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Shopify's pricing structure has changed several times over the past years, and many store owners entering 2026 want clear, updated numbers.
Shopify plans start at $29/month and go up to $2500/month for Shopify Plus. Each tier has different subscription fees, payment processing rates, and extra charges when using third-party gateways.
Below you’ll find a clear pricing table, current rates for each plan, and a breakdown of the total annual spend for running a Shopify store (as for January 2026).
Its costs may look straightforward at first: a monthly fee for a plan, transaction fees, maybe a theme, maybe a few apps.
However, total spend grows with subscription upgrades, commission rates on external gateways, additional development, and an expanding app stack.
This guide provides a complete breakdown of Shopify costs in 2026: pricing plans, credit card rates, transaction fees, hidden fees, additional expenses, and cost comparison with Medusa. The goal is to give you practical numbers and simple scenarios you can reuse in your own budget model.
If you want an overview of what building a Shopify-based marketplace looks like, you can find it in our guide.
If you’re running a marketplace on Shopify, explore our articles on signs you may have outgrown it.
Key takeaways
- Initial costs of Medusa can be even 39% lower than Shopify's.
- Shopify's initial costs may range between $34,400–$72,000, depending on pricing plan and commerce complexity.
- Shopify shop cost includes pricing plan, design and templates, third-party apps subscriptions, development, custom domain, transaction fees, email fees, tax solution fees, and Marketplace Connect fees.
- Medusa has no platform license and no GMV-based fees. Long-term spend grows with engineering work and infrastructure rather than with revenue, unlike Shopify.
- Depending on whether you pay monthly or yearly, the Shopify subscription ranges from $29 to $2500 per month.
- Shopify’s own processing fees sit between 2.4% + $0.10 and 2.9% + $0.30 per card payment. When third-party gateway is used, Shopify also adds an extra platform charge in the 0.2%–2.0% range per transaction.
- For a $100 online sale, Shopify keeps between $2.80 and $5.20 in fees.
Shopify pricing plans (2026 overview)
Choosing a plan in 2026 mainly comes down to two elements: the base subscription and the payment processing cost attached to each tier.
Shopify’s pricing tiers cover different stages of growth, from small stores on Basic to enterprise retailers on Shopify Plus. They start at $29/month for the Basic plan on an annual commitment and go up to $2,500/month for Shopify Plus.
Subscription price changes depending on whether you pay month-to-month or commit annually. You’ll pay around 25% less if you choose an annual plan instead of a monthly one.
The table below gives you an overview of Shopify's core plans in 2026, covering monthly and annual pricing, online credit-card rates when you use Shopify Payments, and extra transaction fees when you rely on a third-party provider such as Stripe or PayPal.
This is only the starting point of Shopify’s cost structure. In the next chapter, you’ll find a detailed breakdown of how much each plan costs per month, what fees apply, and which type of merchant each tier fits.
How much does Shopify cost per month? (Shopify plan breakdown)
Shopify free plan
Shopify provides a 3-day free trial, followed by 3 months at €1/month on the Basic, Grow, and Advanced plans. This intro period lets you explore the dashboard, set up products, customize your storefront, and prepare for launch without committing to full pricing. It’s also a simple way to check if Shopify’s features match your store’s requirements before choosing a long-term premium plan.
Shopify Starter plan
Shopify Starter is the entry plan at $5/month, aimed at creators and social sellers who want a checkout link without running a full online store. You get product links you can share on social media, messaging apps, or an existing site, but not the full Shopify theme + storefront experience.
Since the Starter plan isn’t a full ecommerce setup, it will not appear in the upcoming comparisons.
Shopify Basic plan
The Basic Shopify plan is the first full store subscription. Aside from the online store, hosting, and administration. It includes:
- 10 inventory locations.
- 24/7 live chat.
- In-person selling by phone or a POS device.
It’s aimed at solo owners and small teams launching their first “real” online store.
Exact fees (USD)
- Base subscription (paid monthly): $39/month.
- Base subscription (paid annually): $29/month → about $348/year.
- Online credit card rate (Shopify Payments): 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
- In-person credit card rates: 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction.
- Additional third-party transaction fee: 2% per transaction.
Who this plan is for
- New online stores with straightforward catalogs.
- Brands moving from marketplaces (Amazon, Etsy) to their own site.
- Merchants with low to medium monthly order volume who don’t need an advanced system yet.
