Ecommerce Platforms · Website Builders
Shopify review
Hosted ecommerce platform sold in Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus tiers, with payment fees that drop as the plan price rises.
Shopify at a glance
- Category
- Ecommerce Platforms, Website Builders
- Starting price
- $29/month billed yearly ($39 monthly) for Basic
- Pricing model
- flat monthly plan plus payment fees
- Public pricing
- Yes
- Free plan
- No
- Free trial
- Yes
- Contract
- monthly or yearly; Plus 1 or 3 year
- G2 rating
- 4.4 (4,964 reviews)
- Founded
- 2006
- Headquarters
- Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- Employees
- 7,600 (2025)
Who Shopify is for
Choose Shopify if
- Small and mid-size brands that want a hosted store without managing servers.
- Merchants that will use Shopify Payments to avoid the third-party gateway fee.
- Brands that need a path from a cheap plan to Plus without replatforming.
Look elsewhere if
- Merchants that must use an outside payment gateway at low volume (2% extra fee on Basic)
- Teams needing full server-level control of code and data.
- Anyone expecting SSO details on the public pricing page (not stated there)
Shopify pricing
| Plan | Price | Unit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39/mo monthly, $29/mo yearly | per store | Online card 2.1% + EUR 0.30; third-party gateway fee 2%; additional staff not included |
| Grow | $105/mo monthly, $79/mo yearly | per store | Card 1.8% + EUR 0.30; third-party fee 1%; 5 additional staff |
| Advanced | $399/mo monthly, $299/mo yearly | per store | Card 1.6% + EUR 0.30; third-party fee 0.6%; 15 additional staff |
| Plus | From EUR 2,100/mo (no USD figure on vendor page) | per store | Card 1.3% + EUR 0.30; third-party fee 0.2%; unlimited staff; 1 or 3 year term options |
USD yearly prices ($29/$79/$299) and monthly prices ($39/$105/$399) are from Shopify's own pricing and B2B/POS pages; the main pricing page shows EUR. Card rates in the plan notes are the EUR-page values and may differ in USD. Plus: the vendor page shows EUR 2,100 only; no USD price published. Trial shown as 3 days free then EUR 1/month for 3 months. POS Pro add-on EUR 79/mo per location.
What Shopify really costs
- Billing
- Monthly and annual.
- Annual discount
- 25% vs monthly on Basic, Grow, Advanced (Shopify states 25% for yearly)
- Add-ons
- POS Pro EUR 79/month per location.
Shopify features by buying criteria
| Criterion | What we found |
|---|---|
| Hosted versus self-hosted | Hosted SaaS. |
| Payment processing and transaction fees | Shopify Payments online card 2.1% + EUR 0.30 on Basic down to 1.3% + EUR 0.30 on Plus; third-party gateways add 2% / 1% / 0.6% / 0.2% by plan. |
| Scalability and checkout limits | Staff seats rise from none (Basic) to 5, 15 and unlimited (Plus) |
| Pricing model and transparency | Four tiers, about 25% cheaper when paid yearly; fees fall as plan rises. |
| Target company size | Starter stores to enterprise (Plus) |
| Ecommerce capability | Native checkout, POS Pro add-on at EUR 79/mo per location. |
| Hosting, uptime and speed | Vendor-hosted. |
What most Shopify reviews leave out
- Third-party payment gateway fee is 2% on Basic and 0.2% on Plus, on top of the gateway's own fees, so gateway choice changes plan economics.
- Basic includes no additional staff accounts; Grow adds 5, Advanced 15, Plus unlimited.
- Plus starts at EUR 2,100/month and the FAQ offers 1 or 3 year terms.
- Yearly billing cuts the headline price by roughly 25%.
- SSO and SCIM are not stated on the public pricing page.
Shopify alternatives
BigCommerceGrowing stores wanting B2B tools and open APIs on a hosted platform.$29/month billed yearly (Core), $39 monthly
WooCommerceMerchants already on WordPress who want full code control.Free (core); hosting typically $25-$350/month
Wix eCommerceSmall shops and service businesses that want site and store in one editor.Free plan; ecommerce from $29.77/month (Core) billed yearly
Squarespace CommerceBrands and creators that prioritize templates and design.EUR 12/month (Basic, lower of the two shown figures); 14-day trial
Adobe Commerce (Magento)Large merchants with in-house or agency developers.Contact sales
Big CartelArtists and small makers who want a cheap flat-fee store.$15/month (Platinum)
Shopify compared
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from Shopify's own pricing, product or documentation pages, G2 and company records, checked on October 24, 2026. Unknown values are left out instead of estimated.