A new Shopify store pays $29 to $39 a month for the Basic plan, about 3% of every sale in card fees, and whatever its apps cost. The plan is the small part. On $10,000 of monthly sales, Basic paid yearly costs $29, while the card fees on 200 orders come to $350, so the store pays $379 before apps, or 3.79% of its sales. This guide walks through every line of that bill, in plain words, and shows the sales level at which a bigger plan starts to save money.
I have built online stores since 1998, and camelway.eu, a store I built and ran, is on Shopify's Basic plan. The prices here are the ones Shopify showed to US visitors on October 5, 2026.
What are Shopify's plans and prices?
Shopify has three plans for most stores, called Basic, Grow and Advanced. Each is cheaper paid yearly. The bigger plans mainly lower the card fee you pay on every sale and add staff accounts, so that more people can work in the store admin with their own login: Grow comes with up to 5, and Advanced with up to 15.
| Plan | Paid monthly | Paid yearly | Card fee per online sale | Extra fee with another payment provider |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39 a month | $29 a month | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2% |
| Grow | $105 a month | $79 a month | 2.7% + 30¢ | 1% |
| Advanced | $399 a month | $299 a month | 2.5% + 30¢ | 0.6% |
Shopify's US prices on October 5, 2026, in US dollars. Shopify Plus, for large brands, starts at $2,300 a month.
Shopify sets its prices and card fees per country. Its pricing page shows the ones for the country you open it from, so a store in the United Kingdom sees Basic at £25 a month, or £19 paid yearly, and pays 2% + 25p on a UK card. The plan page of camelway.eu shows Basic at $32 a month with an online card fee of 1.95% + €0.25. Check yours first. Open shopify.com/pricing from your own country before you compare with any article, including this one.
How does the Shopify free trial work?
New stores in the United States get 3 days free, then $1 a month for the first 3 months. Use those months to set the store up properly, before you pay full price: payments, shipping rates, taxes, your policies, your domain and a real test order. Basic is enough for that. It is also enough for most stores long after the trial, because the bigger plans add little a small store needs.
What does Shopify charge on every sale?
Every card payment costs a percentage of the order plus a fixed fee. On Basic that is 2.9% + 30¢ through Shopify Payments, Shopify's own payment service, which you turn on in Settings, then Payments, and which pays your sales into your bank account. Small orders pay more. The fixed 30 cents is a bigger share of a $15 order than of a $100 one.
| Order size | Card fee on Basic | Share of the order |
|---|---|---|
| $15 | $0.74 | 4.9% |
| $25 | $1.03 | 4.1% |
| $50 | $1.75 | 3.5% |
| $100 | $3.20 | 3.2% |
| $200 | $6.10 | 3.05% |
A few payments cost more than the standard rate, on every plan:
- Premium cards, such as rewards and business cards: 3.5% + 30¢ on Basic.
- Cards from another country: 1% on top of the rate.
- Currency conversion: when a shopper pays in a currency other than the one Shopify pays you in, Shopify charges 1.5% for a US store and 2% everywhere else.
- PayPal: from 3.49% + 49¢, the same on every plan, so a bigger plan saves nothing on PayPal orders.
Shopify takes these fees out of the money it pays into your bank account, called a payout, so they never appear on your monthly Shopify bill and are easy to overlook when you add up your costs. Look for them in your payouts. Bank transfers and cash on delivery, which Shopify calls manual payment methods, cost nothing extra.
When does Shopify charge an extra transaction fee?
Shopify adds its own fee when a payment goes through another company's payment service instead of Shopify Payments: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced. That fee comes on top of what the other payment company charges. It adds up fast. On $10,000 of monthly sales through another provider, Basic adds $200 a month. Shop Pay, PayPal Express Checkout and manual payments are exempt while Shopify Payments is turned on, so use Shopify Payments wherever it is available to your store, and the extra fee disappears.
What do apps add to the bill?
Apps are where the cost grows quietly. Shopify bills every app every 30 days, together with the plan, so a year has a little over 12 bills, not 12. A $15 app costs $182.50 a year. Before you install one, check what Shopify already gives you for free; Shopify Email, for example, sends 10,000 emails a month at no cost, then $1 for every 1,000 more. Go through your apps every few months and remove the ones nobody uses, because each one can also slow your pages down. How to find what is slowing down your Shopify store shows how to spot them.
