Shopify Fees And Shopify Pricing Plans In 2024
If you’ve decided that Shopify is the right ecommerce platform for you and your business, you’ll need to take a look at the price plans on offer. Here at Eastside Co, we believe that Shopify is the best platform to grow your ecommerce business, so we’ve put together the ultimate guide on which Shopify price plan to choose.
Shopify fees are on a tiered pricing structure which means merchants can choose the one most appropriate to the size of their business at the time. As businesses grow, it is easy to switch to the next Shopify price tier, moving from Basic all the way up to Shopify Plus.
In 2023, Shopify made some adjustments to the pricing tiers. Despite the innovations and improvements to the platform over the last 12 years, it was the first real price change during that time. The new pricing applies to Basic, Shopify and Advanced plans, all of which we detail in this article.
Prices are broadly in GBP (we haven't included the conversions to USD - the volatile nature of the exchange rate means it would become out of date too soon, so a quick Google should let you know the current rates).
If you're a new business, or you’re going through a period of growth and you need to upgrade your plan, you may be wondering which Shopify pricing plan is best for you and your business. How much does Shopify cost? Read on to find out about the costs of each plan, and our recommendations.
In this article, we will be covering the following topics:
- Shopify Pricing Overview
- Shopify Monthly Plans
- Considerations When Choosing Your Shopify Plan
- Shopify Pricing FAQs
PART 1 - Shopify Pricing: How Much Is Shopify Per Month?
If you're wondering: 'does Shopify take a cut?' the answer is: yes, in exchange for the use of the platform, Shopify does take a percentage, which we will explain.
So how much does Shopify charge per month? Here is a breakdown of the cost of each Shopify pricing plan.
In summary, there are 5 options when it comes to Shopify tiers:
- Starter
- Basic
- Shopify
- Advanced
- Shopify Plus
(NB Shopify Lite was a legacy product, no longer available to new merchants and which has been replaced by 'Starter'. Any merchants still on Lite who decide to move to a different plan, will not be able to subsequently return to Lite.)
1: Starter (£5/month)
- What you get: sell products via social and messaging apps (i.e. no online store)
- Subscription: £5 per month (no price reduction for annual payment)
2: Basic (£19/month)
- What you get: everything you need to create your store, ship products, and process payments
- Subscription fee: £19/month if paid annually, £25/month if monthly
- Online credit card rate: 2% + 25p
- In person credit card rate: 1.7% + 0p
- Billed Annually
3: Shopify (£49/month)
- What you get: level up your business with professional reporting and more staff accounts
- Subscription fee: £49/month if paid annually, £65/month if monthly
- Online credit card rate: 1.7% + 25p
- In person credit card rate: 1.6% + 0p
- Billed Annually
4: Advanced Shopify (£259/month)
- What you get: the best of Shopify with custom reporting and the lowest transaction fees
- Subscription fee: £259/month if paid annually, £344/month if monthly
- Online credit card rate: 1.5% + 25p
- In person credit card rate: 1.5% + 0p
- Billed Annually
5: Shopify Plus ($2,500 USD/month - 1-year term)
- What you get: all-in-one solution for high-volume businesses
- Subscription fee: $2,000 USD/month, or 0.25% of sales if your revenue exceeds $800K USD in any given month. It is one or the other, never both.
- Available on a 1 or 3-year term
- $2,300 USD/month - 3-year term
Save Money With Shopify’s Billing Cycle
The standard Shopify billing cycle is yearly, which allows you to save 25% on the standard monthly cost for selected plans. Including the Basic, Shopify and Advanced plans. But like other website platforms, you can also choose to pay monthly if your business prefers that.
PART 2 - What Does Each Shopify Pricing Plan Include?
2a. What’s included in the Shopify Starter Pricing Plan?
Starter plan is the easiest version of Shopify to use. At £5 a month, online retailers can create a Starter store in minutes powered by Shopify’s optimised and industry-leading checkout experience. Starter is ideal for selling products through social media, email, SMS, WhatsApp, and any platform where you might want to share a link to a product. Plus, you don’t have to spend a lot of time and effort setting it up. And with optimisation for mobile devices, the Starter plan makes it easy for customers to make purchases wherever and whenever they find products.
How much does Shopify Starter cost?
£5/month
Pros Of The Shopify Starter Plan:
- Low monthly cost, affordable pricing
- Easy for beginners to use and start selling
- No code setup required
- Mobile optimised features
- Lets you sell products through Instagram, TikTok, and other social media channels
- Integrated with existing website
- Simple checkout system for reliable transactions
Cons Of The Shopify Starter Plan:
- Limited Features Compared To Other Plans
- Limited Customisation
- Higher Transaction Fees - Shopify charges fees on each sale if you don’t use Shopify payments
- Basic Support
- No Advanced Marketing Tools e.g email marketing, customer segmentation etc.