Shopify Grow plan
The Shopify Grow plan adds more staff permissions and lower payment fees. It includes:
- 10 inventory locations.
- 24/7 live chat.
- In-person selling by phone or a POS device.
- Up to 5 staff accounts.
It’s suitable for stores with rising order volume and a growing team.
Exact fees (USD)
- Base subscription (paid monthly): $105/month.
- Base subscription (paid annually): $79/month → about $948/year.
- Online credit card rate (Shopify Payments): 2.7% + $0.30 per transaction.
- In-person credit card rates: 2.5% + $0.10 per transaction.
- Additional third-party transaction fee: 1% per transaction.
Who this plan is for
- Growing eCommerce stores with consistent sales.
- Teams requiring more staff permissions.
Shopify Advanced plan
The Shopify Advanced plan is built for scaling businesses expecting very high sales volume every month. It includes:
- 10 inventory locations.
- Enhanced 24/7 chat support.
- In-person selling by phone or a POS device.
- 15 staff accounts.
- Local storefronts by market.
It’s a strong fit for high-volume stores preparing for multi-market expansion or more complex logistics.
Exact fees (USD)
- Base subscription (paid monthly): $399/month.
- Base subscription (paid annually): $299/month → about $3,588/year.
- Online credit card rate (Shopify Payments): 2.5% + $0.30 per transaction.
- In-person credit card rates: 2.4% + $0.10 per transaction.
- Additional third-party transaction fee: 0.6% per transaction.
Who this plan is for
- High-volume eCommerce brands.
- Teams needing advanced analytics and more operational control.
- Businesses scaling into multiple sales channels or markets.
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus is the enterprise plan for large retailers, multi-brand groups, and high-volume DTC companies. It introduces customizable checkout and B2B functions. It includes:
- 200 inventory locations.
- Priority 24/7 phone support.
- Local storefronts by market.
- Unlimited staff accounts.
- Fully customizable checkout.
- Up to 200 POS Pro locations.
- Sell wholesale/B2B.
It’s designed for enterprise operations with complex requirements and very high monthly GMV.
Exact fees (USD)
- Base subscription (1-year term): around $2,500/month.
- Base subscription (3-year term): around $2,300/month.
- Online credit card rate (Shopify Payments): Varies by region and are negotiated individually.
- In-person credit card rates: Vary by region and negotiated individually.
- Additional third-party transaction fee: 0.2% per transaction.
Who this plan is for
- Enterprise retailers with significant sales volume.
- Companies operating multiple stores or brands.
In the next section, you’ll see how these rates translate into a real sale with a concrete example: how much Shopify takes from a $100 order, including card fees and third-party transaction charges for each plan.
How much does Shopify take from a $100 sale?
When clients ask “How much does Shopify cost?”, they usually mean two things: the subscription price and how much Shopify keeps from each order. The transaction fee has a direct impact on margins, so below you’ll find a clear calculation of what Shopify takes from a $100 online sale on every plan.
Here is the applied formula that you can use for your revenue.
Shopify Payments calculation
(Card rate % × 100) + fixed fee
Example for Basic:
2.9% of $100 → $2.90 + $0.30 = $3.20
Third-party gateway calculation
Shopify Payments fee + (third-party fee % × 100)
Example for Basic:
$3.20 + (2% of $100) = $5.20
Other fees to include in your Shopify store budget
Shopify’s subscription and transaction fees cover only the base layer of your store. To launch a fully functional eCommerce site, you need additional apps, a theme, a custom domain, and sometimes retail or email tools.
The list below outlines the common fees you should include when estimating the real startup cost of a Shopify store.
Shopify App Store
Most stores rely on multiple third-party apps from the Shopify App Store to fill feature gaps and add integrations with external providers. Many apps start around $5–$20/month, but more advanced ones range from $50 to $300+/month, or usage-based, which increases with order volume.
Themes
A Shopify theme defines the look, layout, and user experience of your storefront. It controls your homepage, product pages, navigation, mobile responsiveness, and overall design structure.
Themes from Shopify Themes range from $0 to $500. Brands that need custom design, unique layouts, or specialized UX often hire an external development studio – in those cases, theme development or customization can cost several thousand dollars, depending on scope and complexity.
Domains
A custom domain that isn’t included with the Shopify plan typically costs around $10–$20/year, depending on the provider.
