Shopify Pricing UK 2026: Plans, Fees and Complete Cost Breakdown

Shopify Pricing Overview for 2026

Shopify offers five main pricing tiers in the UK, ranging from £5 per month for basic social selling to custom enterprise pricing for high-volume merchants. Whether you are an entrepreneur just starting out or an established business owner scaling operations, understanding how Shopify works and what each plan includes is essential for making the right choice. The platform has evolved significantly since its early days, and the current pricing structure reflects the different needs of businesses at various stages of growth.

All Shopify plans include secure hosting, SSL certificates, unlimited bandwidth and 24/7 support with chat support and email available around the clock. You never pay separately for hosting or security, which is a significant advantage over alternatives like Magento or WooCommerce where these costs add up quickly.

Here is a quick overview of current Shopify pricing in the UK:

• Starter: £5 per month
• Basic: £19 per month (billed annually) or £25 monthly
• Grow: £49 per month (billed annually) or £65 monthly
• Advanced: £259 per month (billed annually) or £344 monthly
• Plus: From £1,800 per month (3-year term) or approximately $2,300 monthly

Shopify currently offers new merchants their first three months for just £1 per month on Basic, Grow and Advanced plans, plus a 3-day free trial to explore the platform before committing.

Shopify Plans Compared: Features at Each Tier

Understanding what you get at each price point is essential for making the right choice. The differences between plans go beyond just the monthly fee, affecting everything from staff access to reporting capabilities and payment processing rates. Weighing the pros and cons of each tier requires careful thought about your current and future needs.

Every Shopify plan includes unlimited products, collections and file storage. You also get abandoned cart recovery, discount codes, gift cards and access to the Shopify App Store on all paid plans. The key differences lie in staff accounts, reporting depth, shipping features and transaction fees.

Staff accounts scale with each tier. Basic provides owner-only access, Grow allows up to 5 staff accounts, Advanced increases this to 15, and Plus offers unlimited staff with granular permissions.

Inventory locations are generous across all plans, with Basic through Advanced supporting up to 10 locations each. Shopify Plus extends this to 200 locations for enterprise operations.

Reporting becomes progressively more powerful as you move up. Basic offers fundamental analytics, Grow adds professional reports, Advanced includes custom report building, and Plus provides enterprise-grade business intelligence tools.

For a broader understanding of the platform's capabilities, see our guide on why you should choose Shopify for your ecommerce business.

Transaction and Payment Processing Fees

Beyond the monthly subscription, transaction fees are often the largest ongoing cost for Shopify merchants. These fees vary significantly between plans and can make a substantial difference to your margins as sales volume increases.

Shopify Payments is Shopify's built-in payment processor, powered by Stripe. It accepts all major payment methods including Visa, Mastercard and other credit cards. Using Shopify Payments eliminates third-party transaction fees and commission charges, offering the most competitive rates for transactions in your country. Here are the current UK rates:

Online credit card rates with Shopify Payments:

• Basic: 2.0% + 25p per transaction
• Grow: 1.7% + 25p per transaction
• Advanced: 1.5% + 25p per transaction
• Plus: Negotiated rates, typically around 1.5% + 20p

In-person credit card rates are lower for physical retail:

• Basic: 1.7% + 0p per transaction
• Grow: 1.6% + 0p per transaction
• Advanced: 1.5% + 0p per transaction

Third-party payment gateway fees apply if you use providers like PayPal or Worldpay instead of Shopify Payments:

• Basic: 2.0% additional fee
• Grow: 1.0% additional fee
• Advanced: 0.6% additional fee

These third-party fees are charged on top of whatever the payment provider charges, so using Shopify Payments typically offers the best value. For most UK merchants, we recommend Shopify Payments unless you have specific requirements that necessitate an alternative provider.

Shopify Starter: £5 per Month

The Shopify Starter plan is designed for creators, influencers and small sellers who want to sell through social media channels, messaging apps or existing websites without building a full online store. At £5 per month, it is the most affordable entry point to Shopify's ecommerce solution and fits most budgets.

Starter does not include a complete online store. Instead, you get Linkpop (a link-in-bio tool for social selling), buy buttons that can be embedded on any website including blogging platforms, and the ability to sell through Facebook Messenger and other messaging platforms. Products are managed through the Shopify admin, and customers complete purchases through Shopify's secure checkout. This makes it ideal for building an initial online presence without the complexity of a full ecommerce store.

