Shopify Cost – How Much Does Shopify Store Cost Per Month?
- Mar-04-2020
- Ameer Rizvi
- 4 comments
Shopify is the most popular and powerful eCommerce website management platform today, powering over 800,000 eStores across 175 countries. Wantrepreneurs and entrepreneurs are quickly adopting the idea and joining the flow.
It is one of the most searched ecommerce platform, outranking the competition with a huge margin.
With all its popularity a store on this platform does come with costs attached. Today’s article takes a closer look at exactly how much a Shopify store costs.
Let’s look at the summary of the prices of different plans to understand Shopify cost. Currently, Shopify is offering 5 different pricing plans,
- Shopify Basic ($29/month) – Best for starting a new online business.
- Shopify ($79/month) – Best for growing up a current business.
- Shopify Advanced ($299/month) – All required features included to scaling up a business.
- Shopify Lite ($9/month) – To sell on Facebook with messenger chat support.
- Shopify Plus ($2000/month) – Enterprise-grade solution for high-level merchants.
How to Choose The Right Shopify Cost Plan
It doesn’t matter if you’re a newbie e-commerce retailer or an already established retailer in the market, Shopify pricing plans are flexible enough to suit your needs. Shopify monthly fee structure is designed to give you a simple way of choosing a plan suited for your business needs.
Every single Shopify payment plan offers the basic functionality that you will require to run your online business smoothly, but there are loads of extra features to be achieved and also possible savings to be made from choosing the right plan. So, let’s see how much does Shopify costs per month.
Pricing and Plans Shopify
From the basic Shopify plan to an enterprise solution, if you are migrating from another e-commerce platform or just starting out in the e-commerce world, here’s how you can choose the right plan and decide your Shopify monthly cost. If you were wondering how much does it cost to start an online store then you can see the exact costs of Shopify monthly plans below.
Shopify Lite:
The Lite plan gives you the tools for selling products on Facebook, accepting payments via credit card and using Buy buttons on your site.
It’s not a full-fledged online store with a shopping cart, but it works great for smaller companies and people who are just starting out.
It’s suitable for you if you are just trying to install a basic Buy button on an existing blog or podcast site.
A new feature involves the use of Facebook Messenger app, which comes included with Shopify Lite. It enables you to chat with your customers directly through the Messenger app.
Who is Shopify Lite best for?
The purpose of Shopify Lite is to add e-commerce functionality to your already live blog or site. Therefore, you need a fully working website already setup on the web.
So, Shopify Lite is best for people who are starting out with the e-commerce business and want to see how it works out. This plan is great if you want to keep your Shopify cost per month very low.
Since you can start using it on Facebook or your blog, it makes it easier to test without having to make any extra investments. The cost of Shopify lite plan really makes it worth a try.
Pricing: Shopify Lite costs $9 per month + Transaction fees of 2.9% + 30¢ (Shopify Payment Online); 2.7% (Shopify Payment in-person); 2% (if you are using your own payment processor)
Basic Shopify:
The Shopify Basic plan is all about extra features that include, but not limited to a robust discount code system, a tool for fraud analysis, and it allows you to upload unlimited products to your store.
The main feature is that you get access to a full-fledged store and blog. So, it manages everything, and you don’t require a separate site.
Other perks that are included with Basic Shopify plan are SSL certificate for your store, manual order creation, unlimited storage for files, shipping labels, and free support available 24/7.
Who is Basic Shopify best for?
Basic Shopify is perfect for people who are looking for an aesthetically attractive and functional online store, but they don’t want the extra features that come with higher plans.
It’s best for people who are looking for a functional store and want to upgrade from the Lite plan.
Pricing: Basic Shopify costs $29 per month + Transaction fees of 2.9% + 30¢ (Shopify Payment Online); 2.7% (Shopify Payment in-person); 2% (if you are using your own payment processor)
Shopify:
The Shopify plan comes with all the features of the previous plans with soe extra capabilities and features that include, but not limited to abandoned cart recovery, more reporting stats, and gift cards for your store.
It also boasts lower processing fees for sellers using the native Payments method.
Who is Shopify best for?
Sellers who are selling more than $25,000 per month, then Shopify plan is definitely suitable for them. It is perfect for sellers who are dealing in high volumes and want advanced features that are not available in the previous plans.
