Shopify fees explained: plans, payments and extras

Shopify is a mature, well-supported platform, and for many shops its pricing is fair. It is also layered, which makes the real monthly cost harder to see than the headline plan price.

All prices in this guide are as listed on Shopify's Portuguese pricing page on 1 October 2026; prices vary by country and change, check the page for yours. The four layers are:

• The plan. A fixed monthly subscription: Basic, Grow, Advanced or Plus. It costs less per month if you pay yearly.
• Payment processing. If you take payments through Shopify Payments, each online card payment costs a percentage plus a fixed €0.30. The percentage falls as the plan goes up.
• Third-party transaction fees. If you use a different payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds its own percentage to each sale, on top of what that provider charges.
• Apps, themes and extras. Many apps have their own monthly price, billed through Shopify. Paid themes, domains and POS Pro also cost extra.

The plan is the only fixed part of the bill. Paying yearly lowers the monthly price on every plan below Plus, but you pay for the year rather than month by month. New shops get a 3-day free trial, then pay €1 a month for the first 3 months.

Plus, the plan for large businesses, starts from €2,100 a month.

Shopify Payments is Shopify's own payment processing. With it there is no third-party transaction fee: you pay a processing rate on each payment, and the rate depends on your plan and the payment method.

The fixed €0.30 matters more than it looks on small orders. On a €20 order it adds 1.5 percentage points on its own, so a shop with small baskets pays a higher share of its sales than the headline percentage suggests.

If you would rather use another provider, for example because you already have a Stripe account, Shopify charges a transaction fee on each sale on top of that provider's own fees. Shopify's pricing page notes that these fees apply when you use a third-party provider instead of Shopify Payments.

For comparison, Stripe's price for Portugal is 1.5% + €0.25 for standard EEA cards, with a €20 fee for each dispute. On Basic, a Stripe card payment therefore costs about 3.5% + €0.25 once Shopify's 2% is added, against 1.8% + €0.30 through Shopify Payments. Unless you have a reason to use another provider, the gap favours Shopify Payments.

Shopify's pricing page says its plans integrate with thousands of apps. That is a real strength: almost anything a shop might want exists as an app. The cost is that many apps charge their own monthly subscription, billed through Shopify alongside the plan, and these add up when a shop relies on several of them.

• Apps. Before you treat the plan price as your cost, list the apps you would need and add up their monthly prices.
• Themes. Paid themes in the Shopify Theme Store are a one-off purchase.
• Domains. A custom domain is an extra.
• POS Pro. For selling in person, POS Pro costs €79 a month per location on top of the plan.

Each example assumes an average order of €50, every order paid online by a standard EEA card, the plan paid monthly and no paid apps. Figures are rounded to the euro. Refunds, disputes, VAT and currency conversion are left out.

Example (b) shows the third-party fee at work: the same shop pays about €48 a month more by bringing its own provider on Basic. Example (c) shows how the processing percentage, not the plan, becomes most of the bill as sales grow.

This guide is general information, not financial advice. How these costs are treated for VAT and tax is something to confirm with your accountant.

1. 1

   Pick the plan you would really use

   Check which plan has the features you need, and whether you will pay monthly or yearly.

2. 2

   Apply the card rate to your sales

   Use your plan's rate and your real mix of payment methods. American Express and Klarna cost more than standard cards.

3. 3

   Add the fixed fee per order

   Multiply your monthly orders by €0.30. Shops with small baskets feel this most.

4. 4

   Add the third-party fee if it applies

   Only if you use a provider other than Shopify Payments, and then add that provider's own fees too.

5. 5

   Add apps and extras

   List each app's monthly price, plus any paid theme, domain or POS Pro cost.

WhizzyCommerce prices differently, and it is not always cheaper. It has two plans: Free, €0 a month plus 2% of each paid sale, and Pro, €49 a month plus 0.5% of each sale, with Pro's own bill never more than €499 in a month however much you sell. It does not process payments itself: you connect your own Stripe, PayPal or Mollie account, or take Multibanco and MB WAY through your own ifthenpay contract, and that provider's fees come on top. The table runs the same shops with Stripe.

On payment costs alone, Shopify with Shopify Payments is often similar or cheaper, as the numbers show. The differences are elsewhere: discount codes, gift cards, abandoned checkout emails, several currencies, a blog, translations and reviews come with both plans without apps; there is no contract or notice period; and Pro's ceiling stops the platform's share growing at high volume, while your provider's fees still grow with sales. See pricing, the side-by-side comparison and what a Shopify alternative looks like.