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2024 Shopify Pricing Plans Demystified: Your Ultimate Guide to Calculating Costs

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We receive Shopify pricing plans questions on a daily basis; it’s something that not only our customers, but also other merchants ask about. What is Shopify’s Cost? How does Shopify pricing work? And how can it fit your business needs? In this blog post, we’ll explain to you what costs you’ll face if you’re considering Shopify as the ecommerce solution for your business.

Side note: we have the video version with 15+ minutes long time. Click here to navigate to the video's part.

This Shopify subscription plans review is different, but in what way?

When you google Shopify pricing, Shopify cost, Shopify pricing UK etc., you’ll find results from “website builder” or “ecommerce builder” experts. To be honest and straightforward, we have been using two ecommerce solutions for 5+ years (each): WooCommerce and Shopify. We’re an official Shopify Expert (you can find PageFly in the Experts Marketplace) and this review will be made from an ecommerce solution angle. We won’t sacrifice our credibility by pushing you to sign up with Shopify, but we’ll try our best to outline Shopify’s pricing in detail, so that you can decide for yourself.

There’s also a bit of an epidemic of misleading when it comes to Shopify pricing reviews. Many of them, including the top-ranked ones on Google, are full of outdated information. The articles themselves continue to rank highly because the sites behind them simply update the date in the title to keep them ‘relevant’.

For example, you may find a Shopify pricing review for May 2020 that was actually written in August 2016. This means that a lot of the actual content of the article will be outdated. We’re not here to point the finger, we just think that readers deserve up-to-date information when it comes to Shopify’s pricing plans, especially considering their changeable nature.

By now, Shopify has passed over 2,000,000 merchants globally. Last year, Shopify even made a video to celebrate their million milestone. We suggest you spend two minutes to watch it in order to better understand who uses Shopify.

Shopify has 3 day Free Trial then Pay $1 For The First Month. Learn More.

All top articles use Shopify affiliate links and, as a disclaimer, so do we. However, the quality of the content is our biggest priority.

Back to the future… hang on, the past: The context of our Shopify cost research

Nowadays, more people than ever are looking to start up a business with Shopify. The screenshot below shows you an increase of the search phrase “shopify cost” in the last few years. 

shopify pricing search trends

Naturally, the first place I got acquainted with Shopify pricing was the Shopify pricing page. This is where I learned of the three Shopify paid plans, including Shopify Basic, Shopify and Shopify Advanced. And if you're just starting Shopify and don't have enough capital to open your own store, you can use the Shopify starter plan for just $15 per month. This package has features focused on selling through social media sites.

How much is Shopify per month?

Here’s a short introduction to the three most popular Shopify Plans. The shopify pricing structure is very simple - you pay a fixed fee and a transaction fee, which differ depending on the plan you choose.

  • Shopify Basic: $39 per month and 2.9% of the value of the transaction + 30 cents.
  • Shopify: $105 per month and 2.6% of the value of the transaction + 30 cents.
  • Shopify Advanced: $399 per month and 2.4% of the value of the transaction + 30 cents.

The transaction fee above is effective when you use the Shopify Payments solution. This solution has been created in partnership with Stripe payment processor. Not everyone can use Shopify Payments as it’s only available in selected countries. Click here to understand whether you’re eligible for Shopify payments or not.

Below is the Shopify plans comparison table. Let us clarify some of the details.

Shopify pricing feature comparison

Watch our video explanation

Side Note: PageFly Engineers created the interactive Shopify pricing Calculator.

Estimate how much Shopify costs with the Shopify Pricing Calculator.

Calculate My Shopify Cost

Shopify UK Pricing Plans

The Shopify pricing plans for UK registered businesses from co.uk domain. Using xe.com currency exchange site we’ll convert three Shopify plans 

  • Basic Shopify: 25 GBP
  • Shopify: 65 GBP
  • Advanced Shopify: 344 GBP

Visit Shopify Pricing UK page 

Shopify UK Pricing Plans

Shopify US (USA) Pricing

We have picked a US site and it keeps us with .com domain.

  • Basic Shopify: 39 USD
  • Shopify: 105 USD
  • Advanced Shopify: 399 USD

Visit Shopify pricing page

Shopify US pricing

Shopify Australia (AUS) Pricing Plans

For businesses in Australia the Shopify subscription as following:

  • Basic Shopify: 56 AUD
  • Shopify: 149 AUD
  • Advanced Shopify: 575 AUD
shopify aus pricings

Visit Shopify AUS pricing page

Shopify Singapore (SG) Pricing

  • Basic Shopify: 39 SGD
  • Shopify: 132 SGD
  • Advanced Shopify: 531 SGD

Visit Shopify Singapore Pricing page 

Shopify Singapore pricing

Shopify France / Germany (Europe) Pricing

France & Germany in Euro zone, so we’ll combine the price for both countries

  • Basic Shopify: 39 USD
  • Shopify: 65 USD
  • Advanced Shopify: 399 USD
Shopify France pricing

Visit Shopify FR Pricing page

Shopify Germany (Europe) Pricing

Visit Shopify DE Pricing page

Shopify cost per month: The details.

