Shopify Pricing and Fees 2024 – How Much is Shopify Cost?

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Thinking of starting a store on the Shopify platform? You must know and understand several Shopify pricing and fees to get started.

First, the Shopify price and fees differ slightly based on your country. 

If you’re visiting Shopify from outside the US, the price you see might not be the exact one in this post.

Assuming you visit Shopify from Nigeria, the Basic Shopify pricing plan is billed $24 monthly for a yearly subscription. In comparison, it costs $29 for the annual plan in the US. 

Shopify US and many EU regions enjoy features unavailable to other countries, so the Shopify pricing plan and details reflect features available in your country. 

Regardless of your country of residence, this post covers everything you need to know about how much does Shopify costs and its additional fees.

Additionally, I will talk about its features and annual and monthly plans. Also, I will talk you through extra credit card fees and the best plan for you. Plus, I will compare Shopiy’s price with competitors like BigCommerce, Weebly, Squarespace, Wix, etc.

And lots more…

Shopify Pricing and Fees Overview

Shopify price and transaction fees caters to individuals and merchants of different sizes, budgets, and needs. 

From complete beginners, growing businesses, and established e-commerce stores to large businesses selling multiple millions, Shopify has plans and features to enable you to sell. 

Here’s a brief overview of Shopify pricing for small businesses and available plans. 

Shopify Pricing Explained

The table below shows the Shopify monthly price breakdown and discount on yearly subscription for each plan.

Billing Cycle	Starter	Basic	Shopify	Advanced
Monthly	$5/mon	$32/mon	$92/mon	$399/mon
Yearly	$5/mon	$24/mon	$69/mon	$299/mon
Discount	No Discount	25%	25%	25%

In addition to the above Shopify monthly pricing and plan, there is the Retail and Shopify Plus plan, which are geared towards businesses with more need for advanced eCommerce features.

However, if you’re just starting in eCommerce, these five Shopify standard plans are ideal options for you.

Both Retail and Shopify Plus are suitable for businesses with more need for advanced eCommerce functionality, team access and collaboration features, high sales volume, etc.

How Much Does Shopify Cost?

There are no right or wrong answers to the cost of Shopify stores for each individual; it depends on a few factors. 

We need to consider the type of e-commerce store you intend to build, what features you need, free or paid themes, apps, cost of domain name, resource usage, etc. 

Consider answering these questions before starting a Shopify store. Aside from the platform fee, available on the pricing page, these factors also add to the cost of creating a Shopify shop.

Also, when you start to sell, you must consider additional payment processing fees like Credit Card and other transaction fees. 

But that’s just the beginning; let’s walk through all current Shopify plans and compare what makes it unique and which is suitable for each person or merchant. 

Comparing Shopify Plans

Besides the Shopify platform monthly fees, which are a significant factor when deciding which Shopify pricing plan is right for you, features, lower transaction fees, and the number of seats also make a big difference.

Now, let’s explore the Shopify pricing plan comparison below; all five plans, including Shopify Plus, an ideal solution for large-scale businesses. 

Starter Plan

Shopify’s starter plan costs just $5 monthly, and it’s ideal if you’re a beginner or don’t know how ecommerce works and want to learn the trade. 

Or, if you want an easier way, start selling online via social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, emails, etc. It provides merchants with a quick and straightforward way to sell products online.

Anywhere you can share links, like messaging apps, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS, and Skype, the Starter plan allows you to market and sell your products everywhere. 

You won’t have an online store but a Shopify checkout page to process payment. 

You can sell in person using the Shopify POS lite app, which you can download on a mobile device or tablet and configure to receive payment. It has features like the Tap to Pay for iPhone and card readers. 

The Shopify Starter plan, the cheapest Shopify plan for beginners, has all the essential features that allow you to sell on the go using your mobile phone. It also gives you access to essential features like abandoned cart recovery emails, marketing automation, Linkpopup, standard 24/7 support, and more. 

Starting an ecommerce business with $5 monthly will come with some limitations, and you shouldn’t be surprised at that. 

The Starter plan has a 5% + $0.30 online credit card rate, limits to 2 locations, 5% + $0.00 POS in-person credit card charges, and basic reporting features. This plan is mainly for online selling without a store website or a blog.  

Basic Plan

Next up is the Basic plan, which costs just $29/monthly if billed annually ($39 for the monthly billing). 

If you’re starting a small ecommerce business or want to build a storefront, the Basic Shopify pricing plan, which costs $24 per month, is right for you. You can create a store website and blog, design and customize your store, and install apps, themes, etc.

The transaction fees are lower than in the Starter plan.

The online credit card transaction and payment processing fees are 2.9%+ 0.30 cents, 2.7% + $0.00 offline POS payments fee, and 2% fee if you use third-party payment gateways. You also pay 1.5% for currency conversion if you sell in other currencies. 

That’s a lot of charges. 

