Shopify Pricing 2026: Which Plan to Choose?

For well over a decade, I’ve helped other ecommerce businesses grow, as a consultant, and a mentor.

During that time, I’ve experimented with countless ecommerce platforms, but Shopify is the one I keep coming back to – and recommending to my clients.

As you’re about to see in my guide to Shopify pricing – it’s not the most “affordable” platform out there – there are definitely cheaper tools with similar features.

But Shopify offers a unique blend of simplicity, versatility, and scalability you just can’t get anywhere else.

The key to getting the most out of this platform is choosing the plan that gives you the most value. That doesn’t necessarily mean picking the plan with the most features – it means choosing the package specifically designed to support your business.

60 Second Summary

Been helping ecommerce brands grow for over 10 years—and after testing every tool out there, Shopify’s still the go-to.

Sure, it’s not the cheapest. But it’s simple, scalable, and packed with the right tools—if you pick the right plan.

Here’s the short version:

• Free trial: 3 days free + 3 months at $1/month
• Agentic plan ($0): For non-Shopify merchants. Sell through ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and the Shop app without a Shopify store
• Starter plan ($5): Sell via social or messaging, no full store
• Basic plan ($39): Best for new/small businesses, includes online store, no staff accounts (owner login only), 77% shipping discounts
• Grow plan ($105): For growing teams, 5 staff, better shipping, pro analytics
• Advanced ($399): Best for scaling brands, custom reporting, 15 staff, international selling
• Plus ($2300+): Enterprise-level, custom checkout, B2B, dedicated support
• POS Lite: Free with any plan—basic in-person selling
• POS Pro ($89/location): Advanced retail tools, staff management, omnichannel features

Extra costs? Themes, apps, domains, and higher fees if you don’t use Shopify Payments.

Best move? Start with the Basic plan + Shopify Payments, and scale when ready.

Here’s my behind-the-scenes guide to Shopify pricing.

How Much Does Shopify Cost?

If you’re not looking for advice, and just want a quick run-down of how much Shopify actually costs, here’s what you need to know.

First, you can use Shopify for free for three days before committing to a paid plan.

I know – that’s not the most generous free trial period, but on the plus side, you can currently continue to use Shopify for 3 months for just $1 per month after that. This allows more than enough time to setup and launh your store, at minimal costs.

Beyond that, Shopify has three central plans, as well as three plans designed for specific use cases: the Enterprise-level Shopify Plus plan, the Starter plan, and the brand new (free) Agentic plan, which lets merchants on other platforms sell through AI assistants like ChatGPT.

Here’s a quick run-down of the pricing for each of the main plans:

Shopify Pricing Plans: The Details, and Which to Pick

third-party fee (0.2%), Basic staff accounts flagged.

There are other fees to consider for Shopify (more on those later), but the first thing you’ll need to figure out is which plan you’re going to choose.

Basic: $39 per month (Best for Small Businesses)

Shopify’s Basic plan is the first plan I recommend to most small businesses. One thing to know upfront: Basic no longer includes any staff accounts at all. The store owner is the only login. If you have even one team member who needs their own access, you’ll need Grow.

On the plus side, the Basic plan does include everything you need to build an effective store. You can sell unlimited products, access a world-class checkout experience, and create up to 10 inventory locations.

Plus, there are standard analytics available (though advanced reporting requires a more expensive plan).

The Basic plan also includes some great features that set it apart from other comparable ecommerce packages, such as:

• Up to 77% shipping discounts
• 24/7 support (through live chat and email)
• Localized features for site translation
• Multichannel selling options (for instance, you can sell through social media apps, and marketplaces like Amazon)
• Discount codes
• Abandoned cart recovery

Plus, there are automation options for simple workflows, and a handy tax feature which helps you calculate taxes and generate reports.

Who I’d Recommend the Shopify Basic Plan For

For me, the Basic plan is the “no-brainer” option for smaller business owners just getting started with a new ecommerce store.