Who Do We Recommend Shopify Starter For?
- Small business owners who want a budget-friendly ecommerce platform to help you start selling
- Someone who prefers selling through social media platforms or your existing website
After Starter comes Basic, Shopify and Advanced, all of which come with the following features:
- Online store: Build an online store with Shopify’s robust ecommerce platform—no coding required
- Sales channels: Promote and sell your products on multiple sales channels all from within Shopify
- Point of sale: Shopify’s all-in-one POS system comes with inventory tracking, staff management, and more
- 24/7 support: Shopify offers 24/7 email and English live chat support on all Shopify plans
Here are more details on those Shopify plans:
2b. What’s included in the Basic Shopify Pricing Plan?
‘All the basics for starting a new business.’ The Shopify Basic price plan is the minimum option you’ll need to set up your own ecommerce store. You’re getting a Shopify-hosted store and blog functionality. It includes the ability to sell an unlimited number of products, gives you Shopify’s fraud risk analysis tool, the ability to add discount codes to your store, a free SSL certificate to make sure your transactions are secure, and 24/7 support.
You get access to basic reports, up to 1,000 inventory locations and 2 staff accounts.
How much does Basic Shopify cost?
£19/month if paid annually, £25/month if monthly.
Shopify also takes 2% of each online sale, and 25p. Third party transaction fees if not using Shopify payments are 2%.
As a comparison, Amazon charges a minimum of 7% and a maximum of 45% depending on the item. Shopify has some of the lowest fees in the industry, allowing you to have complete control over your profits.
This is a perfect option for those merchants who want a great looking and fully functional online store, but are happy to go without some of the features in the 'Shopify' Plan.
Pros Of The Shopify Basic Plan:
- £1 For First Month, Then £19 per month
- Affordable pricing
- Access a full suite of built-in ecommerce features e.g. unlimited products and includes a full online store and blog.
- Sell on multiple social media platforms to expand your customer base
- 24/7 customer support - phone, email and live chat
- Basic reporting & analytics
- Create Orders Manually
- Promotional Tools e.g. discount codes
Cons Of The Shopify Basic Plan:
- Transaction Fees For Payments Not Processed Through Shopify Payments
- Limited Advanced Features e.g. Ecommerce Automations
- Lack Of Marketing Tools
- Basic Reporting - Only four reporting locations
- Limited To Two Staff Accounts
- Basic Customisation - Limited Theme Options
- Higher Credit Card Rates
Who Do We Recommend Shopify Basic Plan For?
- New business owners looking for a comprehensive set of ecommerce tools at low-cost.
- Small businesses who need a full online store and the ability to blog and create content for SEO.
- If you want to sell on multiple channels, this Shopify plan is for you
- Small businesses with a low monthly sales volume
- SMEs on a tight budget
2c. What’s included in the 'Shopify' Pricing Plan?
‘Everything you need for a growing business.’ This is the most popular Shopify price plan. It comes with 24/7 support, Shopify’s fraud risk tool, discount codes and your free SSL certificate.
You get access to professional reports, up to 1,000 inventory locations and 5 staff accounts.
How much does the Shopify plan cost?
£49/month if paid annually, £65/month if monthly.
Shopify also takes 1.7% of each online sale, and 25p. Third party transaction fees if not using Shopify payments are 1%.
As a guide, if your store brings in over £5,000 per month, this plan is definitely worth considering.
Pros Of The ‘Shopify’ Pricing Plan:
- Professional Reports For Sales, Customer & Marketing Insights
- Includes Up to 5 staff accounts
- Advanced Ecommerce Features e.g. unlimited products & storage and full online store
- Reduced Transaction Feeds If You Are Not Using Payment Gateways
- Abandoned Cart Recovery - Automatically send emails to customers who leave items in their carts to help drive more sales
- Gift Cards Option
- 24/7 Support - phone, email and live chat
Cons Of The ‘Shopify’ Pricing Plan:
- Higher Monthly Expense. It is a lot more expensive than the Basic plan - this significant increase may be too costly for some businesses
- Still limited tools and features for large enterprises - Although the plan has more options for SMEs, it does lack the advanced features and customisation options that larger enterprises might require.
- Additional Costs - You may be required to buy third-party apps or premium themes to access certain features on the plan
Who Do We Recommend The ‘Shopify’ Plan For?
- Businesses looking to seriously scale their selling
- A growing business needing more advanced Shopify features than the Basic plan
- Businesses that want to benefit from lower transaction fees
- Businesses that require more staff accounts for efficient store management
2d. What’s included in the Shopify Advanced Pricing Plan?
‘Advanced features for scaling your business.’ The Shopify Advanced package is a scaled up version of the core Shopify plan. The main additions are 15 staff accounts and third party shipping calculation. This is for businesses that ship enough products that it makes sense for them to outsource delivery. You also have access to custom reporting. Again, this is for stores that sell a lot of products, and want to generate data for specific collections or types of products.