However, the Basic Shopify plan has a shipping discount of up to 77% from DHL Express, UPS, and USPS. 

2 staff account seats, sell in up to 1,000 locations, automatic cart abandonments email recovery, Shopify POS lite, and the option to upgrade to the Shopify POS Pro for selling in a brick-and-mortar business.

Shopify Plan

As your business experiences growth and needs expansion, the Shopify Basic plan becomes insufficient to handle your needs; this is where you should consider the Shopify plan. 

It is billed at $79 for the annual 12 monthly plan and $105 if you intend to pay monthly. There are some fantastic features to talk about in the Shopify plan.

First, it allows 5 staff members, a significant upgrade from the Basic Shopify plan; it also allows up to 1,000 locations, as in the Basic plan.

That’s not all; merchants get up to $200 shipping insurance coverage for eligible Shopify shipping labels, and you get up to 88% shipping discount from DHL Express, USPS, and UPS. 

The payment transaction fees are much lower: 1.% for third-party gateways, 1.5% currency conversion fee, 2.6% + $0.30 online credit card rates, and 2.5% + $0.00 are charged when you sell in-person and process POS payments. 

Advanced Plan

The Advanced Shopify plan is the best for established merchants with more resource-demand ecommerce storefronts. And need more staff accounts to allow freelancers or members to work in the backend. 15 staff accounts are allowed. 

The cost will set you up for $299 or $399 monthly, depending on whether you subscribe to an annual Advanced Shopify pricing plan or a monthly billing cycle. 

It comes with everything in the Shopify plan and has much better lower transaction fees and in-depth store performance reporting analytics. 

The online credit Card fee is 2.4% + $0.30, the fee for POS in-person sales is also 2.4% + USD 0.00, and up to 88% discount on shipping. 1% third-party payments gateways and 1.5% currency conversion also apply. 

Shopify Plus Plan

Enterprise-level plan and support for large businesses and corporate stores. 

You get everything in the Advanced Shopify plan and extra stuff to automate your business, and it allows more working hands in the backend admin area, builds more store locations, and uses more platform resources. 

Shopify Plus plan costs $2,000 monthly, but you could pay more depending on sales volume and resource usage. Still, you need to contact sales to arrange for Shopify Plus.

Read my comprehensive side-by-side analysis to learn more about Shopify Plus and Shopify standard plans.

Shopify Annual Plan vs Monthly Plans

Should you subscribe to a Shopify monthly or annual pricing plan?

It is difficult to tell you which option is the best without consideration for some factors and thoughts. 

All too often, small business owners subscribe to a Shopify month-to-month plan, allowing flexibility and easier bailout. But it’s not always the best option if you’re into eCommerce business for the long term and want to save costs.

Thinking of cost saving, subscribing to a Shopify 12-monthly plan makes sense if the one-time payment is not a problem. You save up to 25% on the annual plan. 

Shopify has a 4.4-star rating on the reviews site G2, one of the highest for any ecommerce platform. You can take the $1 free trial and subsequent 90 days if you’re unsure if Shopify is right.

The free trial allows you to test most essential features and the platform extensively for only $1 monthly after the 3-day free subscription expires. 

So, in a nutshell, Shopify monthly is good for you if you don’t have the one-time 12 monthly payment but can afford to pay month-to-month.

Also, consider monthly billing if you want to use Shopify to sell seasonal products that people buy, mostly during specific periods like Black Friday, Xmas and New Year, Festives, Carnival, etc. 

Consider a yearly subscription if ecommerce is a strong part of your core business, and it’s what you do. Plus, you save 25% on a Shopify yearly subscription.

Shopify Credit Card Transaction and Processing Fees

I touched briefly on the Shopify credit card processing fee above; it needs more information. Here is a summary of the Shopify cost analysis for the processing fee and in-person charges.

Use the data in the table to calculate how much Shopify will cost you and the possibility of any hidden fees you might not be aware of initially.

Note: Shopify has no hidden fees; everything you need to know about the different pricing plans and additional transaction fees is available on the Shopify pricing page.

	Starter	Basic	Shopify	Advanced	Shopify Plus
Online Credit Card	5% + $0.30	2.9% + $0.30	2.6% + $0.30	2.5% + $0.00	2.15% + $0.30
In-Person POS	5% + 0.00	2.7% + $0.00	2.5% + $0.00	2.4% + $0.00	2.15% + $0.00
3rd Party Processors	2.4%	2%	1.%	0.5%	*0.15–0.30%
Curency Conversion	1.5%	1.5%	1.5%	1.5%	1.5%

*The 0.15–0.30% transaction fee is paid to Shopify for compliance and security after paying your 3rd party processing fee.

You don’t pay a transaction fee when you use Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, PayPal Express, and Shop Pay Installments. However, Shopify Payments isn’t available in all regions, so you should check for your country’s eligibility. 

