrade three times over.

Shopify POS Pricing: What In-Person Selling Costs

If you sell in person, POS costs add another layer.

POS Lite is free with every Shopify plan. It covers basic payment processing, product management, and customer tracking. It works for a single location or occasional pop-ups, but it lacks multi-location inventory, staff permissions, and buy-online-pick-up-in-store.

POS Pro costs $89 per month per location ($79 on annual billing). This is the full retail product: multi-location inventory tracking, stock transfers, staff roles, BOPIS, ship-from-store, and detailed sales reports by employee and location.

Shopify Plus includes 20 POS Pro locations at no extra charge. For a brand with 10 stores, that is $890 per month in POS fees you are not paying — $10,680 per year.

Scenario	Plan	POS Cost	Annual POS Spend
1 pop-up shop	Basic ($39/mo)	$0 (POS Lite)	$0
3 retail stores	Grow ($105/mo)	$267/mo (3 × $89)	$3,204/year
10 stores	Advanced ($399/mo)	$890/mo (10 × $89)	$10,680/year
10 stores	Plus ($2,300+/mo)	$0 (20 included)	$0

For retail brands with five or more locations, Plus can pay for itself through POS Pro savings alone — before you even factor in lower transaction fees.

Hidden Shopify Costs to Budget For

Beyond subscriptions and transaction fees, several costs catch new merchants off guard.

Apps. Most stores need at least a few paid apps for reviews, email marketing, upselling, or subscription management. Budget $50 to $300 per month depending on your stack.

Themes. Free themes exist, but premium themes cost $200 to $400 as a one-time purchase. Custom development can run into the thousands.

Currency conversion. Selling internationally adds a 1.5% currency conversion fee on every cross-border transaction, regardless of plan.

Chargebacks. Each chargeback carries a $15 fee, and high chargeback rates can lead to account holds.

Email volume. Shopify's built-in email tool includes 10,000 free emails per month, but beyond that you pay $1 per 1,000 emails. High-volume senders often migrate to dedicated email platforms.

How to Choose the Right Shopify Plan

Match the plan to your current revenue and team size, not your aspirations.

• Under $1,000/month in sales: Starter is fine for testing, but upgrade to Basic as soon as you validate the product. The 5% Starter fee becomes punitive quickly.
• $1,000 to $50,000/month, solo founder: Basic. You do not need staff accounts yet, and the feature set covers a standard D2C store.
• $50,000 to $200,000/month, small team: Grow. The five staff accounts and professional reports are the trigger points.
• $200,000 to $800,000/month, international selling: Advanced. You need calculated shipping rates, duties calculation, and multi-market support.
• $1M+ annual revenue, B2B, or multi-brand: Plus. Checkout customization and expansion stores are not available anywhere else.

A useful rule of thumb: if the savings from lower transaction fees on the next tier exceed the subscription increase, upgrade immediately. At $500,000 per month, moving from Basic to Advanced saves about $1,000 per month in card fees while adding $360 to the subscription — a net win of $640 per month.

Managing Multiple Shopify Stores and Accounts

Some operators run more than one Shopify store — separate brands, regional storefronts, or test stores alongside a main operation. Shopify's own plan structure supports this through expansion stores on Plus, but many merchants also manage multiple store admins, supplier portals, and marketplace accounts at the same time.

That is where an anti-detect browser like AdsPower becomes relevant. AdsPower creates isolated browser profiles with unique digital fingerprints — Canvas, WebGL, user agent, and more — so each store admin, ad account, or marketplace login operates in its own environment without triggering platform security checks. For e-commerce operators juggling multiple Shopify stores, supplier dashboards, and ad accounts from one device, this isolation reduces the risk of account bans and cross-account contamination. If you are comparing anti-detect browser options, this AdsPower vs Octo Browser comparison breaks down the differences in fingerprinting, automation, and pricing. For a deeper look at how AdsPower handles multi-account workflows, see the AdsPower vs BitBrowser test.

Related reading

• Top 10 Online Ticket Marketplace Products for 2026 - Compare the 10 best online ticket marketplace products for 2026, from Ticketmaster to StubHub, with pricing, fees, and ideal use cases.
• How to Use AdsPower with Facebook: A 2026 Workflow Guide - Learn how to combine AdsPower's anti-detect browser with Facebook for safe multi-account management, ad campaigns, and automation. Step-by-step setup included.
• AdsPower vs Linken Sphere vs Incogniton: 2026 Test - Compare AdsPower, Linken Sphere, and Incogniton on fingerprinting, automation, team features, pricing, and real-world reliability. Find the right anti-detect browser.

Sources and further reading

• Shopify Pricing (2026): Plans, Fees & Real Cost Breakdown - What does Shopify actually cost? Plans from $39 to $2,300+/mo, transaction fees, app costs, and a full TCO comparison with self-hosted platforms.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a free Shopify plan?

No. Shopify offers a free trial, typically three days, but no permanent free plan. The cheapest ongoing option is Starter at $5 per month.

Can I switch Shopify plans later?

Yes. You can upgrade or downgrade at any time from your admin. Shopify prorates the difference, and downgrading takes effect at the end of your billing cycle.

Does Shopify charge transaction fees on top of payment processing?

If you use Shopify Payments, you pay only the card processing rate. If you use a third-party gateway like PayPal or Stripe, Shopify adds a surcharge of 0.2% to 2.0% depending on your plan.

Is annual billing worth it?

For Basic, Grow, and Advanced, annual billing saves 25%. On Basic, that is $120 per year. On Advanced, it is $1,200 per year. If you are confident you will stay on the platform for a year, it is worth it.

What is the cheapest way to sell on Shopify?

Start on Starter ($5/month) if you only need a checkout link. If you need a full store, Basic at $29 per month on annual billing is the cheapest full-store option. Use Shopify Payments to avoid gateway surcharges.

When does Shopify Plus make financial sense?

Generally at $1 million or more in annual revenue, or when you need checkout customization, B2B wholesale, or multiple expansion stores. The POS Pro savings alone can justify Plus for retailers with five or more locations.

Conclusion

Shopify pricing is a spectrum, not a single number. The plan you choose should reflect your revenue, team size, and selling channels — not just the lowest monthly fee. Starter works for link-in-bio selling, Basic suits solo founders, Grow fits small teams, Advanced handles international scaling, and Plus unlocks enterprise capabilities that lower tiers simply cannot match.

The biggest mistake merchants make is choosing a plan based on subscription price alone. Transaction fees, POS costs, and app expenses often dwarf the monthly subscription. Calculate your total monthly cost at your current revenue level, then compare it against the next tier up. In many cases, the upgrade pays for itself through lower processing rates alone.

For the most current plan details and feature comparisons, check Shopify's official pricing page and the Shopify pricing plans help documentation.