How Much Does Shopify Cost in 2026? Every Fee, Plan, and Hidden Cost Explained

Shopify is the most popular e-commerce platform in the world, powering over 4 million stores. But its pricing is more complicated than the headline numbers suggest. The $29/month Basic plan sounds affordable -- until you add apps, payment processing fees, a theme, a domain, and email tools. The real monthly cost of a functioning Shopify store is often two to three times what the plan page shows.

This guide covers every cost, every plan, and every fee you'll encounter running a Shopify store in 2026 -- so there are no surprises after you launch.

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Shopify Plans: The Official 2026 Pricing

Shopify restructured its plans in 2024--2025, replacing the old "Basic / Shopify / Advanced" naming with a new tier system. Here are the current plans and prices as of 2026.

Monthly vs Annual Billing

All paid plans come with a 25% discount when billed annually. The difference is significant over a year.

New stores get a 3-day free trial, then $1/month for the first 3 months before regular pricing kicks in.

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What Each Plan Includes

Starter -- $5/month

The Starter plan is not a real storefront. It gives you a buy button and a simple mobile checkout you can embed on an existing website, social media profile, or messaging app. It does not give you a standalone Shopify store with product pages, navigation, or SEO.

Best for: Selling a handful of products via Instagram or a personal website you already have.

Transaction fee: 5% on every sale (the highest of any plan).

Basic -- $39/month ($29 annual)

The Basic plan is a full Shopify store. You get unlimited product listings, a customisable storefront, basic analytics, blog functionality, discount codes, and 24/7 support.

Limits:

• 2 staff accounts
• Basic reports only
• No custom reporting
• Shipping discount up to 77%

Transaction fee (third-party processors): 2%
Shopify Payments online rate: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
Shopify Payments in-person rate: 2.6% + $0.10

Grow -- $105/month ($79 annual)

The Grow plan (formerly called "Shopify") adds meaningful operational upgrades.

Upgrades over Basic:

• Up to 5 staff accounts
• Professional reports and analytics
• Shipping discount up to 88%
• Lower transaction fees

Transaction fee (third-party processors): 1%
Shopify Payments online rate: 2.6% + $0.30
Shopify Payments in-person rate: 2.5% + $0.10

Advanced -- $399/month ($299 annual)

Advanced is for scaling stores doing $500,000+ in annual revenue. The lower transaction fees and custom reporting pay for themselves at volume.

Upgrades over Grow:

• Up to 15 staff accounts
• Custom report builder
• Live calculated shipping rates at checkout
• International pricing and markets
• Regional customisation

Transaction fee (third-party processors): 0.6%
Shopify Payments online rate: 2.4% + $0.30
Shopify Payments in-person rate: 2.4% + $0.10

Plus -- $2,500/month (or $2,300/month on 3-year term)

Shopify Plus is the enterprise tier, built for brands doing millions in revenue.

What you get that lower tiers don't:

• Unlimited staff accounts
• Custom checkout experience (full Liquid/Checkout Extensions access)
• Shopify Flow automation (complex rule-based workflows)
• Up to 9 expansion stores included
• B2B wholesale portal
• Priority support and a dedicated merchant success manager
• 99.99% uptime SLA
• Launchpad (automated campaign launches)

Transaction fee (third-party processors): 0.2%
Shopify Payments rate: ~2.15% + $0.30 (negotiable at high volume)

The Plus fee structure becomes revenue-based at higher sales volumes. Brands doing $800,000+/month often negotiate custom rates.

POS Pro -- $89/month (add-on)

If you run a physical retail location, POS Pro adds:

• Unlimited registers per location
• Staff PINs and role permissions
• Smart inventory management
• Omnichannel selling reports
• Exchange and return flows

The basic POS Lite is free on all plans. POS Pro is only necessary if you're running a real retail operation.

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Payment Processing: The Biggest Cost Most Stores Underestimate

Your plan subscription is often not your biggest monthly Shopify expense. Payment processing fees are.

Shopify Payments (Recommended)

If you use Shopify's built-in payment processor, you pay no additional transaction fee on top of the processing rate. The rates are competitive with Stripe and Square.

International transactions cost an additional 1.5% for US-based stores and 2% for stores in other regions.

Shopify Payments is available in: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, and several other countries.

Using a Third-Party Processor (PayPal, Stripe, Square)

If you use any payment processor other than Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an additional transaction fee on top of what the processor charges.

Example on Basic plan using PayPal:

• PayPal charges: 3.49% + $0.49 per transaction
• Shopify adds: 2%
• Total per transaction: 5.49% + $0.49

On a $100 sale, you pay $5.98 in fees. On the same sale using Shopify Payments, you pay $3.20.

The difference is significant at volume. A store doing $10,000/month in sales saves $278/month by using Shopify Payments instead of PayPal on the Basic plan. That's $3,336/year -- more than the annual plan cost itself.

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Hidden Costs: What the Pricing Page Doesn't Show You

1. Apps -- $50 to $300+/month

The Shopify App Store has over 8,000 apps. Most functional stores need several:

The average Shopify store uses 6--12 apps. At $20--$50/app/month, that's $120--$600/month in apps alone.

Stores on Shopify Plus often spend $1,000--$3,000/month on apps.

2. Themes -- $180 to $350 (one-time)

Shopify has 12 free themes, but most serious stores use a premium theme for design control and conversion-rate-optimised features.

Premium themes: $180--$350 one-time purchase from the Shopify Theme Store.

Third-party marketplace themes (ThemeForest, etc.): $50--$200, but these are often lower quality and slower to update.

Custom theme development: $3,000--$20,000+ if you hire a developer to build something bespoke.

3. Domain Name -- $14 to $40/year

Shopify offers domain registration through its platform at $14--$40/year depending on the extension (.com, .co, .store, etc.). You can also use a domain purchased elsewhere and point it to Shopify at no extra cost.