If you’re selling a range of products, and you’re ready to start building a brand (something you can’t do with the Starter plan), Shopify Basic is a great choice.

Grow: $105 per Month: Best for Mid-Sized Businesses

The Grow plan is ideal for mid-sized and established businesses who want to take things to the next level.

It gives you a few distinct advantages over the Basic plan, such as higher shipping discounts (up to 88%), and shipping insurance – if you’re using Shopify Payments.

Plus, you get up to 5 staff accounts, so you can get more people involved in managing and running your store.

I also think the professional reports are a lot better for gaining insights into the strategies you can use to grow profits and revenue.

Although, to be honest, if you want advanced analytics, you should probably consider the next plan up (more on that in a moment).

Who I’d Recommend the grow For

The Grow is my top pick for scaling businesses – those that are hiring new managers and C-level executives to help them handle growth.

The card rates and transaction fees (if you’re using a third-party payment processor) are cheaper too, so you’ll save more as you sell more.

Advanced: $399 per month: Best for Larger Businesses

If your company has grown a decent amount since you launched online – but you haven’t reached “Enterprise” level yet, Shopify Advanced is your best bet.

This plan comes with some pretty impressive extra features you won’t get on cheaper plans – like the custom reporting and analytics capabilities, which are great for scaling companies.

You also get better “enhanced” customer support from the Shopify team – although I think their customer support is great regardless of what plan you have.

Plus, you can create up to 15 staff accounts, which makes it a lot easier to grow your team internally.

On top of that, you’ll also be able to experiment with third-party calculated shipping rates (which is great for giving customers some transparency in the checkout).

The checkout also supports 10 times the capacity of sales – so if you sell a lot of products at once, you’ll have peace of mind.

I also really like the fact that you can add additional “localized markets” to the Advanced plan – which is perfect if you’re expanding into new countries.

Who I’d Recommend the Advanced Plan For

Ultimately, Advanced is the top plan for companies who are really seeing some serious growth. You’re not going to need all the functionality this plan offers if you’re still in the early stages of developing your brand.

However, if you’re selling thousands of products each month, Advanced will give you the extra scalability you need.

What about Shopify Starter and Shopify Plus?

I mentioned above that Shopify’s “core” plans aren’t the only options available to sellers. There are a three other options worth considering too.

Shopify Starter: $5 per Month: For Creators and Side Hustles

I don’t recommend Starter to most sellers, because it doesn’t actually allow you to create an online store.

It really just gives you the option to sell across messaging apps and social media – and there are cheaper options out there that can do something similar.

However, if you’re looking for a relatively cheap way to test out a new side hustle, or sell products as a creator or influencer, then Shopify Starter could be a good option.

At least you get some decent sales analytics tools, order management options, and access to Shopify apps.

Shopify Agentic: Free: For Non-Shopify Merchants Selling Through AI

This one’s brand new (launched March 2026) and it’s the oddest plan in the lineup: it’s not for Shopify merchants at all.

If you run your store on WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, or a custom stack, the Agentic plan lets you sync your products to Shopify Catalog and sell them through ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, and the Shop app, without migrating anything. Your existing store, PIM, tax setup, and order management all stay where they are. Shopify just becomes the pipe between your catalog and the AI assistants people increasingly shop through.

There’s no monthly fee. You only pay Shopify Payments processing (from 2.9% + 30¢) when a sale actually completes in an AI channel’s checkout. What you don’t get: an online store, Shopify Messaging, gift card selling, manual order creation, or Shop post-purchase offers. It’s purely a distribution channel bolted onto your existing stack.

A few caveats worth knowing before you set it up:

• Direct selling in AI channels is switched off by default. You activate each channel manually (ChatGPT only needs the product discovery step).
• Every product needs an external URL pointing back to the listing on your own store.
• ChatGPT order history isn’t visible inside Shopify, so you’ll rely on your own analytics.
• You’ll need to publish store policies and add your existing domain in the Shopify admin. A Knowledge Base app comes pre-installed to feed AI agents accurate answers about your store.

