What does Shopify actually cost per month?
Two things stack, and only counting one of them is the usual mistake. There is the plan fee — roughly $39 for Basic, $105 for Grow and $399 for Advanced on monthly billing, with a meaningful discount for paying annually — and there is a transaction rate on every sale, from 2.9% plus 30 cents on Basic down to 2.5% plus 30 cents on Advanced. A store doing modest volume can easily pay more in transaction fees than in plan fees.
What is the third-party gateway fee, and why does it catch people out?
If you take payments through anything other than Shopify Payments, Shopify charges its own percentage on top of whatever that gateway already charges you. It is 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. So a Basic store using an external gateway at 2.9% plus 30 cents is really paying 4.9% plus 30 cents. The surcharge does not appear on the gateway's invoice, which is why stores are often surprised by it.
Which Shopify plan is cheapest for my store?
It depends entirely on volume, because you are trading a higher fixed plan fee for a lower percentage. The crossover happens where the saving on the rate exceeds the extra plan cost. Going from Basic to Grow saves 0.2% per sale but costs $66 more a month, so it starts paying somewhere around $33,000 in monthly sales. The calculator works this out for your actual numbers rather than relying on a rule of thumb, and shows every plan side by side.
Is annual billing worth it?
It cuts the plan fee substantially — Basic drops from $39 to about $29 a month, Advanced from $399 to $299 — so on plan cost alone it is a clear saving of roughly 25%. The trade is commitment: you are paying upfront for a year, which matters if you are still testing whether the business works, or if you might outgrow the plan and want to move up mid-year. For an established store with steady volume it is close to free money.
What costs does this calculator not include?
Apps, themes, domains, shipping labels, and any chargeback fees. Apps in particular can quietly become the largest line: a store running a review app, an email tool, a subscription manager and a page builder can easily add $100 to $200 a month, which exceeds the plan fee on Basic. When comparing platforms, add up your app stack too, because that cost usually does not transfer cleanly.
Does Shopify Payments cost less than an external gateway?
Almost always, once the surcharge is counted — that is the point of the surcharge. An external gateway would have to beat Shopify Payments by more than the surcharge percentage to come out ahead, which is a wide margin to make up on Basic. The cases where an external gateway still wins are usually about something other than price: a currency or country Shopify Payments does not support, an existing negotiated rate, or a specific payment method your customers expect.