Also, merchant processing manual or offline payments like cash, cash on delivery, and bank transfers are not charged for transaction fees. 

You need to know that the processing fee for credit card payment in domestic or cross-border currency and the type of card used are significant factors determining the cost. 

Shopify charged processing fees for third-party payment providers to cover the cost of integrations and credit card charges. Again, the amount charged varies as credit cards and customers’ transaction locations differ. 

Except for merchants in Australia, Belgium, and Sweden, other countries’ merchants using Shopify Payments don’t pay transaction fees. 

However, there is one fee merchants must pay; no matter the methods used to collect online payments through credit cards, you must pay the payment processing fee. 

The payment processing fee is paid to payment processor companies, enabling merchants to collect payment through customers’ bank accounts and move it to the merchant account. This is a compulsory fee to enable smooth ecommerce and safe online transactions.  

The payment processing fee is 0.30 cents, while each Shopify plan charges credit card rates differently. Higher plans have lower credit card rates; see the above table for more details. 

Note that the 0.30-cent payment processing fee is per transaction, not per item sold. Whether customers buy 5, 10, or a single item in your store, you pay 0.30 cents for processing the payment. 

The fee will be charged per transaction if the customer makes the payments separately. 

Shopify Currency Conversion Fees

This section applies to merchants selling to international markets in currencies other than the store currency.

You’re charged the currency conversion fee when you accept payment in another currency.  The fee is 1.5% for US-based merchants and 2% for all other merchants in the eligible Shopify Payments region. 

The customer’s local currency is converted to your store payout currency at a mid-market rate before applying the currency conversion fee. 

In case of a refund or chargebacks, these fees are not returned to you, but there are no additional charges. You can read more about the Shopify currency conversion fee and rates on this page. 

Extra Shopify Store Cost 

So far, what I discussed are the platform fees, payment processing fees, and standard plan prices; there are additional costs to starting an ecommerce business you must know. 

These are associated costs of running an online business. To create a sustainable long-term business, you must add these to your question of how much does Shopify costs.

Let’s break them down below.

Domain Name

You need a brand or custom name for your store to stand out.

Purchasing a domain name costs anywhere from $2 to thousands of dollars. It depends on your marketing strategies and expectations. 

However, you don’t need a premium domain name to start an online business unless there is sufficient marketing evidence; having a unique, short, and memorable name is all you need. 

I published an article that discusses how to choose a good domain name; check it out to learn more. 

You can visit Namecheap to check for domain name availability and register it. Besides, Namecheap is one of the best domain name registrars to trust. 

Namecheap domain names start at just $1.88 for the first year if you click the deals tab.

Shopify Apps

Next, think through paid Shopify apps you might need further to extend the functions and features of your storefront. 

More than 8,000 apps are available on the Shopify apps store. Some apps let you try the free version for a while; others only offer a paid option. 

The cost of apps will eventually add up to your overall cost of starting a Shopify store in the long run, so you must check the options available before getting started. 

Email Marketing/Automation

Though Shopify now provides a transactional email marketing function, you must check if that suits your needs. 

Shopify allows sending up to 10,000 free monthly emails; after that, the cost for additional emails is $1 for every 1,000 emails. 

If you will use a third-party provider, consider the cost and add it to your monthly expenses. 

Premium Themes

Do you want to use the free or Paid Shopify themes?

If you’re going to use the free themes, there is no additional cost to worry about. Many free Shopify ecommerce themes are fast-loading, responsive, and optimized for SEO. 

But may lack full customization and limit your ability to do more with your store design. 

However, premium themes are better if you want a unique Shopify store design, extensive customization, and the ability to tweak the design as you wish.

Premium themes start at $100 to $360. Considering this cost will help you get a clearer picture of your estimated Shopify pricing and fees and the overall cost of your Shopify store.

FAQ

Conclusion – How Much is Shopify

Shopify isn’t the cheapest eCommerce platform in the market, though it is one of the platforms offering the best value for money. 

You must understand the Shopify pricing plan structure and fees to save costs and generate more revenue. 

One of the best ways to save costs of running a Shopify store is by using its native payments system. The Shopify Payment eliminates transaction fees; the only problem is when your country is not eligible.  

You pay the transaction fee for third-party payment providers adding to your total product cost and cost of running the store. 

The Shopify plans are not too expensive considering the features and functions Shopify offers on its platform. And if you’re into ecommerce to make more than a thousand dollars in monthly revenue, spending $29 or even $79 every month isn’t something to worry about. 

When you go beyond a thousand dollars in monthly revenue, things get easier, and you don’t have to bother or think about the monthly expense because the store pays the bill itself and puts more dollars in your bank accounts. 

Still not sure if you Shopify is right for, check other alternatives like BigCommerce, Weebly, and Woocommcerce. Or read my in-depth guide on which website builder is the right for you between Shopify and Squarespace.