Pricing: Shopify costs $79 per month + Transaction fees of 2.6% + 30¢ (Shopify Payment Online); 2.5% (Shopify Payment in-person); 1% (if you are using your own payment processor)
Advanced Shopify:
Advanced Shopify plan comes fully-loaded with all the features of previous plans and includes some extra perks like real-time shipping rates, customizable reporting, and lowest processing rates for Shopify Payments.
Who is Advanced Shopify best for?
Store owners who make more than $110,000 per month in sales, should move to Advanced Shopify because it provides them with all the required features for their high volume store.
Pricing: Shopify costs $299 per month + Transaction fees of 2.4% + 30¢ (Shopify Payment Online); 2.4% (Shopify Payment in-person); 0.5% (if you are using your own payment processor)
That’s not it. If you even outgrow the Advanced Shopify plan then they offer an Enterprise plan which is tailored according to your business needs.
It’s pricing vary according to your business size, budget, and needs overall. So, everyone will get different pricing for their Shopify Plus plans. It’s perfect for full-fledged businesses.
How much does Shopify Hosting Cost?
Every paid subscription comes with complete hosting features included. You will not have to worry about scaling and maintaining servers, nor will you need a hosting provider. In case you do consider using a hosting provider the cost can escalate to $30 per month. But with hosting already included in your subscription for free there is no need to add the monthly cost. The cost of Shopify covers the hosting as well.
In case you do want to host the website from an external server, here are some leading hosting providers to look at & compare:
How much does Shopify charge per transaction?
It’s one of the most common questions that most beginners and zero investment entrepreneurs ask.
Yes, Shopify does charge per transaction if you are using external payment gateways on your eStore. There are two ways to setup payment processing on online eStores. You can either use the default Shopify Payments service powered by Stripe, or, consider using external payment gateways like PayPal etc.
When using Shopify Payments, you can accept credit/debit cards and there will be no transaction fee. In case you are using an external payment gateway like PayPal or Authorize.net, they will charge you as follows depending on your subscription:
- Basic Shopify – 2.0% Per Transaction
- Shopify – 1.0% Per Transaction
- Advanced Shopify – 0.5% Per transaction
Shopify POS (Point of Sale)
Shopify POS or Point of Sale is a service designed for iPads & iPhones. POS allows sellers to sell products from their Shopify eStore or physical store in person. The primary purpose expands the presence of small-scale business to a larger audience.
Shopify POS comes bundled with all paid Plans, and can be used for free with all subscriptions. If you wish to include additional Retail features it costs an additional $45 that you can add to your subscription at any time.
Shopify POS Cost with Shopify Lite
You can only use Shopify POS if you are subscribed to one of their packages, but the app is free to download from the App Store. So, in case you don’t wish to spend too much, try the minimal Shopify Lite Plan.
Shopify Lite costs $9 per month, and provides access to Shopify POS. If you require Retail features another $45 will be required. Shopify Lite allows sellers to create a Facebook Shop and sell directly on the social platform with a popular Shop Now button feature.The Retail Package offers two great benefits to sellers:
- The ability to integrate hardware with your Shopify eStore or physical store to accept payments, scan products, and print receipts
- Safely accept Chip & Pin, Swipe, and Tap payments (Apple Pay and Android Pay accepted)
The great thing is that you can order all payment processing hardware individually as you need them, or, buy them all together at once. Retail features also provide business owners the ability to assign PINS to their sales staff and track their sales.
Shopify POS provides its brilliant card readers that attach to iPads and iPhones. The process becomes simpler from there as all you need is a swipe, or, chip & pin payment. It becomes easier to showcase products on your Facebook page, with a massive
Shopify Plus Cost
Shopify’s enterprise service for large scale business is now renamed Shopify Plus. Shopify Plus or enterprise pricing begins at $2,000 per month but may vary depending on seller add-ons & requirements.
You can get in contact with Shopify Plus support to discuss your required features and pricing on their official page. Keep in mind you will have to consider 4 costs with Shopify Plus, that include:
- Shopify Plus Subscription fee
- Shopify eStore Apps costs
- Payment Processor fees
- Maintenance Costs
Unfortunately, I cannot determine the latter three costs for an organization since they depend expressly on volume of sales, marketing strategies & budgets, and how large a business is.
How much will a Shopify Store cost to operate?
