How Much Does a Shopify Store Cost in 2026?

The honest answer is that Shopify itself is cheap to start and gets more expensive as you add sales, apps and custom work. Below we break the total into the parts you will actually pay for, using Shopify’s own published pricing and typical market ranges for professional work.

How much does a Shopify plan cost per month?

Shopify’s three core plans cost $29, $79 and $299 per month on annual billing, or $39, $105 and $399 per month if you pay monthly. Shopify Plus starts at $2,300 per month.

According to Shopify’s pricing page, there are no setup fees on any plan. The main differences between plans are payment rates, staff accounts and a few features:

• Basic ($29/mo annual): everything a small store needs, no additional staff accounts.
• Grow ($79/mo annual): lower card rates and 5 additional staff accounts.
• Advanced ($299/mo annual): the lowest non-Plus card rates, 15 additional staff accounts and third-party calculated shipping rates included.
• Shopify Plus (from $2,300/mo on a 3-year term): for high-volume brands that need checkout customization, unlimited B2B catalogs, more locations and automation.

Since April 2, 2026, Shopify’s native B2B features (company profiles, up to 3 B2B catalogs, volume pricing, quantity rules, payment terms and vaulted cards) are included on Basic, Grow and Advanced at no extra cost, per Shopify’s announcement. That removed one of the biggest reasons wholesale brands used to jump to Plus.

New US stores currently get a short free trial followed by a promotional rate of $1 per month for the first three months on most plans. Trial terms vary by country and change often, so check the offer when you sign up.

What are Shopify’s transaction and payment fees?

With Shopify Payments, US online card rates are 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, 2.7% + 30¢ on Grow and 2.5% + 30¢ on Advanced. If you use a third-party payment provider instead, Shopify adds its own fee of 2%, 1% or 0.6% on top.

Other payment costs worth knowing, from Shopify’s pricing page:

• International cards add 1% on all plans.
• PayPal wallet payments start at 3.49% + 49¢.
• In-person card rates start at 2.6% + 10¢ on Basic.
• Premium cards (such as some rewards cards) cost more than standard cards.

Our take: do the math on fees before choosing a plan. A store doing $20,000 a month in online sales pays roughly $580 + 30¢ per order on Basic, versus $500 + 30¢ per order on Advanced. Upgrading pays for itself once the rate difference exceeds the plan difference.

How much does a Shopify theme cost?

Shopify’s free themes cost nothing, and paid themes from the Shopify Theme Store are a one-time purchase. Shopify’s developer guidelines allow Theme Store themes to be priced from $100 to $500, and most popular premium themes sit around $300–$400.

Two details people miss: a purchased theme is licensed to the one store where you bought it, and Theme Store purchases are final sale, according to the Shopify Help Center. You can preview any paid theme in your admin before buying, and your customizations carry over if you purchase. If you are unsure which route fits your brand, see our guide to Shopify theme vs custom design.

How much do Shopify apps cost?

Most Shopify apps cost $5–$50 per month each, and a typical established store spends somewhere between $100 and $500 per month on apps. Lean stores can run on far less.

The Shopify App Store lists over 16,000 apps. The common paid categories are email and SMS marketing, reviews, subscriptions, bundles and upsells, shipping and returns, and ERP or accounting sync. Many apps price by order volume or number of contacts, so the bill grows with your business. Merchants on the Shopify Community regularly complain that subscriptions and usage-based pricing add up over time.

Our take: before installing an app, check whether your theme, Shopify Flow or a native feature (such as Shopify Forms, Shopify Email or native B2B) already does the job.

How much does it cost to have a Shopify store designed and built?

Professional Shopify builds typically range from about $500 for a basic setup to $50,000+ for a fully custom store with integrations. The biggest drivers are design (theme versus custom), catalog size, integrations and migrations.

These are market ranges compiled from published industry pricing guides, not our prices:

Hourly rates vary widely by region. Published guides put Shopify developers at roughly $15–$60 per hour in South and Southeast Asia or Latin America, $60–$110 in Western Europe, and $75–$200 in the US and Canada, with senior Shopify Plus specialists at the top of that range.

Common line items you will see in proposals:

• Theme customization: about $1,000–$8,000
• Custom design and build: about $5,000–$25,000
• Migration to Shopify: about $5,000–$20,000+
• ERP, CRM or payment integrations: about $3,000–$30,000+

What are the ongoing costs of running a Shopify store?

Plan on your Shopify plan, payment fees, apps, a domain and optional maintenance. For a small store that usually means $100–$700 per month before marketing, while larger brands often spend thousands per month on apps, retainers and Plus fees.

1. Plan: $29–$299 per month, or $2,300+ for Plus.
2. Payment processing: 2.5–2.9% + 30¢ per US online order with Shopify Payments.
3. Apps: $50–$500 per month for most growing stores.
4. Domain: about $10–$25 per year.
5. Email for your domain: typically $6–$12 per user per month through Google Workspace or similar.
6. Maintenance or retainer: optional; ad hoc hours or monthly retainers from a few hundred to several thousand dollars.

How can you keep Shopify costs down?

Start on the right plan, use Shopify Payments, buy one good theme and add apps only when they solve a real problem. Most overspending comes from apps and from rebuilding a store that was set up badly the first time.

• Pay annually to save about 25% on the plan.
• Use Shopify Payments to avoid the extra third-party transaction fee.
• Uninstall apps you do not use, and remove their leftover code.
• Invest in a clean structure (collections, navigation, product data) from day one, so you do not pay to redo it later.

How we can help

We design stores in Figma and build them on Shopify, from theme customization to fully custom builds and B2B setups, always under your own Shopify account. If you want a clear scope and quote for your project, have a look at our Shopify store design service or get in touch.