Transaction fees on Starter are higher than other plans at 5% per transaction when using Shopify Payments. This reflects the lower monthly cost but makes the plan less economical for sellers with significant volume.

Starter is ideal for:

• Social media sellers and influencers
• Bloggers adding shop functionality to WordPress or other website builders
• Testing product-market fit before committing to a full store
• Selling a small number of products through social channels

If you need a proper online store, even for a small business, you will want to look at Basic or higher.

Shopify Basic: £19 to £25 per Month

Basic is the entry point for merchants who want a complete, professional online store. Priced at £19 per month when billed annually (or £25 month-to-month), it includes everything most new businesses need to launch and grow.

You get a fully hosted ecommerce website with your own domain name, unlimited products organised into categories, discount codes, gift cards, abandoned cart recovery and 24/7 support via chat and email. The store editor, Online Store 2.0, allows you to customise your theme including your logo, create new page templates and adjust workflows without touching code.

Basic includes access to Shopify Markets, enabling you to sell internationally with localised currencies, languages and domains. You can manage up to 10 inventory locations, which covers most small to medium operations and gives you a lot of flexibility as you grow.

Point of sale functionality through Shopify POS Lite is included, allowing you to sell in person using a smartphone or tablet. For more advanced retail features like staff permissions and detailed inventory management, you can add POS Pro for £69 per month per location.

Basic is ideal for:

• New ecommerce businesses launching their first store
• Small businesses with one or two team members
• Brands testing the waters before scaling
• Businesses with straightforward operational needs

The main limitations of Basic are the lack of additional staff accounts, basic reporting only and higher transaction fees compared to Grow and Advanced. For many business owners, these limitations are acceptable when starting out, and upgrading becomes worthwhile as sales volume increases.

Shopify Grow: £49 to £65 per Month

The Grow plan (previously called simply "Shopify") is designed for businesses that have found their footing and need more sophisticated tools to scale. At £49 per month annually or £65 monthly, it adds professional reporting, more staff accounts and access to Shopify Flow automation.

Reporting capabilities expand significantly on Grow. You gain access to professional reports covering sales, customers, inventory, behaviour and marketing performance. These insights help you make data-driven decisions about stock levels, marketing spend and customer retention strategies.

Shopify Flow is one of the most valuable features unlocked at this tier. Flow lets you automate repetitive workflows without writing code. Common automations include tagging high-value customers, restocking alerts, fraud flagging and personalised email triggers. We've seen merchants save hours per week with well-configured Flow automations. This kind of automation represents a significant advantage over competitors lacking similar integrations.

Staff accounts increase to 5 on the Grow plan, allowing you to bring team members into the Shopify admin with appropriate permissions. This is essential once you have dedicated staff handling orders, customer service or content updates.

Transaction fees drop to 1.7% + 25p for online sales with Shopify Payments, which can represent meaningful savings as your volume grows. For a store processing £50,000 per month, the difference between Basic and Grow transaction fees saves roughly £150 monthly.

Grow is ideal for:

• Businesses with 3 to 5 team members needing admin access
• Merchants seeking detailed performance analytics
• Operations looking to automate manual processes
• Stores processing £10,000+ monthly who benefit from lower transaction fees

Shopify Advanced: £259 to £344 per Month

Advanced is built for established businesses with complex requirements around reporting, shipping and international selling. At £259 per month annually or £344 monthly, it provides the most comprehensive feature set before moving to enterprise-level Shopify Plus.

Custom report building is the standout feature at this tier. You can create entirely bespoke reports using Shopify's filtering and data tools, drilling into specific metrics that matter to your business. These reports can be saved, scheduled and shared with team members.

Third-party calculated shipping rates become available on Advanced, meaning shipping carriers like UPS, FedEx and DHL can calculate real-time rates at checkout based on package dimensions and destination. This helps you charge accurate shipping costs rather than relying on flat rates or estimates. Some plans also include shipping discounts and shipping insurance options that can save money on fulfilment.

For international sellers, Advanced includes estimated duties and import taxes at checkout. This feature calculates the likely customs charges for international orders, preventing customers from facing unexpected fees on delivery. We've seen this significantly reduce cart abandonment and customer complaints for brands selling globally.

Staff accounts expand to 15, and transaction fees drop to the lowest standard rates: 1.5% + 25p online and 0.6% for third-party payment providers.