Shopify Email
The first 10,000 emails are included with your store, but after that limit, additional sends cost $1 per 1,000 emails up to 300,000 emails. After you reach 300,000 emails, your pricing is $0.65 USD per 1,000 additional emails. After you reach 750,000 emails, your pricing is $0.55 USD per 1,000 additional emails.
Stores relying heavily on email will usually pair Shopify Email with a dedicated ESP, which adds another monthly fee.
Shopify POS / Shopify Retail
Shopify POS (Point of Sale) is Shopify’s in-person selling system that connects your online store with physical locations. For retailers with more than one location, Shopify POS also helps coordinate stock and reporting across multiple stores.
On the cost side, Shopify offers a basic POS experience included with your Shopify plan. However, multi-location and more advanced retail operations usually require POS Pro, which is priced at $89/month per location.
In addition, you need hardware such as card readers, barcode scanners, cash drawers, and receipt printers, all purchased separately.
Shopify Tax
Shopify Tax is Shopify’s built-in tax engine for handling US sales tax and, in some cases, other regional tax rules. It helps you calculate the correct tax on each order based on customer location, product type, and current regulations.
You can use Shopify Tax with no extra charge on the first $100,000 of global sales in a calendar year. Once your store passes that threshold, Shopify applies a calculation fee of 0.35% on eligible orders, reduced to 0.25% for Shopify Plus merchants, in regions where you have tax collection enabled.
The fee is capped at $0.99 per order, regardless of order value, and there is also an annual ceiling of $5,000 per region (US/EU/UK), even if your sales continue to grow beyond that level.
Shopify Marketplace Connect
Shopify Marketplace Connect is an app that lets you sync your Shopify products, inventory, and orders with external marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and Etsy.
It centralizes multichannel selling so you can manage listings, pricing, stock levels, and fulfillment from a single Shopify dashboard.
If your store syncs more than 50 marketplace orders per month, Shopify charges a 1% transaction fee on synced orders, with a cap of $99 per month.
These costs aren’t fixed. They tend to increase as your store grows, needs more features, and expands into new markets. The next chapter explains why Shopify’s total cost rises over time and what that means for long-term scaling.
Why Shopify's cost increases over time (and what it means for scaling)
Shopify’s entry-level pricing is predictable, but the total cost of running a store tends to rise as your business grows.
The factors below explain why stores that start small often end up paying significantly more over time. These cost dynamics matter when planning long-term budgets and evaluating how different commerce platforms scale.
Upgrading plans
As order volume increases, many stores eventually move from Basic to Grow, then to Advanced, and in some cases to Shopify Plus. Each upgrade brings lower payment fees or additional features, but also a higher fixed monthly cost. The shift usually happens when savings on card rates outweigh the jump in subscription pricing.
GMV-based fees
At higher revenue levels, Shopify Plus cost often involve GMV-linked pricing. Instead of a flat rate only, the platform fee may include a percentage of sales once certain thresholds or agreements apply.
Transaction fees on third-party gateways
Stores that use Stripe, PayPal, Adyen, or regional gateways pay an additional Shopify platform fee on each order. As GMV grows, this percentage-based cost grows with it. Many merchants accept this early on, but at scale, it can become one of the largest operational expenses.
Reliance on paid apps
Shopify doesn’t give merchants full backend control, so custom features can’t be built directly into the platform. As a result, stores must add more and more paid apps to cover every new requirement.
When the catalog grows, markets are added, or workflows become more complex, the app stack expands even faster. Many apps also increase their pricing based on order volume, active customers, or feature tiers, which means the total app cost typically rises along with store growth.
Usage-based SaaS tools
Beyond apps, stores commonly integrate external SaaS platforms for email, SMS, CRM, search, personalization, tax calculations, and analytics. These tools frequently usage–based making their cost directly tied to traffic and sales levels.
Together, these factors show why Shopify’s cost curve tends to rise sharply as a store grows. For many established businesses, this cost structure eventually reaches a level where staying on a closed SaaS platform is no longer the most practical option.
At that stage, moving from SaaS to an open-source setup can become a better path, especially for teams that need deep customization and want more control over how their budget is allocated. Medusa is a strong open-source alternative to Shopify in this context.
In the next chapter, we’ll compare Shopify and Medusa from a cost perspective and look at how their total cost of ownership differs over the year.
You can also check out our total cost of ownership calculation of Medusa vs Magento!
Shopify vs Medusa: Cost comparison
When you compare Shopify with Medusa, you are really comparing two different cost models.
