Shopify Basic vs Shopify vs Advanced vs Plus: Which Plan Should You Actually Choose in 2026?

Last reviewed April 2026. If you are shopping for a Shopify plan right now, here is the honest answer upfront: most merchants doing under $20,000 a month in revenue should start on Basic. Shopify ($79/month) becomes the best value in the $20k–$80k/month band, Advanced ($299/month) starts to pay for itself around $80k–$100k/month, and Plus (from $2,300/month) is only worth it once you need features that the lower plans do not offer — typically B2B on the same store, full checkout customisation, or expansion stores.

That is the short answer. The rest of this guide explains exactly why, with the actual maths, feature-by-feature breakdowns, and the three questions that decide the plan for you. No vague ranges, no sales pitch for Plus — just the decision framework.

TL;DR: All Four Shopify Plans at a Glance

Here is every number that matters, side by side. All prices are in USD and reflect Shopify's public rates for annual billing (the most common choice). Monthly billing is roughly 25% more per month.

*The Shopify transaction fee is only charged when you use a third-party payment gateway (Stripe, PayPal, 2Checkout, etc.). If you use Shopify Payments as your processor, this fee is zero on every plan.

Which Plan Fits Your Revenue? Decision Bands

The cheapest plan is rarely the cheapest total cost. As your revenue grows, the lower card rates on higher plans start to outweigh the higher plan fee. Here are the break-even bands based on Shopify's current rates.

These bands assume a typical ecommerce store (not an agency or marketplace). If you are running an unusually high-ticket, low-volume business (e.g. bespoke furniture at $5,000 AOV), your per-transaction card fee ($0.30 fixed) matters less and plan-fee-driven economics apply. Run your exact numbers in the calculator.

The Three Questions That Actually Decide Your Plan

Ignore everything a Shopify sales rep tells you. Your plan is decided by three questions, in this order:

1. 1.How many staff accounts do you need? (Basic caps at 2, Shopify at 5, Advanced at 15, Plus is unlimited.)
2. 2.Do you need any of the Plus-only features — B2B on the same store, full checkout customisation, expansion stores, Shopify Markets Pro, or a dedicated wholesale channel?
3. 3.At your current monthly revenue, which eligible plan has the lowest total monthly cost (plan fee + card processing + transaction fee)?

If the answer to Q2 is 'yes, one or more of those,' your plan is Plus — nothing else covers you. If the answer is no, use Q1 to eliminate plans that do not have enough staff seats, then use Q3 to pick the cheapest of what is left.

Shopify Basic — $29/month

Basic is the entry point. It gives you a full Shopify storefront, checkout, abandoned cart recovery, discount codes, and 24/7 support. What it does not give you is custom reports, third-party calculated shipping rates, or more than two staff accounts.

When Basic is the right choice

• You are a solo founder or a founder plus one team member
• Monthly revenue is under roughly $20,000
• You do not need carrier-calculated shipping rates (you are fine with flat-rate, free, or table rates)
• You do not run a fulfillment operation complex enough to need custom analytics
• You are using Shopify Payments (this zero-outs the 2% third-party transaction fee, which is otherwise the biggest downside of Basic)

Where Basic stings

• The 2.0% Shopify transaction fee is brutal if you insist on using a third-party gateway — at $25k/month revenue, that is $500/month in extra fees
• Two staff accounts runs out fast as soon as you hire an assistant plus an accountant
• No abandoned checkout automation beyond the basic email (no SMS recovery, no multi-step flows via native Shopify)
• Reports are pre-built only — you cannot create custom reports or export with custom fields

Shopify (the middle plan) — $79/month

The 'Shopify' plan (yes, the plan shares its name with the company — Shopify's naming is unhelpful here) is the sweet spot for most growing stores. You get 5 staff accounts, standard reports, professional gift cards, and a lower 1% third-party transaction fee.

When the Shopify plan is the right choice

• Revenue is between $20,000 and $80,000/month
• You have a small team (founder + 2–4 team members)
• You need standard sales, inventory, and customer reports but not custom-built ones
• You are using a third-party gateway and the lower 1% transaction fee earns back the $50/month upgrade from Basic

The hidden upgrade driver: transaction fees

Here is a concrete example. At $30,000/month revenue on a third-party gateway, Basic charges you 2% in transaction fees ($600/month). Shopify charges 1% ($300/month). That is a $300/month saving for a plan that costs only $50 more — a no-brainer upgrade if you refuse to use Shopify Payments.

