Shopify Plus vs Basic: Price, Features and Break-Even
Shopify Plus vs Basic is a jump from about $27 a month to at least $2,300 a month. Basic is Shopify’s entry plan for new businesses; Plus starts at $2,300 a month on a three-year term ($2,500 on one year) and adds checkout customization, expansion stores, unlimited staff and extra B2B tools. For a growing store the next step is usually Grow or Advanced, because Shopify’s own estimates put the break-even point of those plans far below the size where Plus makes sense.
Plan prices are as shopify.com/pricing showed them in US dollars on October 23, 2026; Plus details and break-even estimates come from the Shopify Help Center pages on the Plus plan and choosing a plan, read the same day. Shopify notes that pricing is subject to change.
Shopify Plus vs Basic at a glance
| Basic | Grow | Advanced | Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price, paid monthly | $27/month | $72/month | $399/month | From $2,300/month (3-year term); $2,500 on a 1-year term |
| Price, paid yearly | $19/month | $54/month | $299/month | Term contract |
| Fee when using a third-party payment provider | 2% | 1% | 0.6% | 0.2% |
| Staff accounts | No additional staff | 5 | 15 | Unlimited |
| Themes in the store | Up to 20 | Up to 20 | Up to 20 | Up to 100 |
| Checkout customization | Standard checkout settings | Standard | Standard | Checkout Branding API, checkout extensions, separate B2B and D2C flows |
| Extra stores | None | None | None | 9 expansion stores |
| B2B | Available on all plans | Available | Available | Plus adds unlimited catalogs, catalogs per company location, deposits, partial payments |
| Support | Standard | Standard | Standard | Priority 24/7 phone and chat |
Card processing rates also fall as plans go up, which is what drives the break-even points below. Shopify’s Help Center points to its pricing page for the current rates in your country.
The Plus price can also have a variable part. For complex or high-volume businesses, Shopify says there may be a variable platform fee based on revenue and business model, different for B2B and D2C orders. Budget for Plus Partners if you need custom development, too.
What Shopify Basic includes
Shopify describes Basic as “best for new businesses that are ready to launch an online store and start making sales”. It has the online store, Shopify’s checkout, discounts, reports and the free Shopify apps. Its main limits are the ones above: no additional staff accounts, the highest card rates, and a 2% fee on top of a third-party provider’s own fees if you do not use Shopify Payments. At the time of reading, the pricing page also offered new stores three days free and then $1 a month for the first three months.
The steps in between: when Grow and Advanced pay for themselves
Higher plans charge lower card fees. Once your sales are high enough, the fee savings cover the higher monthly price. Shopify publishes its own estimates:
| Region | Grow pays off at (with Shopify Payments) | Advanced pays off at (with Shopify Payments) |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $200,000/year | $1,320,000/year |
| United Kingdom, Ireland | $200,000/year | $880,000/year |
| Canada | $300,000/year | $880,000/year |
| Australia | $400,000/year | $1,320,000/year |
If you do not use Shopify Payments, the break-even comes sooner: about $60,000 a year for Grow and $528,000 for Advanced in every listed region, because the third-party transaction fee also drops from 2% to 1% and then 0.6%.
Read the table this way: a US store on Shopify Payments selling $150,000 a year saves money by staying on Basic, unless it needs Grow’s staff accounts or reports. Staff accounts can be a reason to upgrade before the fees justify it, since Basic includes none beyond the owner.
What you get only on Plus
From Shopify’s Plus plan page, the features that matter in practice:
- Checkout customization: the Checkout Branding API for visual changes, checkout extensions, Shopify Functions for custom logic, and separate checkout flows for B2B and D2C customers in one store.
- Expansion stores: 9 extra stores for other countries or locations, each needing its own theme license when live.
- Unlimited staff, and custom user groups to assign permissions in bulk.
- B2B extras: unlimited catalogs, direct catalog assignment to companies and locations, deposits, partial payments, payment requests per fulfillment.
- Enhanced discounting with custom shipping, order and payment discounts beyond the standard limits.
- Launchpad for scheduled promotions and launches.
- Up to 25 Hydrogen storefronts for headless builds.
- POS Pro included for the first 20 locations.
- Email suppression of chosen Shopify notifications.
- Higher API limits, unlimited staging stores and 1 TB of file storage per store.
- Priority 24/7 support by phone and chat.
We build Shopify apps, and two of these items, Shopify Functions in custom apps and the Plus-only API resources, decide which app features a store can use. If an app you rely on lists “Shopify Plus only” for a feature, that feature alone can be the reason to upgrade.
Signs you actually need Plus
- Your checkout needs logic the standard settings cannot express, such as custom payment or shipping rules for certain customers.
- You run, or plan, several stores for different countries or brands and want them under one plan.
- You sell B2B with a separate catalog and price list for each company or location.
- You need more than 15 staff accounts.
- You run flash sales or launches that need scheduled promotions and bot protection at scale.
- Your developers hit API rate limits.
If none of these apply, stay on Basic, Grow or Advanced and use the break-even table. For the full cost of a plan with apps, themes and payment fees, see Shopify fees. If you are deciding whether to move to Shopify at all, read Shopify replatforming. Wholesale features by plan are covered in the B2B and wholesale hub, and more plan topics in running a store.
Frequently asked questions
How much is Shopify Plus a month? In US dollars, Shopify Plus costs $2,300 a month on a three-year term or $2,500 a month on a one-year term, according to Shopify’s Help Center on October 23, 2026. Complex or high-volume businesses may also pay a variable platform fee based on revenue.
Can I move from Basic straight to Plus? Yes, nothing requires you to pass through Grow or Advanced first. Plus is priced per one- or three-year term, and Shopify’s Help Center sends you to the Shopify Plus team for current pricing. Check first whether Grow or Advanced already covers what you need, since both cost far less.
Is Shopify Plus worth it under $1 million in sales? On fees alone, rarely: Shopify’s own break-even for Advanced is $880,000 to $1,320,000 a year in most listed regions when you use Shopify Payments, and Plus costs several times more. Plus is worth it earlier only when you need a Plus-only feature such as checkout customization, expansion stores or B2B catalogs per company.
Does Shopify Plus charge a revenue fee? For standard setups the price is the monthly term fee. For more complex, higher-volume businesses Shopify says there might be a variable platform fee based on revenue and business model, different for B2B and D2C.