Shopify is a hosted SaaS platform with a clear entry price and a growing list of variable charges that scale with revenue and tool usage.
Medusa is an open-source eCommerce engine where the software itself is free to use, and the main spend is on engineering time, hosting, and any supporting services you choose.
Shopify concentrates its spending on subscription, payment processing, and paid apps. Medusa shifts more into development and infrastructure, with no platform license or GMV-based fee.
To understand which model fits your store, it helps to separate initial setup costs from ongoing operating costs, and then look at how each of them behaves over several years.
SaaS vs open-source architecture
Shopify (SaaS)
Shopify runs as a closed, hosted platform. You pay a recurring subscription, and Shopify handles hosting, security patches, and platform upgrades.
You build your store on top of what Shopify exposes: themes, APIs, and the App Store. Custom behavior is usually added through apps or external SaaS tools, and many costs are tied to GMV, order volume, or usage.
The trade-off is lower upfront engineering work, but less control over the backend and a cost structure that tends to rise with revenue.
Medusa (open-source)
Medusa is an open-source eCommerce platform, which means you run it in your own customizable online store infrastructure and have full access to the backend code.
There is no platform license and no percentage fee on your GMV. Instead, you budget for engineering time, hosting, and any custom integrations you decide to add.
Custom flows, B2B logic, and marketplace features are implemented directly in the codebase rather than stacked as many separate apps.
This difference in architecture leads to two very different cost profiles, which is where the concept of TCO comes in.
What is Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)?
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is a way of measuring the real cost of a platform over a defined period. Instead of looking only at the subscription price, TCO adds up all the direct and indirect expenses required to run and evolve your store.
For eCommerce platforms like Shopify and Medusa, TCO typically includes:
Initial costs
- Platform development & initial setup
- Integrations implementation
- Licensing fees (initial)
- Infrastructure and hosting (baseline)
Ongoing costs
- Transaction and payment processing fees
- Integrations and third-party services
- Development and customization
- Maintenance and operations
- Licensing fees
- Infrastructure and hosting
This TCO structure will be used to compare how Shopify and Medusa approach initial setup and ongoing operations, and how their total long-term expenses shift as your store grows.
Initial costs: Shopify vs Medusa
In this section, you will see how initial cost components look under Shopify pricing plans cost, and how they compare to an open-source Medusa stack. The comparison treats initial costs as all one-off work needed to get the store live, plus the first year of platform licensing paid upfront when you set up the store.
Platform development & initial setup
Shopify
On Shopify, platform development usually starts from a ready-made structure. You pick a Shopify plan, then build the Shopify website on top of a theme. For a simple online store, the process often looks like:
- Choosing a theme from the Shopify Theme Store – they typically range from free to around $500. A fully custom theme implemented by an agency usually starts from several thousand dollars.
- Configuring core flows in Shopify admin – setting up catalog, cart, and Shopify checkout, basic navigation, and content pages.
- Adding apps from the Shopify App Store to fill feature gaps, such as product reviews – many apps start with a freemium tier, but most offer paid monthly or annual plans, and some also add usage-based or transaction-based fees.
- Registering a custom domain – $10-$20 annually, from Shopify or an external domain provider.
- Spending internal time or hiring a Shopify expert to configure taxes, shipping, currencies, legal pages, notifications, and staff accounts.
For small businesses on the Shopify Basic plan, a non-technical team can cover a lot with configuration and theme settings.
However, as requirements grow – custom product logic, complex discount rules, or B2B workflows – platform development on Shopify shifts toward custom script logic, and deeper work on the theme. At that point, cost is driven by billable hours of developers or agencies who know Shopify’s constraints.
Medusa
With Medusa, platform development starts from an open-source commerce engine instead of a SaaS subscription. There is no platform license or paid plan to activate, but there is more engineering work before the first order.
A typical Medusa setup involves:
- Setting up the Medusa backend, data model, and basic admin.
- Building a storefront, often in Next.js or a similar framework.
- Configuring regions, currencies, tax rules, shipping options, and payment providers.
- Adding chosen modules: catalog, cart, checkout, order creation, and integrations with payment processors and shipping providers.
Instead of turning on a fixed set of built-in features and adding apps on top, you assemble the commerce stack from Medusa’s modules and external services that match your use case.
Platform development cost reflects that flexibility. Based on our experience, Medusa eCommerce starts around $20,000, with costs varying based on the project's complexity and custom features.
