Your Complete Guide to the Shopify Free Trial in 2024

Everything You Should Know about the Shopify Free Trial

If you want a convenient way to launch your online store, taking advantage of the latest Shopify free trial could be the perfect solution.

Shopify is one of our favorite ecommerce platforms, thanks to it’s excellent scalability, ease of use, and ability to integrate with a huge collection of dropshipping apps.

However the pricing can be expensive, and it’s difficult to know whether the platform is right for you, without testing out the functionality first. The free trial for the Shopify ecommerce platform gives you an opportunity to experiment without breaking the bank.

Plus, thanks to the latest offers provided by Shopify, you can now access the Starter or Basic version of Shopify for a full 3 months for only $1 after your trial ends.

Here’s everything you need to know to get started, and make the most out of your Shopify deal.

What is Shopify? An Introduction

Shopify is an all-in-one ecommerce platform, designed to offer companies everything they need to build, manage, and grow a successful store.

The platform serves millions of retailers across 170 countries worldwide, offering access to a fantastic online store builder, a variety of marketing tools and SEO capabilities, and business management features.

Suitable for omnichannel sales, Shopify allows companies to sell products through their own store, as well as marketplaces, social media channels, and in-person through the Shopify POS system.

It has one of the world’s most impressive checkout systems, integrated credit card and payment processing, and automation tools to save businesses crucial time.

You can handle everything from products and inventory to payment cycles, shipping and fulfillment within the Shopify admin backend. Plus, you can adapt your store however you choose.

Shopify is one of the most flexible ecommerce platforms around, offering thousands of integrations with leading apps. It even offers access to dozens of the most popular print on demand and dropshipping apps, from DSers and AutoDS, to Modalyst, Printful or Printify, and many others.

Of course, all of this functionality does come at a price. Shopify offers a range of plans for different types of business owner, from the “Starter” plan for people who want to sell through social media, to the Enterprise-level “Shopify Plus” plan.

To make its software more accessible, Shopify has experimented with a wide range of free trials and offers. Today, users can access the platform for up to 3 days for free, then pay only $1 per month for their first 3 months.

History of the Shopify Free Trial

Like many ecommerce platforms, Shopify has explored various offers in the past, to help expand its reach to new retailers and business owners.

In 2019, the Shopify free trial lasted for a whopping 30 days, giving users plenty of opportunities to set up their store, explore the platform, and decide which paid plan was best for their unique needs.

There was also a 60-day free trial available in 2019, although it was only offered through select Shopify partners. Shopify affiliates could offer this deal to a select number of customers, through the use of a custom link.

In 2020, during the COVID pandemic, Shopify extended its free trial to 90 days, to help more entrepreneurs take advantage of the ecommerce landscape.

At the time many physical stores in the world were struggling to make ends meet, which made building an ecommerce store through Shopify an excellent alternative.

During 2022, the offer was replaced with a 14-day free trial which offered access to all of the features included in the Basic Shopify plan.

By 2023, this offer had changed again, switching to a three day free trial (the same as you get today), plus the option to sign up for a 90 day subscription for only $1 per month.

Notably, this offer is limited, so it’s worth acting fast if you want to take advantage.

Get your 3-day free trial, plus the option to use Shopify Basic for 3 months for only $1 per month by clicking on this link.

Current Shopify Free Trial Offers

Currently, if you want to experiment with Shopify, without spending money on the full cost of a subscription, you have two options.

You can start exploring Shopify straight away, for three days, with no payments whatsoever. You don’t have to enter any credit card details to create a Shopify account, but you will be required to choose a paid plan once your free trial period ends.

Just like the Shopify 14-day trial previously offered, the 3-day trial gives you access to all of the core features of the commerce platform, basic customer support, and Shopify theme templates.

You can still design a website, add products to your store and more on the free trial.

Compared to the free trials offered by other ecommerce platforms, the three-day trial might not seem particularly generous. It might take a little longer to set up your storefront or online business, and explore all the features that Shopify has to offer.

Fortunately, Shopify has given companies a way to extend their “trial” experience. You can choose to sign up for Shopify Starter (the plan without the website builder for $5 per month) or the Basic Shopify plan (the fully featured Shopify experience) for $1 for the first 3 months.

Notably, while this offer is targeted at new Shopify customers, existing customers can also take advantage. If you have a Shopify Starter plan, you can upgrade to Shopify Basic and get your first 3 months for just $1 using this trial link.

Benefits of Using the Shopify Trial

The Shopify free trial period might be a little limited, but the option to use all the features of Basic Shopify for just $1 per month for three months definitely makes up for it.

