Quick answer: Shopify costs from $5/month (Starter) up to $2,300+/month (Plus) in 2026. Many new merchants choose the Basic plan at $39/month ($29/month if paid annually). On top of the monthly subscription, you'll pay payment processing fees starting at 2.9% + 30¢ per online transaction — and potentially more for apps, themes, and add-ons. Below is what Shopify costs, fee by fee, so there are no surprises.

The honest truth most guides bury is this: the Shopify plan you pick is only part of your total cost. Transaction fees, app fees, and your theme can quietly double your monthly bill. So let's break down the full pricing structure, then show you how to keep the total cost down.

Shopify pricing plans at a glance

Shopify offers five pricing plans in 2026, each built for a different stage of business. All figures below are current US list prices direct from Shopify's pricing page, with the lower number reflecting annual billing (which saves up to 25%).

Shopify plan

Monthly (billed monthly)

Monthly (billed annually)

Online card rate

Staff accounts

Every paid plan includes the core essentials: a full customizable online store, unlimited products, web hosting, a free SSL certificate, a custom domain connection, abandoned cart recovery, and Shopify's checkout. The differences between tiers come down to lower transaction fees, more staff accounts, deeper reporting, and advanced features.

Shopify Starter plan ($5/month)

The $5/month Starter plan is the cheapest way onto Shopify, but it's important to understand what it is: it gives you a checkout link and the ability to sell through social media, messaging apps, and a simple link — not a full, customizable online store. There's no traditional storefront with category pages. It's designed for creators and social sellers who want to accept payments without building a website.

Note that Starter carries a 5% transaction fee on every sale, the highest of any plan.

Shopify Basic plan ($39/month)

For most people asking how much Shopify costs to run a real store, the Basic Shopify plan is the answer. At $39/month (or $29/month paid annually), the Basic plan unlocks a full-featured, customizable online store with unlimited products, the one of the world's best-converting Shopify checkout, marketing automation tools, and 24/7 support. When you use Shopify Payments, the online credit card rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction.

The Basic plan suits new online stores, brands moving over from a marketplace, and small businesses with low-to-medium order volume. Its main limits are higher transaction fees than upper tiers and restricted staff accounts, so growing teams eventually feel the pinch.

Grow plan ($105/month)

The Grow plan (formerly the mid-tier "Shopify" plan) costs $105/month, or $79/month on annual billing. It adds up to 5 staff accounts, professional reports, and a lower payment processing rate of 2.7% + 30¢ per online transaction. This is the natural step up once a store's order volume rises and the lower credit card fees start to offset the higher subscription cost — typically somewhere in the $1–3M annual revenue range.

Advanced Shopify plan ($399/month)

The Shopify Advanced plan runs $399/month, or $299/month paid annually. It's built for scaling brands and established businesses that need deeper data and lower fees: up to 15 staff accounts, a custom report builder, third-party calculated shipping rates at checkout, and the lowest standard card rate outside Plus at 2.5% + 30¢.

For higher-volume stores, the reduced transaction fees often justify the higher monthly fee — which is the whole point of upgrading plans on Shopify: you trade a higher platform fee for lower per-sale charges.

Shopify Plus (from $2,300/month)

Shopify Plus is the enterprise tier, starting at $2,300/month on a multi-year term (around $2,500/month on a one-year term), with variable pricing for very high-volume merchants. Beyond the headline figure, Plus unlocks features no other plan has: a fully customizable checkout, unlimited staff accounts, unlimited B2B catalogs, up to 9 free expansion stores, far higher API rate limits, and bot protection.

It's worth it for large or complex businesses where those capabilities — and the most competitive payment processing rates — outweigh the higher subscription cost.

Shopify transaction fees and payment processing fees

This is where the real Shopify cost lives, and where many merchants get surprised. There are two separate things going on:

Shopify payment processing fees (credit card rates)

Whenever you accept payments, you pay your payment processor a rate per transaction. With Shopify Payments, the online rate is 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, 2.7% + 30¢ on Grow, and 2.5% + 30¢ on Advanced. In-person rates through Shopify POS are lower (2.6% + 10¢ on Basic). On a $100 online sale, that's about $3.20 on Basic, dropping to $2.80 on Advanced.

Extra transaction fees (the platform fee)

If you use a third-party payment provider or third-party payment gateway instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an additional fee on top of your processor's rate: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, and 0.2% on Plus. The simple way to avoid these extra transaction fees entirely is to use Shopify Payments — it's the single biggest fee-saving move available, confirmed right on Shopify's own plan comparison.