Shopify Advanced — $299/month

Advanced is where you unlock the two features most serious merchants care about: the custom report builder and third-party calculated shipping rates at checkout. You also get 15 staff accounts, the lowest card rate outside Plus (2.5%), and a 0.5% transaction fee on third-party gateways.

When Advanced is the right choice

• Revenue is between $80,000 and $500,000/month
• You need to build custom reports (sales by custom attribute, customer cohort analysis, profit margin reports, etc.)
• You ship with real-time carrier rates from UPS, FedEx, DHL, Royal Mail, or Australia Post and want the live-calculated rates to appear at checkout
• You have 5–15 team members who need store access
• You are using a third-party gateway — the 0.5% transaction fee is a quarter of what Basic charges

The Advanced vs Shopify break-even

At $100,000/month revenue on Shopify Payments, the card rate saving from Shopify (2.7%) to Advanced (2.5%) is 0.2% of revenue = $200/month. The plan fee jump is $220/month ($299 − $79). So on Shopify Payments alone, Advanced does not pay for itself on cost until roughly $110,000/month. It pays for itself earlier if you value the custom reports and calculated shipping, which most growing stores do.

Shopify Plus — From $2,300/month

Plus is a different animal. It starts at $2,300/month on a three-year contract, and scales with revenue above roughly $800,000/month (to a fixed percentage of revenue). What you get in return is a genuinely different product: full checkout customisation, B2B on the same store, unlimited staff, up to 9 expansion stores, and a dedicated Merchant Success Manager.

When Plus is the right choice (features, not just revenue)

• You need B2B and DTC on the same store — company profiles, price lists, net payment terms, catalogue segmentation. This is Plus-only; no amount of apps fully replicate it.
• You need full checkout customisation via UI extensions — adding custom fields, bespoke layouts, non-standard payment logic. Lower plans allow limited checkout branding but not full customisation.
• You want expansion stores — multiple storefronts under one contract for different regions, brands, or B2B vs DTC
• You need Shopify Markets Pro for duty-inclusive international pricing with full localisation
• You process high enough volume that the 2.25% card rate and 0.15% transaction fee savings exceed the plan fee — typically $800,000+/month in revenue
• You need unlimited staff accounts (large in-house teams or many agency contractors)

When Plus is not the right choice

• You want Plus for 'the badge' — the marketing benefit of being on Plus does not exist for most consumers
• Your revenue is under $500,000/month and you do not need any of the Plus-only features — you will pay $2,300/month for things you barely touch
• You have been convinced by a sales rep that 'Plus is cheaper at your volume.' Check the maths on the calculator first; for a merchant not using Shopify Payments with high transaction counts it can be true, but for most merchants at $500k/month Advanced is still cheaper

The Hidden Cost Most Guides Skip: Transaction Fees

Shopify charges two completely separate things that people confuse constantly. Understanding both is the difference between picking the right plan and overpaying by thousands a year.

Fee #1: Card processing

Every card transaction gets charged a processing fee — typically 2.25% to 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. This fee goes to the processor (Shopify Payments if you use it, or Stripe/PayPal/your own if you do not). This fee exists on every plan and every platform — it is not a Shopify-specific charge.

Fee #2: Shopify's own transaction fee (only when you use a third-party gateway)

This is Shopify's penalty for not using Shopify Payments. It is 2.0% on Basic, 1.0% on Shopify, 0.5% on Advanced, and 0.15% on Plus. If you use Shopify Payments as your processor, this fee is zero. If you use Stripe, PayPal, or another gateway, Shopify charges this on top of whatever your third-party processor charges.

At $50,000/month revenue on Basic with a third-party gateway, you pay $1,000/month in Shopify transaction fees alone — on top of whatever your gateway charges. Upgrading to Advanced cuts that to $250/month, a $750/month saving that pays for the entire Advanced plan three times over.

Feature-by-Feature Matrix

Every feature Shopify uses as a plan-upgrade driver, mapped to the minimum plan you need to access it.

