Reviewed by the SEOPointz team · Last reviewed June 2026. We checked every plan price and processing rate below against Shopify’s current US pricing before publishing, since the tiers were renamed and re-priced recently. SEOPointz may earn a commission from some links; it never changes what we recommend.
Shopify is the default recommendation for a first online store for a simple reason: it removes almost every technical decision you’d otherwise have to make. Hosting, security certificates, payment processing, and inventory all come bundled, so you spend your time on products and customers instead of servers and plugins. The flip side is that the convenience has a monthly cost, and the “real” price depends heavily on which plan you pick and whether you use Shopify’s own payment processor. This guide walks through how to actually build a store and what it costs in 2026, with the trade-offs spelled out.
What you get out of the box
Every Shopify plan includes web hosting, an SSL certificate, unlimited products, and the same core checkout — which is genuinely Shopify’s strongest asset. You don’t patch software, you don’t buy a separate hosting plan, and the checkout is heavily optimized for conversion. You also get a free theme, a mobile point-of-sale option, and access to the Shopify App Store for extending functionality. The catch worth knowing up front: many of the most useful apps are paid monthly subscriptions, so the sticker price of your plan is rarely your total bill.
Building the store, step by step
The setup flow is deliberately linear. After you sign up, you’ll move through roughly these stages:
- Pick and customize a theme. Start with a free theme; you can buy a premium one later once you know what you actually need.
- Add products. Titles, descriptions, photos, prices, and inventory counts. Good photography and honest descriptions do more for conversion here than any app.
- Set up payments. This is the most important financial decision — see the next section.
- Configure shipping and taxes. Define your zones, rates, and any free-shipping thresholds.
- Buy or connect a domain and run a few test orders before you launch.
You can have a basic store live in an afternoon. Making it good — clear navigation, trustworthy product pages, fast pages — is the part that takes real work.
Shopify pricing in 2026
Shopify’s US lineup runs from a lightweight Starter plan up to enterprise Plus. The headline difference between the main tiers is less about features and more about lower payment-processing rates as you scale. Annual billing knocks roughly 25% off the monthly figures.
| Plan | Monthly price (billed monthly) | Best for | Online card rate (Shopify Payments) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $5 | Selling via social/links, no full storefront | — |
| Basic | $39 (about $29 on annual) | New and small stores | 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Grow | About $105 | Growing stores with steady sales | 2.7% + 30¢ |
| Advanced | $399 (about $299 on annual) | Higher-volume merchants | 2.5% + 30¢ |
| Plus | From roughly $2,300 | Enterprise/high-volume | Negotiated |
Shopify frequently runs an introductory offer — recently a 3-day free trial followed by the first three months at $1/month on the main plans — so your first quarter can be very cheap. Just remember the regular rate kicks in afterward, and the in-person (POS) card rates are slightly lower than the online ones on each tier.
The fee most beginners miss
If you use Shopify Payments (the built-in processor), you pay only the card rates above. If you use a third-party gateway instead — say, because you prefer a specific processor — Shopify adds an extra transaction surcharge on top of that gateway’s own fees, ranging from about 0.2% up to 2.0% depending on your plan. That surcharge is the single biggest reason a store’s real Shopify cost ends up higher than expected. For most merchants, the practical advice is straightforward: use Shopify Payments where it’s available, and only reach for a third-party gateway if you have a concrete reason that’s worth the markup.
Where Shopify falls short
Shopify is excellent, but it isn’t the right answer for everyone. Heavy reliance on paid apps means the monthly total can creep well past your plan price. You don’t own the underlying platform, so deep customization can hit walls that an open-source store wouldn’t. And if you mainly sell digital downloads, run a content-first site, or have razor-thin margins where every 0.3% of card fees matters, it’s worth pricing alternatives before committing. For most physical-product sellers who value time over total control, though, the trade is usually a good one.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Shopify really cost per month?
Plan fees start at $39/month for Basic (about $29 on annual billing), but your real cost also includes card-processing fees on every sale and any paid apps you install. Budget above the headline price, not at it.
Do I need the Advanced plan to start?
No. Most new stores should start on Basic and only move up when the savings on processing fees outweigh the higher plan price — that crossover happens at meaningful sales volume, not on day one.
Can I use my own payment processor?
Yes, but unless you’re on Shopify Payments you’ll pay an extra 0.2%–2.0% surcharge per transaction depending on your plan, on top of your processor’s fees. For most sellers, Shopify Payments is the cheaper path.
If you’re still mapping out the basics before committing to a platform, start with our beginner’s guide to ecommerce, then compare your options with choosing the right ecommerce website and what to look for.