There’s also an enterprise tier of the Agentic plan (contact Shopify sales) that adds unlimited staff accounts, carrier-calculated shipping, Combined Listings, extra inventory locations, and Plus-level API rate limits for developers.

Worth mentioning in the same breath: Shopify has also made Shop Pay available to any brand on any platform, even without a Shopify store. Between that and the Agentic plan, Shopify is clearly positioning itself as the infrastructure layer for AI commerce, whether you’re a Shopify merchant or not.

Who I’d Recommend the Agentic Plan For

Honestly? Any merchant not on Shopify. It’s free, setup is light, and AI shopping channels are growing too fast to ignore (more on the numbers below). If you’re on WooCommerce or Magento and you’ve been wondering how to show up in ChatGPT product recommendations without a replatforming project, this is currently the lowest-effort answer.

Shopify Plus: From $2,300: For Large Enterprises

Shopify Plus is the ecommerce platform that companies like Sony use – so you can imagine the kind of company that benefits from this plan.

It’s really only intended for extremely successful companies – those making millions in profits per year.

One detail worth knowing: the $2,300/month price requires a 3-year term. On a 1-year term, Plus starts at $2,500/month.

If you’re really raking in the cash with your business, Shopify Plus has some great extra benefits, like custom reports and analytics, 200 inventory locations, localized global selling across 50 markets, and unlimited staff accounts.

If you’re really raking in the cash with your business, Shopify Plus has some great extra benefits, like custom reports and analytics, 200 inventory locations, localized global selling across 50 markets, and unlimited staff accounts.

You also get 200 POS Pro locations with Shopify Payments, and a custom checkout with 40x capacity.

As for B2B: since April 2026, the foundational B2B features (company profiles, price lists, net payment terms) are available on every plan, so B2B is no longer a Plus exclusive. What Plus still locks down is the advanced wholesale stack: unlimited catalogs, partial payments, and deposits.

The card rates are cheaper too – with competitive rates that help you to maintain more of the profits from each sale – even if you use a third-party payment processor.

Other Shopify Fees to Consider

One of the reasons Shopify doesn’t always seem like great value for money is that it’s “monthly plans” aren’t the only thing you have to worry about from a budget perspective. There are other fees to consider for things like:

• Premium templates: There are only 25 free templates available on Shopify, and premium themes can range from $100 to $500 each.
• Apps: Shopify offers thousands of apps and integrations to choose from – but these can come with extra monthly fees and set-up costs too.
• Domain name: Shopify doesn’t include a free domain name in its plans, so you’ll have to shell out for a custom URL too.
• Transaction and credit card fees: Shopify has relatively decent credit card rates, but if you’re not using Shopify Payments, you’ll need to pay extra transaction fees on top of those card rates every time you accept a payment.

Shopify’s Point of Sale (POS) system is designed to empower businesses to sell seamlessly across in-person and online channels.

It’s a crucial tool for anyone running a brick-and-mortar store, pop-up shop, or hybrid ecommerce operation. But like the Shopify platform itself, POS comes with its own pricing considerations.

Here’s a breakdown of Shopify POS pricing, what you get for your money, and which plan might be the best fit for your business.

Shopify POS Pricing Plans

Shopify offers two main POS plans: POS Lite (included with all Shopify subscriptions) and POS Pro (an advanced solution available for an additional monthly fee). Let’s dive into the details:

POS Lite: Included with All Shopify Plans

POS Lite is Shopify’s baseline offering, included with every Shopify plan. It’s a great starting point for businesses with minimal in-person sales needs. With Lite, you can:

• Accept in-person payments through Shopify Payments.
• Access basic inventory tracking tools to keep tabs on stock levels.
• Generate simple reports to monitor sales trends.

However, POS Lite is fairly limited. For example, it doesn’t include advanced features like smart inventory management, robust analytics, or staff-level permissions.

Who POS Lite is Best For:

POS Lite is ideal for smaller businesses, occasional in-person sellers, or ecommerce-first companies that only need a simple solution for pop-up shops or events.

