Shopify review 2026: is the platform worth what it costs?

How much does Shopify cost in 2026?

Shopify lists Basic at $39 a month in the US, £25 in the UK and A$56 in Australia, or $29, £19 and A$42 a month paid yearly.

Monthly billing, with the per-month rate on yearly billing in brackets. Prices as Shopify's US, UK and Australian pricing pages list them, read November 2 and 3, 2026.

A new store gets three days free, then $1 a month for three months on most plans (£1 in the UK). Shopify doesn't extend or reset that trial.

Paying yearly means paying the full year upfront. If you switch during the $1 months, the yearly charge starts once they end. In the US, yearly saves about a quarter on Basic, 15% on Grow and 10% on Advanced. In the UK and Australia, yearly saves about a quarter on all three.

The plan cards show the yearly rate first, which is why some reviews quote Basic at $29. The Starter plan isn't open to new stores, so a review that lists it is out of date. In the US, Squarespace's Core plan costs the same as Basic, $39 a month or $29 paid yearly, and Shopify vs Squarespace sets out what else differs.

What do Shopify reviews say?

Shopify scores 4.4 out of 5 on G2 and 4.5 on Capterra, but 1.3 on Trustpilot.

Read on each site November 3, 2026.

Trustpilot's own page says Shopify hasn't invited reviews recently, so they may not be representative. Its summary of recent reviews names support, unexpected charges, and orders that never arrived or arrived wrong from stores that run on Shopify.

On G2, cost leads: the most common complaint tag is "Expensive", on 156 reviews, ahead of "Limited Customization" on 98.

You ask support for a person, and the chat hands you to a second bot. Trustpilot's summary reports the same complaint: reaching a real person is nearly impossible. Every plan lists 24/7 support: live chat on Basic and Grow, "Enhanced live chat" on Advanced and "Priority support" on Plus.

Your payouts can stall. A sale lands, and a tenth of it sits in a reserve until a date months away. Shopify can hold part of your Shopify Payments money for a set time, for example 10% for 120 days. During an account hold, payouts stop until the reason is resolved, though in most cases shoppers can still check out.

What does Shopify charge on top of the plan?

With Shopify Payments, an online card sale costs 2.9% + 30¢ on US Basic, 2% + 25p in the UK and 1.7% + 30¢ in Australia.

Standard card rates with Shopify Payments, read November 2 and 3, 2026. The last column is Shopify's third-party fee, charged on top of that provider's own card rate.

Four more fees sit outside that table.

• Foreign cards. On Basic, a card from abroad costs 3.1% + 25p in the UK and 3.5% + 30¢ in Australia. In the US, add 1%.
• Gift cards and store credit. A store opened on or after May 12, 2025 pays the third-party fee on the part of an order paid that way, even on Shopify Payments.
• Other currencies. A shopper paying in another currency costs you a conversion fee of 2% in the UK and Australia, or 1.5% in the US. Shopify builds it into the converted price the shopper sees.
• Refunds. Refunding a sale doesn't return its card fee or conversion fee.

The third-party fee doesn't apply to Shop Pay, Shop Pay Installments or manual payments, and PayPal is exempt when Shopify Payments is your main provider. Shopify's fees page lists every case.

What does a first year on Shopify really cost?

Say a US store takes 100 online orders a month at $50, on Basic, with four $20 apps and a free theme. Its first year costs $3,414.

On a store doing $5,000 a month, card fees cost about six times the Basic plan in year one. Against a full year at $39, they still cost about four and a half times as much. The plan is about 10% of the bill. Take cards through another provider instead, and Shopify's 2% adds $1,200 on top of that provider's own rate. Selling on Etsy today? Here is what Etsy and Shopify each take from a $40 sale.

The same store in the UK, at £50 an order, pays £228 for the plan and £1,500 in card fees. In Australia, at A$50, the list prices come to A$507 for the plan and A$1,380 in card fees. An EU card on the UK store costs £1.80 an order instead of £1.25.

Shopify's own advice is to consider moving up a plan once the third-party fees you pay exceed the price gap to the next plan. With Shopify Payments, Grow's lower card rate pays for itself at about $33,000 a month in online card sales in the US, £13,300 in the UK and A$62,000 in Australia, at monthly plan prices.

What are Shopify's pros?

One account covers hosting, checkout and card payments, and a theme lets you launch without a developer. Shopify Payments includes fraud analysis.

Basic already has unlimited products, email campaigns, abandoned checkout recovery, discount codes and gift cards. In-person sales with a phone or card reader count against the same stock as your online store.

Shopify says its checkout converts 15% better on average than other platforms. It also says it is certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant, the card industry's security standard.

On G2, reviewers back the easy launch: the most-tagged pros are Ease of Use on 283 reviews, Easy Integration on 104 and Quick Setup on 102.

What are Shopify's cons?

Apps are where the bill grows. The App Store lists over 16,000 apps. A paid app is usually its own subscription, on its own 30-day cycle, on your Shopify bill. Some bill you outside Shopify, so uninstalling one doesn't cancel it. Refunds are the developer's call, not Shopify's.

You add one paid feature at $20 a month, then another at $50, until the apps cost more than the plan. If yours already do, here is how to cut your Shopify app bill. To see what popular apps charge, read the best Shopify apps for a growing store.

Themes cost up to $500. The Theme Store has 24 free themes and over 1,300 paid ones at $100 to $500, and the most common prices are $320 and $380. A paid theme is final sale and licensed to the store that bought it. Our list of the best Shopify themes covers free and premium picks.

Smaller plans come with limits. Basic has no extra staff accounts, where Grow has 5 and Advanced 15. Shopify's pricing table marks checkout customization "Limited" below Plus and "Full" on Plus. On every plan, past 50 synced marketplace orders a month, Shopify charges 1%, up to $99 a month.

Shopify reviews UK and Australia: what changes?

In the UK, every plan is priced in pounds, and Basic's card rate of 2% + 25p takes a smaller share than the US 2.9%. Since Brexit, Shopify counts cards from the EU as international, so an EU card costs 3.1% + 25p on Basic. Selling in another currency adds a 2% conversion fee. Payouts take at least 3 business days, longer at first. Basic includes VAT validation, exemptions and invoicing.

Shopify's Australian pricing page lists Basic at A$56 a month, or A$42 paid yearly. Australia has the lowest domestic card percentage of the three, 1.7% + 30¢ on Basic, but a foreign card costs 3.5% + 30¢. Payouts take at least 2 business days, longer at first.

Capterra's UK and Australian pages print a starting price of US$29, which is the US yearly rate in dollars. Go by Shopify's own page for your country.

Who is Shopify right for?

Shopify fits you if:

• You sell physical products in a country where Shopify Payments runs.
• You want to launch without a developer.
• You expect to grow into staff accounts, more locations and Shopify's own A/B tests, which start on Grow.

It fits less well if:

• You take cards through another provider, which costs 2% more on Basic.
• You need checkout changes below Plus.
• Every small feature you want is a paid app, and your margin is thin.

Shopify is worth it if you sell physical products and want checkout, payments and hosting in one account. Budget for the card fees, apps and theme on top, because together they can cost more than the plan. If Wix is the other choice, Shopify vs Wix puts the two plans and their card fees side by side. Coming from another platform? Moving your store to Shopify takes eight steps, starting with a list of your old addresses.