Shopify Fee Calculator — Plan Costs, Payments and Gateway Fees (2026)
On the Basic plan, Shopify Payments takes 2.9% + $0.30 of each online order, on top of the $29/month subscription. On a $60 order that is $2.04 of processing and $2.14 of total platform cost, leaving $29.86 after $22 of goods and $6 of shipping. Upgrading from Basic to Grow pays for itself at $25,000 a month of card revenue — a revenue threshold, not an order count. Rates effective 2026-01-01.
| Order value | $60.00 |
|---|---|
| Shopify Payments (2.90% + $0.30) | −$2.04 |
| Basic plan, amortised | −$0.10 |
| Cost of goods | −$22.00 |
| Actual shipping cost | −$6.00 |
| Net per order | $29.86 |
Staying on Shopify Payments saves you $1.20 on this order — $360.00 a month at 300 orders.
| Rank | Plan | Plan/mo | Fees/order | Total/mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Basic | $29.00 | $2.04 | $641.00 |
| 2 | Grow | $79.00 | $1.92 | $655.00 |
| 3 | Advanced | $299.00 | $1.80 | $839.00 |
| 4 | Plus | $2,300.00 | $1.65 | $2,795.00 |
How Shopify's costs are calculated
Two costs that behave completely differently. A fixed monthly subscription that does not care how much you sell, and a percentage of every order that does. Which one dominates depends entirely on your volume, and that is the whole plan question.
The upgrade threshold is a revenue number, not an order count
Shopify's plans differ in two things at once: the subscription goes up and the processing rate goes down. So a dearer plan is cheaper once you process enough revenue for the rate saving to cover the extra subscription. Setting the two total costs equal:
The per-order fixed fee is identical across plans, so it cancels and drops out. What is left is a monthly revenue threshold — and notice that neither order count nor average order value appears in it:
| Upgrade | Extra subscription | Rate saving | Pays for itself at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic → Grow | $50/mo | 0.20% | $25,000/mo |
| Grow → Advanced | $220/mo | 0.20% | $110,000/mo |
| Advanced → Plus | $2,001/mo | 0.25% | $800,400/mo |
This is why "upgrade to Grow at 400 orders a month" is bad advice rather than merely rough. It is true at a $60 basket and wrong everywhere else. The same $25,000 threshold is 1,000 orders at $25, 417 at $60, and 100 at $250. Work in revenue and the answer stops moving.
At your current inputs — 300 orders of $60, so $18,000 a month — the cheapest plan is Basic at $641 all in. The ranked comparison sits above the fold with the calculator and re-ranks as you type.
The third-party gateway penalty
Shopify charges an extra percentage on every order that does not go through Shopify Payments. It is levied on the full order total, and on Basic it is 2.00% — larger than the entire spread between most gateways' published rates, which is what makes switching almost always a loss.
| $60 order on Basic | Processing | Shopify penalty | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Payments | $2.04 | $0.00 | $2.04 |
| 2.9% + $0.3 gateway | $2.04 | $1.20 | $3.24 |
A gateway matching Shopify's own rate exactly still costs $1.20 more per order, because the penalty is pure addition. The penalty does fall on higher plans — Basic 2.00%, Grow 1.00%, Advanced 0.60%, Plus 0.20% — so a store on Plus with a negotiated merchant account is in a genuinely different position from a store on Basic.
A worked example
A $60 order on Basic, 300 orders a month
| Line | Working | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Order value | $60.00 | |
| Shopify Payments (2.90% + $0.30) | −$2.04 | |
| Basic plan, amortised | −$0.10 | |
| Cost of goods | −$22.00 | |
| Actual shipping cost | −$6.00 | |
| Your profit | 49.8% margin | $29.86 |
Platform cost is $2.14 of the $60.00 order — 3.6%, against a headline card rate of 2.9%. The gap is the amortised subscription, and it is why low-volume stores are so much more expensive per order than the pricing page suggests: at 20 orders a month the Basic subscription alone works out at $1.45 per order.
Who this is for
Store owners deciding whether to upgrade a plan, whether to keep Shopify Payments, and what an order actually earns after everything. It is most useful entered with your real average order value and your real monthly order count, then read as a revenue figure — the plan table is the answer, and it is usually not the plan people assume.
