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What a Shopify Store Really Costs Beyond the Plan Price

By Savora Finance · Reviewed 2026-11-08

Plan prices, card rates for each Shopify plan, and the extra costs new store owners should budget for.

The plans

Shopify's main plans are Basic, Grow and Advanced. Basic is $39 a month, or $29 billed annually. Grow is $105 monthly or $79 annually, and Advanced is $399 monthly or $299 annually.

Card rates

With Shopify Payments, the online card rate is 2.9% plus $0.30 on Basic, 2.7% plus $0.30 on Grow and 2.5% plus $0.30 on Advanced. Outside payment gateways add 2%, 1% and 0.6% respectively.

Costs beyond the plan

Budget for a domain name, a theme if you choose a paid one, any apps you add, shipping labels and marketing. These vary a lot, so list them before you start.

When to upgrade

Higher plans lower your card rate but cost more each month, so they pay off only at higher sales volume. Start on Basic and upgrade when your numbers justify it.

Check current pricing

Shopify changes plans and trial offers from time to time. Confirm the details on Shopify's own pricing page before you sign up.

When a higher plan actually pays for itself

Each step up the plan ladder lowers the card rate by 0.2 percentage points. That sounds small, so here is the arithmetic. Moving from Basic to Grow raises the monthly price by $66 (or $50 on annual billing). It saves 0.2% of card sales, so you need about $33,000 in monthly card sales ($25,000 with annual billing) before the lower rate covers the higher price. Moving from Grow to Advanced adds $294 a month (or $220 annually), so it breaks even at roughly $147,000 in monthly card sales ($110,000 annually). Plans also differ in features beyond card rates, such as reporting and staff accounts, so treat these numbers as the minimum bar and not the whole decision.

Monthly or yearly?

The same plan costs less when you pay for the year. On Basic, monthly billing totals $468 over twelve months and annual billing totals $348, so yearly saves $120. On Grow the gap is $1,260 against $948, a saving of $312, and on Advanced it is $4,788 against $3,588, a saving of $1,200. Beyond the money, a year on a plan means you are not making a renewal decision every month while you are busy with products, photos and customers. The trade-off is that you pay up front, so check the current terms for cancellations and refunds first.

A sample first-year budget

Here is a template you can fill in. The amounts are examples to show the shape of the budget. Your costs will differ, and prices change, so check each one before you rely on it.

The point is to see your fixed monthly cost as a single number. Divide it by your profit per sale and you get the number of sales you need each month just to cover costs. Our calculator does this automatically.

Costs people forget

• Transaction fees on non-Shopify payments. Using an outside gateway adds a percentage on top of what that gateway charges.
• Returns and refunds. Card fees may not be refunded when you refund the sale, so every refund costs you something.
• Sales tax and compliance. Where you must collect tax depends on where you and your customers are. Check with an adviser.
• Your time. It is not a cash cost, but it decides whether the store is worth running.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• Etsy vs Shopify fees
• How to price your products
• Start an online store
• Weekly store review with Claude

General information only, not financial advice.