Compare fees across all Shopify plans and see your exact payout with or without third-party gateways.
Processing + transaction fees · 2026
✓ US plan prices (monthly billing) and Shopify Payments online rates · checked September 2026
Shopify operates on a fundamentally different model than marketplaces like eBay or Etsy — instead of paying a percentage to access an existing audience, you pay a monthly subscription for the storefront infrastructure itself, plus a separate processing fee on each transaction. This structure means Shopify's true cost depends heavily on your sales volume, making the "right" plan a moving target as your business grows.
With Shopify Payments, online card payments cost 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic ($39/month), 2.7% + $0.30 on Grow ($105/month), and 2.5% + $0.30 on Advanced ($399/month). The step from Basic to Grow saves 0.2 percentage points on every online sale, and the break-even calculation is straightforward: the $66 monthly price difference divided by 0.2% works out to about $33,000 in monthly online sales ($25,000 if you pay yearly, when the plans cost $29 and $79). Below that, the lower rate alone doesn't pay for Grow — merchants usually upgrade earlier for its features, such as staff accounts and better reports, not for the processing savings.
Consider three stores doing $2,000, $15,000, and $40,000 in monthly online sales (monthly billing; the $0.30 per-order fee is the same on both plans, so it's left out). At $2,000/month, Basic costs $39 + $58 in percentage fees = $97; Grow would cost $105 + $54 = $159 — clearly worse. At $15,000/month, Basic costs $474 versus Grow's $510 — Basic still wins. Only at around $40,000/month does Grow pull ahead: $1,185 versus $1,199.
A detail that surprises many new Shopify merchants: using any payment gateway other than Shopify Payments (such as a separate PayPal Business integration as your primary processor) triggers an additional transaction fee on top of whatever that gateway already charges. This extra fee is 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, and 0.6% on Advanced, meaning third-party gateways become progressively more expensive relative to staying within the Shopify Payments ecosystem as your plan tier increases. For most merchants, consolidating around Shopify Payments as the primary processor — while still offering PayPal as a secondary option for customer choice — delivers the best overall cost structure.
The most important consideration isn't actually the percentage rate — it's that Shopify provides zero built-in customer traffic, unlike Etsy or eBay's existing buyer base. A merchant paying about 3% in Shopify processing fees but unable to generate consistent traffic will earn less overall than one paying Etsy's 10% but benefiting from the platform's built-in buyer discovery. The lower fees only translate into real savings once you have a reliable way to drive customers to your store — through existing audience, paid advertising, SEO, or social media presence. See our Etsy vs Shopify comparison for a deeper look at when each model makes more sense.
| Plan | Monthly Cost | Online Rate | In-Person Rate | 3rd-Party Fee | On $100 Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39 ($29 yearly) | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.6% + $0.10 | 2% | $3.20 |
| Grow | $105 ($79 yearly) | 2.7% + $0.30 | 2.5% + $0.10 | 1% | $3.00 |
| Advanced | $399 ($299 yearly) | 2.5% + $0.30 | 2.4% + $0.10 | 0.6% | $2.80 |
| Plus | From $2,300 | Negotiated | Negotiated | Negotiated | — |
US stores. The third-party fee is charged only if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, on top of that provider's own fees. International cards and currency conversion cost extra. Plus pricing is on a 3-year term. Checked September 2026.
Online card payments with Shopify Payments on each plan, excluding the monthly plan price. The last column shows Basic with a third-party gateway charging 2.9% + $0.30, plus Shopify's 2% third-party fee.
| Order | Basic (2.9% + $0.30) | Grow (2.7% + $0.30) | Advanced (2.5% + $0.30) | Basic + third-party gateway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10.00 | $0.59 | $0.57 | $0.55 | $0.79 |
| $25.00 | $1.03 | $0.98 | $0.93 | $1.53 |
| $50.00 | $1.75 | $1.65 | $1.55 | $2.75 |
| $100.00 | $3.20 | $3.00 | $2.80 | $5.20 |
| $250.00 | $7.55 | $7.05 | $6.55 | $12.55 |
| $500.00 | $14.80 | $13.80 | $12.80 | $24.80 |