Shopify Pricing: Plans, Fees and Extra Costs
· DigifyNow
Your Shopify cost has three parts: the monthly plan fee, a fee on every payment, and extra costs for your theme, apps, domain and build. The higher the plan, the higher the base fee and the lower the percentage per card payment. If you use a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds a transaction fee. To find the right plan, weigh your expected card revenue against the plan fee. DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner.
Shopify pricing per month: what drives the cost?
The short answer: Shopify charges a fixed monthly plan fee plus a fee on every payment, and on top of that you pay for your theme, apps, domain and the build itself. Which plan is cheapest depends on your card revenue, not just the subscription price. Shopify offers four plans: Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus. On Basic, Grow and Advanced, paying annually costs less per month than paying monthly, but it locks you in for a year. According to Shopify's official pricing page (we checked the German version, shopify.com/de/preise, as of October 2026), there's no setup fee. The page doesn't say whether the listed prices include tax. Clarify that when you sign up or with your tax advisor instead of assuming. Look up current amounts directly on the pricing page for your country, because Shopify adjusts its prices regularly. A number from an older comparison article is a poor basis for your budget. In the interest of transparency: DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner, specifically an official Shopify Partner agency. You'll find all of our partnerships on the page with our system recommendations.
| Plan | Base fee compared | Rate per online card payment via Shopify Payments | Additional transaction fee with a third-party payment provider |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | lowest of the standard plans | highest rate, plus a fixed amount per payment | highest rate |
| Grow | mid-range | lower than Basic, same fixed amount | lower than Basic |
| Advanced | highest of the standard plans | lower than Grow, same fixed amount | lower than Grow |
| Plus | well above that, negotiated individually | lowest rate, same fixed amount | lowest rate |
Shopify Basic cost: what do you pay on the entry plan?
On Shopify Basic you pay the lowest base fee of the standard plans. In exchange, the percentage Shopify Payments charges per online card payment is higher than on Grow, Advanced and Plus. On top of that percentage, every payment carries a fixed amount. That has a consequence many merchants overlook: with small order values, the fixed amount weighs heavily. And with a high order count, your payment fees in a given month can end up higher than the plan fee itself.
So never judge Basic by the subscription price alone. Do the math like this: plan fee, plus expected card revenue times the percentage, plus number of orders times the fixed amount. You'll find the values on Shopify's pricing page. Here's an example comparison sites rarely walk through: two stores with the same monthly revenue pay different amounts if one has lots of small orders, say spare parts or accessories, and the other has a few large ones, like furniture. The first store pays the fixed amount far more often. One more point: according to the pricing page, Basic includes the fewest staff accounts of any plan. If several people need their own login, for example shipping, customer service and accounting, check the exact limit there before you commit. If you don't yet know whether the store will pay off, start on monthly billing and switch to annual only once your numbers are stable. Note: DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner.
How much commission does Shopify take?
Shopify doesn't take a commission the way a marketplace does. But you do pay fees on each payment, and how much depends on how the customer pays. According to shopify.com/de/preise (as of October 2026), there are two cases:
- Shopify Payments: you only pay your plan's card rate, meaning a percentage plus a fixed amount per payment. The percentage drops from Basic to Grow to Advanced to Plus. The fixed amount is the same on every plan.
- Third-party payment provider: Shopify charges an additional transaction fee on every payment. This fee also drops with each higher plan. The provider's own fees come on top.
Here's what goes wrong in practice: out of habit, a merchant connects the payment provider they've always used and only budgets for that provider's fees. Shopify's transaction fee then hits every single order and only shows up on the bill. The rates on the pricing page apply to standard online card payments. For other payment methods, check the terms in your Shopify account. DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner. The figures here come solely from the pricing page.
At what revenue does Grow or Advanced pay off?
Higher plans have a higher base fee but a lower percentage per card payment. You can work out where the two balance yourself. All you need are the values from Shopify's pricing page and your expected card revenue:
- Find the extra cost: plan fee of the higher plan minus plan fee of your current plan, both on the same billing cycle.
- Find the savings per dollar (or euro) of revenue: percentage of your current plan minus percentage of the higher plan.
- Calculate the break-even point: extra cost divided by the savings. The result is the monthly card revenue through Shopify Payments at which the pricier plan breaks even on fees.
- Compare with your forecast: if your realistic revenue is well below that, the smaller plan stays cheaper.
This calculation has limits. You can leave out the fixed amount per payment, since it's the same on every plan. But the plans also differ in features, staff accounts for example: according to shopify.com/de/preise (as of October 2026), the number goes up from Basic to Grow to Advanced. If you need more logins than your plan includes, that limit decides, not the fees. With a third-party payment provider, the break-even point moves significantly lower, because the additional transaction fee also drops with each plan. Run that scenario separately. Note: DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner.
What costs come on top of your Shopify plan?
The plan is often not the biggest line item. These costs come on top, and how much they add up to depends on your store:
- Theme: there are free and paid themes. Customizing the theme to your design often costs more than the theme itself.
- Apps with monthly subscriptions: reviews, product filters, legal texts or upselling often run on apps billed monthly. Each one looks cheap on its own, but over time you pile up subscriptions nobody reviews anymore.