If you simply want to know the cost of Shopify’s initial investment, then click here. (scroll to the Shopify pricing Plans conclusion) 

Shopify base fee - an online store & 24/7 customer support service

Shopify Basic starts from just $39 per month, complete with an easy-to-use online store builder and 24/7 customer service support. There is no limitation on ‘bandwidth’; if you’re new to this term then I’ll explain it for you. Basically it means that regardless of whether it’s 1 or 1,000 merchants visiting your online store every day, Shopify has no set limit on the amount of traffic you can process.

When you’re just getting started with Shopify, you’ll have to go through the standard “learning curve”. There’s nothing to fear with Shopify’s 24/7 support team, which is available via phone, chat, email and community forum. It doesn’t matter in which time zone you are, simply contact them however you like and you’ll get a Shopify guru answering any question that you may have.

Shopify pricing covers high level security and online store speed as well. Did you know that all images on Shopify stores are hosted on a CDN (Content Delivery Network)? Well, what does that mean? It means that whether your customer is in New York, Paris or Tokyo, they can access your Shopify store with almost the same page speed. Offsite image storage means that your store loads fast in any country, which becomes something truly vital if your business is an international one.

shopify cdn

Source: fastly.com

Abbreviation - POP - Point Of Presence. Used in server hosting providers. Source.

In short, for Shopify subscriptions, you have three options:

  1. Shopify Basic - $39 (Recommended for new businesses)
  2. Shopify - $105
  3. Shopify Advanced - $399

Visit Shopify Pricing page

Shopify transaction fee

Shopify Payments supports major credit and debit cards such as VISA, Master Card, American Express, JCB and others. For each transaction, Shopify charges a certain fee depending on your Shopify plan. At first glance you might think it’s a lot of money… and, ouch… why do I have to use Shopify Payments and pay such a fee?

Well, let me explain.

The Shopify Payments process involves a security check of the owner of the credit card being charged, all in order to make sure that the transaction is genuine. What does it mean for you as a business owner? You’ll be safe and can fulfill the product order with confidence that you have a customer, not a scammer.

What if you don’t want to use Shopify Payments? Shopify has dozens of payment gateways you can use depending on the country in which you registered your Shopify store.

So, in regards to the Shopify transaction fee, here are the numbers:

  • Shopify Basic: 2.9% of the value of the transaction + 30 cents.
  • Shopify: 2.6% of the value of the transaction + 30 cents.
  • Shopify Advanced: 2.4% of the value of the transaction + 30 cents.

Visit Shopify Pricing page

Shopify theme cost

Shopify theme pricing varies from completely free to $350 per theme, including usually 12 months of customer support. Of course, your choice depends on your budget and your needs. Shopify has created great free themes and continuously provides direct support through email. If you’re just getting started, consider one of the free Shopify themes from the Themes Marketplace https://themes.shopify.com/. Here you can find themes optimized for the most popular niches, such as fashion, cosmetics, restaurants and more.

Read more: Top 30 Shopify Themes Free + Premium: A Complete Review

shopify theme marketplace

Shopify apps (Optional)

This is sometimes overlooked in the grand scheme of Shopify pricing.

Let’s say you’ve chosen the Shopify Basic Plan and have selected the free ‘Brooklyn’ theme from the Themes Marketplace. Later on, once you’ve already built your store, you decide to make a free shipping announcement in the header of your page. Some Shopify themes have this as an in-built function, but what if your theme doesn’t? 

If this is the case, you’ll need to install a third-party Shopify app, for example, the Quick Announcement Bar by Hextom. This could count as an additional cost, but thankfully, this app has a free plan. The free plan is limited, of course, but it has enough to fit basic needs.

announcement bar shopify app

Quick Announcement Bar pricing

The good news is that you’ll find plenty of apps offering free trials, or even free plans, for you to get acquainted with the basics. A good rule of thumb is to look for apps with a free plan to start with, then, when you get your 1st, 2nd and 3rd sales and are on your way to steady growth, consider investing in paid plans. At present, there are at least 4,400+ free apps to get new stores off the ground.

Shopify apps

But what if you have a limited amount of time in which to set up and start making a profit? Well, in that case, you can delegate the job of finding suitable apps for your store to the Shopify Experts. It’s another additional expense with Shopify, but it could save you hours of wasted time.

Shopify store services cost (Optional)

If you have time, you can of course create your store yourself, including designing the store and customizing it to fit your needs. However, if you have a more flexible budget, yet less flexible time constraint, you can consider hiring Shopify experts to help you along the way.

Many Shopify merchants use the Shopify Partners Directory, which you can visit directly here https://experts.shopify.com/.

Clicking on “create a job” in the top right corner will provide you with a form where you can request aid in Shopify’s services from the experts who understand the platform most. The smart Shopify Experts engine then finds a relevant professional for your service request.

shopify-partners-directory

How to save on your overall Shopify cost

Here, we’ve laid out 2 big tips that can help you to save money on your Shopify cost.