Check your store's Core Web Vitals for free
Paste a product page address. You get the three scores right away, and a free account names every slow app and the fix for your platform.
Test my storeShould you pay monthly or yearly?
Yearly is cheaper once you know you are staying. Basic paid monthly is billed every 30 days, which adds up to $474.50 a year, while the same plan paid yearly costs $348, a saving of $126.50, or more than three months of the plan. Switch to yearly when the trial is over and the store is set up. Not before.
What does a Shopify store really cost each month?
Here are three stores with an average order of $50, every order paid by card through Shopify Payments, with each plan paid yearly. Apps are not included, because they are your choice.
| Store | Monthly sales | Orders | Basic: plan + card fees | Share of sales | Same store on Grow | On Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Just started | $2,000 | 40 | $29 + $70 = $99 | 4.95% | $145 | $361 |
| Growing | $10,000 | 200 | $29 + $350 = $379 | 3.79% | $409 | $609 |
| Established | $40,000 | 800 | $29 + $1,400 = $1,429 | 3.57% | $1,399 | $1,539 |
If one order in five is paid with a card from another country, add 0.2% of sales: $4, $20 and $80 a month for these three stores.
When is Grow or Advanced worth it?
A bigger plan pays for itself only when the card fee it saves is larger than the extra price. The math is short. Grow saves 0.2% of your card sales compared with Basic, which is $2 on every $1,000, and paid yearly it costs $50 a month more, so it starts to save money at $25,000 of monthly card sales.
| Switch | Shopify Payments, paid yearly | Shopify Payments, paid monthly | Another payment provider, paid yearly | Another payment provider, paid monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic to Grow | $25,000 | $33,000 | $5,000 | $6,600 |
| Grow to Advanced | $110,000 | $147,000 | $55,000 | $73,500 |
Monthly sales at which the bigger plan costs less than the smaller one. Calculated from Shopify's US prices of October 5, 2026.
PayPal pushes the line higher, because its fee does not drop on a bigger plan. If 30% of your sales come through PayPal, Grow pays for itself only above $35,714 a month; at half, above $50,000. Staff accounts are the other reason. Basic is enough for most stores: the card fees differ by a fraction of a percent, and the store itself works almost the same on every plan. Move up when your own numbers cross the line in the table, or when you need the staff accounts.
How to keep your Shopify costs down
- Use the trial months to set up payments, shipping, taxes and policies before you pay full price.
- Turn on Shopify Payments wherever it is available, so the extra transaction fee never applies.
- Pay yearly once the store is set up and you know you are staying.
- Stay on Basic until your monthly card sales pass $25,000, or you need staff accounts.
- Review your apps every few months and remove what nobody uses.
- Watch your payouts, not only your bill: that is where the card fees are.
Shopify cost questions store owners ask
How much does Shopify cost per month?
In the United States, Basic costs $39 a month paid monthly or $29 paid yearly, Grow $105 or $79, and Advanced $399 or $299. Card fees of 2.5% to 2.9% plus 30 cents per order come on top, and so do apps.
Does Shopify take a percentage of every sale?
Yes, through the card fee: 2.9% + 30 cents per online order on Basic with Shopify Payments. With another payment provider, Shopify adds its own 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow or 0.6% on Advanced on top of that provider's fee.
Is the Basic plan enough?
For most stores, yes. The store, the checkout and most features are the same on every plan. Grow saves money only above about $25,000 of monthly card sales when paid yearly, or above $5,000 if you take payments through another provider, and it adds up to 5 staff accounts.
How do I avoid Shopify's transaction fee?
Use Shopify Payments. While it is turned on, Shopify charges no extra transaction fee on Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, PayPal Express Checkout or manual payments such as bank transfers.
Sources
- Shopify: Pricing page as served to US visitors, Internet Archive copy of October 5, 2026, and the UK pricing page, copy of September 22, 2026.
- Shopify Help Center: Third-party transaction fees, Fees for selling internationally, Billing cycles and thresholds, App charges and Shopify Email pricing.
- Worked examples and break-even levels: CartHacker calculation from Shopify's US prices of October 5, 2026.
