Table of Content
How much does a Shopify website cost?
A Shopify website costs about $360 to $380 in the first year if you build it yourself: the Basic plan at $29 a month on annual billing plus a $10 to $30 domain. Custom development adds roughly $2,000 to $20,000 or more, per Shopify’s own cost guide, and Shopify Plus starts at $2,300 a month on a three-year term.
The short version
- The platform is the smallest cost. Basic is $29 a month on annual billing, Grow is $79, and Advanced is $299. Design, development and the work around the store are what move the total.
- Annual billing saves real money. The same three plans cost $39, $105 and $399 a month when billed monthly.
- A custom build is a separate budget line. Shopify puts a custom-built e-commerce website at $2,000 to $20,000 or more, depending on complexity.
- Payment fees scale with sales, not with plan. Basic takes 2.9% plus 30 cents per online card sale through Shopify Payments, and a third-party gateway adds a Shopify fee of 2% on top.
- Plus is a different category. At $2,300 a month on a three-year term it is $27,600 a year before any development.
- Scope sets the quote. Integrations, custom checkout logic and migrations change a developer’s price far more than the theme does.
Three sample Shopify budgets
Most guides to Shopify website cost give one range so wide it is useless. The totals below are built from published figures only, so you can check every line. They cover the platform, the domain, the theme and any custom development. They exclude apps, inventory, photography, marketing and payment processing, which depend on your business and are covered further down.
| Budget | What it includes | First-year total |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | Basic plan on annual billing ($348), a $10 to $30 domain, a free theme | $358 to $378 |
| Growing store | Grow plan on annual billing ($948), a domain, a free or paid theme ($0 to $500) | $958 to $1,478 |
| Custom build | Advanced plan on annual billing ($3,588), a domain, a theme, plus $2,000 to $20,000 or more of development | $5,598 to $24,118 or more |
| Shopify Plus | $2,300 a month on a three-year term, before development | $27,600 or more |
Plan prices (annual billing), domain, theme and custom development ranges from Shopify’s e-commerce website cost guide, checked October 7, 2026. Totals are our arithmetic from those figures. The custom development range is Shopify’s figure for a custom-built e-commerce website in general, not a quote for any specific project.
The jump between the second and third rows is the point. Moving from a theme-based store to a custom build is not a plan upgrade. It is a development project with its own scope, and it can cost several times the platform for the whole year.
The 9 Shopify website costs, one by one
1. The Shopify plan
Shopify pricing plans are the one fixed, published cost. Every plan is cheaper when billed annually.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | Cost per year (annual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39 a month | $29 a month | $348 |
| Grow | $105 a month | $79 a month | $948 |
| Advanced | $399 a month | $299 a month | $3,588 |
| Plus | Quoted per business | $2,300 a month on a three-year term | $27,600 |
Annual-billing prices and the Plus figure from Shopify’s cost guide, checked October 7, 2026. Monthly-billing prices from shopify.com/pricing, checked October 1, 2026. Shopify can change them at any time.
For a first store, Basic is almost always the right start, and you can move up later. If you are still working out what to configure before you launch, our guide to setting up a Shopify store shows what each step costs and which ones block a launch.
2. The domain
Shopify’s cost guide puts a store domain at $10 to $30 a year. You get a temporary .myshopify.com address for free, but a real domain is what customers remember and what search engines index. Budget it as a recurring cost, not a one-time one. Our step-by-step guide to connecting a Shopify custom domain covers the DNS records and the wait for SSL.
3. The theme
Prebuilt themes run from $0 to $500 according to Shopify. A free theme is a sensible start for a catalog under about 20 products, and our comparison of free Shopify themes covers nine of them. Pay for a theme when it saves you design work you would otherwise buy from a developer. The expensive mistake is the opposite one: buying a feature-heavy theme and then paying a developer to strip it back, because heavy themes slow the store down. Our guide to Shopify speed optimization covers the usual culprits.
4. Apps
Apps are the cost with no published ceiling. Each developer sets its own price, and most charge a monthly subscription that renews for as long as you keep the app. Add up the monthly price of every app you plan to install and multiply by twelve before you commit. An app that costs a small amount a month is a few hundred dollars over a year, and a stack of them can cost more than the plan itself. Install an app against a problem you have measured, not one you expect to have.