- Domain: your own domain costs money every year.
- Third-party payment providers: their own fees plus Shopify's transaction fee.
- Build: setup, product data, migration from your old store, and integrations with your inventory management or accounting system. If an agency does this, the price depends on scope, number of integrations and the state of your data.
- Ongoing operations: theme and app updates, maintenance, and troubleshooting when two apps get in each other's way.
There's no fixed price for a complete store. You only get a reliable number once product count, variants, integrations and data sources are clear. A practical check for existing stores: once a quarter, export the list of installed apps from the admin and note next to each app who uses it and what for. Apps nobody can answer for are candidates to cancel. Custom software is priced by the same logic, as we explain in our article on the factors behind app development cost. DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner.
How long is Shopify free?
Shopify isn't free for good. According to shopify.com/de/preise (as of October 2026), every account starts with a 3-day free trial. After that, on most plans you pay only a token amount for the first 3 months before the regular plan price kicks in. The exact terms are on the pricing page and change from time to time. Use this low-cost start to add your products, set up your theme and run through the checkout with test orders. A typical mistake: the whole start phase goes into design, and payment providers, shipping rules and legal texts still aren't in place when the full price comes due. So plan backwards: what has to be working on the last day of the start phase? DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner.
When is Shopify worth it, and when isn't it?
Shopify is worth it if you want your own store under your own brand and don't want to run hosting, security updates and checkout yourself. Shopify handles that as a hosted service. Shopify is a weaker fit if you only sell a few items now and then. In that case the base fee eats a big chunk of your margin, and a marketplace like Etsy or eBay is closer to what you need. It also gets tricky if your process differs a lot from a standard store, for example customer-specific pricing, product configurators or orders that require approval. Then you quickly end up with a lot of apps. DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner.
Self-hosted systems such as WooCommerce, an extension for WordPress, or Shopware have a different cost model: no plan fee to Shopify, but hosting, updates and security are on you. Which model is cheaper depends on whether you'd rather buy operations as a service or handle them yourself. Because DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner, you should keep that in mind when you hear our assessment.
A custom frontend instead of app subscriptions: DigifyNow's approach
This section describes our own offering and isn't a comparison. DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner, as an official Shopify Partner agency, and builds stores where Shopify manages products, orders and checkout in the background. The interface your customers see is a custom frontend. Features that would otherwise need an app with a monthly subscription, we build directly into it. The Shopify plan and payment fees stay. What can go away are recurring app subscriptions. In exchange, there's a one-time development cost, and the frontend needs ongoing maintenance.
For a small store with a standard product range, this rarely pays off; a good theme with a few apps is enough. It gets interesting when your app list has grown over time or you need workflows no app handles cleanly. How this looks technically is covered in our article on a custom Shopify frontend without plugins. If you'd like to have your online store built, you'll find the process on our services page. Here too: DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner.
When outside help is worth it
Outside help mainly pays off in three cases: when you're migrating an existing store with lots of products and legacy data, when inventory management or accounting needs to be connected, or when your app costs have become hard to keep track of. Many merchants set up a simple store with a handful of products just fine on their own. Before a call, have this ready: the rough number of products and variants, your expected monthly revenue, your current app list with subscriptions, and the systems the store needs to connect to. DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner. Through our contact form you can request a free, no-obligation assessment of your store project. Afterwards you'll know which cost blocks apply to you. We don't quote a fixed price up front.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Shopify cost per month?
Shopify costs the plan fee for Basic, Grow, Advanced or Plus, plus a fee per payment. Through Shopify Payments that's a percentage plus a fixed amount; with a third-party payment provider, a transaction fee is added. Current amounts are on Shopify's pricing page (we checked shopify.com/de/preise, as of October 2026). Theme, apps and domain come on top. DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner.
Does Shopify have hidden fees?
The costs aren't hidden, but they're easy to miss. Three items are typical: the additional transaction fee with a third-party payment provider, app subscriptions billed monthly, and the annual domain fee. Then there's the fixed amount per payment, which weighs more than the percentage when you have lots of small orders. DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner.
Which is better, Shopify or Etsy?
Etsy is a marketplace: your products sit next to other sellers', and the platform brings the visitors. Shopify is your own store on your own domain. You have to drive the traffic yourself, but you own the brand and the customer relationship. For a first test with a few items, Etsy is often the better fit; for a long-term brand store, Shopify usually is. You can also run both. DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner.
Is paying annually for Shopify worth it?
According to shopify.com/de/preise, on Basic, Grow and Advanced the monthly price is lower on an annual plan than on monthly billing. In exchange, you're committed for a year. Monthly billing is the lower risk as long as it's unclear whether the store will last or whether you'll switch plans soon. Annual billing makes sense once your plan and revenue are stable. DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner.
Do Shopify prices include tax?
The pricing page shopify.com/de/preise doesn't say. You'll see the tax status on your invoice. For businesses in Germany: if the invoicing entity is based in another EU country, the tax liability can shift to you under Section 13b of the German VAT Act (UStG). What that means for small businesses under Section 19 UStG is something to clarify with your tax advisor. DigifyNow is a Shopify Partner and doesn't give binding advice on this.