Shopify markets itself as the platform that takes no cut of your sales. That is technically true — there is no marketplace commission on products you sell through your own store. But Shopify is not free, and the cost structure is layered in ways that catch sellers who price for the plan subscription and stop there. There is a monthly plan. There is payment processing. There is a third-party transaction fee if you use the wrong gateway. And then there is the app stack — the six to eight apps most stores install, each with its own monthly subscription, quietly adding up to a real percentage of revenue.
This guide walks through each layer, what the 2026 numbers look like, and how to model true profit per order rather than gross margin. It is educational reading, not financial advice.
Who this guide is for
This guide is written for Shopify store owners and covers Shopify's published pricing and payment structure as of September 2026. It also covers typical app cost ranges based on publicly available data from the Shopify ecosystem.
Shopify's plans, prices, and processing rates vary by country and change periodically. The figures here reflect publicly published 2026 rates for US sellers and should be verified on Shopify's official pricing page before making decisions. App costs vary widely by category, store size, and the specific apps installed.
Key takeaways
- Shopify's 2026 plans are Starter ($5), Basic ($29–$39), Grow ($79–$105), Advanced ($299–$399), and Plus (from $2,300), depending on annual vs monthly billing.
- Shopify Payments processing runs 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic down to 2.25% + 30¢ on Plus for online card transactions.
- Using a non-Shopify gateway adds a third-party transaction fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, and 0.2% on Plus.
- Average app spend runs $100–$200/month for stores under $10k monthly revenue and $200–$400/month at $10k–$30k.
- Because app spend is measured against revenue, a $200/month app stack on a 10% net margin store is 20% of profit.
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The three parts of a Shopify bill
Shopify's pricing has three distinct components, and most confusion about "what Shopify costs" comes from mixing them up. The monthly plan is a fixed subscription. Payment processing is a per-transaction fee that applies regardless of plan. The third-party transaction fee is an additional charge that applies only when payments are processed outside Shopify Payments. Everything else — apps, themes, POS hardware, shipping labels — sits outside these three and is optional in the sense that the store can theoretically run without them.
Plan tiers and monthly subscription costs
Shopify renamed its middle plan from "Shopify" to "Grow" in late 2025 and adjusted pricing across tiers. The table below shows the 2026 tiers as published.
| Plan | Annual billing (per month) | Monthly billing | Positioning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $5 | $5 | Social selling via links and a simple product page; no full online store |
| Basic | $29 | $39 | Full online store, solo operators |
| Grow | $79 | $105 | Small teams, more staff accounts, higher shipping discounts |
| Advanced | $299 | $399 | Global reach, third-party calculated shipping rates, local storefronts |
| Plus | from $2,300 | from $2,300 | Enterprise, B2B, fully customizable checkout |
The gap between annual and monthly billing is substantial on Basic and Grow — roughly 25% on Basic and 25% on Grow. Sellers who commit to a year pay the lower figure; sellers who prefer flexibility pay the monthly rate. For a store doing steady volume, the annual commitment is typically the cheaper option, but it also locks the seller into the platform for twelve months.
Payment processing fees
Shopify charges a processing fee on every transaction, and the rate depends on which plan the seller is on and whether the sale happens online or in person. For US sellers using Shopify Payments, the 2026 online rates are:
| Plan | Online card rate | In-person card rate |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.6% + 10¢ |
| Grow | 2.7% + 30¢ | 2.5% + 10¢ |
| Advanced | 2.5% + 30¢ | 2.4% + 10¢ |
| Plus | from 2.25% + 30¢ | — |
Two details matter for modeling. First, the 30¢ fixed component hits low-ticket orders harder than high-ticket ones. On a $10 order, 2.9% + 30¢ works out to 5.9% in processing alone. On a $100 order, the same fee is 3.2%. Second, the rate drops as the plan tier increases. A store processing $50,000 per month in online sales pays roughly $1,450 in processing on Basic versus $1,250 on Advanced — a $200 monthly difference that partly offsets the higher plan cost.
The third-party transaction fee — the hidden line
This is the fee most sellers do not see coming. If a store uses a payment provider other than Shopify Payments — for example, processing credit cards directly through Stripe, PayPal, or another gateway — Shopify adds a third-party transaction fee on top of whatever the provider charges. The additional fee is a percentage of the order value and varies by plan.
| Plan | Additional third-party transaction fee |
|---|---|
| Basic | 2% |
| Grow | 1% |
| Advanced | 0.6% |
| Plus | 0.2% |
The fee does not apply to orders processed through Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, Shop Pay Installments, PayPal Express Checkout, or manual payment methods such as cash, cash on delivery, and bank transfers. It does apply when a third-party provider is used for card processing, and it is charged on top of that provider's own fees — it is not a replacement for them.