More time goes into architecture decisions, code, and testing, but less into working around a fixed template or searching for yet another third-party app to patch gaps in the core system.
Integrations implementation
Shopify
You can find many third-party providers in the Shopify App Store – payment, shipping, email, and analytics tools often have ready-made apps. The cost comes from their subscriptions, ranging from free plans to several hundred dollars per app per month.
If there is no app for a given system, integration falls back to custom work done by a developer or agency, sometimes combined with a middleware license.
Medusa
Every Medusa plugin for third-party providers is free to use, but the catalogue is smaller. As a result, many integrations need to be built specifically for your stack. This gives you integrations tailored to your exact business requirements, but introduces additional upfront development costs.
Licensing fees (initial)
Shopify
On annual billing, the Shopify payment levels are roughly:
- Shopify Basic – $348 per year.
- Shopify Grow – $948 per year.
- Shopify Advanced – $3,588 per year.
- Shopify Plus – depends on long-term contracts, so around $27,600–$30,000 per year.
Medusa
Medusa’s core platform and commerce modules are open-source under the MIT license, so there is no platform license fee and no GMV-based charges. Licensing cost for Medusa is $0 per year.
Infrastructure and hosting
Shopify
For Shopify, infrastructure and hosting are bundled into the subscription. You do not pay separately for application servers, databases, CDN, or SSL certificates – they are part of the Shopify plan you choose.
Medusa
For Medusa, infrastructure work is included in the development budget.
The hosting cost is defined by the provider you choose. You can use Medusa's managed hosting, with entry-level plans starting at around $29 per month for a basic environment.
Summary of initial costs for Medusa and Shopify
The ranges below show typical enterprise-level initial costs on an annual basis, based on our implementation experience (as of January 2026). They are not tied to a specific brand or industry – they illustrate what a larger, multi-market eCommerce can realistically cost on Shopify vs Medusa.
Initial costs of Medusa can be even ~39% lower than Shopify's.
These numbers show that for enterprise projects, Shopify concentrates initial spend in Plus licensing + app ecosystem + customisation, while Medusa shifts cost into engineering and hosting, with $0 platform licensing.
If you look only at launch costs, Shopify may appear more attractive, but once you extend the horizon to several years, the cost curve can shift as subscriptions, app fees, payment charges, and engineering time accumulate.
If you want a TCO comparison calculated for your specific eCommerce business, reach out to us, and we will prepare a tailored breakdown for your case. Let's talk!
In the next section, you will see how ongoing costs for Shopify and Medusa compare over time.
Ongoing costs: Shopify vs Medusa
Ongoing costs are everything that repeats while the store is live. Some of these costs are fixed, for example, a monthly plan, while others scale with revenue or order volume. Below you will see how these components differ for Shopify and Medusa.
Transaction and payment processing fees
Shopify
For a Shopify store, transaction and payment fees are one of the main ongoing cost drivers. Every online card payment is charged at a card rate that depends on the chosen Shopify plan.
If the store uses a third-party payment provider (eg. Stripe or PayPal) instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds its own transaction fee on top. For example, on Shopify Basic, the combination of processor fees and Shopify’s surcharge means external gateways can cost you almost 2× more per payment.
Below is the breakdown of Shopify fees per plan:
To make the impact of these fees more concrete, you can model them on a simple scenario:
- $1,000,000 GMV per year,
- 20,000 orders (average order value $50).
The table below shows approximate yearly payment costs for online payments in the US, assuming all orders are paid by card:
To sum up, from $1,000,000 in your annual GMV, Shopify charges $31,000–$55,000 in payment processing fees
Medusa
With Medusa, you pay payment processing fees only to the gateways you integrate. There is no additional platform transaction fee on top.
Variable cost is driven entirely by the terms of the chosen payment processors, not by the commerce engine itself.
Integrations and third-party services
Shopify
Once a Shopify store is live, most new capabilities you add as the business grows come from the Shopify App Store.
When the store needs more advanced analytics, marketing automation, or custom reporting, these are usually delivered as extra apps or external SaaS tools.
Each of these tools adds recurring cost: some use a simple monthly plan, others charge per order, per API call, or as a percentage of GMV. As the store scales and new needs appear, the app stack grows with it, and over time, total spend on apps and SaaS can exceed the base Shopify plan.