Advanced is ideal for:

• Businesses with larger teams requiring granular access controls
• Merchants needing custom analytics and reporting
• International sellers wanting accurate duties calculation
• High-volume stores where lower transaction fees create significant savings
• Operations using third-party shipping carriers with calculated rates

Shopify Plus: Enterprise Pricing from £1,800 per Month

Shopify Plus is the enterprise tier for high-growth and high-volume merchants. Pricing starts from approximately £1,800 per month on a 3-year term, though most merchants pay around $2,300 USD monthly. Exact pricing depends on your transaction volume and specific requirements.

The platform difference with Plus is substantial. You get a dedicated account manager, priority support with phone support access, and tools designed for complex, multi-store operations. Plus merchants can create up to 9 additional expansion stores alongside their main store, enabling truly localised experiences for different markets. The variety of enterprise features available makes Plus worth serious consideration for high-growth brands.

Checkout customisation is exclusive to Plus. While standard Shopify plans offer limited checkout modifications, Plus merchants can edit the checkout liquid files to add custom fields, change layouts, implement complex shipping logic and create branded checkout experiences.

Shopify Scripts allow Plus merchants to write custom Ruby code for advanced discount logic. This enables scenarios like quantity-based pricing tiers, customer tag-specific discounts, dynamic gift-with-purchase offers and complex bundle pricing that standard discount codes cannot achieve.

Shopify Launchpad lets you schedule store-wide changes including theme swaps, discount activations and product visibility changes. For flash sales, product launches or seasonal campaigns, Launchpad ensures everything goes live simultaneously without manual intervention.

B2B Commerce on Shopify Plus provides wholesale functionality with company profiles, custom price lists, payment terms like net-30, quantity discounts and a dedicated wholesale portal. This eliminates the need for separate wholesale systems or workarounds. Learn more about the differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus.

Transaction fees on Plus are negotiated based on volume, typically landing around 1.5% + 20p or better for high-volume merchants.

Shopify Plus is ideal for:

• Businesses exceeding £1 million annual revenue
• Brands requiring multiple regional storefronts
• Merchants needing checkout customisation or advanced discounting
• Companies with B2B wholesale operations alongside DTC
• High-growth brands anticipating significant scaling

Additional Costs to Consider

The monthly subscription and transaction fees are just the starting point. Understanding the full cost of running a Shopify store means accounting for apps, themes, domains and potentially professional services.

Shopify Apps

The Shopify App Store contains over 8,000 apps and plugins to extend your store's functionality through powerful integrations. While many are free, premium apps for reviews, loyalty programmes, email marketing, subscriptions and advanced search typically cost between £10 and £300 per month depending on features and your store's scale. Our advice is to research your options carefully, as the right apps can significantly improve your store's performance.

Common app costs include:

• Email marketing (Klaviyo, Omnisend): £0-300 per month based on subscriber count
• Reviews (Yotpo, Judge.me, Reviews.io): £0-150 per month
• Loyalty programmes (LoyaltyLion, Smile): £50-400 per month
• Subscriptions (Recharge, Loop): £50-500 per month based on subscriber count
• Customer support (Gorgias, Zendesk): £50-300 per month

We typically see merchants spending £100 to £500 monthly on apps, with enterprise stores often exceeding £1,000.

Themes

Shopify's Theme Store offers 11 free themes and over 100 premium options priced between £180 and £350 as a one-time purchase. Premium themes typically offer more design flexibility, better mobile experiences and additional built-in features.

Custom theme development from an agency ranges from £10,000 to £100,000+ depending on complexity, though many businesses achieve excellent results with premium themes and thoughtful customisation.

Domains

You can purchase domains directly through Shopify starting at approximately £11 per year for .com domains, or connect an existing domain from another registrar. Shopify includes a free myshopify.com subdomain, but a custom domain is essential for professional branding.

Professional Services

Many businesses invest in design, development or marketing support. Shopify agency services vary widely, from small customisation projects starting around £1,000 to comprehensive builds and ongoing support retainers of £3,000 to £10,000+ monthly. Our Shopify Plus agency services cater to brands seeking expert support for growth. This is one source of cost that many entrepreneurs overlook when budgeting for their new store.

Which Shopify Plan Should You Choose?

