Shopify Fees Breakdown: What You Actually Pay

Shopify takes between 2.4% and 2.9% of each online sale plus $0.30 per transaction through Shopify Payments, on top of a monthly subscription starting at $39. Your total cost per sale depends on which plan you are on, whether you use Shopify Payments or a third-party processor, and how much you sell each month. Most store owners pay 3 to 5 percent of their revenue in Shopify-related fees once you add everything up.

This guide breaks down every fee Shopify charges in 2026, shows you exactly what a real sale costs on each plan, and helps you pick the plan that makes the most financial sense for your store.

Monthly Subscription Plans (2026)

Shopify offers four main plans plus an enterprise option. Each plan comes with a different monthly price and different credit card processing rates:

Annual billing saves roughly 25 percent on the Basic, Shopify, and Advanced plans. If you know you will be on Shopify for at least a year, the annual plan pays for itself quickly.

The Starter plan at $5 per month is limited. You do not get a full online store. Instead, you get product links you can share on social media, messaging apps, or anywhere else. It works for people testing a product idea but not for building a real storefront.

Credit Card Processing Fees

Every time a customer pays with a credit card, Shopify takes a percentage of the sale plus a flat fee per transaction. The exact rate depends on your plan and whether you use Shopify Payments (their built-in processor) or a third-party provider like PayPal or Stripe.

With Shopify Payments (Online Sales)

The Starter plan has a much higher processing rate because the monthly subscription is so low. For any store doing real volume, the Basic plan or higher will cost less overall.

With a Third-Party Payment Provider

If you use PayPal, Stripe, or another processor instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an additional transaction fee on top of whatever your payment provider charges:

This means if you use Stripe on the Basic plan, you pay Stripe's processing fee (2.9% + $0.30) plus Shopify's 2.0% transaction fee. That is nearly 5 percent of every sale going to processing fees alone.

What a Real Sale Actually Costs

Here is what happens when a customer buys a product at different price points on each plan, using Shopify Payments for online checkout. These numbers include only the credit card processing fee, not the monthly subscription.

Per-Transaction Processing Fees

Notice how the flat $0.30 per transaction matters more on cheaper products. On a $50 sale, that $0.30 adds an extra 0.6% on top of the percentage rate. On a $500 sale, it adds only 0.06%. This is why stores selling lower-priced items pay a higher effective rate per sale.

Per-Sale Cost Including Monthly Subscription

When you spread the monthly subscription across your orders, the total cost per sale changes based on volume. Here is the cost per $100 sale at different order volumes:

At low volume, the Basic plan costs the least per order because the monthly subscription is lower. The Advanced plan only makes sense when your volume is high enough that the lower per-transaction rate saves more than the higher monthly fee.

The crossover points: The Shopify (Grow) plan becomes cheaper than Basic at roughly $7,000 in monthly sales. The Advanced plan becomes cheaper than Grow at roughly $40,000 in monthly sales.

Total Annual Cost at Different Revenue Levels

This is where the real picture comes together. The table below shows estimated total annual Shopify costs at different monthly revenue levels. It includes the monthly subscription (annual billing), credit card processing through Shopify Payments, and a conservative app spending estimate.

Processing fees are calculated using the online Shopify Payments rate for each plan with an assumed average order value of $75. App costs are estimated based on typical store needs at each revenue level.

A few things stand out:

1. Processing fees are always the biggest cost. The monthly subscription is a small part of your total Shopify spend.
2. The percentage drops as you grow. At $5,000 per month, you pay about 6% of revenue. At $100,000 per month, it drops to about 3.3%.
3. App costs add up. Even conservative app spending adds $1,200 to $4,800 per year.

Shopify Plus: Enterprise Pricing

Shopify Plus starts at $2,300 per month (or 0.25% of monthly revenue, whichever is higher) and is built for stores doing over $1 million per year in sales.

What you get with Plus:

• Lower processing rates: 2.15% + $0.30 for online sales through Shopify Payments
• No extra transaction fees for third-party payment providers
• Up to 200 inventory locations (compared to 10 on Advanced)
• Dedicated support and a merchant success manager
• Shopify Flow automation and advanced API access
• Customizable checkout through checkout extensibility

For a store doing $100,000 per month, Shopify Plus processing fees would be roughly $28,200 per year compared to $31,200 on the Advanced plan. The $3,000 in processing savings partially offsets the higher subscription cost of $27,600 per year. Plus only makes financial sense above roughly $80,000 to $100,000 in monthly revenue, and the real value is in the automation, customization, and dedicated support rather than fee savings alone.

International Selling Fees

If you sell to customers in other countries, there are additional fees to know about.