So, with the above considered we need to estimate just how much it will the entire bundle cost.
All costs are assumed on a Monthly basisNotes:
- The Domain name expense is one time, there is no hosting fee it is included in the Subscription
- The theme expense is one time and only payable in case you select a Premium theme
- Cost per transaction has been derived using 1000 orders for Basic, 5000 for Shopify & 10,000 for Advanced
How to Add Shipping Cost on Shopify
One of the most common queries in most discussions and social groups is “how to add shipping cost in Shopify stores?”
To address the question I have already created a dedicated guide to help eStore owners understand how to add shipping, free shipping or a mix of both on product pages. Have look through our exclusive step by step guide or watch our tutorial video at the end of the article. Following are the links to my guides:
Shipping has been considered one of the most costly and complicated functions to run in an eCommerce business. Not only do shipping rates vary by country, but can also escalate at times within different cities within a country.
It is usually ideal to select a pickup service like Easy Ship that partners with hundreds of popular courier companies like DHL and FedEx.
How Much Does Shopify Cost to Advertise
Advertising being a part of marketing is not included with any of the paid subscription packages. Advertising apps must be added through the Shopify apps store with a mix of both paid and free apps available.
The answer to the question “how much does Shopify cost to advertise?” depends really on how far you are willing to spend. Before you even think about going into paid advertising it is essential to either consult an ads expert and/or understand how online advertising works.
While Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Instagram ads, and several other social are popular platforms to advertise to ideal audiences, it’s crucial to budget & plan. An interesting aspect on advertising your online store is that $10 can get your more than $10k of revenue if you know what you are doing.
For those of you interested in advertising with automation software, here is a list of the most effective advertising apps on Shopify apps:
- Facebook Ad Guru – $4.99 per month with 15 Days Trial
- Google Shopping Campaigns by adaplo – Free to use but only works with Shopify stores that have $250 or more to spend on advertising budget.
- Clever AdWords, Easy Integration – $15 per month
- ROI Hunter Easy Retargeting – Plans starting from $9.99 per month + 9% of Facebook Ad spend after trial ends
- Pinoculars – Pinterest Conversion Tracking – $15 per month
- BootSuite – Plans starting $49 per month
- Video Ads Builder – $149 per year
Before I move on from this section, do remember that online advertising is a technique that requires rigorous A/B testing. You must test different ad banners, banner positions, and even content to see which ones work the best.
You must also pay great emphasis on look-alike audiences, who are audiences similar to your existing buyers. Recently, we discussed the concept of Customer Lifetime Value with innovative app developer Luis Hill. His latest app Looga.io is designed with leading edge tech to determine ideal look alike audiences for Facebook Ads.
How much does it cost to use Oberlo?
Another important question that most Shopify dropshipping sellers ask straight up is exactly ‘how much does Oberlo cost to use with Shopify?’
The answer is quite simple, the Oberlo product importer extension is free to use with Shopify stores. However, if you require a complete Dashboard like Shopify to manage your eStore with an abundance of additional tools Oberlo is a great option.
Oberlo offers a great line up of feature loaded subscriptions priced as follows:
- Starter – Free to use, 500 Product Limit / 50 Orders per month limit
- Basic – $29.90 per month, 10,000 Product Limit / 500 orders per month limit
- Pro – $79.90 per month, 30000 products / Unlimited orders per month
See You Again Soon
I hope my article gives you a basic idea about how much a Shopify store costs to run. You can create your own cost-benefit analysis too, using the template provided above. Shopify costs massively depend on the number of apps you will use and the number of support services like Oberlo or SaleHoo.
For more amazing reads and guides visit our blog and join our community of professionals for interesting eCommerce discussions. We also mail you our latest articles, videos, and other interesting content through our newsletter so do sign up for that. Until next time, see you again soon.
Now a day’s drop shopping is a good way to make money. And your blog clearly describe about it. I happy to read your blog. Thank you posting it.
how much does this Shopify cost when you only want to sell without creating a full store?
What percentage does Shopify take from a sale or percentages are different as per category as the other marketplaces if yes then what percentage will shopify take on sales of beauty products.
If you are using Shopify Payments then Shopify doesn’t charge yu anything for a sale or transaction. If you are using other provider then it charges you around 2% for each transaction depending on your payment method and Shopify plan. Check more at their offical pricing page (https://www.shopify.com/pricing).