Your free Shopify subdomain (yourstore.myshopify.com) is always free but looks unprofessional for a real business.

4. Email Marketing -- $0 to $300+/month

Shopify Email (built-in): Free for the first 10,000 emails per month. After that, $1 per 1,000 emails. For a list of 10,000 subscribers sending weekly, that's roughly $40--$80/month.

Third-party tools (Klaviyo, Mailchimp): More powerful segmentation and automation. Klaviyo pricing scales with contact list size -- $20/month for 500 contacts, $150/month for 10,000, $400/month for 50,000.

Branded email address (hello@yourstore.com rather than yourname@gmail.com): Requires a Google Workspace subscription at $6--$12/user/month.

5. Shopify Markets Pro (International Selling) -- Variable

If you sell internationally and want Shopify to handle duties, taxes, and currency conversion automatically, Shopify Markets Pro charges a 6.5% transaction fee on cross-border sales in addition to your regular processing fee.

For stores doing significant international volume, this adds up fast.

6. Shopify Capital and Lending -- Variable

If you take a Shopify Capital advance (a merchant cash advance based on your sales history), you repay a fixed factor rate (typically 1.1x--1.17x the advance). It's not a hidden fee, but founders who take advances without understanding the math often pay more than they expect.

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Real-World Monthly Cost Examples

Small Store (Just Starting)

• Plan: Basic annual ($29/mo)
• Shopify Payments: $2.9% + $0.30 on $3,000/month in sales = $117
• 3 apps (email, reviews, SEO): $60/mo
• Total: ~$206/month

Growing Store

• Plan: Grow annual ($79/mo)
• Shopify Payments: 2.6% + $0.30 on $15,000/month in sales = $435
• 8 apps: $250/mo
• Klaviyo email (10k subscribers): $150/mo
• Total: ~$914/month

Established Store

• Plan: Advanced annual ($299/mo)
• Shopify Payments: 2.4% + $0.30 on $50,000/month in sales = $1,230
• 12 apps: $600/mo
• Klaviyo (30k subscribers): $300/mo
• Returns management: $100/mo
• Total: ~$2,529/month

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Shopify vs. Alternatives: Cost Comparison

Shopify vs. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress. It sounds much cheaper than Shopify until you add everything up.

WooCommerce is cheaper if you're technical and willing to manage hosting, updates, security, and plugins yourself. Shopify is cheaper in developer time and technical overhead.

Shopify vs. Wix

Wix e-commerce starts at $29/month (Core plan). It's more user-friendly for beginners and has a strong visual editor.

Wix falls short on:

• App ecosystem depth
• International selling features
• High-volume performance
• Customisation for complex stores

For a store with under 100 products and simple needs, Wix can be cheaper. For anything serious, Shopify's infrastructure wins.

Shopify vs. BigCommerce

BigCommerce pricing is similar to Shopify ($29--$299/month annually). The key differences:

• BigCommerce charges zero transaction fees regardless of which payment processor you use
• BigCommerce includes more native features (product reviews, gift cards, shipping rules) without apps
• Shopify has a vastly better app ecosystem and more polished UI

For stores using PayPal or non-Shopify processors at volume, BigCommerce can be significantly cheaper because it doesn't charge the extra transaction fee.

Shopify vs. Squarespace

Squarespace e-commerce starts at around $36/month. Good for design-focused small stores but limited for serious commerce -- fewer apps, weaker analytics, limited shipping integrations.

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Which Shopify Plan Should You Choose?

Start with Basic if:

• You're launching and don't yet know if the business will work
• You're doing under $200,000/year in revenue
• You don't need custom reports or advanced shipping

Upgrade to Grow if:

• You need more than 2 staff accounts
• Your revenue is approaching $200,000/year and the 1% vs 2% transaction fee difference (on third-party processors) adds up to more than the plan price difference
• You need professional reports to make inventory and marketing decisions

Upgrade to Advanced if:

• You're doing $500,000+/year and the 0.6% transaction fee on third-party processors pays for the plan upgrade
• You need real-time carrier-calculated shipping rates at checkout (required for accurate international shipping quotes)
• You need a custom report builder for complex analytics

Go with Plus if:

• You're doing $1M+/year and need custom checkout experiences, automation, or dedicated support
• You run multiple storefronts (expansion stores are included in Plus)
• You sell B2B wholesale alongside DTC

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Tips to Reduce Your Shopify Costs

Use Shopify Payments. Eliminating the 0.6%--2% extra transaction fee is the single highest-ROI cost-reduction move available. On $10,000/month in sales with a Basic plan, switching from PayPal to Shopify Payments saves ~$200/month.

Pay annually. The 25% discount on annual billing saves $120/year on Basic, $312/year on Grow, and $1,200/year on Advanced.

Audit your apps quarterly. Most stores have 2--3 apps they installed and forgot about but are still paying for. A quarterly app audit typically finds $50--$150/month in unused subscriptions.

Use Shopify Email before a paid tool. Shopify Email is free for the first 10,000 emails/month. Many small stores never need a separate email tool.

Start with a free theme. The free Shopify themes (Dawn, Sense, Craft, Refresh) are fast, well-coded, and conversion-tested. You don't need a premium theme to launch.

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The Bottom Line

The real cost of running a Shopify store depends almost entirely on your revenue and app choices, not the plan price.

A small store doing $5,000/month in sales can run for $150--$250/month all-in. A scaling store doing $50,000/month will realistically spend $2,000--$3,000/month on plan, processing, and apps combined.

The plan subscription is usually 10--25% of your total Shopify cost. Payment processing and apps are the bigger variables. If you model these correctly before you launch, there are no surprises.

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