Currency Conversion Fees

When a customer pays in a currency different from your store's default currency, Shopify Payments charges a conversion fee on top of the regular processing rate:

This fee is applied to every international transaction where currency conversion is needed. On a $100 sale, that is an extra $1.50 to $2.00 on top of your normal processing fee.

International Credit Card Surcharge

Payments made with a credit card issued outside your store's country incur an additional 1% surcharge. This applies even if the sale is in the same currency as your store.

Import Duties and Taxes

If you enable Shopify Markets for international selling, Shopify can calculate and collect duties and taxes at checkout. There are two cost components:

• Duty and import tax calculation: Included with Markets Pro or available through third-party apps ($50 to $200 per month)
• Markets Pro transaction fee: 6.5% of the order total (covers duties, taxes, and shipping compliance)

Hidden Costs Most Store Owners Miss

The fees above are the ones Shopify shows you. The costs below are the ones that quietly eat into your profits every month.

Apps ($50 to $500+ per month)

Most Shopify stores rely on 6 to 12 apps. Each one has a monthly fee that scales with your store size. Common examples:

• Email marketing (Klaviyo): $20 to $150+ per month depending on list size
• Reviews and social proof: $15 to $50 per month
• Upsell and cross-sell: $20 to $80 per month
• Subscription management (Recharge): $99 per month and up
• Analytics or profit tracking: $25 to $200 per month
• Shipping rate calculators: $10 to $40 per month
• Returns management: $20 to $100 per month

A store with 10 apps at an average of $40 each is paying $400 per month, or $4,800 per year, just for app subscriptions. That is often more than the Shopify subscription itself.

Themes ($0 to $400 one-time)

Shopify has free themes, but most serious stores use a paid theme ($250 to $400 one-time purchase). Some themes charge for major version updates after the first year.

Domain Name ($14 to $20 per year)

If you buy your domain through Shopify, expect to pay $14 to $20 per year. External registrars like Namecheap or Cloudflare are often cheaper at $10 to $12 per year.

Shipping Label Markup

Shopify Shipping offers discounted rates through carriers like USPS, UPS, and DHL. The discounts are real, but the rates are not always the cheapest available. Third-party shipping apps or direct carrier accounts can sometimes beat Shopify's rates, especially at higher volumes. Compare before assuming Shopify's rate is the best deal.

Chargeback Fees

When a customer disputes a charge, Shopify charges a $15 chargeback fee (refunded if you win the dispute). If your store has a high dispute rate, these fees add up. At 1% of orders being disputed on 500 monthly orders, that is $75 per month.

Staff Accounts and Permissions

The Basic plan includes 2 staff accounts, Shopify includes 5, and Advanced includes 15. If you need more, you either upgrade your plan or use a workaround. For growing teams, the staff account limit can force a premature plan upgrade.

POS Hardware

If you sell in person, the Shopify POS hardware (card readers, terminals, receipt printers) is an upfront cost ranging from $49 for a basic card reader to $459 for a full terminal. POS Pro features cost an additional $89 per month per location on top of your regular plan.

How to Reduce Your Shopify Fees

You cannot eliminate Shopify fees entirely, but you can lower them:

1. Use Shopify Payments. This removes the extra 0.6% to 2.0% third-party transaction fee.
2. Switch to annual billing. Saves 25% on your subscription, which is $120 per year on Basic and $1,200 per year on Advanced.
3. Audit your apps quarterly. Remove any app you have not actively used in the past 30 days. Most stores are paying for at least 2 or 3 apps they no longer need.
4. Upgrade your plan at the right time. Do not upgrade early. Wait until your monthly sales consistently exceed the crossover point ($7,000 for Grow, $40,000 for Advanced).
5. Increase your average order value. Since every transaction has a flat $0.30 fee, higher-priced orders cost less as a percentage. Bundling products or adding free shipping thresholds can raise your average order.
6. Negotiate at volume. Once you reach Shopify Plus territory, processing rates are negotiable. Stores doing $500,000 or more per month can often get rates below 2.15%.

When to Upgrade Your Plan

Upgrade from Basic to Shopify (Grow) when:

• Your monthly sales consistently exceed $7,000
• You need professional reports or more staff accounts
• You want to lower your credit card processing rate from 2.9% to 2.6%

Upgrade from Shopify to Advanced when:

• Your monthly sales consistently exceed $40,000
• You need advanced report building or third-party calculated shipping rates
• You sell internationally and want better currency conversion rates
• You need more than 5 staff accounts

Know What You Actually Keep

Nummbas automatically pulls payment processing fees from Shopify and Stripe, combines them with your product costs, shipping, ad spend, and every other expense, and shows you what you actually keep after everything is paid. Instead of guessing at your margins in a spreadsheet, you see your true profit per order across every sales channel.

When you know your exact fees down to the penny, you can price your products with confidence, pick the right Shopify plan, and stop leaving money on the table.