You get access to a custom report builder, up to 1,000 inventory locations and 15 staff accounts.
How much does the Shopify Advanced plan cost?
£259 a month if paid annually, £344 if monthly.
Shopify also takes 1.5% of each online sale, and 25p. Third party transaction fees if not using Shopify payments are 0.5%.
You are getting a lot for your money. This is for established businesses that have achieved a certain amount of ecommerce success, and want to grow further.
It is a great option for those companies that are selling in volume and need a third party to take care of product shipping. We’d recommend considering this option if you fit that criteria and have inbound monthly revenue of over £10,000.
Pros Of The Shopify Advanced Plan:
- Advanced Report Builder Tool - Create custom reports tailored to your business needs
- Lower Transaction Fees
- Flexible Shipping Options - Display real-time calculated shipping rates at checkout
- Includes up to 15 staff accounts - so more people can support growing your business
- Advanced customer segmentation and targeted marketing features
- International Market Expansion - custom foreign exchange rates, duties, import taxes and more features are available
- 24/7 Support - email, phone and live chat
Cons Of The Shopify Advanced Plan:
- Significantly more expensive
- The Advanced Tools Can Be Complex To Set Up / Manage
- Additional Costs May Be Required For Third-Party Apps or Premium Themes
- Too Advanced For Small Businesses
Who Do We Recommend The Shopify Advanced Plan For?
- Large online stores that already sell internationally and have a substantial customer base
- Well established ecommerce businesses that have a very high sales volume every month and need powerful features to further grow their online store’s performance.
2e. Shopify Plus Pricing?
‘Enterprise-grade solutions for high volume merchants, and large businesses.’
With the Plus solution, the fee is $2,000 USD/month, or 0.25% of sales if your revenue exceeds $800K USD in any given month. It is one or the other, never both. As one of the original Shopify Plus Partners, Eastside Co has the expertise and seal of approval from Shopify to work with merchants on creating their Shopify Plus stores that look beautiful and are designed to maximise conversions.
More than 49,000 enterprise brands across 200 countries use Shopify Plus to power their ecommerce businesses.
Pros Of The Shopify Plus Plan:
- Fully customisable checkout experience
- Built to handle high traffic volumes & large transaction volumes
- Reduced transaction fees
- Shopify Flow advanced automation - Create custom workflows
- Plan & automate product launches, sale campaigns and promotions
- 24/7 Priority Support - A Dedicated Merchant Success Manager
- Launch Manager Assistance to help with initial setup and migration
- Advanced API Access
- International capabilities - Sell in multiple currencies and create multiple store versions to cater to a global audience
- Enhanced security e.g. fraud detection & PCI compliance.
- Flexible integration - Headless commerce, third-party apps
- Advanced reporting & analytics - in-depth data insights
- Tailored pricing - custom pricing plans to meet your specific business needs.
Cons Of The Shopify Plus Plan:
- Additional Costs Might Be Required
- Complex Advanced Features - Shopify Plus does require a higher level of technical expertise to set up and manage the features
- Excessive Features Unnecessary For Smaller Businesses
- Theme and App Limitations Might Still Apply
- Reliance on Apps for functionality
Who Do We Recommend The Shopify Plus Plan For?
- A great option for very successful and high-growth businesses that require the most advanced online store features.
- Ideal for enterprise-level ecommerce businesses
- Brands who sell in multiple countries
PART 3 - Other Considerations When Choosing Your Shopify Plan
When should you switch between Shopify plans?
If you are just starting up your business, we recommend that you start with the Basic Shopify price plan and progress through the plans as your business scales, when your ecommerce store requires better features - and your sales and revenue prove that you can afford to. If you already own a store and you want to switch to Shopify because it is cheaper and packed with great features, then take a look at our recommendations.
Which Shopify plan is best for you?
If your monthly revenue is up to £5,000 then you should stick with the Basic Plan. Above £5,000 per month you should move up to the Shopify Plan. Over £10,000 you should consider upgrading to the Advanced Plan.
Choosing a Shopify payment gateway
Another consideration is which payment gateway your store is going to use. Shopify has Shopify Payments which keeps costs down for store owners.
There are no transaction fees for stores using Shopify Payments. If you choose a third-party payment provider, there will be additional fees of 2%, 1% or 0.5% for our Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify plans, respectively.
On Shopify Plus, if you’re using a 3rd party payment gateway without Shopify Payments, a 0.30% transaction fee is applied so you would pay 0.95% + 0.30% = 1.25%.
If you elect to use Shopify Payments as your primary payment gateway, then the transaction fee is fully waived.
If you decide to go with an outside gateway to process your credit cards, you will pay their fees plus an additional transaction fee from Shopify.
