Basic Shopify, Shopify or Advanced Shopify: Which plan should I pick?
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Thinking of Shopify but you're unsure what the best plan for you is? Let us help you pick the right one!
Shopify pricing: What to expect?
Shopify Basic costs $29 monthly (and 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction). The Shopify plan is $79 monthly (and 2.6% + 30¢ per transaction). Advanced Shopify is $299monthly (and 2.4% + 30¢ per transaction). Shopify Plus pricing starts at $2000monthly. Use Shopify Payments to avoid extra fees.
There are extra charges for credit card payments (see table). If you are not using Shopify’s own payment system – Shopify Payments (read review) – there will be an additional charge for each sale you make.
However, let’s see what each plan offers in more detail.
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Shopify Plan Breakdown
| Feature | Basic Shopify | Shopify | Advanced Shopify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Products | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Digital products | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Customer logins | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Abandoned cart recovery | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gift cards | No | Yes | Yes |
| Professional reports | No | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced report builder | No | No | Yes |
| Real-time carrier shipping | No | No | Yes |
| Print shipping labels | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Domain | Not included. You can buy a domain through Shopify ($14 per year) or redirect an existing one. | ||
| Email accounts | Not included. You can set up an unlimited number of email addresses, but you must manage your emails using your own email hosting provider. | ||
| Support 24/7 | E-Mail, Open Chat, Telephone | E-Mail, Open Chat, Telephone | E-Mail, Open Chat, Telephone |
| Credit Card Rate (with Shopify Payments) | 2.9% + 30¢* | 2.6% + 30¢* | 2.4% + 30¢* |
| Additional Transaction Fee for all online transactions (only charged if Shopify Payments is not activated) |
External Gateway: 2% | External Gateway: 1% | External Gateway: 0.5% |
| Pricing | $29 / month | $79 / month | $299 / month |
| 1 Year Contract (Payment in advance) |
$312 ($26 / month) |
$852 ($71 / month) |
$3,192 ($266 / month) |
| 2 Year Contract (Payment in advance) |
$558 ($23.25 / month) |
$1,518 ($63.25 / month) |
$5,640 ($235 / month) |
| 3 Year Contract (Payment in advance) |
$783 ($21.75 / month) |
$2,133 ($59.25 / month) |
$7,884 ($219 / month) |
| More information | Visit Shopify for a free trial account | ||
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Shopify’s pricing tiers: where’s the difference?
Let’s take a detailed look at Shopify’s prices:
Basic Shopify allows you to sell an unlimited number of products. This is the cheapest available solution when you have a vast product range. Shopify doesn’t limit the number of products or file storage. This plan also contains “Abandoned Cart Recovery”. However, features like gift cards or professional reports aren’t included. It’s great to see that telephone support is already part of this plan.
The plan named Shopify is $50 more expensive, but has a lower credit card rate and provides more features. The rate charged for credit card payments is 0.3% lower and professional reports provide greater insight into your online store, making analysis more convenient. In any case, you should check your Google Analytics before upgrading to this plan, it’s free and will give you a good understanding of your online shop’s performance. This plan also includes gift cards though this feature can be added with an app in the much cheaper Shopify Basic plan.
Advanced Shopify is the most expensive plan. But therefore, the credit card payment rate is the lowest (see table) and it provides the best shipping conditions for the US. This plan is the only option if you need real-time carrier shipping, which means that the shipping cost is automatically calculated by a third party. Furthermore it has an advanced report builder that will allow you to customise own professional reports.
Shopify Plus is an enterprise solution for businesses that seek a scalable ecommerce platform. Long story short: Shopify Plus pricing starts at about $2000 per month which is a massive increase compared to Shopify Advanced ($300). But what will you get on top? A dedicated support team will help you with the launch and will provide 24/7 priority support. Your developers will get more access to the Shopify system for customization (cart scripting, dedicated API etc.). You are covered with two additional clone storefronts for internationalization. If you need more information about this ultimate tier, please get in touch directly with the Shopify Team.
What are Shopify’s transactions fees?
There are two different fees: the one that Shopify charges on your turnover (ranging from 0.5% to 2%) and another one, which the payment gateway charges (such as Paypal, Stripe or Authorize.net). Please note that there is no Shopify charge to manual payment methods such as cash on delivery or bank transfers.
Using Shopify Payments to avoid the Shopify fee
The good news is that the Shopify fee can be completely avoided by using Shopify Payments (available in the USA, UK, Australia & NZ, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Japan and a few others). For a full list of all supported countries and businesses that are prohibited from using Shopify Payments, please consult this guide.
It’s important to note that using Shopify Payments eliminates the Shopify fee completely, so even if your customers pay via e.g. Paypal (learn more) or Amazon Pay, you won’t be charged any additional fee by Shopify anymore. So if you can, you should always try to use Shopify Payments! There is no monthly cost and setup is free too.
Costs for domain names
Common to all Shopify plans is that no domain or email hosting is included. Shopify allows you to buy a domain name for $14 per year, but this still doesn’t include any email hosting. To save a few bucks, we recommend that you compare these prices with a few external domain registrars (Namecheap, GoDaddy, etc.).
Furthermore, every plan allows you to add apps from the Shopify App Store or use a custom template. Most of these are available for free, but if you need a special feature, it could cost you extra. Therefore, we recommend that you test Shopify extensively during your free trial.
Monthly vs. yearly plans and cancellation
You can upgrade, downgrade or cancel Shopify anytime, provided you pay per month. If you want to minimize the financial burden, you should opt for a monthly plan – especially in the beginning. Afterwards, you can upgrade to a long-term pre-payment option to receive a significant price reduction (see table).
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