Shopify Pricing Plans 2021: Which Shopify Plan is Best For Me?

If you're thinking of using Shopify for your business, you're probably wondering, "Which Shopify pricing plan is best for me?" You're also probably thinking, "Which Shopify plan is the most cost-effective for me?"

Each plan provides different features, and it can be challenging to work out what you need and what you don't. Plus, if you want to choose the cheapest plan, you need to look beyond the price tag and calculate how the different transaction rates will affect your bottom line.

But that's not all. 

When considering the cost of Shopify, you also need to take into account extra costs and variables, such as Shopify Apps, Shopify's point of sale (POS) system, and Shopify Payments.

So, what do you need to know to choose the right Shopify pricing plan for you? This guide will explore the 5 Shopify pricing plans and some important additional costs to consider.

How Much is Shopify?

How much does Shopify cost per month? In essence, there are 5 Shopify pricing plans to choose from:

• Shopify Lite – $9/month, plus 2.4% and 30¢ per transaction. This Shopify plan allows you to take payments online and in-person, but you don't get an ecommerce website.

• Basic Shopify – $29/month, plus 2.9% and 30¢ per transaction. Shopify's Basic plan is the platform's entry-level plan and gives you an ecommerce website and core features.

• Shopify – $79/month, plus 2.6% and 30¢ per transaction. This is Shopify's main offering which provides a few extra features than the Basic Shopify plan — we'll refer to this plan as "Shopify (regular)" throughout the rest of this article.

• Shopify Advanced – $299/month, plus 2.4% and 30¢ per transaction. This Shopify pricing plan is much the same as the standard plan, with a few additional key features.

• Shopify Plus – $2000+/month, plus transaction fees. This is Shopify's enterprise ecommerce solution. Shopify Plus pricing differs depending on your needs but starts at $2,000/month.

It's also worth mentioning that Shopify offers a free 14-day trial to help you discover which features and fees make sense for your business.

Which Shopify Plan is Best For Me?

When considering which plan is best for you, a good place to start is with the features list shown on Shopify's pricing page.

Firstly, you may be wondering why Shopify Lite and Shopify Plus haven't been included in the table. In short, these two plans have very specific use cases and aren't like the other 3 plans.

Now, if you look closely, you'll notice that there are only a few key differences between each of the 3 main Shopify plans.

In the image below, I've highlighted the two main differences between Shopify pricing plans: reporting features and transaction fees.

Aside from reporting tools and transaction fees, there are also a few slight differences in the number of staff accounts and inventory locations available, as well as the shipping and global selling features offered.

It's absolutely worth weighing up each of the different features available on each plan. However, if you want to choose the cheapest Shopify plan for your business, you need to pay the most attention to Shopify's transaction fees.

Now, let's take a closer look at each Shopify pricing plan.

1. Shopify Lite

Shopify Lite Pricing: $9/month, plus 2.4% and 30¢ per transaction.

Shopify Lite isn't like the 3 main Shopify plans as it doesn't provide an ecommerce website. Instead, it offers only the core sales functionality of Shopify, such as the ability to take payments and manage inventory.

The image below outlines the core features of Shopify Lite:

No ecommerce website? Yep. So, why use Shopify Lite?

Shopify Lite is a good choice for anyone who doesn't need an ecommerce website but wants to start selling in-person or online.

For example, if you run a market stall, you could use Shopify Lite to take credit card payments. You can also use Shopify Lite to add customizable 'Buy Now' buttons to an existing website and sell via social media channels, such as a Facebook Shop or Messenger.

2. Basic Shopify

Basic Shopify Pricing: $29/month, plus 2.9% and 30¢ per transaction.

The Basic Shopify plan is the platform's entry-level offering. When considering Shopify Lite vs. Basic, the most significant difference is that Basic Shopify provides a fully-fledged ecommerce website.

Now, if you want an ecommerce website, should you go with the Basic Shopify plan or upgrade to Shopify or Shopify Advanced?

First, consider the key differences in features:

• Do you need 2 or fewer staff accounts?
• Are 4 inventory locations enough?
• Can you go without professional and advanced reporting?
• Can you get by without showing actual calculated shipping rates at the checkout?
• Are you looking to sell in only one country for now?

If you answered "yes" to all of these questions, Basic Shopify is for you! 

… unless your store makes more than $16,333 in sales per month. 

At this point, the 0.3% transaction fee difference between Basic Shopify and Shopify (regular) means that you'll save money by opting for Shopify (regular).

3. Shopify (Regular)

Shopify Pricing: $79/month, plus 2.6% and 30¢ per transaction.

Shopify (regular) offers a few additional features over the Basic Shopify plan. Here are some questions to help you determine if this plan is right for you:

• Do you need 3 to 5 staff accounts?
• Do you need 5 inventory locations?
• Is professional reporting sufficient — can you go without advanced reporting?
• Can you get by without showing real calculated shipping rates at the checkout?
• Do you want to sell internationally?
• Do you plan to sell products for the same prices when selling internationally?

If you answered "yes" to all these questions, sign up for Shopify (regular)!

… unless your store generates more than $110,000 in sales per month. 

At this stage, the 0.2% transaction fee difference makes it cost-effective to upgrade to Shopify Advanced.

4. Shopify Advanced

Shopify Advanced Pricing: $299/month, plus 2.4% and 30¢ per transaction.

Now, let's consider the main differences in features between Shopify (regular) and Shopify Advanced — do you need:

• 6 to 15 staff accounts?
• Up to 8 inventory locations?
• Access to advanced reporting features?
• To show real calculated shipping rates at the checkout?
• To sell products for different prices when selling internationally?

