Is Shopify Worth It?

“Is Shopify worth it?” has no single answer, so this page lays out what Shopify publishes about cost and what the answer depends on. It does not repeat our Shopify review or Shopify fees page, which have the full plan and feature tables; it links to them. US prices were read from Shopify’s pricing page on 2026-10-16, and Shopify’s help center on 2026-10-16. Shopify shows prices by country, so check your market. This is general information, not financial advice, and we have not tested Shopify hands-on.

What you pay, in order

1. The plan. On the US pricing page: Basic $39 a month (or $29 billed yearly), Grow $105 ($89), Advanced $399 ($359), and Plus from $2,300 a month. Shopify’s help center says annual billing charges the full year upfront and presents a lower effective monthly rate, and that plan charges are generally non-refundable.
2. Card processing. With Shopify Payments the online standard card rate is 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, 2.7% + 30¢ on Grow and 2.5% + 30¢ on Advanced. Shopify also lists higher premium and international card rates, and in-person rates of 2.6% + 10¢, 2.5% + 10¢ and 2.4% + 10¢ on the same three plans.
3. Any outside gateway. Using another provider adds a Shopify fee of 2%, 1%, 0.6% or 0.2% by plan; see Shopify Payments vs third-party gateways.
4. Add-ons. The page lists POS Pro at $89 a month per location for physical storefronts.
5. Everything else. Apps, themes, domains and shipping are outside what we checked.

A worked example

A store that sells 100 orders of $50 in a month, all online through Shopify Payments on the Basic plan with monthly billing: card fees are 2.9% of $5,000 = $145 plus 100 × $0.30 = $30, so $175, and the plan is $39, for $214 in total, or about 4.3% of sales. On yearly billing the plan is $29 a month, for $204, about 4.1%. At 20 orders the same plan fee is a much larger share, which is why very small stores should do this sum before committing. These are published rates applied to made-up volumes, not a prediction for your store.

Questions that decide it

• Do you sell in person too? Shopify’s pricing page says you can sell online and in person on every plan, with POS Pro as an add-on. If your sales are mostly in person, compare POS systems first: see how to choose a POS system.
• Is Shopify Payments available to you? Shopify says it is only available in certain countries and regions. Without it you pay third-party fees.
• What will your sales volume be? Plan price is a fixed cost, card fees scale with sales. The breakeven between plans depends on your volume; our fees page calculates it.
• Do you need the features of a higher plan? Shopify lists features by plan on its pricing page and in our review.
• Is an invoice or payment link enough? If you sell a few services or items, a hosted payment link may cover it; see online invoices and payment links.

For the setup order, see how to start an online store, and if you plan to advertise on Google, Google Merchant Center for Shopify sellers.

What we did not verify

We did not verify Shopify’s claims about conversion rates or ecosystem size, any app or theme costs, shipping rates, or how Shopify compares with other platforms on features. We have not used Shopify ourselves. We read the US pricing page from a US connection on 2026-10-16; Shopify shows different plan prices to visitors in other countries.