Without this offer, you’d pay between $87 (annual plans) and $117 for your first three months of Shopify. That means you get a saving of up to $114!

The trial gives business owners an opportunity to discover first-hand why Shopify is one of the best ecommerce platforms in the world. You can:

Get to know the Platform and its Interface

We think Shopify is one of the most user-friendly platforms out there for ecommerce companies. However, it can still take a while to get used to everything if you’re new to online selling.

During the free trial and Shopify 90-day trial period, you can experiment with Shopify themes, and the Shopify theme editor, learn how product pages and collections work, and start designing your store.

You can also take this opportunity to start setting up crucial aspects of your Shopify store, such as creating a landing page for your upcoming products, connecting your preferred payment gateway or payment provider tools, and uploading product information.

You can even begin experimenting with Shopify’s point of sale tools for in-person selling.

Explore Shopify Features and Add-on Apps

While you’re taking advantage of your trial, you can familiarize yourself with all of the great features already built-into the Shopify platform.

Alongside the online store business, you can check out the Shopify SEO tools, Shopify marketing tools, and theme design tools. Don’t forget to check out Shopify’s other free tools, such as its Business Name Generator and Logo Maker (Hatchful) too.

You’ll also have full access to thousands of Shopify apps in the app marketplace, so you can start adding new functionality to your store.

You can connect your site to your favorite dropshipping suppliers and print on demand platforms. Or you can start connecting marketing tools, sales funnel builders, loyalty program apps and more.

Practice Running Your Online Business

Your Shopify trial period also gives you an opportunity to experiment with the process of running and managing online business operations in a single platform.

You’ll be able to access Shopify’s fulfillment tools, order, and inventory management solutions, and even automation options like Shopify Flow. This gives you a chance to find ways of streamlining your operations.

Since you’ll also have access to all of Shopify’s handy resources, such as its articles and guides, (including the Shopify dropshipping guide), you can begin putting all of the right components into place to make your store a success.

Setting Up Your Store During the Free Trial

The great thing about the Shopify free trial, and the Shopify 90-day trial, is that both allow you to access all of the features of “Shopify Basic” with no limitations. This means you can set up your store without restrictions, using the same user-friendly interface you’d get on a paid plan.

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to getting started:

Step 1: Add Products to Your Store

The first step in building an online store with Shopify is adding products to your site. If you’re running a dropshipping or print-on-demand business, you can use an integration with a popular app to automatically import product information into your product pages.

If you’re adding products manually, here’s what you’ll need to do:

• Click on Add Product in Shopify’s Get Started section if you’re adding a product for the first time. Alternatively, click on Products then Add Product to add a new product.
• Enter your product photos, description, variants, pricing, and other crucial information. You can use tools like Shopify Magic to help with this.
• Optimize your product pages by adding SEO-friendly keywords, and enabling offers. You can add discounts to products, as well as support for different payment methods.

Make sure you choose a SEO-friendly name for your products, as this will help customers to find your items when searching on channels like Google.

Step 2: Creating Product Collections

Unless you’re only selling a single product on your store, you’ll need to use collections. These simply make it easy to group your products together, so customers can find related items more easily. For instance, you might have a collection of different women’s t-shirts or jackets.

To add a collection to your Shopify store, go to the Products tab on your Shopify dashboard, then click on Collections. Next:

• Give your collection and a short but informative description.
• Choose a tag for your collection (this can be applied to all the products you want to add to your collection).
• Edit the Search Engine Listing to change how the collection appears on sites like Google, and improve your SEO strategy.

Step 3: Setting and Editing your Shopify Theme

Now it’s time to determine what your Shopify store will look like. Themes are bundles of templates and files that alter the appearance and functionality of your Shopify store. There are both free and premium options available, for a wide range of business and store types.

We recommend starting with a free theme if you want to keep your initial costs low.

Simply head to the Customize Theme button in the Getting Started section on your Shopify dashboard, or click on Themes in the side bar.

Then visit the Theme Store, and select the theme you want to use.

Once you’ve found the theme you like, click Add theme to library then click Actions next to the theme in your Theme tab. Click Publish to use the theme, and click on Edit to make changes to your themes appearance in the Theme Editor.

While you can’t make advanced Shopify theme changes without code, you can make various simple edits, like changing colors, fonts, and the position of sections.

Setting Up a Dropshipping Store During Your Trial

When you’re experimenting with Shopify during your free trial, or 90-day trial period, you can implement numerous sales channels, and access all of the integrations on the Shopify app store. This means you can set up a dropshipping store with minimal effort too.

