Shopify Pricing: What Does a Store Cost and How Do You Calculate TCO?

Before launching a store on Shopify, the easiest things to estimate are the implementation cost and Shopify's plan pricing. Once sales begin, however, transaction fees, app subscriptions, payouts in different currencies and further store development all come into play. At higher sales volumes, these costs can weigh more heavily on the budget than the subscription itself, so plan pricing alone does not fully answer how much Shopify costs.

Shopify TCO is the total cost of launching and running a store over a chosen period: the implementation plus all the costs incurred after sales begin. We show how to calculate it using the example of a Polish supplements store that sells PLN 1.5 million worth of products a month. We change the assumptions step by step to show which decisions affect the result most, and we check at what sales level a higher plan pays off.

You can recreate and adjust this scenario in our Shopify TCO calculator.

Where to start when calculating TCO?

The simplest formula looks like this:

TCO = one-off costs + total monthly costs over the chosen period

One-off costs are mainly the preparation and implementation of the store, including the migration. Monthly costs cover the Shopify plan, apps and maintenance. On top of that come sales-dependent fees: payment provider commissions, any additional Shopify fee for using an external payment gateway, and currency costs.

TCO for one year is the implementation cost plus twelve months of running the store. For five years, we multiply the monthly costs by 60. We assume constant prices and sales. Changes in sales need a separate scenario.

Shopify pricing: what is included in the subscription and what do you pay for separately?

Shopify includes hosting and unlimited bandwidth in the plan price. When calculating the cost of the platform itself, you therefore do not need to add a server or fees for data transfer or visitor numbers. External services used by the store may, however, generate separate costs.

Apps are usually recurring charges, most often monthly. Some also charge usage-based amounts, so the billing model needs to be checked for each one. This matters when comparing Shopify with an open-source store, where some extensions are bought with a one-off payment. In both models, however, maintenance and later changes need to be costed.

How much does payment processing cost?

Shopify Payments charges a fee that depends on the plan and the payment method. In our model, it is a percentage of the order value plus PLN 1.20 per transaction. If Shopify Payments is the only provider, Shopify does not charge an additional fee for an external gateway.

An external gateway charges its own commission, and Shopify adds an extra fee on the transactions it processes. According to Shopify's Polish price list, this fee is 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced. If the provider charges 1%, the total cost of these payments is 3%, 2% and 1.6% of the transaction value respectively.

In a mixed setup, Shopify Payments remains the main gateway, while an external provider handles part of the domestic sales. We then apply the standard Shopify Payments fees only to payments processed by that service. For payments processed by the external gateway, we count its commission and Shopify's additional transaction fee.

Shopify's monthly cost: a step-by-step example

We start with a base scenario and then change one assumption at a time. Each step is compared with the base scenario. In step 2 we also show the Shopify Payments-only option, and step 3 uses the AOV from step 2.

Step 1. The base scenario

The store sells PLN 1,500,000 worth of products a month with an average order value of PLN 200, which means 7,500 orders. All sales are handled by an external gateway charging a 1% commission and no per-transaction fee. The store does not sell abroad and has no subscriptions.

We assume PLN 75,000 net for a custom implementation including data migration and PLN 3,000 net a month for ongoing development support. What drives the implementation budget is explained in our article How Much Does a Shopify or Shopify Plus Implementation Cost?

On top of that, there are apps for consent management, shipping, reviews, forms and back-in-stock notifications. This set costs PLN 235 a month on Basic, PLN 309 on Grow and PLN 385 on Advanced.

The external provider charges PLN 15,000 a month regardless of the plan. Shopify's additional fee is PLN 30,000 on Basic, PLN 15,000 on Grow and PLN 9,000 on Advanced. And it is this fee that accounts for most of the difference between the options.

The table includes payment fees, the plan subscription, the listed apps and support. The one-off PLN 75,000 implementation cost has been added to the TCO. The monthly plan prices with annual billing are taken from Shopify's September 2026 price list: PLN 79, PLN 239 and PLN 1,220. Check the current Shopify pricing before making a decision.

Basic has the lowest subscription but, at this sales volume, the highest total cost. Even after accounting for the more expensive Advanced subscription, Advanced comes out PLN 19,709 a month cheaper. What drives the cost here is the payment structure, not the price of the plan.

Step 2. A larger basket with the same revenue

The average order value (AOV) rises from PLN 200 to PLN 250, while revenue stays at PLN 1,500,000 a month. That means 6,000 orders instead of 7,500. With an external gateway charging a purely percentage-based commission, the payment cost does not change, because the provider and Shopify calculate their fees on the same sales value.

Shopify Payments is different, because in our model it also charges PLN 1.20 per transaction. If all sales go through Shopify Payments and the mix of payment methods stays the same, 1,500 fewer transactions means PLN 1,800 in savings a month. A higher AOV therefore lowers TCO only when there is a per-order fee among the costs.

Step 3. Half of sales through Shopify Payments

We keep the AOV at PLN 250 and compare three ways of handling the same sales: an external gateway only, 50% of revenue with each provider, and Shopify Payments only. In the mixed option, each provider handles PLN 750,000 and around 3,000 payments a month.

For payments in Poland through Shopify Payments, we assume 25% domestic and EU cards, 5% international cards, 55% BLIK and 15% Przelewy24. The table shows the monthly cost of payments alone, excluding the subscription, apps and support.

On Basic, Shopify Payments as the only provider is the cheapest option. Moving half of sales to it lowers the monthly payment cost there by about PLN 6,881. On Grow the differences are small, and on Advanced the external gateway remains the cheapest.

In practice, each provider's share depends on how the store is configured and how customers pay, so the split is rarely exactly 50/50. Before choosing, compare the fees against the share of cards, BLIK and bank transfers in your own store. With a different provider rate or a different payment mix, the result may be reversed.