5. Design and development
Shopify development cost is the line that separates a $358 store from a $5,000 one. Shopify’s cost guide gives $2,000 to $20,000 or more for a custom-built e-commerce website, depending on complexity. That range is wide because the work is wide: it can be a theme customization or a bespoke build with integrations.
What you are buying is not pages. It is decisions about structure, checkout behavior, data and how the store connects to the rest of your business. If you are weighing a build, our Shopify development services team scopes the work before you commit to a number.
6. Payment processing
Processing is a cost on every sale, so it grows as the store does. With Shopify Payments, online card sales on Basic cost 2.9% plus 30 cents. As an example, a store taking $20,000 a month across 400 orders of $50 pays about $700 a month on Basic: $580 in percentage fees and $120 in flat fees.
If you use a third-party gateway instead, Shopify adds its own fee on top of the gateway’s charges: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. On that same $20,000 month, the Basic fee alone is $400. Our step-by-step guide to Shopify payment gateway integration covers how to add a gateway and what each route costs.
7. Inventory and photography
Neither is a Shopify cost, and both can dwarf the platform. Initial inventory ranges from nothing for print-on-demand to $5,000 or more for a stocked catalog, based on figures Shopify publishes. Product photography is the cost stores most often underbudget, because every product needs images that make a stranger trust a store they have never heard of.
8. Marketing and traffic
A new store has no traffic. Paid ads, email and search all cost money or time, and none of it is in the Shopify bill. Plan for it separately, and expect it to be your largest ongoing line once the store is live. Our guide to optimizing product pages for conversions covers how to get more from the traffic you pay for.
9. Maintenance and change
A store is not finished at launch. Themes need updating, apps change, and every new feature is another small project. If a developer built your store, ask whether ongoing changes are billed hourly, as a retainer or as fixed-scope projects, and get the answer in writing before the build starts.
What pushes a developer quote up
Two stores with the same theme can get quotes that differ several times over. The difference is almost always scope. These are the items that move a quote, from the ones that add a little work to the ones that add a lot.
| Scope item | Effect on the quote | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Theme setup and branding | Low | Configuring sections and styling is mostly settings work. |
| Large catalog or data import | Medium | Cleaning and mapping product data takes time even when the import itself is automated. |
| Custom theme sections | Medium | Anything the theme does not offer has to be written and tested. |
| ERP, CRM or warehouse integration | High | Orders, stock and customers have to stay in sync without anyone retyping them. |
| Custom checkout behavior | High | Shopify lists checkout customizations among its Plus features, so this can affect the platform cost too. |
| Migration from another platform | High | URLs, redirects and rankings have to survive the move, and failures are quiet. |
The effect column is our judgment of relative effort, not a price. Ask any developer to price each item separately.
If your project includes a move from another platform, the redirect map matters more than the theme. Our e-commerce migration services cover how that work is planned so rankings are not lost.
DIY, freelancer or agency
The right choice depends on what you are building, not on a general preference. Here is how the three compare on the points that decide it.
| Route | Best for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | A small catalog on a theme, no integrations | Your own time, and a store that works but was never tested at the edges |
| Freelancer | A defined task such as a theme change or one integration | One person is a single point of failure, and handover can be thin |
| Agency | Integrations, migrations, custom checkout or a store that must keep running | Scope creep and unclear ownership of the code at the end |
Whoever you choose, ask these before you sign:
- What is included in the quote, line by line, and what is billed separately?
- Who owns the theme code, the Shopify account and the app subscriptions when the project ends?
- How are changes after launch priced, and is there a minimum commitment?
- Which apps will you install, and what do they cost each month?
- What gets tested before launch, and who fixes what breaks in the first month?
When Shopify Plus starts to make sense
Plus is $2,300 a month on a three-year term according to Shopify, which is $27,600 a year. Shopify also describes a variable platform fee for more complex business structures. It is the plan for stores that need what lower tiers cannot do: B2B on Shopify, headless commerce, checkout customizations and Shopify Functions are all listed among its features. Third-party gateway fees drop to 0.2%, and orders processed through Shopify Payments carry no third-party fee.