So the rule of thumb: budget your card rate as a fixed cost of selling online, and use Shopify Payments to dodge the surcharge unless you have a compelling reason to use a third-party provider.

Hidden fees: apps, themes, and add-ons

The Shopify subscription and transaction fees aren't the end of it. The Shopify App Store hosts thousands of apps, and most growing stores end up paying for several — email marketing, reviews, upsells, subscriptions, and more.

App fees can range from a few dollars to hundreds per month, and independent breakdowns put typical mid-market app spend anywhere from $350 to $1,400/month once a store scales. A premium Shopify theme is usually a one-time cost of roughly $150–$400 (though there are free themes), and Shopify POS Pro for physical retail is an extra $89/month per location.

It's worth flagging a common gap here. Some of the conversion features that directly grow revenue — true one-click post-purchase upsells, custom order bumps, and a fully customizable checkout — are limited or locked to higher tiers on Shopify, or require paid apps that stack onto your monthly bill.

You can fix it with a dedicated funnel tool like Funnelish: it lets you build high-converting sales funnels with one-click upsells, order bumps, and fast-loading pages that work alongside your store, so you're lifting average order value without piling on extra per-app subscription and transaction fees. The point isn't to replace your store — it's to make each visitor worth more.

Read more: How to Rescue a Bleeding AOV: Shopify's Default Traffic Is Killing Your Store

How much does Shopify really cost per month? Realistic totals

Putting it together, here's what total cost actually looks like at each stage:

• Just starting (social selling): Starter plan ~$5/month + 5% per sale.

• A new store, lean setup: Basic plan at $29–39/month + Shopify Payments fees + maybe one or two free apps. Many small businesses keep this under ~$50/month beyond payment processing.

• Growing store: Grow or Advanced ($79–399/month) + several paid apps + a theme, often landing in the $150–600/month range all-in.

• Enterprise: Plus from $2,300/month, where payment processing typically dwarfs the platform fee once you scale.

The takeaway: ask not just "How much is the Shopify plan" but "What's my total monthly cost including fees and apps." That's the number that matters.

How to reduce your Shopify costs

You can keep your Shopify store affordable with a few deliberate moves. Pay annually to save up to 25% on Basic, Grow, and Advanced. Use Shopify Payments to eliminate the extra third-party transaction fees. Start on a lower paid plan and only upgrade when the savings from lower Shopify fees genuinely outweigh the higher subscription cost. Pick a free theme (or use Shopify's built-in AI theme generator) instead of a premium one.

And audit your apps regularly — uninstall any paid app you're not actively using, since app cost is the most common source of bill creep. New stores can also tap up to $5,000–$10,000 in Shopify credits through current promotions, plus Shopify Capital for growth funding once eligible.

Read more: Shopify App-Purge: How to Consolidate 10 Subscriptions into One Dashboard

Is Shopify worth the cost?

For many merchants, yes. Shopify bundles web hosting, a free SSL certificate, a custom domain, PCI-compliant payments, Shopify Markets for international selling, multiple sales channels, and a checkout Shopify says converts about 15% better than other platforms — all into one subscription with no setup fees. Compared with piecing those tools together yourself, the all-in-one value is strong, especially for established businesses and stores that want to scale without managing their own infrastructure.

Whether it's worth it for you comes down to your margins: run the transaction-fee math against your order volume, factor in the apps you'll actually need, and choose the plan that fits your stage.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Shopify cost per month?

Shopify website costs $5/month for the Starter plan, $39/month for Basic, $105/month for Grow, $399/month for Advanced, and from $2,300/month for Plus. Paying annually drops Basic to $29, Grow to $79, and Advanced to $299 per month. Payment processing fees apply on top.

Is there a free version of Shopify?

There's no permanent free plan, but Shopify offers a free 3-day trial, after which most plans are $1/month for the first 3 months before standard pricing begins. No credit card is required to start the trial.

Does Shopify take a percentage of sales?

Through Shopify Payments, Shopify charges a credit card processing rate (from 2.9% + 30¢ per online transaction on Basic, lower on higher plans) but no additional commission. If you use a third-party payment provider instead, Shopify adds an extra transaction fee of 0.2%–2% depending on your plan.

What's the cheapest way to use Shopify?

The $5/month Starter plan is the cheapest entry point, but it only provides a checkout link, not a full store. For a complete online store, the Basic plan at $29/month (billed annually) is the most affordable option, and using Shopify Payments avoids extra transaction fees.

Do I need to pay for apps and themes?

Not necessarily. Shopify includes free themes and core features, but many merchants add paid apps (typically a few dollars to hundreds per month) and may buy a premium theme (a one-time ~$100–$400). These are optional costs that depend on your store's needs.