Shopify Fees Explained: What You Really Pay Each Month
Shopify fees come in five parts: the monthly plan price, a card rate on every card payment, a third-party transaction fee if you take payments outside Shopify Payments, the apps and theme you add, and your domain and email. Shopify does not take a commission on sales made through Shopify Payments; you pay the plan price and the card rate. In the worked example below, the plan is the smallest line; card fees and apps are larger.
The fee types
| Fee | What it is | How much | Grows with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan price | The subscription for using Shopify | US list prices on October 31, 2026: Basic $27 a month ($19 billed yearly), Grow $72 ($54), Advanced $399 ($299), Plus from $2,300 | Your plan and billing cycle |
| Card rate | What Shopify Payments charges to accept cards | Varies by plan, and between online and in-person payments; see the pricing page for your country | Every card payment |
| Third-party transaction fee | Shopify’s fee when you use another payment provider | 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, 0.2% on Plus (US pricing page, October 31, 2026) | Sales through that provider |
| Apps and theme | Monthly app subscriptions; a paid theme bought once | Set by each developer | Number of apps |
| Domain and email | A custom domain; an email host | Domains bought through Shopify renew yearly, separately from your plan | One per domain |
Shopify’s pricing overview, read on October 23, 2026, sets the rules behind the table. Plans bill on a 30-day cycle, in euros, pounds, US dollars or Indian rupees depending on your location, and an annual cycle charges the full year upfront at a lower effective monthly rate. Plan charges are generally non-refundable. Card rates are paid to Shopify only; you pay nothing to Visa or Mastercard directly. Two rules are easy to miss: card fees are not returned when you refund an order, and since Brexit, Shopify charges UK–EU card payments at the international rate for your region.
Third-party transaction fees: when they apply
Shopify charges its third-party transaction fee in two situations:
- You use another payment provider to take card payments, because Shopify Payments is not available in your country or you prefer another provider. That provider then charges its own card rates on top.
- An order is paid partly or fully with store credit or a gift card, on stores created on or after May 12, 2025. The fee applies only to the amount paid that way: Shopify’s example is a customer paying by card through Shopify Payments plus $10 CAD of store credit, where the fee is charged on the $10. Older stores are exempt.
With Shopify Payments, these payment methods carry no third-party fee: Shopify Payments itself, Shop Pay, Shop Pay Installments, and manual methods such as cash, cash on delivery and bank transfer. With Shopify Payments as your primary provider, PayPal transactions are exempt too. The provider choice is covered in Shopify Payments.
Apps, themes, domains and email
Plan comparisons leave these out, and for a small store they can pass the plan price.
- Apps charge monthly, and their pricing unit varies: per order, per contact, per email, per product. Check the unit on each listing; an app that is cheap at 100 orders can be the biggest line at 2,000.
- Themes are free in the Theme Store or a one-time purchase from the developer; paid theme sales are final.
- Domains bought through Shopify renew every year, charged separately from your plan, at a price that depends on the extension. A domain you bought elsewhere costs whatever your provider charges.
- Email: Shopify does not host mailboxes, so a
you@yourstore.cominbox needs an email provider.
Uninstall apps you no longer use. Shopify warns that if you pause or deactivate a store, app charges can continue until the apps are uninstalled.
Worked example
A US store on Basic, billed monthly, with 200 orders a month at an average of $50, so $10,000 in sales. For the arithmetic only, assume an illustrative card rate of 2.9% + 30¢ per online payment; check the current rate for your plan on Shopify’s pricing page.
| With Shopify Payments | With a third-party provider | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | $27 | $27 |
| Card fees | 2.9% × $10,000 + 200 × $0.30 = $350 | The provider’s own rate, say the same $350 |
| Third-party transaction fee | $0 | 2% × $10,000 = $200 |
| Apps (three at $10–$20) | $45 | $45 |
| Total | $422 | $622 |
The same store billed yearly pays $19 a month instead of $27, saving $96 a year. Moving to Grow lowers the third-party fee to 1% and, according to Shopify’s plan comparison, lowers card rates too; Shopify’s own break-even estimate for Grow in the US is $200,000 a year in sales with Shopify Payments. Shopify’s break-even for Grow without Shopify Payments is $60,000 a year, so at $120,000 the third-party column says upgrade: the fee drops from $2,400 to $1,200 a year against $540 more in plan cost. With Shopify Payments, $120,000 is below the $200,000 break-even, and Basic stays cheaper. When the upgrade does pay is in Shopify Plus vs Basic, and how to book the fees and payouts in bookkeeping apps. Other operations guides are in the running a store hub.
Frequently asked questions
Does Shopify take a percentage of sales? Shopify charges no commission on sales through Shopify Payments; you pay the card rate on card payments. It charges a third-party transaction fee (2% on Basic in the US) on sales through other providers, and on store credit and gift card payments for stores created on or after May 12, 2025.
Are card fees refunded when I refund an order? Shopify’s pricing overview says credit card transaction fees are not returned when you refund an order. Factor that into your returns policy and your margin.
Is annual billing cheaper? Annual billing charges the full year upfront at a lower effective monthly price: in the US on October 31, 2026, Basic was $19 a month billed yearly against $27 billed monthly. Plan charges are generally non-refundable, so choose yearly once you know the store will run.