Most stores do not need it at launch. The signals that you might are checkout logic Shopify’s lower plans cannot support, several stores under one brand, or sales volume where a fraction of a percent in fees pays for the plan. If you are weighing the move, our guide to choosing a Shopify Plus development agency covers what to ask before you commit.
Costs people miss
- The third-party gateway fee. It is easy to add a gateway without noticing the 2% Shopify charges on top of the gateway’s own rate.
- A premium on Shopify Payments wallets. Shopify says that when a third-party provider is also in use, Shopify Payments transactions such as Shop Pay and local payment methods are charged standard Shopify Payments rates plus 1.25%.
- App renewals. A free trial turns into a monthly charge. Review your installed apps every quarter.
- Monthly billing. Staying on monthly instead of annual costs $120 more a year on Basic and $312 more on Grow.
- Change requests. Small edits after launch add up if every one is billed hourly.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to build a Shopify store?
A store you build yourself costs about $358 to $378 in the first year: the Basic plan at $29 a month on annual billing, plus a $10 to $30 domain. A custom build adds development, which Shopify puts at $2,000 to $20,000 or more for a custom-built e-commerce website. Apps, inventory, photography and marketing are separate.
How much does a Shopify store cost per month?
The plan costs $29 a month on Basic with annual billing, $79 on Grow and $299 on Advanced. Billed monthly, the same plans are $39, $105 and $399. On top of the plan you pay for apps, a domain at $10 to $30 a year, and payment processing on every sale.
How much does Shopify cost per year?
On annual billing, Basic is $348 a year, Grow is $948 and Advanced is $3,588. Shopify Plus at $2,300 a month on a three-year term is $27,600 a year. Those figures cover the plan only, not apps, themes, a domain, development or payment fees.
How much does it cost to start a Shopify store?
The minimum is the Basic plan plus a domain, about $358 to $378 for the first year, using a free theme and no apps. Inventory is separate and ranges from nothing for print-on-demand to $5,000 or more for a stocked catalog. Our guide to setting up a Shopify store breaks down the first month in detail.
How much does Shopify Plus cost?
Shopify lists Plus at $2,300 a month on a three-year term, which is $27,600 a year, and mentions a variable platform fee for more complex business structures. Plus lowers third-party gateway fees to 0.2% and includes B2B, headless commerce and checkout customization features. Confirm current terms with Shopify before you budget.
How much does it cost to hire a Shopify developer?
It depends on the scope, so any single number would be a guess. Shopify’s own range for a custom-built e-commerce website is $2,000 to $20,000 or more. Ask for a line-by-line quote covering the theme, integrations, testing and post-launch changes, and ask who owns the code when the project ends.
What are the hidden costs of Shopify?
The ones most stores miss are the 2% to 0.2% Shopify fee on third-party gateways, app subscriptions that renew every month, the cost of staying on monthly billing, and the 1.25% premium on Shopify Payments wallet and local-method transactions when a third-party provider is also in use. Inventory, photography and marketing are real costs but sit outside the Shopify bill.
How much does Shopify take from a $100 sale?
With Shopify Payments on Basic, a $100 online card sale costs $3.20, which is 2.9% plus 30 cents. If you process it through a third-party gateway instead, Shopify adds $2.00 on Basic, $1.00 on Grow, $0.60 on Advanced or $0.20 on Plus, on top of the gateway’s own charge.
How much is the Shopify transaction fee?
Shopify charges no transaction fee when Shopify Payments is your only provider. When you use a third-party gateway, the fee is 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. The card processing rate on Shopify Payments is a separate charge that varies by plan.
What is the downside of using Shopify?
The main downsides are cost and control. Fees recur every month, a third-party gateway adds a percentage to every sale, apps stack up, and deep customization means development work or a higher plan. For most new stores those trade-offs are worth the speed. They matter most if you need checkout logic Shopify does not support on your plan.
Bottom Line
Shopify website cost is two separate budgets. The platform is small and published: $29 a month on annual billing gets a store running. Everything around it is the real spend, and it depends on scope: development, integrations, apps, inventory and traffic.
Build it yourself if your store is a catalog on a theme with no integrations, and set the apps budget before you install anything. Bring in a developer when you need custom checkout behavior, a system integration or a migration that has to keep its rankings. If you want a scoped quote before you commit to an approach, our Shopify development services team can price each line separately.