Here’s a breakdown of third party charges:
Paypal - 3.49% + 39p per transaction
Worldpay - there are 3 price plans: £19/month including 350 transactions, £45/month including 850 transactions, 'enterprise' for a bespoke arrangement
Square - 2.9% + 30p per transaction.
Shopify Apps
As you can see from the features listed in the various Shopify price plans, the platform has a lot of built-in functionality. However, there is also a thriving apps ecosystem, thanks to the worldwide network of app developers and Shopify agencies.
If you check out the Shopify app store you’ll find hundreds of free and paid apps to enhance and personalise your store in a whole host of ways. Eastside Co have built a range of apps to do just that. It’s worth considering the many apps available as part of your store’s running costs, as while many are free, some of the apps are purchased on a subscription basis.
Buying a Pre-Built Shopify Store
As well as the options of subscribing to one of the five plans we’ve detailed in this article, there are also ways to buy a Shopify store that is already trading. Price-wise, these stores can be anything from a couple of hundred pounds up to millions - it depends on the sales they're generating and the existing customer base.
PART 4 - Shopify Hidden Costs
Transaction Fees - If you are using external payment gateways and not Shopify payments then you will incur additional transaction costs for every sale. There are also credit card processing fees with Shopify payments that you should be aware of.
Shopify Domain Name - When you choose a Shopify Plan, your account will come with a default ‘.myshopify.com‘ primary domain but you need to change it to a new domain. Unfortunately Shopify does not offer a free domain name for the first year like other website builders. So you will need to buy one either through Shopify itself or through a third-party domain name website. Or, if you already have a domain name purchased from another supplier, you can easily import this into a Shopify store.
Shopify App Store (Optional) - To enhance your Shopify store functionality, you have the option to add integrations such as Shopify apps or plugins. These will allow you to access more advanced features with your Shopify plan, for example marketing tools, dropshipping apps, landing page builders etc. Eastside Co has custom built hundreds of successful Shopify Apps to help merchants personalise their store. Including some free ones. Check them out.
Shopify Theme Store (Optional) - To customise your Shopify store further, you can purchase other premium Shopify Themes to help create a unique look that represents your brand. The costs of themes can vary depending on the range but can be purchased with a one-time fee.
PART 5 - Shopify Pricing: Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is Shopify free?
It’s not free but there’s a 3 day free trial, during which you can create your store and make it available to customers. You can’t make any sales until you have chosen one of the paid plans.
2. How much does Shopify cost?
Shopify pricing depends on the plan that you choose, as follows:
Starter
- Subscription fee: £5 per month (no price reduction for annual payment)
Basic:
- Subscription fee: £19/month if paid annually, £25/month if monthly
Shopify:
- Subscription fee: £49/month if paid annually, £65/month if monthly
Advanced:
- Subscription fee: £259/month if paid annually, £344/month if monthly
Shopify Plus:
- Subscription fee: prices on request but starting at approximately £1,600 or $2,000/month
3. What are Shopify Payments?
Shopify’s payment gateway. Using this means that you won’t get charged additional fees on top of credit card fees. Using third party gateways will result in additional charges (see next question).
4. Does Shopify have transaction fees?
If you use Shopify Payments, there is no transaction fee. If you use a third party payment gateway and do not have Shopify Payments, you will be charged 2% on Basic Shopify, 1% on Shopify and 0.5% on Advanced Shopify.
5. How long are the Shopify contracts?
Month to month, unless you sign up for an annual plan.
6. Are there discounts on Shopify plans?
If a year is paid for in advance (as opposed to paying monthly), a discount is applied to the Basic, Shopify nad Advanced plans.
7. Is it easy to change Shopify plans?
You can upgrade or downgrade your Shopify plan at any time.
8. Which Shopify plan is best for a new store?
If your monthly revenue is between £0 and £5,000, you should start with the Basic Plan. Above £5,000 per month you should move up to the Shopify Plan. Over £10,000 you should consider upgrading to the Advanced Plan.
9. Is Shopify cheaper than Magento?
Magento is free - however it’s not that straightforward. Read our Magento vs Shopify blog for more detail on comparisons between the two platforms, including price.
10. How many people on my team can use the Shopify store?
Basic Shopify allows 2 staff accounts. Shopify allows 5 staff accounts. Advanced Shopify allows 15 staff accounts.
11. Is there a limit to how many products I can sell on Shopify?
You can sell an unlimited number of products on every plan. No restrictions.
12. Are there restrictions on number of sales and site visitors?
No - number of sales and number of visitors are not restricted. The more the merrier!
Discuss More About Shopify Plans With Our Experts
You should now have a good idea about the different levels of Shopify pricing available, and the features included within each tier. If you need any further advice about Shopify, website design, development, app support or marketing strategies, drop us a line and we’ll be happy to help!
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