Step 4. Sales in another currency

With international payments, you need to distinguish between the currency the customer pays in and the currency paid out to the company's account. If a customer in Germany pays in EUR and the store receives payouts only in PLN, the funds are converted. We add the conversion cost separately, on top of the payment fees.

In Poland, Shopify Payments supports payouts in PLN or EUR. On Basic and Grow, you can have one payout currency at a time. On Advanced and Shopify Plus, you can add separate accounts for different currencies.

If 10% of the PLN 1.5 million in sales comes from Germany and the whole amount is paid out in PLN, the conversion fee assumed in the model, 2% of German sales, comes to PLN 3,000 a month. A EUR account on a plan with multi-currency payouts avoids this particular fee.

Do not assume, however, that every payout in a foreign currency is free. Fees depend on the store's country, the currency and the plan, and payouts in currencies other than the local one have separate rules. Before expanding, it is worth including in the calculation not only the share of the foreign market, but also the payment currency, the payout currency and the bank accounts.

Step 5. Subscriptions

A subscription programme requires an app and may involve a commission on recurring sales. If 30% of revenue, or PLN 450,000 a month, comes from subscriptions, the chosen set of apps costs PLN 1,908 more and the commission on those sales comes to PLN 5,360. Together, that is PLN 7,268 a month. Over five years, with sales unchanged, it adds up to PLN 436,080.

To judge whether the programme pays off, you need to check whether it increases purchase frequency and customer retention, or mainly replaces orders that would have been placed anyway. You also need the margin, customer acquisition cost, the effort involved in running the programme and how recurring payments are billed.

At what sales level does a higher plan pay off?

The same assumptions can be used to calculate indicative break-even points: the monthly sales above which a higher plan costs less in total than a lower one. We include the subscription with annual billing, payment fees and the assumed set of apps.

With an external gateway, a higher plan pays for itself quickly, because each one lowers Shopify's additional fee. The provider's own commission makes no difference here, as it is the same on every plan. With Shopify Payments, the rate differences between plans are small, so the break-even points move much higher. In a mixed setup, they fall somewhere in between.

For Shopify Plus, we calculate the break-even point separately, because the subscription depends on the contract. The model assumes EUR 2,100 a month on a three-year contract and EUR 2,250 on a one-year contract, at the National Bank of Poland rate of 24 September 2026 (PLN 4.39). If the sales-based fee, 0.35% or 0.4% of revenue, exceeds that amount, it is charged instead. Some apps cost more on Plus, so the set from the example comes to around PLN 760 a month.

With sales going exclusively through Shopify Payments, Plus does not come out cheaper than Advanced at any scale in our model. Lower payment rates do not offset the higher subscription, and at higher revenue the sales-based fee kicks in. Shopify does not publish Shopify Payments rates for Plus, so we use estimates. All the more reason why the choice of Plus is usually driven by features rather than fees alone.

The break-even points drop when international sales come into play. Multi-currency payouts on Advanced can save on conversion costs, as in step 4. They are also sensitive to the set of apps, because some apps cost more on higher plans.

Which plan should you choose?

Comparing plans should rarely be the starting point. In practice, the plan is usually dictated by the scale of sales: as revenue grows, the lower fees on a higher plan start to outweigh its more expensive subscription. The break-even points in the previous section show roughly when that happens.

Shopify Plus is the exception. Its cost depends on the contract terms, the commitment period, sales-based fees and how payments are handled. Plus can work out more expensive than Advanced and still be the better choice, because it offers capabilities the lower plans do not. These include multiple stores within one organisation, full B2B functionality and extensive checkout customisation. In that case, the decision is driven by business needs, not just the sum of the fees.

When comparing Plus with Advanced, check whether Shopify's additional fee on external gateway transactions is 0.2% or whether the contract waives it. An extreme example shows the scale of the difference well: if all PLN 1.5 million of monthly sales went through an external gateway, it would amount to PLN 3,000 a month. You also need to confirm the available payment model and the number of stores the planned architecture requires.

What to add when you need a second store?

Selling in Poland and Germany can be handled in one store with Shopify Markets or in two separate stores. For a second store, you need to estimate configuration, integrations and testing, and then its operation and development. On top of that comes an additional subscription, if one is charged, and licences for apps billed separately per store.

Some of the work may serve both stores, but payment fees have to be calculated based on each store's sales. On Shopify Plus, the conditions for creating expansion stores depend on the purpose of the store and the contract. It is worth weighing the cost of an additional store against whether the market really needs a separate catalogue, processes and way of being run.

What costs does the example not show?

The list of apps rarely ends with the one in the first calculation. When processes are being designed, features come up that need an additional tool or integration, so it is worth setting aside an app reserve from the start.

Implementing and then running the store also requires work on the company's side: decisions, assets, sign-offs and the involvement of the ecommerce, marketing and finance teams, as well as integration vendors. In Hyper Effekt's experience, these people's time often slips out of the budget. It is worth estimating how many specialists need to be involved, to what extent and for how long, both during the project and after launch.

The example also does not price ecommerce architecture, additional development work, marketing and analytics tools, translations, integration maintenance or changes to external systems. These items need to be estimated for the specific store. The reserve should reflect the quality of the data, the number of integrations and how well defined the requirements are.

How to use the result?

Start with the transaction value and number of orders from the last 6–12 months. Split payments by provider and method, and add the providers' commissions and the relevant Shopify fees. Then fill in the plan, apps, implementation, support, payout currencies and number of stores.

Compare options using the same assumptions. If the result changes significantly after switching plans, check which item is responsible. In our example, the biggest difference comes from the fees on external gateway transactions.