POS Pro: $89 Per Location

POS Pro unlocks advanced features tailored for businesses with significant in-person sales operations. It’s designed to scale with your business and includes features like:

• Advanced Reporting: Dive deeper into sales data with granular analytics and custom reports.
• Smart Inventory Management: Get low-stock alerts, forecast demand, and manage inventory across multiple locations.
• Staff Permissions: Assign unique roles and permissions to team members.
• Omnichannel Selling: Offer features like buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS), curbside pickup, and local delivery.
• Custom Checkout Options: Streamline the checkout process with flexible settings.

Who POS Pro is Best For:

POS Pro is a must-have for larger retailers, businesses with multiple physical locations, or those aiming for a seamless omnichannel strategy. The added functionality helps streamline operations and improve the customer experience.

POS Hardware Costs to Consider

While the software itself is vital, you’ll also need hardware to run Shopify POS. The exact costs depend on your setup, but Shopify offers hardware bundles and individual components like:

• Card Readers: $49+
• iPad Stands: $99+
• Receipt Printers: $229+
• Cash Drawers: $139+

If you’re just starting out, Shopify’s POS Go device (at $399) is an all-in-one handheld option that combines payment processing, inventory management, and customer insights.

Notably, there are a few ways you can save money with Shopify too. My top tip is to use Shopify Payments to skip the transaction fees and take advantage of preferred credit card rates.

You can also use a free theme to keep costs low (at least initially), such as the Crave theme. Plus, signing up for an annual plan will save you 25% per year.

Shopify Credits: The Cashback Program That Lowers Your Real Subscription Cost

Here’s something most pricing guides still haven’t caught up on: Shopify now gives you cashback on revenue processed through your store, applied directly against your monthly bill.

It’s called Shopify Credits, and it changes the value math on every plan.

The way it works is straightforward. You earn 1% back on Shopify-managed revenue, up to a cap that scales with your plan. Those credits accumulate and get applied to your next Shopify invoice, effectively reducing your subscription cost.

How Much You Can Earn on Each Plan

What this means in practice: a Grow merchant consistently hitting the cap can knock up to $70/month off their bill. That’s a meaningful chunk of the $105 monthly fee, bringing the effective cost down closer to $35/month for stores doing real volume.

What I tell my clients

Don’t factor Shopify Credits into your initial budget. Treat them as a bonus that improves over time as your sales volume scales. If you’re processing $4,500+ in monthly revenue on the Basic plan, you’re already getting close to a free Shopify subscription, before you even consider the value of everything else included.

One thing to keep in mind: credits only apply to revenue processed through Shopify Payments. If you’re using a third-party gateway like PayPal or Stripe, you won’t qualify for the cashback. That’s one more reason to default to Shopify Payments unless you have a specific business reason not to.

Agentic Commerce: Why Shopify’s Plans Are Worth More in 2026 Than They Were Last Year

The biggest shift in Shopify’s value proposition this year isn’t a price change. It’s what’s now included in every paid plan: access to Agentic Storefronts.

If you haven’t heard the term yet, here’s the short version. AI assistants like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google’s Gemini, and Perplexity have become legitimate shopping channels. People ask them for product recommendations, and increasingly, they complete purchases without ever visiting a brand’s website.

Shopify spent 2025 building the infrastructure to plug merchants into these channels. As of March 2026, every Shopify store can sell through Agentic Storefronts out of the box, managed from a single dashboard in the Shopify admin.

And it goes beyond Shopify’s own merchants now. The new free Agentic plan (covered earlier) extends the same AI distribution to businesses on other platforms, and Shopify’s Spring 2026 Editions release pushed things further: Copilot now has built-in Shopify checkout with Shop Pay, checkout inside Meta ads is coming soon, and merchants get a performance view showing how they’re doing in AI channels, plus guidance on what’s missing to drive conversion.