What this does not account for
- Shipping labels bought through Shopify, which carry their own discounted rates.
- Chargebacks, which cost the disputed amount plus a fee.
- Sales tax and duties — collected and remitted, never yours, but processed.
- Shopify Plus terms. Plus is quoted from $2,300/month but is negotiated, so real Plus pricing is frequently not the published figure.
- Apps. The field above amortises a monthly total, but app costs are the most underestimated line in most Shopify P&Ls.
- Your time, and the cost of migrating a store between plans or gateways.
Sources and dates
Plan prices, card rates by plan and channel, and the third-party gateway percentages come from Shopify's published pricing, listed below with the date it was checked. Every crossover figure is derived from those rates by the formula above rather than quoted — Shopify publishes the inputs and not the thresholds. If a figure disagrees with your Shopify invoice, trust the invoice and let us know.
Questions people actually ask about this
When should I upgrade my Shopify plan?
When your monthly card revenue passes the point where the lower processing rate covers the higher subscription. That is a single division, and it does not depend on how many orders you take:
- Basic → Grow at $25,000 a month — $50 more subscription buys 0.20% off processing
- Grow → Advanced at $110,000 a month — $220 more subscription buys 0.20% off processing
- Advanced → Plus at $800,400 a month — $2,001 more subscription buys 0.25% off processing
Note what is missing from that list: order counts. A threshold of $25,000 is 1,000 orders at a $25 basket and 100 at a $250 basket. Any advice phrased as "upgrade at N orders a month" is only right for the basket size it was worked out at.
Which plan is cheapest for me right now?
At 300 orders a month of $60, that is $18,000 of monthly revenue, and the cheapest plan is Basic at $641 a month all in. The full comparison:
- Basic — $29/mo subscription + $612.00 of fees = $641
- Grow — $79/mo subscription + $576.00 of fees = $655
- Advanced — $299/mo subscription + $540.00 of fees = $839
- Plus — $2300/mo subscription + $495.00 of fees = $2,795
Change the order value and monthly orders in the calculator and the table above it re-ranks live.
Is a third-party payment gateway ever worth it?
Rarely, and the reason is the penalty rather than the gateway. Shopify charges an extra 2.00% on the Basic plan for every order that does not go through Shopify Payments — which is larger than the entire spread between most gateways' rates.
On the $60 order in this example, Shopify Payments costs $2.04 while a 2.9% + $0.3 gateway costs $2.04 plus $1.20 of penalty — $3.24 in total. The penalty falls on higher plans (Basic 2.00%, Grow 1.00%, Advanced 0.60%, Plus 0.20%), so the calculation is worth redoing if you move up.
The cases where it still makes sense are where Shopify Payments is not an option at all: an unsupported country, a prohibited product category, or an existing merchant account with negotiated rates well below the published card rate.
Does Shopify charge a transaction fee on top of the card rate?
Only if you do not use Shopify Payments. With Shopify Payments there is no extra transaction fee — just the card rate. With any other gateway, Shopify adds its own percentage on top of what the gateway charges, and that fee is levied on the full order total including shipping and tax.
Is annual billing worth it?
On the current rate card, yes — every plan is cheaper billed annually. Basic is $29 annually against $39 monthly; Grow is $79 annually against $105 monthly; Advanced is $299 annually against $399 monthly; Plus is $2300 annually against $2300 monthly. On Basic that is $120 a year for committing twelve months up front.
The catch is ordinary: you are paying a year ahead for a platform you may want to leave. For an established store the discount is close to free money; for a store in its first three months it is a bet.
What is my real cost per order?
On this example, $2.14 — $2.04 of card processing plus the amortised subscription. That is 3.6% of the order, against a headline processing rate of 2.9%.
Amortising the subscription across orders is what makes low-volume stores expensive: at 20 orders a month the Basic subscription alone is $1.45 per order, which can exceed the card fee entirely.
Where these numbers come from
These rates have not yet been verified against the live source. They were seeded from published rate cards and are shown here for structure. Check the platform's own fee page before pricing anything.
Rate schedule version 2026.1, effective .
- Shopify — Pricing (US) retrieved 2026-08-22
- Shopify Help — Shopify Payments rates in the United States by card type retrieved 2026-08-21