If this sounds about right, the Shopify Advanced plan may be the best solution for your business.

5. Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus Pricing: $2000+/month, plus transaction fees.

Shopify Plus is the platform's enterprise solution and starts at $2,000 per month. Shopify Plus states that "for more complex, higher-volume business structures, our variable fee option flexes with your requirements." 

To find out more about your particular pricing requirements, you'll need to talk to a Shopify Plus expert.

Shopify Plus merchants gain access to additional benefits, such as lower transaction fees, a dedicated launch engineer, and the ability to customize critical aspects of your website, such as the checkout experience.

What's more, if you choose Shopify Plus there's plenty of extra features available, such as:

• Shopify Launchpad — Shopify's automation tool for running promotions and sales
• Shopify Flow — Shopify's backend automation platform allows you to set up and manage custom workflows to automate repetitive tasks.
• Shopify Plus Wholesale, which allows you to create a wholesale storefront that's an extension of your existing store. This way, you can manage your retail, business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-business (B2B) sales from one integrated dashboard.
• Omnichannel commerce capabilities that enable you to manage unique customer relationships across many touchpoints online.
• The ability to create and optimize multiple international online stores.

Now, let's explore some other important Shopify pricing considerations.

Shopify Payments

Shopify Payments Pricing: Avoid 2%, 1%, 0.5%, or 0.15% transaction fees on Basic Shopify, Shopify (regular), Shopify Advanced, and Shopify Plus, respectively.

Shopify Payments is the platform's proprietary payment solution that makes it effortless to start taking credit card payments online.

There are two ways to process credit card payments through Shopify — you can use a third-party provider or Shopify Payments.

Here's the deal: If you don't use Shopify Payments, you'll be charged an additional transaction fee for using a third-party payment provider. These transaction fees are:

• Basic Shopify – 2%
• Shopify (regular) – 1%
• Shopify Advanced – 0.5%

For this reason, it makes financial sense to use Shopify Payments.

Shopify Apps

Shopify App Pricing: Depends on the apps used — most apps charge a small monthly fee.

The Shopify App Store is home to more than 6,000 apps that can help you extend and customize your website's functionality.

For example, Oberlo enables you to select and sell dropshipped products on your store. There are also many apps that can help you to:

• Increase conversions
• Improve search engine rankings
• Increase social media sales
• Fulfill products more efficiently 

It's important to remember that Shopify's pricing plans don't cover the costs of these third-party applications — and you'll likely want to use at least a handful of them.

So, how much do Shopify apps cost? It depends on the app, but most charge a monthly recurring fee.

It's not uncommon for stores to spend hundreds of dollars each month on apps. So, it's worth taking into account these fees when considering the cost of Shopify.

Shopify Point of Sale (POS)

Shopify POS Pricing: $89/month, plus hardware costs.

All Shopify plans (including Shopify Lite) come with fairly comprehensive POS features. 

However, you may want to consider purchasing Shopify's POS add-on for $89 per month to access additional POS features. 

You should also take into account any Shopify POS Hardware you'll need to purchase.

Shopify Domains

Shopify Domain Pricing: $9/year.

When you sign up for Shopify, you'll get a free "www.storename.myshopify.com" domain. However, you'll probably want to upgrade to a custom domain name.

To do this, you can purchase a domain from a third party like GoDaddy or NameCheap or secure a domain name with Shopify Domains from $9 per year.

Shopify Email

Shopify Email Pricing: Send 2,500 free emails per month for free and then pay $1 for every 1,000 additional emails.

Email marketing is an essential aspect of ecommerce sales, so it's worth noting that Shopify offers an email service.

Users can opt to use Shopify Email instead of a third-party service like MailChimp or Active Campaign.

Shopify Email allows you to send up to 2,500 emails per month for free. After that, you'll pay $1 for every additional 1,000 emails — which works out to be $0.001 per email.

Shopify Discounts

Shopify Discount Price: 10% discount when paying for 1 year upfront and 20% discount when paying for 2 years upfront. Plus, annual plans provide access to additional features.

You can benefit from considerable Shopify discounts when you opt for Shopify's annual plan and pay for your subscription annually or biennially. 

These annual pricing discounts aren’t promoted on Shopify's pricing page, however, you can save:

• 10% if you pay for a year in advance
• 20% if you pay for 2 years in advance

For example, if you opt for Shopify (regular) at $79 per month, you'll save $94.80 if you pay for 1 year in advance and $186.60 if you pay for 2 years in advance.

Not bad, right?

Final Thoughts: Which Shopify Plan is Best for Me?

Choosing a Shopify plan doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming. Here's a quick roadmap to help you figure out which Shopify pricing plan is best for you:

• Start by evaluating the features available on each Shopify pricing plan. The best plan for you may be obvious based on the features you need.
• Take into account Shopify's transaction fees. If you bring in less than $16,333 per month, Basic Shopify is the most economical choice — over that amount, it makes sense to consider Shopify (regular).
• Consider additional Shopify costs, such as app subscriptions, domain fees, and Shopify Email fees.
• Remember, you can avoid additional transaction fees by using Shopify Payments. Plus, you can save 10% with Shopify's annual plan.

Finally, don't fret too much about choosing the perfect Shopify plan for you — you can always change your Shopify plan in the future.

Sign up for Shopify's free trial to explore further.

Want to Learn More?

• What is Shopify and How Does It Work
• Question: Are You a Business Owner or an Entrepreneur?
• Do You Have An Entrepreneurial Spirit? Find Out Here (With Quotes)
• How to Change Your Life Completely in 10 Powerful Steps