Shopify pricing

The plan price is the smallest line on most Shopify bills. Here is a worksheet for the whole cost, with a worked example for a small store.

We.Inc is free to start, no credit card. AI building from $20/mo.

The short answer

How much does Shopify cost? Shopify's US pricing page lists Basic at $19, Grow at $49 and Advanced at $299 a month billed yearly, or $25, $65 and $399 paid monthly, and Plus from $2,300 a month (checked October 28, 2026). New stores get 3 days free, then $1 a month for 3 months.

On top of the plan you pay card processing on every sale, plus any paid apps and any paid theme. Shopify says a third-party transaction fee applies if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, at a rate that depends on your plan.

Shopify plans (US, as of September 2026)

	Basic	Grow	Advanced	Plus
Billed yearly	$19/mo ($228/yr)	$49/mo ($588/yr)	$299/mo ($3,588/yr)	From $2,300/mo
Paid monthly	$25/mo	$65/mo	$399/mo	From $2,300/mo
Additional staff accounts	None	5	15	Unlimited
Intro offer	3 days free, then $1/mo for 3 months	Same	Same	Contact sales

Prices as shown on the vendor's own pricing page on September 28, 2026, in US dollars. Vendors change prices often, so confirm on their page before you buy.

Pros and cons

Shopify

Best for: Stores that sell many products, plan to grow, or sell in person too

Price: Basic $19, Grow $49, Advanced $299 a month billed yearly; $25, $65, $399 monthly (as of September 2026)

Pros: Full ecommerce: inventory, shipping, taxes, discounts; Huge app and theme marketplace; POS for in-person selling (POS Pro is an $89/mo add-on per location); Scales to very large catalogues

Cons: Apps and paid themes add monthly cost; Third-party payment providers carry an extra fee; Card rates vary by plan and region, so check yours; More setup than a simple site needs

We.Inc

Best for: People who want to describe a site or web app in plain English and have AI build it

Price: Free plan: up to 3 template sites on a we.inc address, no AI. AI building from $20/mo (Starter, 250 credits). Pro $49/mo, Max $99/mo.

Pros: Describe what you want in chat and AI builds a full, editable site or app; Edit by clicking on the page, by asking in chat, or in a real code editor; Export the React and TypeScript code to GitHub, so you are never locked in; Unlimited sites on paid plans, custom domains from Starter

Cons: The free plan is templates only; AI building needs a paid plan; Newer platform with a smaller app marketplace than the big names; Store features are simpler than a dedicated ecommerce platform

The total-cost worksheet

Fill in five lines for the year. 1. Plan: the yearly price of the plan you need ($228 Basic, $588 Grow, $3,588 Advanced, as of September 2026). 2. Apps: list each paid app you will install and its monthly price from the Shopify App Store, times 12. 3. Theme: Shopify has free themes; if you want a paid one, add its one-off price from the Theme Store. 4. Card processing: your plan's Shopify Payments rate, as shown on shopify.com/pricing for your country, times your yearly sales, plus the per-order fee. 5. Domain: the yearly renewal.

Lines 2 and 4 are the ones that surprise people. A store with five paid apps can pay more for apps than for the plan, and card fees grow with every sale.

Worked example: a 40-product store selling $4,000 a month

Assume 100 orders a month at $40 each, no paid apps and a free theme, so only the plan and card fees differ. Shopify's pricing page did not list card rates when we checked, so for a like-for-like sum we use Stripe's standard US rate of 2.9% + 30c per sale for both sides; check your Shopify plan's rate on its pricing page and swap it in.

Card fees: 2.9% of $4,000 is $116, plus 100 x 30c = $30, so $146 a month or $1,752 a year. Shopify Basic billed yearly: $228 + $1,752 = $1,980 in year one. Grow: $588 + $1,752 = $2,340. A We.Inc store on Starter ($20 a month) taking payments through your own Stripe, with no We.Inc fee on sales: $240 + $1,752 = $1,992.

So for a small, simple catalogue the plan cost is close; the real choice is about features. Each paid Shopify app you add, and any gap We.Inc's simpler store cannot cover, changes the answer.

Three-year cost

Plan fees only, billed yearly and assuming no price change: Basic $684, Grow $1,764, Advanced $10,764. Paid monthly: Basic $900, Grow $2,340, Advanced $14,364. We.Inc Starter is $720 over three years. Card fees, apps and domain are extra on all of them.

Verdict by buyer

Selling a large or growing catalogue, shipping to many regions, or selling in person: Shopify, starting on Basic and moving to Grow when you need staff accounts. A small shop with a handful of products or services, where the website matters more than the store tools: a website builder with simple payments costs about the same and is less to manage. Someone who wants the site written from a description: an AI website builder.

Ownership and moving away

Shopify lets you export products, customers and orders as CSV files, so your catalogue can move. The theme and any app features stay behind, so plan to rebuild the design if you leave. Your domain is yours to point elsewhere.

Where We.Inc fits, and where it does not

We.Inc's store takes payments through your own Stripe account and suits simple products, services and deposits rather than big catalogues. It has no point-of-sale system for in-person selling and a far smaller app marketplace than Shopify. If you need those, Shopify is the better choice.

Where We.Inc fits: the free plan publishes up to 3 template sites on a we.inc address, with no AI and no custom domain, and needs no credit card. AI building, where you describe the site and it is written for you, starts at $20 a month (Starter, 250 credits); Pro is $49 and Max is $99.

Who wrote this and how

We.Inc makes a competing website builder, so read this with that in mind. Every price on this page comes from the vendor's own pricing page on the date shown, with a link to it. We say where the other option is the better choice, and we do not publish scores for tests we have not run.

Start from a template

Sources

Shopify: Pricing (US) (Checked Sept 28, 2026)
Stripe: Pricing (standard US online card rate) (Checked Sept 28, 2026)
We.Inc: Pricing (Checked Sept 25, 2026)

Frequently asked questions

How much does Shopify cost per month?

As of September 2026: Basic $19, Grow $49 and Advanced $299 a month billed yearly, or $25, $65 and $399 paid monthly. Plus starts at $2,300 a month.

Does Shopify have a free trial?

Yes. Its pricing page offered 3 days free, then $1 a month for 3 months, in September 2026.

What does Shopify cost beyond the plan?

Card processing on every sale, paid apps, an optional paid theme and your domain. Shopify also charges a third-party transaction fee if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments.

How much does Shopify cost over three years?

In plan fees billed yearly: $684 on Basic, $1,764 on Grow, $10,764 on Advanced, assuming no price change. Card fees and apps are extra.

Is Shopify cheaper than a website builder with a store?

For a small catalogue the plan cost is similar; our worked example came to $1,980 a year on Shopify Basic and $1,992 on We.Inc Starter with the same card fees. Shopify gives you far more store features for that money.