When to Upgrade (And When to Hold Off)

Shopify lets you upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time, prorated to the day. There is no commitment penalty for moving up or down between Basic, Shopify, and Advanced. Plus is the exception — it typically requires a 3-year contract.

Signals you should upgrade from Basic to Shopify

• You just hired your third person and cannot add them as staff
• You are on a third-party gateway and revenue passed $15,000/month (the 2% vs 1% txn fee saving now exceeds $50/month)
• You want to use Shopify Flow for automation (Flow is included on Shopify and above)

Signals you should upgrade from Shopify to Advanced

• You need a report that does not exist in standard reports (sales by custom tag, cohort retention, profit margin analysis)
• You want real-time UPS/FedEx/DHL rates to appear at checkout
• Revenue is consistently above $80,000/month and you are on a third-party gateway (txn fee saving from 1% to 0.5% covers the upgrade)
• You hit the 5-staff cap

Signals you should upgrade from Advanced to Plus

• You need any Plus-only feature on the matrix above
• You are consistently above $800,000/month in revenue and the card rate + txn fee savings now exceed the $2,000/month gap
• You are opening multiple storefronts (international expansion, sub-brands)
• You are launching a B2B operation and do not want to run a separate wholesale store

Signals you should NOT upgrade yet

• You are chasing a feature you could solve with a $20/month app (e.g. basic report exports via an analytics app instead of Advanced)
• A sales rep is offering Plus at a discount but you cannot name a Plus-only feature you actually need
• Your revenue is seasonal and the break-even on the upgrade only holds in peak months

Common Plan-Selection Mistakes

1. 1.Choosing Advanced purely for the lower card rate without checking if Shopify Payments gives you the same effective rate already. On Shopify Payments, Shopify (2.7%) vs Advanced (2.5%) is only 0.2% — that's $200 saved per $100k revenue, barely covering the plan fee jump.
2. 2.Staying on Basic with a third-party gateway at high volume. The 2% transaction fee is the single biggest cost leak on Basic. If you cannot use Shopify Payments, upgrade to at least Shopify the moment you pass $10k/month.
3. 3.Buying Plus 'to access the ecosystem.' The Plus Partner ecosystem is great, but Plus Partner agencies will also work with merchants on Advanced. The only things genuinely Plus-only are on the matrix above.
4. 4.Assuming Plus is always cheaper at volume. At $500k/month with Shopify Payments, Advanced costs roughly $12,800/month all-in. Plus costs $14,750/month all-in. Plus only wins on pure cost when you do not use Shopify Payments or when you are well north of $1M/month.
5. 5.Ignoring monthly vs annual billing. Annual billing is roughly 25% cheaper per month ($29 vs $39 on Basic, $79 vs $105 on Shopify, $299 vs $399 on Advanced). If you are committed to Shopify for the next year, annual billing is free money.

When to Bring in an Agency

Most merchants can change plans themselves in the Shopify admin — there is nothing technical about clicking 'Upgrade.' Where an agency earns its fee is at the Plus transition, because that is where migration, checkout, and B2B setup get complex.

• Upgrading from Basic to Shopify or Advanced: you can do this yourself in under five minutes
• Downgrading: you can do this yourself, but check that you are not losing reports or staff accounts you still need
• Upgrading from Advanced to Plus: worth hiring a Plus Partner agency. Plus onboarding involves checkout extensibility decisions, B2B setup, and often a theme rebuild to use the new features
• Setting up B2B on Plus: almost always wants agency help — company profiles, price list logic, approval flows, and net-payment terms are non-trivial to configure well
• Building expansion stores: each expansion store is a separate Shopify site that needs its own theme, apps, and configuration; this is classic agency work

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

Do not let plan selection paralysis waste a month of your time. Shopify's plans are designed to be upgraded, not locked into — you can move between Basic, Shopify, and Advanced in a single click at any point. The right move is to pick the plan that fits today, run it for 90 days, then revisit based on real numbers. The only plan that requires a heavier commitment is Plus, and that one is a business decision rather than a cost decision.

If you want a concrete recommendation for your store in under a minute, use the plan calculator below. It factors in your revenue, payment processor, staff count, and the specific features you need — then tells you the cheapest plan that actually fits.