Medusa
In Medusa, integrations also come from third-party services, but they are connected through plugins and direct APIs. As the platform grows and needs more capabilities, you attach more external tools in a similar way.
Ongoing spend in this area comes only from third-party services + development time needed to build or extend custom integrations.
Development and customization
Shopify
On Shopify, development and customization focus on the theme and any custom apps. Due to the SaaS solution, you have no ability for deep backend customization, database control, and freedom over hosting or to adapt workflows.
Smaller stores may need only a few hours per month from a Shopify expert. More complex setups – B2B, multi-market, or heavy customization – often require a standing retainer with an agency or internal developer.
Medusa
With Medusa, you control the full codebase for backend and storefront. Ongoing development covers new features, modules customization, and code-level workflow improvements.
This work is usually handled by an internal engineering team or an agency partner.
Maintenance and operations
Shopify
Maintenance and operations include the daily work of running the store: catalog and inventory updates, order handling, returns, discount management, and basic reporting inside Shopify admin.
On top of that come additional Shopify website costs for domain renewals, email fees, tax fees, POS, or Marketplace Connect.
Even with Shopify handling the underlying platform, these operational tasks consume extra costs and number of hours every month.
Medusa
For Medusa, operational work on the business side looks similar: catalog management, orders, returns, pricing, and promotions.
These tasks can be bundled into the development budget, but in TCO terms, they are recurring maintenance and operations that appear every year the store runs.
Licensing fees
Shopify
Each pricing plan upgrade increases the yearly licensing cost, so the long-term TCO depends not only on the initial plan but also on how quickly the store moves to higher tiers.
Medusa
Nothing changes! Licensing cost for Medusa is still $0 per year.
Infrastructure and hosting
Shopify
Outside the plan, ongoing infrastructure-related spend is usually limited to the domain and any separate email or DNS services you decide to use.
Medusa
For Medusa, infrastructure and hosting are a recurring line item. You pay for chosen hosting and extra development hours to keep the infrastructure updated.
Long-term cost curve (3–5 years)
When you compare Shopify and Medusa over a multi-year horizon, the difference in how each platform accumulates cost becomes very clear. This is the moment where most teams realize that the two models behave in completely different ways once a store passes its early growth stage.
Over 3–5 years, Shopify’s total spend increases primarily because it scales with GMV, order volume, and usage. Key drivers:
- Transaction fees rise in direct proportion to sales. The more you sell, the more you pay.
- Plan upgrades become inevitable as the store expands.
- Apps and SaaS tools become one of the largest contributors to long-term spend.
- Marketplace, tax, and retail fees also grow as the business expands.
In short, Shopify your expenses scale alongside your sales – even if your technical needs don’t change. High performance = higher costs.
Medusa’s cost structure over 3–5 years looks completely different. There is:
- No platform license
- No percentage fee on GMV
- No platform-mandated app marketplace
- No transaction surcharge
Instead, costs increase only when your requirements expand, not when revenue grows. A $1M GMV store and a $10M GMV store can have very similar Medusa operating costs if their functional scope stays the same.
For growing or multi-market brands, this difference becomes dramatic over a 3–5 year period, and is often the point where companies start considering a move from SaaS to open-source.
When Shopify is more cost-effective
Shopify is usually the more cost-effective choice for smaller stores with simple operational needs. A merchant on Basic or Grow pays between $29–$79/month (annual) plus standard card fees, which keeps the total monthly spend relatively low as long as order volume stays modest.
Stores that don’t require custom backend logic or advanced workflows can often run on a handful of lightweight apps, keeping ongoing costs predictable.
Overall, Shopify tends to be the better fit when:
- The store is small or early-stage – low traffic, a limited catalog, and straightforward merchandising.
- There are no custom flows – checkout, fulfillment, or pricing logic follow standard Shopify patterns.
- Integrations are minimal – a store can rely on a few basic apps rather than a large SaaS stack.
- B2B requirements are absent – no need for complex pricing, quote flows, or long-tail customer groups.
- No multi-warehouse setup is required – inventory is simple and centralized.
- Order volume is low – because processing fees stay manageable and the store avoids plan upgrades.
For stores in this category, ongoing Shopify spend usually falls toward the lower end of the ranges in the earlier tables.
When Medusa becomes more cost-effective
As soon as a store begins to grow in complexity or volume, Medusa’s open-source model often results in a lower long-term TCO. There are no GMV-based fees, no platform surcharges, and no enforced dependency on paid apps.