Why this fee surprises sellers
A seller on the Basic plan who processes a $100 order through a third-party gateway pays that gateway's fee, plus an additional $2 to Shopify. On 200 orders per month, that is $400 in third-party transaction fees that do not appear anywhere in the seller's mental model of "what Shopify costs." It is also the single most avoidable fee on the bill, because switching to Shopify Payments removes it entirely on eligible orders.
App costs — the quiet margin drain
Shopify's app ecosystem is one of its strengths. It is also one of the most underestimated costs in the business model. Shopify's own store includes some functionality — basic SEO, abandoned cart recovery, discount codes, and a limited review system — but most growing stores install third-party apps to cover reviews, email marketing, upsells, shipping, returns, pop-ups, and analytics.
Observed patterns from the Shopify ecosystem suggest the following app spend by store size:
| Monthly store revenue | Typical app spend | App spend as % of revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Under $10,000 | $100–$200/month | 1–2% |
| $10,000–$30,000 | $200–$400/month | 0.7–4% |
| $30,000–$100,000 | $400–$800/month | 0.4–2.7% |
| $100,000+ | $800–$2,000/month | 0.8–2% |
The average Shopify store installs between six and eight apps. The table below shows typical monthly cost ranges by category, based on publicly available app pricing.
| Category | Typical monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Reviews | $15–$99 |
| Email / SMS | $45–$350 |
| Upsells / cross-sells | $20–$50 |
| SEO | $20–$40 |
| Shipping | $25–$100 |
| Pop-ups / conversion | $25–$75 |
| Returns | $30–$100 |
| Analytics | $0–$399 |
| Page builder | $25–$100 |
The key insight is not the absolute number — it is the ratio. App spend is measured against revenue, but it comes out of profit. A store with a 10% net margin spending 2% of revenue on apps is spending 20% of its profit on software. A store with a 5% net margin spending 2% of revenue on apps is spending 40% of its profit.
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Putting it together — a worked example
The fee stack is easiest to understand with a concrete example. The table below models a store selling a $50 product with the following assumptions.
Illustrative assumptions
- Sale price: $50
- Product cost (COGS): $15
- Shipping cost to seller: $6
- Packaging: $0.75
- Ad spend per order: $8
- Monthly orders: 200
- Plan: Basic, billed monthly at $39
- App subscriptions: $150/month
- Refund rate: 4%
- Payment: Shopify Payments, 2.9% + 30¢
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sale price | $50.00 |
| Product cost | –$15.00 |
| Shipping cost | –$6.00 |
| Packaging | –$0.75 |
| Ad spend per order | –$8.00 |
| Payment processing (2.9% + 30¢) | –$1.75 |
| Base profit per order | $18.50 |
| Monthly plan (Basic) | –$39.00 |
| App subscriptions | –$150.00 |
| Refund allowance (4% × $50 × 200 orders) | –$400.00 |
| Total monthly fixed + refund | –$589.00 |
| Allocated per order ($589 ÷ 200) | –$2.95 |
| Net profit per order | $15.55 |
| Net margin | 31.1% |
Now run the same order through a third-party gateway on the Basic plan. The gateway's own processing fee is similar to Shopify Payments, but Shopify adds 2% of the order value — $1.00 on a $50 sale. That additional dollar reduces base profit from $18.50 to $17.50, and net profit from $15.55 to $14.55. The net margin drops from 31.1% to 29.1%. On 200 orders per month, that is $200 less profit for the same sales.
Illustrative scenario — when apps quietly eat the margin
Setup: A store is doing 200 orders per month at $50 average order value with a 31% net margin. Over six months, the owner adds a review app, an email platform, an upsell tool, a pop-up builder, a returns app, and an analytics tool — each seemed necessary at the time.
What changes: App spend rises from $150 to $310 per month. The per-order allocation rises from $0.75 to $1.55. Net profit per order falls from $15.55 to $14.75 — a 5% reduction in per-order profit, without any change in product cost, ad spend, or pricing.