Notably, if you want a clear view of how well Shopify works for your dropshipping business, we do recommend taking full advantage of the three months for $1 per month offer.

This will give you more time to find the right dropshipping supplier, add products to your store and start managing transactions. To set up your dropshipping store:

• Choose your dropshipping niche: Research your target market and choose the niche that’s best suited to your dropshipping business. You can look for niche ideas in a range of ways, from exploring the popular products customers are talking about on social media, to using Google Trends to search for trending products.
• Find your dropshipping supplier: Next, search for a dropshipping supplier or website that offers an integration with Shopify. The right supplier should offer a wide range of quality products, relevant to your niche, for affordable prices. It’s also worth looking for a company that offers fast delivery, and excellent customer support.
• Connect your supplier to Shopify: Find the app for your dropshipping supplier in the Shopify app store and click “Install”. From there, you’ll be able to connect your app to your store, and sign into your account. Follow the instructions provided by your supplier.
• Import products: Import the products you want to sell on your Shopify store from your dropshipping supplier. Most tools will allow you to do this in just a couple of clicks, and may even automatically transfer product descriptions and images for you.
• Optimize your pages: Optimize your new dropshipping product pages with SEO-friendly descriptions and titles, featuring crucial keywords. Make sure the photos are excellent, and ensure you can automatically send order details back to your supplier.

Understanding Shopify’s Pricing and Plans

While Shopify’s free plan, and 90-day trial are excellent for getting started with the ecommerce platform, you will eventually need to subscribe to a paid plan, or deactivate your account.

When your trial period ends, you’ll have a range of options to choose from:

• The Starter Plan: $5 per month: Intended for influencers selling unlimited products over messenger or social media, or people with an existing website, the Starter plan allows you to use Shopify’s payments processing services. However, it doesn’t come with any of the website building features or marketing capabilities you get on other plans.
• Basic Shopify: $39 per month (or $29 paid annually): This is the plan you’ll have experimented with on your 90-day trial. It includes access to all the store building tools you need, 1,000 inventory locations, basic reporting, marketing tools, ecommerce automations, and even abandoned cart recovery.
• Shopify: $105 per month (or $79 paid annually): This plan includes all of the features of Basic Shopify, plus access to shipping discounts, 5 additional staff accounts, and standard analytics. It’s great for smaller teams.
• Advanced Shopify: $399 per month (or $299 paid annually): This includes the features of the Shopify plan, plus custom and advanced reports, enhanced live chat customer service, up to 15 admin accounts, and options for advanced global selling.
• Shopify Plus: Starting at $2000+ per month, Shopify Plus is the Enterprise Shopify plan, designed for larger businesses. It allows you to access custom integrations and advanced store customizations, as well as enterprise-level support, and all the features of Shopify Advanced.

You’ll also have payment processing fees to pay with Shopify Payments on all plans, and extra transaction fees if you use a separate payment processor. However, it’s worth noting you can save 25% on your plans if you opt for an annual payment cycle. Plus, there are special discounts available for non-profit organizations.

Shopify Free Trial Limitations and Support

While the Shopify free trial and 90-day plan for $1 per month is an excellent way to get Shopify without worrying about expensive pricing plans, there are some limitations.

When you click “Start free trial” you’ll need to remember to choose the $1 offer when you upgrade to your next plan. You’ll also need to make sure that you come back and choose the right paid plan before your plan ends.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that the trial only gives you access to Shopify Basic. That means only one user can access your account, and you won’t have the advanced analytics and other features that are available on more expensive Shopify plans.

The level of Shopify support you get will also be limited. You’ll have access to 24/7 chat support, but you won’t get “priority” service.

This means that you may need to wait a little longer for the support team to read your messages and get back to you. If you’re having any issues, you can access the chat function through your Shopify account to reach out to the team.

Alternatively, you can use Shopify’s help center resources, such as the guides, videos, FAQs, and other solutions to try and solve the problems yourself. There’s always the option to look for help from Shopify’s community of customers across forums and social media channels online.

Get Started with your Shopify Trial

If you’ve been thinking of using Shopify to build your ecommerce site, then now is the perfect time to get started. After your three day free trial, you can take advantage of a full three months (90 days) of Shopify Basic for just $1 per month.

You can access your full Shopify 90-day trial by clicking on this link.

As Shopify’s deals continue to evolve, we’ll do our best to keep this article up to date with the latest offers and free trial options.

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