Among online retail options for small businesses, Shopify is one of the best e-commerce platforms. What was once a robust option for selling products online has blossomed into a solution that includes web hosting and in-store point-of-sale (POS) systems.
You’re likely to find a Shopify plan that fits your business needs, but you’ll want to compare each plan’s features and pricing to determine which works best for you. Here’s a rundown of available plans, features and pricing.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is an e-commerce-focused platform that helps online businesses sell their products. Businesses can create e-commerce websites on Shopify that offer seamless buying portals for customers, and the platform also supports selling through other marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and Instagram.
Shopify has also branched out into brick-and-mortar businesses, offering mobile card readers, its own POS software and inventory management. What started as a simplified way to sell online has now become a full-scale merchant solution for small businesses and individual entrepreneurs.
Pricing
Plan | Monthly fee | In-person transaction fee | Online transaction fee | Non-Shopify Payments fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Shopify Starter | $15 per month. | 5%. | 5% plus 30 cents. | 2%. |
Basic | $29 per month (when paid annually). | 2.7%. | 2.9% plus 30 cents. | 2%. |
Shopify | $79 per month (when paid annually). | 2.5%. | 2.6% plus 30 cents. | 1%. |
Advanced | $299 per month (when paid annually). | 2.4%. | 2.4% plus 30 cents. | 0.5%. |
Shopify Plus | Quote-based. | Based on your credit card sales volume. | Based on your credit card sales volume. | 0.15%. |
Plans
Shopify's plans include four non-enterprise options and one enterprise-level tier. Each plan has a set of features that cater to different types and sizes of businesses and comes with its own pricing structure.
Plan comparison
Shopify Starter | Basic | Shopify | Advanced | Shopify Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Best for | Small online shop with basic shipping. | Small business with inventory management needs. | Business with multiple locations. | Larger businesses with multiple locations and staff administration. | Large and enterprise businesses with international shipping needs. |
Online store | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Unlimited products | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Staff accounts | ✗ | 2. | 5. | 15. | Unlimited. |
Reporting | ✗ | Basic. | Standard. | Advanced. | Advanced. |
Shopify Starter
Shopify Starter is a great option for businesses that are just getting started with selling online and costs $15 a month, with transactions starting at 5%. The Shopify Starter plan includes basic features, including:
Accepting credit cards in person and online.
Adding purchase links on existing websites.
Accepting gift cards.
Unlimited product pages.
Contact page.
Shopping cart for multiple purchases.
While this plan doesn’t provide you with an online store, you can add purchase links to your existing website to make it easy for customers to checkout on desktops and mobile browsers. Popular website hosts that work well with Shopify include Squarespace, Weebly, Wix and WordPress.
You’ll also have access to simple features, like managing online orders, inventory and customer profiles. As Shopify’s cheapest plan, it is best for small businesses that are looking for minimal options and an easy setup to sell online.
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Payment processing fees 0.40% + 8¢ plus interchange, in-person; 0.50% + 25¢ plus interchange, online. | Payment processing fees 2.6% + 10¢ in-person; 2.9% + 30¢ online. | Payment processing fees 2.7% + 5¢ in-person; 2.9% + 30¢ online. |
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Basic Plan
Basic Shopify is designed to help burgeoning small businesses that need to do more than just sell online but might not need the full slate of features. This plan costs $29 per month when paid annually and includes:
A customizable online store.
Unlimited product listings.
Up to 1,000 inventory locations.
Two staff logins.
Customer segmentation to filter by feature.
Marketing automation.
Alternative sales channel support outside of the Shopify ecosystem.
Shipping discounts and shipping label printing.
Support for international market management, including currency conversation and translation.
With this plan, payment processing fees are 2.9% plus 30 cents per online transactions, and 2.7% per in-person transaction.
» MORE: How to start an online store
Shopify Plan
The middle-tiered Shopify Plan is geared toward medium-sized businesses with a more robust set of e-commerce needs. At $79 per month when paid annually, this plan incorporates the features from the lower-priced subscriptions along with additional benefits. These include:
Five staff accounts.
Standard reporting options.
A shipping discount up to 88%.
UPSP Priority Mail Cubic pricing.
These features can boost businesses that are growing and need more insight into their sales, expansion for more locations and shipping support. Online transactions have a processing fee of 2.6% plus 30 cents, and in-person transactions come with a 2.5% processing fee.
» More from Shopify: Learn about loans from Shopify Capital and banking with Shopify Balance.
Advanced Plan
At $299 per month (when paid annually), Shopify’s Advanced plan builds on the lower-tiered plans to offer the most features for larger businesses that don’t consider themselves at the enterprise level — those that need advanced insight into sales, are handling a lot of shipping, have a larger employee base and need full assistance for international sales. In addition to what the previous tiers offer, this plan includes:
15 employee logins.
Advanced sales and performance reports.
Third-party shipping calculations that show customers what they’ll pay in real-time.
Automations for workflows and tasks.
Tax estimates and custom market pricing for international sales.
The Advanced Shopify plan charges 2.4% plus 30 cents for online transactions and 2.4% for in-person purchases.
Shopify Plus Plan
Finally, if you’re a high-volume multichannel seller, you might want to opt for Shopify Plus. This plan is built for enterprise businesses and offers several features for high-volume businesses, including:
Additional permissions to further restrict what employees can and can’t access.
International payment processing in multiple currencies and languages.
3D modeling of online store products.
Automated workflows to simplify processes.
Scheduling for sales.
Shopify also advertises that customers who use this plan can work with Shopify Plus Certified Apps and Partners to get the most out of their system. Pricing for this plan — from the monthly subscription fee to transaction fees — is quote-based, depending on your sales volume.
Free Shopify trial
Shopify offers a free three-day trial for new customers with their Starter, Basic, Shopify and Advanced plans. A trial is currently unavailable for Shopify Plus.
The trial lets you build a store to try out different features and determine how well the platform will work for your business. But you can’t start selling until you sign up for a paid plan. And the trial doesn’t automatically sign you up after three days: if you don’t choose a plan before the trial ends, your store is paused and you aren’t charged anything until you sign up for a paid plan at a later date.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Shopify Plus so expensive?
Shopify Plus is designed for enterprise-level companies and offers features that most small businesses are unlikely to need. But if you're processing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, you might want to look into it.
Can I have a store with Shopify Lite?
You can have an online store, but you can't host it with Shopify. You'll need to already have it set up before you add a Buy Button to let customers checkout through Shopify.
Will my credit card be charged if I sign up for the free trial?
According to Shopify, your credit card will not be automatically charged at the end of the trial. You'll only be charged if you sign up for a particular monthly plan.
What is Shopify Payments?
Shopify Payments is the company's payment processing service and is available for all plans.
A version of this article was first published on Fundera, a subsidiary of NerdWallet.
Whitney Vandiver, a writer at NerdWallet, contributed reporting to this article.
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