Shopify has two kinds of cost: a monthly plan and a fee on each payment. Both depend on the plan, and the second also depends on whether you use Shopify’s own payment processor. This guide gives the 2026 prices, turns them into a cost per order at different volumes, and lists the costs that sit outside the plan. Plan prices were verified on shopify.com/pricing (US) on 2026-09-20; card rates are those displayed in that page’s rate details and vary by country (data sources).
Plans and prices (US)
| Plan | Monthly billing | Yearly billing (per month) | Shopify Payments online card rate | Fee with a third-party gateway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $25 | $19 | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2% |
| Grow | $65 | $49 | 2.7% + 30¢ | 1% |
| Advanced | $399 | $299 | 2.5% + 30¢ | 0.6% |
| Plus | from $2,300 | — | negotiated | 0.2% |
Shopify also offers a Starter plan (about $5/month) for selling through links and social media without a full online store; it carries a higher card rate and is not suited to a standalone shop.
Two ways to pay for payments
Shopify Payments (Stripe-powered, available in the US and most major markets): you pay only the card rate for your plan. Nothing else is deducted per order.
Any other gateway (PayPal as the primary method, Authorize.net, a local bank gateway): you pay that provider’s own fee — often 2.9% + 30¢ as well — plus Shopify’s transaction fee of 2% / 1% / 0.6% / 0.2%. A Basic store on a third-party gateway therefore gives up close to 5% per order. Unless Shopify Payments is unavailable in your country or for your product type, it is the cheaper route.
Cost per order at different volumes
The plan is a fixed cost, so its weight per order falls as volume grows. Basic plan, monthly billing, Shopify Payments, $50 average order:
| Orders per month | Card fee per order | Plan per order | Total per order | Total as % of order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | $1.75 | $1.00 | $2.75 | 5.5% |
| 100 | $1.75 | $0.25 | $2.00 | 4.0% |
| 200 | $1.75 | $0.13 | $1.88 | 3.8% |
| 500 | $1.75 | $0.05 | $1.80 | 3.6% |
| 1,000 | $1.75 | $0.03 | $1.78 | 3.6% |
Beyond a hundred orders the plan barely matters; the card fee is the cost.
When does a higher plan pay off?
Each step up lowers the card rate by 0.2 percentage points. The break-even monthly card sales are simply the price difference divided by 0.002:
- Basic → Grow: ($65 − $25) ÷ 0.002 = $20,000 of monthly card sales on monthly billing; $15,000 on yearly billing. Grow also adds staff accounts and professional reports, which may justify it earlier.
- Grow → Advanced: ($399 − $65) ÷ 0.002 = $167,000 per month on monthly billing; $125,000 on yearly. Advanced adds custom reports, third-party calculated shipping rates and a lower international rate.
Most stores under $20,000 a month belong on Basic on price alone.
Costs outside the plan
- Apps — inventory sync, reviews, email marketing, upsells: typically $0 to $200+ per month depending on the stack.
- Theme — free themes exist; paid themes are a one-off $150–400.
- Domain — about $15–20 a year.
- Shipping — Shopify Shipping labels are billed at carrier rates; not a Shopify fee, but a real cost per order.
- Currency conversion — 1.5% (US) or 2% (other countries) on orders paid in a currency other than your store currency, on top of the card rate.
- Chargebacks — a fixed fee per dispute ($15 in the US), refunded if you win.
- Traffic — the big one. A marketplace listing is seen by buyers already on the site; a Shopify store is seen by nobody until you pay for or earn traffic. Customer-acquisition cost through ads commonly ranges from $5 to $30 per order for consumer products.
Shopify versus a marketplace, on the same order
$50 order, product cost $20, shipping you pay $6, Basic plan at 200 orders a month:
| Channel | Fees assumed | Fees | Net profit before ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Basic | 2.9% + 30¢ + plan share | $1.88 | $22.13 |
| Amazon (referral only, no FBA) | 15% | $7.50 | $16.50 |
| Etsy | $0.20 + 6.5% + 3% + $0.25 | $5.20 | $18.80 |
| eBay (no store) | 13.6% + $0.40 | $7.20 | $16.80 |
Shopify leaves $3–6 more per order — before you spend anything to bring the buyer. At $10 of ads per order, Amazon or eBay would be ahead. The Shopify fee calculator computes the plan comparison at your volume and the marketplace comparison for any order value, with a field for ad cost per order.