Business Managing money

Shopify Plans: US Pricing, Fees, and How to Choose

Mike Renaldi

03.11.26

Read time 7 minutes

The right Shopify plan depends on more than your sales forecast. Your team’s access needs, checkout requirements, shipping setup, and payment mix can make a bigger difference than the advertised subscription price.

For a US business building a full online store, start by comparing Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Plus. Then calculate the cost of the features and payments you will actually use. The prices below are the US dollar rates checked on October 22, 2026; confirm the offer shown for your store before subscribing.

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Key Takeaways

Choose the lowest plan that meets your staffing, shipping, checkout, and B2B requirements, then compare it with the next tier.
Annual billing lowers the effective monthly price, but the full year is charged upfront.
Shopify Payments avoids Shopify's third-party transaction fee, but card processing still has a cost.
Budget for POS Pro, currency conversion, apps, taxes, and implementation alongside the subscription.

Shopify subscription prices at a glance

Shopify lists these standard US subscription prices for its core plans, excluding introductory promotions.¹

Plan	Monthly billing	Annual billing: effective monthly price	Annual subscription total
Basic	$39	$29	$348
Grow	$105	$79	$948
Advanced	$399	$299	$3,588

Annual totals are calculated as 12 times the advertised monthly equivalent. Annual billing charges the year upfront; it is not a monthly installment plan. Shopify’s monthly subscription cycle is 30 days, and subscription charges are generally nonrefundable.²

Choose annual billing when you are comfortable committing the cash and keeping the store running. Monthly billing can be a practical starting point while testing whether your business needs the platform and its add-ons. Compare the full commitment rather than treating the lower annual equivalent as the next bill’s amount.

What happened to Shopify Starter?

Starter is no longer available to new stores, according to Shopify’s current help documentation. Existing Starter merchants who change plans cannot return to it. The legacy plan supports a simplified storefront and shareable product links, but lacks staff accounts, product collections, and POS Pro upgrades.³

That makes older recommendations to launch a new store on Starter outdated. Existing users should check their own billing terms before switching; this comparison does not assume a current public Starter price or fee offer.

Shopify also advertises an Agentic plan for selling through AI channels.¹ It serves a different sales-channel need.

Match the plan to your operating needs

Basic: start with a full storefront

Basic includes a customizable online store, a blog, international sales tools, and reports—including custom reports. It does not support additional staff accounts or third-party carrier-calculated shipping.⁴

Consider it when one person operates the store and your shipping requirements are straightforward. Do not upgrade solely because you assume custom reporting is reserved for a higher tier: identify the exact report or workflow you need first.

Grow: give a small team access

Grow adds support for five staff accounts and lower payment rates while retaining Basic’s features.⁵ It is a sensible candidate when several people need their own administrative access or when the fee calculation supports an upgrade.

List who needs access and what they will do. A customer-service teammate and an inventory manager may create an operational reason to upgrade before your sales reach a fee-based break-even point.

Advanced: handle more complex operations

Advanced supports 15 staff accounts, includes third-party carrier-calculated shipping, and adds market-specific storefront and checkout customization. Shopify also lists enhanced 24/7 chat support.⁶

Consider it when those capabilities address a current constraint. Ask the shipping or ecommerce owner to demonstrate the requirement before approving the higher subscription. “We expect to grow” is less useful than a specific checkout, staffing, or shipping requirement.

Plus: evaluate the contract and implementation

For standard setups, Plus starts at $2,500 per month on a one-year term or $2,300 per month on a three-year term. More complex, higher-volume businesses may have a variable platform fee. Plus supports unlimited staff, deeper checkout customization, and nine expansion stores.⁷

Request a proposal covering your actual stores, technical requirements, payment mix, and implementation work. A monthly price attached to a multi-year contract should not be confused with a cancel-any-month subscription.

B2B selling does not automatically require Plus

Shopify B2B is available on Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Plus. The first three support up to three active B2B market catalogs and require the new Shopify Markets for catalog features. Plus adds unlimited catalogs, direct catalog assignment to companies or locations, and advanced payment capabilities such as deposits and partial payments.⁸

Map the wholesale workflow before choosing. A small shared catalog and negotiated customer-specific pricing are different requirements.

Separate payment processing from third-party transaction fees

Published US rates:¹

Plan	Standard online card	In-person card	Shopify third-party transaction fee
Basic	2.9% + 30¢	2.6% + 10¢	2%
Grow	2.7% + 30¢	2.5% + 10¢	1%
Advanced	2.5% + 30¢	2.4% + 10¢	0.6%

Premium online cards have higher rates; online international cards carry an additional 1%.¹ Budget for your actual payment mix.

Shopify’s third-party transaction fee is separate from the fee charged by an external payment provider. Orders processed through Shopify Payments are exempt from that third-party fee, but payment processing still has a cost.⁹

There are also specific exceptions and rules. Shopify says stores created on or after May 12, 2025 incur third-party transaction fees on amounts paid with gift cards or store credit. POS orders and manual payment methods are exempt; third-party transaction fees are not returned when an order is refunded.⁹

When could Grow pay for itself?

Here is a narrow, illustrative calculation using monthly billing and only standard domestic online card payments. It compares subscription and processing costs, not the value of extra features.