Tip #1 - Subscribe to Shopify Yearly pricing plan

Shopify gives you the option to pay for your 1-year, 2-year or 3-year subscription in advance, which can help you save a significant amount of money. In our case, we started with Shopify on a 3-day free trial, and upgraded to the Shopify Basic plan when the trial ended. We checked this plan out for 2 months to ensure that its features covered everything we needed, before paying for the ‘1 year plan’ option and saving $36 (the first payment will be $291.37 with 25% off discount for first year from Shopify, meaning you will save $173.33).

Shopify yearly plans

Visit Shopify Pricing page

Step 1 - Log in to your Shopify store

And click on ‘Settings’, followed by ‘Plan’. 

Step 2 - Click on the ‘choose plan’ button.

Choose plan

Step 3 - Choose your yearly Shopify plans for 1, 2 or 3 years. 

Ok, so you have a optionb to save money on your Shopify subscription. Our store is on the Shopify Basic plan ($39 monthly):

1 year option - Pay $348, save $112 (with 25% off for first year)

Shopify Vietnam Local pricing
Demo figure from South East Asia only

As for the payment method, you can pay with a credit card or PayPal. Click here to learn more about Shopify yearly pricing.

USA shopify pricing plans

Demo figure from South East Asia only

Tip #2 - Pause your Shopify store.

Did you know that you can pause your Shopify store when you need to take a break? Shopify will keep your store alive, but close the checkout functionality, which is a great way to retain all your hard work while being able to take a step back for a bit. The best part? You save money on your monthly Shopify subscription

Instead of paying $39 - $399 per month with your Shopify subscription and the monthly costs of your Shopify apps, you pay a maximum of $9 per month (to keep the store and update it) or $0 per month (just to keep the store).

To find this option, you’ll need to go through Shopify Admin > Settings > Plan and permissions > and scroll to the bottom.

pause shopify store

Shopify pricing Plans - What’s the total Shopify Cost? 

By its open-ended nature, there is no definitive answer to the question: how much does Shopify cost for my business? Our rundown above outlines the options for you which, in short, consist of two considerations: initial investment and monthly recurring costs. These costs are different depending on your experience and overall ecommerce goal.

I’m new to online stores and ecommerce:

Initial investment Shopify pricing:

  • If you have no design or coding skills, you might want to consider hiring a Shopify Expert. It costs $200 initially and then up to $500 for the store building.

Shopify monthly recurring costs:

  • Shopify Basic plan: $39
  • Shopify theme: $0
  • Essential Shopify apps: $50

In total:

  • Initial investment Shopify pricing: $300
  • Shopify monthly recurring costs: ~ $100 per month

Signup Shopify with 3 Days Free Trial

I’m a serious entrepreneur and ecommerce is my full-time business:

Initial investment Shopify pricing:

  • If you have a larger budget from previous online investments, and/or a stricter time schedule for your newest enterprise, Shopify Experts can be the solution. Advanced consultation and functions for serious business pursuers costs $500 initially and then up to $1,000 for the store building.

Shopify monthly recurring costs:

  • Shopify plan: $105
  • Shopify theme: $180
  • Essential Shopify apps: $50
  • Advanced Shopify apps: $250

In total:

  • Initial investment Shopify pricing: $1,000
  • Shopify monthly recurring costs: ~ $400 per month

Signup Shopify with 3 Days Free Trial

We’re an enterprise with a primary focus on ecommerce and online channels:

To be honest, we’re not Shopify Plus experts, but our solution, PageFly, serves 5,900+ active Shopify Plus merchants. If you’re interested to know what Shopify Plus and PageFly can do for you, then feel free to drop our team an email at happytohelp@pagefly.io.

Common question about Shopify subscription plans

How much does Shopify take per sale?

In USA:

  • Shopify Basic: 2.9% + 30 cents USD per sale.
  • Shopify: 2.6% + 30 cents USD per sale.
  • Shopify Advanced: 2.4% + 30 cents USD per sale.

In UK:

  • Shopify Basic: 2.2% + 20p per sale
  • Shopify: 1.9% + 20p per sale
  • Shopify Advanced: 1.6% + 20p per sale

In AUS:

  • Shopify Basic: 2.9% + 30 cents AUD per sale.
  • Shopify: 2.8% + 30 cents AUD per sale.
  • Shopify Advanced: 2.6% + 30 cents AUD per sale.

What are the pricing plans for Shopify?

There will be several answers for how much does Shopify cost, based on the location of the merchant. Here are Shopify pricing plans in the US: 

  • Basic Shopify: 39 USD
  • Shopify: 105 USD
  • Advanced Shopify: 399 USD

Does Shopify take 30%?

No, Shopify does not take up to 30% per sale. The percentage will be FREE if you use Shopify Payment. Otherwise, it will be different between the Shopify plan you are using. For example, in USA:

  • Shopify Basic: 2.9% + 30 cents USD per sale.
  • Shopify: 2.6% + 30 cents USD per sale.
  • Shopify Advanced: 2.4% + 30 cents USD per sale.

Are Shopify fees high?

Shopify offers comprehensive pricing plans. If you are a new merchant in the US, you can start with Basic tier, which cost only $39 per month. Moreover, there are many free apps and theme for you to build your store. 

Learn More about Shopify plans from other reliable resources:

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