Shopify fees explained: where the money actually goes

Shopify changes its prices and plan details from time to time, so this guide explains how the costs are structured rather than quoting figures. For current numbers, check Shopify's own pricing page and the pricing pages of any apps you plan to use.

The layers of cost

A Shopify shop usually pays in five places:

1. The plan subscription: a fixed monthly or annual fee for the platform itself.
2. Payment processing: a percentage plus, often, a fixed amount on every card payment.
3. Transaction fees: an extra percentage on some plans if you use a payment provider other than Shopify's own.
4. Apps: extra features from the app store, many billed monthly.
5. Design and extras: paid themes, a domain, developer time and optional services.

The first is fixed. The second and third grow with your sales. The fourth tends to grow with your ambitions. That mix is why two shops on the same plan can have very different total costs.

Plans and what changes between them

Shopify offers several plan tiers. Moving up a tier costs more per month but usually brings lower card processing rates and lower transaction fees, plus features such as more staff accounts, more detailed reports or extra shipping options. Paying annually is normally cheaper than paying monthly.

For a small shop, the useful question is not "which plan has the most features?" but "at what level of monthly sales does the higher plan pay for itself through lower fees?" You can work that out once you know the rates on Shopify's current pricing page and your own expected sales.

Payment and transaction fees

This is the part most people underestimate, because it scales with every sale.

Using Shopify Payments

Shopify's built-in payment processing charges a rate per card payment that depends on your plan, and rates can differ for online, in-person, international and certain card types. Wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay usually go through the same processing.

Using another payment provider

If you use a different card gateway, you pay that provider's fees, and on some plans Shopify adds its own transaction fee on top. This is the main reason the choice of payment provider matters more on Shopify than on many other platforms.

Other payment costs

• PayPal charges its own fees for PayPal payments, separate from card processing.
• Currency conversion fees can apply when you sell in more than one currency.
• Chargebacks usually carry a fee on top of the refunded amount.
• Refunds: check whether the original processing fee is returned to you when you refund a customer.

Apps: where costs quietly grow

Shopify's core is deliberately lean, and many shops add apps for things like product reviews, subscriptions, product options, bundles, upsells, translations, wholesale pricing, better search or email marketing. Each app sets its own pricing. Common structures include:

• A flat monthly fee, sometimes with a free tier for small shops.
• Tiers based on the number of orders, products or contacts.
• A percentage or per-order charge on revenue the app is involved in.

Individually these look modest. Together, five or ten apps can cost more than the plan itself. They also add up in another way: some apps leave code in your theme after you remove them, which can slow the shop down. Before installing an app, check whether your theme or plan already does the job.

Themes, domains and the rest

Shopify offers free themes and a marketplace of paid ones, usually sold as a one-off purchase. A domain is billed yearly, whether bought through Shopify or elsewhere. Some built-in tools, such as email marketing, include a free allowance and then charge by usage. If you need custom design or features no app provides, developer time is a separate cost, and Shopify's theme language means you need someone familiar with it.

How to compare the total cost

To compare Shopify fairly against another platform, estimate a typical month rather than looking at the plan price. Use a simple worksheet:

1. Fixed monthly costs: plan fee (annual divided by twelve if paid yearly), plus every app with a flat fee, plus a monthly share of theme and domain costs.
2. Percentage costs: your expected monthly sales multiplied by the card processing rate, plus any transaction fee if you use another gateway.
3. Per-order costs: the fixed amount per transaction multiplied by your expected number of orders, plus any per-order app charges.
4. Usage-based extras: email sends, currency conversion and similar items.

Do this for your expected sales now and for double that figure, because the ranking between platforms can change as you grow. Then do the same exercise for the alternative.

Cost line	Shopify	WooCommerce
Platform	Monthly or annual plan fee	Software is free; you pay for hosting
Card processing	Shopify Payments or another gateway	Your chosen gateway's fees
Platform transaction fee	On some plans if you do not use Shopify Payments	None from WooCommerce itself
Extra features	Apps, often billed monthly	Plugins: many free, some paid yearly
Maintenance	Handled by Shopify	Updates by you or your host

For a wider comparison of the two platforms beyond cost, see WooCommerce vs Shopify for UK shops.

When Shopify is still the right choice

Fees are not the whole story. Shopify suits shop owners who want everything in one account, do not want to think about hosting or updates, and are happy to pay a growing share of sales for that convenience. If your sales are small and steady and you use few apps, the total may be perfectly reasonable.

The picture changes when apps pile up, when you want features Shopify does not allow, or when your sales grow to the point where percentage fees become a significant monthly cost. At that stage, many owners look at WooCommerce, where the software is open source and the shop and its data are yours. Our guide on moving from Shopify to WooCommerce explains what the switch involves, and on Retail Web Hosting the Shop Pro plan includes moving your shop for you; see moving from Shopify for the details.

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