What Is Shopify? Plans, Card Rates and Third-Party Fees

The short answer: if you sell physical products online, and perhaps in a shop too, Shopify's Basic plan at $39 a month ($29 billed yearly) is the entry point, and the line that decides your real cost sits lower on the pricing page: take payments through a provider other than Shopify Payments and Shopify adds 2% to every order on Basic, 1% on Grow (USD, checked on 26 October 2026). It is a commerce platform for brands that expect to outgrow a creator storefront.

Disclosure: I may earn a commission through some links on this site. It does not change what this page says.

What decides the bill:

1. The plan break-even. For example, with a third-party provider Grow costs $105 - $39 = $66 a month more than Basic and saves 1 point on every order, so it pays from $66 / 0.01 = $6,600 in monthly sales. With Shopify Payments the card-rate gap is 2.9% against 2.7%, so the same $66 pays only from $33,000. Figures from the pricing page, monthly billing.
2. The payment contract you already have. If your company processes through a provider it will keep, the third-party fee applies to every order; the pricing FAQ says it depends on your plan.
3. The rate you will read after month one. Add the subscription, card fees and any third-party fees from your bills and divide by gross sales. That effective rate, not the headline, is what to compare at renewal.

What it covers

Shopify calls itself "the all-in-one commerce platform for businesses" on its homepage: a store built from a prompt or a theme, checkout, payments, point of sale, and selling on social, marketplaces and AI chats. Every plan in the pricing table includes customer segments, email campaigns, marketing automations, abandoned checkout recovery, discount codes and Sidekick, an AI assistant that the Sidekick help page says presents changes for your review before applying them. A $0 Agentic plan lists products in AI channels and charges only per sale.

Who it fits

A brand with a catalogue, stock and returns, growing past one channel. It fits less well a creator selling one ebook or course, where a storefront with no monthly fee is lighter, or a funnel-led business selling one offer with upsells.

Plans on 26 October 2026

From the Shopify pricing page, USD:

International cards add 1%, and the trial is 3 days free, then $1 a month for 3 months, both per the pricing page.

That third-party fee is how the pricing steers you: it only exists when payments run through someone else, and it disappears the day the money moves through Shopify Payments, where Shopify earns the card rate instead.

How it compares

• ClickFunnels builds a sales funnel around one offer, with Launch at $97 a month for 10K contacts on its pricing page. Choose it for a course or coaching offer sold through upsell pages; choose Shopify for a catalogue.
• Payhip sells downloads, courses and memberships with every feature on every plan, from $0 a month with a 5% fee, per its pricing page. For digital products alone it is less to run.
• Sellfy charges no transaction fee and sells print-on-demand merch without stock, with plans capped by yearly sales on its pricing page. It fits a creator with merch, not a brand with a warehouse.

Getting started

Turn on the abandoned checkout email before you spend on traffic; how to use Shopify sets it up, with Campaign Autopilot drafting the follow-ups for a person to approve.

FAQ

Do I have to use Shopify Payments?

No. A third-party provider works, with the transaction fee for your plan from the table above, per the pricing FAQ on the pricing page.

Is there a free trial?

Three days free with no credit card, then $1 a month for the first 3 months on most plans, per the pricing page.

Are email campaigns included?

Yes. Every plan includes 10,000 free emails a month through Shopify Messaging, then $1 per 1,000, per the email pricing article.