Shopify Plus Pricing: A Complete Breakdown of Costs, Fees, and Value
Updated May 2020
One of the main concerns when switching to a new platform is “How much is it going to cost me?” And not just in terms of the platform fees itself, but all in. What is the true cost?
Well, have no fear. Below we’ve outlined all you need to know and more about Shopify Plus and how much you can expect to pay.
Why doesn’t Shopify Plus publish pricing plans?
There isn’t much that you can find out about Shopify Plus’ pricing on Shopify’s own website. Why is that?
They do this to keep someone from eliminating Shopify Plus as a platform based on the flat fees alone. The truth is that the vast majority of companies would actually save money switching to Shopify Plus, once the lower transaction fees and decreased HR and technology costs are factored in. But when comparing flat fees, it initially may seem “expensive,” depending on the price tag that you are paying for your current platform.
They want potential customers to talk to them so that they can get a true view of the business, help determine whether Shopify Plus is right for them, and decide whether or not it will save them money. And Shopify Plus’ salespeople are great. In the rare case that Shopify Plus really isn’t right for you, they are happy to refer you elsewhere.
Are Shopify Plus fees standard?
Another concern with the fees not being published is whether or not the fees are standard for all businesses. Whatever you’re shopping for, there are few things worse than buying something and then realizing the guy next to you paid half for the same thing.
Well, with Shopify Plus you’re in luck. Although the fees are not readily published, they are standard across every store. They don’t charge different fees to different businesses. Fees are based on a simple platform fee per month + % fee per transaction with tiers to take your level of business into account.
What types of fees are there and how are they calculated?
Here is a full breakdown of not only Shopify fees, but all costs you might find associated with the platform.
Platform Fees
For most stores, the platform fee is $2,000 per month. This covers you up to $800,000 in monthly sales (9,600,000 per year). Above that level, Shopify Plus charges 0.25% of all eligible transactions.
Percentage-wise this fee is minimal. Most Shopify customers pay $79 or $149 per month for a $5,000 per month business which is almost 3%. $2,000 per month on the other hand for a business doing $300,000 per month is less than 1% (.67%).
And compared to the competitors? The flat fee may be slightly more than a competitor like BigCommerce, but once you factor in the payment processing fees if you are using Shopify Payments, Shopify Plus takes the cake and typically is the lowest cost enterprise option (with, in our opinion, the best performance). What a great combination!
App Fees
With Shopify Plus (and most other platforms), it is common to use apps built by other developers to enhance your store experience or integrate with external programs.
To be clear, you don’t need any apps to run your store. However, most people do use them to add additional functionality that would cost a lot of money to develop from scratch. Instead, you can add this enhanced functionality to your store with just the click of a button. You can use apps for a range of things from front-end functionality improvements like personalization, price customizations, subscriptions, and marketing tools to back-end integrations with accounting and fulfillment services.
Apps are typically low costs. You should expect to spend a few hundred dollars a month across the board in app fees, which is a small price to pay when it would cost several thousand dollars to develop and run any of these features on your own.
Payment Gateway Transaction Fees
Payment gateway transaction fees charged by Shopify Plus will depend on your specific payment gateway of choice. With Shopify Payments, there are no fees on top of their low credit card processing fees (2.15% + $0.30).
With an external gateway, the additional transaction fees are very low at just 0.15%.
Payment gateway fees are so low with Shopify Payments that often the cost savings in gateway fees when switching to Shopify Plus alone offsets the $2,000 platform fee.
Maintenance Fees
With Shopify Plus, traditional IT and maintenance are not needed at all. The vast majority of IT and maintenance resources were put towards store scalability and security, but with Shopify Plus, all of this is taken care of. That is a huge expense most enterprise stores are currently paying that goes away entirely with Shopify Plus.
What’s great about saving so much money with Shopify Plus?
Obviously you save a lot of money which is a benefit in itself. But the real benefit of saving time and money (thanks to a stable, secure platform) is that it can be put towards scaling your store instead.
That’s where a partner like us can really come in and make a difference. We are averaging 2X growth on average for brands that we are managing. So don’t just switch to Shopify Plus and pocket that extra money. Find a growth partner that can help you take your store to the next level.
Are there any other costs associated with Shopify Plus?
Other costs you might encounter when switching to Shopify Plus would be migration costs or integration costs. None of this money gets paid to Shopify, but they could be out of pocket expenses as you get your new store up and running. In our experience, these costs are typically insignificant and businesses make this money back incredibly quickly in savings from moving to the Shopify Plus platform.
If you’re hesitant about the complexity of moving your store to Shopify Plus, get in touch with us. We’d be happy to help you determine whether switching to Shopify Plus is a smart investment for your business.
How does Shopify Plus compare to other platforms?
In our opinion, Shopify Plus is the best functioning platform out there, not to mention the best value for the price you pay. Every day we see the value far exceed the expense associated with moving to the platform.
There are some competitors out there that are less expensive on a monthly platform fee basis, but you also get less from them in return. Shopify Plus is well worth the cost. You get power, security, scalability, customizability, and agility, which is a combination we haven’t seen with any other platform.