Why This Matters for Plan Selection

This used to be the kind of feature you’d expect to find locked behind Shopify Plus. It’s not. It’s included on Basic, Grow, and Advanced at no extra cost.

The traffic numbers are real, and now they’re official. Shopify’s own Q1 2026 figures: AI-driven traffic to Shopify stores grew 8x year over year, orders from AI searches grew nearly 13x, and new buyers order through AI channels at almost twice the rate of other channels. Shopify also reports that product data syndicated through Shopify Catalog drives 2x more conversion in AI chats, which is a strong argument for keeping your product data clean and complete.

For a small store paying $39/month, the ability to surface products in ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode is the kind of distribution that would have required a dedicated marketing budget two years ago. Now it ships with the subscription.

For a small store paying $39/month, the ability to surface products in ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode is the kind of distribution that would have required a dedicated marketing budget two years ago. Now it ships with the subscription.

What’s Actually Included Across Plans

The practical takeaway

When comparing Shopify’s pricing to cheaper platforms like WooCommerce or Wix, the AI distribution and built-in automation tools change the calculation. You’re not just paying for hosting and a checkout: you’re paying for a sales channel that didn’t exist a year ago. For most merchants, the Basic plan now delivers more practical value at $39 than it did at the same price point in 2024.

When to Upgrade: A Breakeven Analysis

One of the most common questions I get from clients is “when does it make sense to move up a plan?” The honest answer is: when the lower transaction fees save you more than the extra subscription costs you.

Here’s the math, based on the current credit card processing rates with Shopify Payments.

Basic to Grow: Around $33,000 in Monthly Revenue

Moving from Basic to Grow on annual billing increases your monthly fee by $50 ($29 to $79). In exchange, you save 0.2 percentage points on every credit card transaction (2.9% drops to 2.7%) and your third-party gateway surcharge drops from 2% to 1%.

At $33,000 in monthly revenue through Shopify Payments, the fee reduction saves you roughly $66. That covers the upgrade cost with a small surplus. Below that threshold, Basic is the more economical choice. Above it, Grow pays for itself before you’ve even factored in the extra staff accounts, professional reports, and shipping insurance.

Grow to Advanced: Around $147,000 in Monthly Revenue

The jump to Advanced is steeper. You’re adding $220/month on annual billing ($79 to $299), and the fee reduction is smaller (0.2 percentage points on card rates, 0.4 points on third-party surcharges).

You need to be processing about $147,000/month in revenue for the transaction fee savings alone to justify the upgrade. That’s why Advanced makes the most sense for stores that genuinely need its features (custom reporting, 10x checkout capacity, expanded international markets) rather than stores chasing lower processing fees.

Quick Reference: Plan Breakeven Points

How I actually use this with clients

These breakeven points are useful as a sanity check, not a hard rule. Plenty of stores benefit from upgrading earlier because they need the features (extra staff accounts, professional reports, international selling), not because of the fee savings. And some stores stay on Basic well past $33,000/month because they’re lean operations that don’t need anything more. Run the numbers, but also think about whether the included features genuinely solve a problem you have.

The Bottom Line

Don’t upgrade Shopify plans because of revenue milestones alone. Upgrade when either (a) the transaction fee math crosses the breakeven point, or (b) you genuinely need a feature locked behind the next tier. For most growing businesses, that means starting on Basic, moving to Grow somewhere between $25k and $40k in monthly revenue, and only stepping up to Advanced once you’re comfortably north of $100k/month with operational complexity that justifies the price.

Shopify Pricing: Which Plan Should You Choose

As you can see, Shopify isn’t the cheapest ecommerce platform out there – but I still think it’s exceptional value for money when you consider all the functionality you get.

The best way to make sure you’re getting the most from your money, is to choose the right plan.

Unless you already have an established ecommerce store and you’re migrating to Shopify, I’d recommend starting with the Basic plan for $29 per month (paid annually), and using Shopify Payments to keep costs low.

From there, you can upgrade as necessary, when you feel like you need extra functionality.