What the owner might do: Audit the app stack against actual usage — which apps are producing measurable value, which are installed but rarely opened, and which overlap in function with each other or with built-in Shopify features.
The point: The app stack is not a fixed cost. It grows incrementally, and each addition feels small. The margin impact only becomes visible when fixed costs are modeled per order rather than as a monthly total.
Common challenges sellers run into
Several issues come up repeatedly for Shopify sellers modeling their true profit. What follows is a general description of each — not prescriptions.
Modeling the plan cost but not the apps
The plan subscription is visible and predictable. The app stack is neither. Because apps are added one at a time, each justified by a specific need, the total is rarely reviewed as a whole. Sellers who track app spend as a monthly total — and allocate it per order — tend to catch the drift earlier than those who see each subscription as an isolated $20 or $50 line.
Using a third-party gateway without realizing the extra fee
Some sellers arrive at Shopify with an existing Stripe or PayPal setup and continue processing through it. Others prefer a specific gateway for features or rates. Either way, the third-party transaction fee applies on top of the gateway's own charges, and it is easy to miss because it appears on the Shopify bill rather than the gateway's statement. Reviewing which payment methods are active — and whether they trigger the fee — is part of getting the cost picture right.
Forgetting the fixed component of processing
The 30¢ per-transaction component in Shopify Payments is small on a $50 order and significant on a $10 order. Sellers of low-ticket products often find that the effective processing rate is higher than the headline percentage suggests, particularly when order values are low. Bundling products or raising average order value is one way sellers address this, though it depends on the product and market.
App pricing that scales with volume
Some app categories — particularly email and SMS — price on contact count or order volume rather than a flat monthly fee. A store that grows from 5,000 to 20,000 email subscribers may see its email app cost rise from $45 to $350 per month without any change in plan tier. Sellers often review these apps' pricing tiers periodically to avoid surprises at renewal.
Currency conversion and multi-currency fees
For stores selling internationally, Shopify Payments charges currency conversion fees when orders are processed in a different currency from the store's payout currency. The specific calculation changed in April 2026, and sellers with international sales typically verify current treatment on Shopify's help pages. On a $50 international order, the fee is typically small in absolute terms, but it accumulates across volume.
Assuming "no marketplace fee" means no fee
Shopify's marketing correctly notes that it does not charge a commission on product sales. That is a meaningful advantage over marketplaces that take 6–15% per sale. But "no commission" is not the same as "no cost." The plan, processing, gateway fees (if applicable), and app subscriptions together form the actual platform cost, and modeling them as a per-order allocation produces a number the seller can compare against marketplace fees on a like-for-like basis.
What to verify directly
Several aspects of Shopify's cost structure vary by country, plan, and time. Sellers typically verify the following directly with Shopify before making pricing or plan decisions:
- Current plan names and prices — Shopify's pricing page is the primary source and is updated as tiers change
- Payment processing rates for your country — published on the Shopify Payments page and varies by region
- Third-party transaction fee percentage for your plan — published in Shopify's help center and varies by tier
- Which payment methods trigger the third-party fee — Shopify's help center lists the methods that are exempt
- Currency conversion fee treatment — the calculation method changed in April 2026; confirm current treatment on Shopify's help pages
- App subscription terms — each app publishes its own pricing, and some scale with volume or contacts
- Annual vs monthly billing implications — the discount for paying annually is significant, but it locks the store into a twelve-month commitment
Because Shopify's fees change and vary by seller, verification should be done at the time of decision rather than assumed from general knowledge or older summaries.
The general principle
Shopify's cost structure is not a single fee — it is a stack of them, and the stack grows as the store grows. The plan subscription is the visible layer. Payment processing is the predictable one. The third-party transaction fee is the avoidable one. The app stack is the quiet one. Sellers who model all four as a per-order allocation tend to price more accurately than those who look only at the plan cost and wonder why the bank account does not match the sales dashboard.
The practical habit is the same one that applies to any platform: put the numbers in one place, allocate fixed costs across orders, and review the result periodically. A store that knows its true profit per order can make pricing, plan, and app decisions with confidence. A store that does not is making them on assumption.
The takeaway
Shopify's advantage is that it does not take a commission on sales. Its challenge is that the costs it does charge are spread across four layers, and the app layer in particular grows without a formal review. Sellers who treat the app stack as a managed cost — rather than a collection of small, individually justified subscriptions — tend to keep a larger share of what they sell.
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