The upgrade costs $66 more per billing period and reduces the percentage rate by 0.002. The fixed per-order charge cancels.¹

Illustrative break-even sales volume: $66 ÷ 0.002 = $33,000 per 30-day billing period.

Below that eligible volume, payment savings alone would not cover the upgrade under these assumptions. Above it, they would. If staff access is essential, however, the operational benefit may justify Grow earlier.

Recalculate using your billing choice and actual transactions. Retail payments, premium cards, international payments, refunds, and external gateways can change the result. This is not a universal revenue threshold or a forecast of your total Shopify bill.

Budget for costs beyond the plan

In-person selling and POS Pro

Shopify advertises POS Pro at an additional $89 per month per location, billed yearly, with features such as staff permissions and more advanced retail operations. Hardware is another budgeting item.¹⁰

For Plus, the first 20 POS Pro locations are included; qualifying use of Shopify Payments as the primary retail payment provider can extend the waiver to the first 200 locations.⁷ Confirm the terms for your retail setup rather than assuming every Plus account includes unlimited locations.

International sales

For US stores using Shopify Payments, a 1.5% currency-conversion fee applies when the customer pays in a currency different from the payout currency. It does not apply when those currencies match; third-party providers have their own conversion pricing.¹¹

Keep conversion costs separate from card-processing costs in your forecast. Also budget for the shipping, returns, duties, and tax handling involved in your chosen destinations, using quotes and requirements specific to your products.

Apps, domains, and implementation

Apps can have recurring, usage-based, or one-time charges, and some developers bill outside Shopify.¹² Build an app list with an owner, purpose, charging basis, and cancellation process for each item.

Shopify includes hosting and a myshopify.com address; a separate custom domain can be purchased or connected.¹ Include any domain purchase, paid theme, design work, and migration effort in your launch budget.

If you will pay overseas suppliers or contractors, compare those payment costs separately. You can explore Wise Business as one option for that comparison.

Plan for sales tax and payment reporting

Your plan price does not cover your tax obligations. Shopify's help documentation is direct: tax is your responsibility. You may need to charge tax on your sales, then report and remit it. Shopify doesn't file or remit taxes for you unless you use Shopify Tax and set up automated filing.¹³

Payment processors may also send you Form 1099-K. Reporting applies when payments exceed $20,000 and the number of transactions exceeds 200, a threshold that 2025 federal legislation retroactively reinstated. All income is taxable whether or not you receive a form, so keep complete sales records.¹⁴

Make the decision with a short requirements list

Before subscribing, record:

Who needs administrative access.
Which shipping and checkout capabilities are essential.
Whether B2B buyers need shared or customer-specific catalogs.
Expected sales by payment method and sales channel.
The full subscription commitment, apps, hardware, and implementation budget.

Then compare the lowest plan that meets those requirements with the next tier. Keep your assumptions so you can revisit the decision when staffing, channels, or transaction volume changes.

Final Thoughts

Choose a Shopify plan around the store you intend to operate. Confirm eligibility and required features, compare subscription commitments, and calculate payment costs using your own transaction mix. That produces a more useful decision than choosing a plan from its headline price alone.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Can a new business choose Shopify Starter?

Shopify’s current documentation says Starter is unavailable to new stores. Existing users cannot return after changing plans.³

Does annual pricing mean I pay the lower amount each month?

No. The advertised monthly equivalent represents an upfront annual subscription charge.²

Do I need Plus to sell wholesale?

No. B2B is available on the core store plans, with catalog and payment capabilities varying by tier.⁸

Can I change my Shopify plan later?

Yes. When you upgrade, Shopify bills you immediately and prorates the new plan from the upgrade date. A downgrade takes effect at the end of your current billing cycle. Switching from annual to monthly billing also waits for the annual cycle to end and can mean losing features included with the annual plan.¹⁵

Save Time and Hassle With Wise Business

Wise is not a bank, but a Money Services Business (MSB) provider and a smart alternative to banks. Wise makes it easy to send, hold, and manage business funds in 40+ currencies. You can get major currency account details for a one-off fee to receive overseas payments like a local. Simply add the local account details when billing international customers to receive international payments with no fees.

Account opening is 100% online, with no need to visit a branch or book appointments.

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Some key benefits of Wise Business include:
Major local account details to receive international payments with ease No monthly account fees just a simple one-off fee for account details Receive payments from e-commerce platforms such as Amazon or via Stripe. Free invoicing tool to generate and send invoices. Create invoices using the Wise invoice generator or invoice templates. Accounting integrations, including a QuickBooks Bill Pay connection. Bill payments will be synced, matched, and categorized in QuickBooks for simple reconciliation. Access to BatchTransfer. Fast payment of up to 1,000 people.

Some key benefits of Wise Business include:

Major local account details to receive international payments with ease
No monthly account fees just a simple one-off fee for account details
Receive payments from e-commerce platforms such as Amazon or via Stripe.
Free invoicing tool to generate and send invoices. Create invoices using the Wise invoice generator or invoice templates.
Accounting integrations, including a QuickBooks Bill Pay connection. Bill payments will be synced, matched, and categorized in QuickBooks for simple reconciliation.
Access to BatchTransfer. Fast payment of up to 1,000 people.

Sources

*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.

We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.