Medusa becomes more cost-effective when:
- Order volume is high – Shopify merchants at $1M GMV pay $31,000–$55,000/year in payment fees, while Medusa adds no extra platform transaction fee.
- The store sells in multiple markets – avoiding app fees, market-based add-ons, and plan upgrades that appear just because the business grows.
- Custom catalogs or product logic are required – variants, bundles, personalization, or industry-specific schemas can be modeled in the backend without stacking apps.
- Checkout logic becomes complex – Medusa lets teams implement custom workflows without paying for checkout extensions or Plus-level features.
- Multi-warehouse operations are needed – Shopify Advanced or Plus often becomes necessary, increasing licensing to $3,588/year → $30,000/year, whereas Medusa only increases engineering time.
- A headless or custom storefront is required – Shopify requires extra apps and custom middleware, while Medusa is headless by design.
- App cost exceeds platform cost – Shopify stores often accumulate so many paid apps that the monthly app stack outweighs the platform fee, something that doesn’t happen in Medusa’s open architecture.
Build your platform on a cost-effective solution
Shopify’s overall cost goes beyond the subscription itself and includes payment fees, charges for external gateways, paid apps, themes, domains, tax tools, retail add-ons, and marketplace connections. For stores preparing a full setup, the initial investment alone can fall between $34,400 and $72,000.
Choosing the right eCommerce architecture is ultimately a budget decision that plays out over several years.
Shopify delivers a fast start for small and simple stores, but its long-term spending grows with revenue, order volume, and an expanding app stack.
Medusa follows a different pattern – the software is free, there are no revenue-linked platform fees, and costs scale only with engineering needs.
If you’re evaluating which direction fits your business, we can help you compare TCO and plan the right setup for your roadmap. Let's talk!
FAQ on Shopify cost (with Medusa alternative)
How much does Shopify really cost?
Shopify’s real cost includes the monthly plan, card processing fees, third-party gateway fees, paid apps, themes, domains, tax calculation fees, retail tools, and marketplace integrations (if used). For growing stores, just initial costs may range between $34,400-$72,000.
How much does Shopify cost per month?
Monthly pricing varies by plan: Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Plus. Depending on whether you pay monthly or yearly, the subscription ranges from $29 to $2500 per month. Total monthly spend also depends on your app stack, fees that scale directly with your revenue, extra development, and any additional SaaS tools connected to the store.
How much does Shopify take from a $100 sale?
Using Shopify Payments, Shopify keeps between $2.80–$3.20 on a $100 online sale, depending on the plan. With third-party gateways like Stripe or PayPal, an extra platform fee applies, increasing the cost to around $3.40–$5.20.
Is Shopify worth the cost for a small business?
For small or early-stage stores with simple requirements, Shopify is often cost-effective. The right Shopify plan can provide basic features, low operational overhead, and a straightforward setup. It's a practical choice as long as order volume stays modest and there’s no need for heavy customization or advanced features.
Does Shopify take a percentage of your profits?
Yes. Shopify does take a percentage of each sale through card processing fees from 2.4% + $0.10 to 2.9% + $0.30 per payment, depending on your pricing plan. If you use external gateways, Shopify adds an extra transaction fee on top. These charges scale with GMV, so the more you sell online, the more you pay.
Does Shopify get commission from sales?
Yes. For every online and in-person card payment, Shopify commission rates take a processing fee from 2.4% + $0.10 to 2.9% + $0.30 per payment, depending on your tier. If you use Stripe, PayPal, or another third-party gateway, Shopify also adds an extra platform fee from 0.2% to 2.0% per transaction. These combined fees act as a commission on sales and can become one of the highest recurring costs for high-volume merchants.
When is Shopify more expensive than Medusa?
Shopify becomes more expensive when your business is growing and needs complex logic: order volume rises, multiple markets are added, and the store requires custom workflows. At mid-to-high GMV levels, yearly Shopify costs exceed the cost of running Medusa, especially once transaction surcharges, app fees, and plan upgrades accumulate.
How does Medusa reduce long-term TCO?
Medusa has no platform license and no GMV-based fees. Costs grow with engineering work and infrastructure, not with revenue. Because custom features are built directly into the codebase instead of layered through paid apps, long-term spending is more stable and less tied to order volume. Over 3–5 years, this often leads to a lower total cost of ownership for stores with complex workflows, multi-market setups, or high transaction volume.