Selecting the right plan depends on your current situation and growth trajectory. There are several things to consider, and in this case, asking the right questions upfront saves money in the long run. Here is our recommendation framework based on working with hundreds of Shopify merchants:

Choose Starter if: You are an influencer, content creator or casual seller wanting to monetise your audience through social channels without maintaining a full store. Accept that the 5% transaction fee makes this uneconomical for serious volume.

Choose Basic if: You are launching a new ecommerce business, expect to handle operations personally or with minimal staff, and want to prove your concept before investing in advanced features. Basic provides everything needed to run a legitimate online store.

Choose Grow if: You have a small team needing admin access, want professional reporting to guide decisions, or are processing enough volume (roughly £10,000+ monthly) that the lower transaction fees offset the higher subscription cost.

Choose Advanced if: You need custom reporting, sell internationally and want accurate duties calculation, use carrier-calculated shipping rates, or have a larger team requiring 15 staff accounts.

Choose Plus if: You are exceeding £1 million in annual revenue, need multiple storefronts, require checkout customisation, have B2B operations, or need enterprise-grade support and account management.

When calculating which plan makes financial sense, consider both the subscription cost and transaction fees together. A store processing £100,000 monthly saves approximately £500 per month on transaction fees by moving from Basic to Advanced, more than covering the increased subscription cost.

How to Save Money on Shopify

Several strategies can reduce your total Shopify costs without compromising on functionality:

Choose annual billing. All plans except Starter offer a 25% discount when you commit to an annual billing cycle rather than paying monthly. For Grow, for example, this means paying £588 annually instead of £780, saving £192 per year.

Use Shopify Payments. Third-party payment processor fees add 0.6% to 2% on top of the processor's own charges. Unless you have specific requirements, Shopify Payments typically offers the best total cost.

Take advantage of promotional offers. Shopify regularly offers deals like £1 per month for the first three months. These promotions provide an affordable way to test the platform and get established before paying full price.

Audit your apps regularly. App costs accumulate quickly. Review your installed apps quarterly, remove those you are not actively using, and consolidate where possible. A single comprehensive app often costs less than multiple single-purpose tools.

Start with a premium theme. Investing £200-350 in a well-built premium theme often saves thousands compared to custom development. Many premium themes are highly customisable through the theme editor without code changes.

Consider plan economics at scale. Calculate whether upgrading to a higher plan saves money overall through lower transaction fees. The break-even point varies by volume, but many growing merchants benefit from upgrading sooner than they expect.

Shopify Credits. Each plan now earns credits back on sales: Basic earns 1% back up to £3,500, Grow earns 1% up to £5,500, and Advanced earns 1% up to £7,000. These credits can be applied to your Shopify bill, effectively reducing your net cost.

How Does Shopify Compare to Other Platforms?

Shopify's pricing sits in the mid-range compared to other ecommerce platforms, but direct comparisons can be misleading without considering total cost of ownership.

Website builder platforms like Wix (£15-27 per month) and Squarespace (£17-35 per month) appear cheaper but lack Shopify's ecommerce depth. Their transaction fees are often higher, app ecosystems smaller, and enterprise scalability limited. For users seeking a dedicated ecommerce solution rather than a general website builder, Shopify typically offers better value.

BigCommerce (£22-216 per month) is Shopify's closest direct competitor. Pricing is similar, and both platforms offer robust ecommerce features. Shopify generally wins on app ecosystem breadth, theme availability and market adoption, while BigCommerce includes more built-in features at lower tiers. You might also consider marketplaces like Amazon or Etsy as alternatives, though these operate quite differently from owning your own store.

WooCommerce is technically free as a WordPress plugin, but requires separate hosting (£10-100+ monthly), security certificates, payment gateway setup and often significant development work. You also need to manage APIs, handle your own version updates and maintain security patches. Total cost frequently exceeds Shopify while requiring more technical maintenance.

Magento / Adobe Commerce targets enterprise merchants with licensing starting around £20,000 annually plus substantial hosting and development costs. Shopify Plus offers similar enterprise capabilities at a fraction of the total investment.

For most businesses, Shopify provides the best balance of features, ease of use, scalability and total cost. The platform handles hosting, security and updates, allowing you to focus on actually running your business. If you are looking for ways to drive more traffic and grow your store, consider exploring our Shopify SEO guide or reviewing the best Shopify apps to enhance your store's capabilities.