Shopify Cost: What a Small Store Really Pays per Month

Shopify's own pricing page shows one number: the plan price, paid monthly or on the yearly plan. Your real bill has four or five more lines. Card processing takes a cut of every order, most stores add a few paid apps, and some buy a theme and a domain. For a small store the plan is often less than half of the monthly total.

Below is each line, what it usually runs, and a formula to count your own total in five minutes.

Shopify plan prices

These are the US list prices we last saw on shopify.com/pricing. Shopify changes them from time to time and prices differ by country, so check the page before you budget.

Shopify also sells a Starter plan for about $5 a month. It lets you sell through social links and chat, without a full online store, so most merchants comparing "Shopify cost" end up on Basic.

Is the Shopify yearly plan worth it?

Paying yearly cuts the plan price by about a quarter. With the US list prices above, a year costs:

• Basic: $348 a year instead of $468 paid monthly, so $120 less.
• Grow: $948 instead of $1,260, so $312 less.
• Advanced: $3,588 instead of $4,788, so $1,200 less.

In return you commit to one plan for twelve months. If the store is new and you don't know yet whether it will still be running next year, paying monthly is the cheaper way to find out.

The yearly plan makes sense once sales are steady and you know which plan you need. If you might move up to Grow or Advanced for the lower card rate, run the formula below with both rates first, then pick the plan and the billing period.

The discount only touches the plan line. Card fees, apps and the domain cost the same either way. The example below already uses yearly billing; paying monthly would add $10 to its $235 total. Check the current terms on Shopify's pricing page before you pay for the year.

The other lines on the bill

• Card processing. With Shopify Payments in the US, an online card payment costs roughly 2.5-2.9% plus 30¢. Higher plans get the lower rate. If you use an outside payment provider instead, Shopify adds its own fee of up to 2% per order on top of that provider's charge.
• Apps. This is the line that grows without anyone noticing. Reviews, email, upsells, shipping labels, competitor monitoring: each is often $0-$50 a month, and five of them can cost more than your plan.
• Theme. Shopify's free themes are enough for many stores. A paid theme from the Theme Store is a one-time purchase, usually a few hundred dollars.
• Domain. A custom domain is typically $10-20 a year. You can also bring one you already own.

How to count your own Shopify cost

Add up the fixed part and the part that grows with sales:

monthly cost = plan
             + paid apps
             + (theme price / 12, in the first year)
             + (domain / 12)
             + orders × 30¢ + sales × card %

An example for a store on Basic paid yearly, with $5,000 in monthly sales from 100 orders and two paid apps at $15 each, a free theme and a $15 domain:

Card fees are the biggest line here, and they scale with your sales. That is why moving to a higher plan can pay off once revenue grows: the plan costs more, but the lower card rate can save more than the difference. Run the formula with both rates before you switch.

Where competitor monitoring fits

Competitor monitoring is one of those app lines, and it does not have to be a big one. StoreSentry watches your competitors' Shopify stores every hour and sends a digest by email or Telegram when their prices change, a product sells out or restocks, or something new launches.

Billing goes through your Shopify invoice, so it shows up as one more app line on the same bill. Before you pay for anything, the free Store Checker shows any public Shopify store's catalog size, price range, discounts and sold-out products.