---
title: Shopify versus Shopify Plus for B2B
description: When Shopify Plus is worth it for wholesale, and when a lower plan is the better spend. Company accounts, checkout and what we charge around it.
slug: shopify-vs-shopify-plus-b2b
date: 2026-10-09
updated: 2026-10-09
service: b2b
categories:
  - shopify-builds
faqs:
  - question: Is Shopify Plus required for B2B?
    answer: No. Plus is the right tool when buyers need their own prices, catalogues and payment terms, or when checkout rules go beyond standard settings. A smaller wholesale operation can stay on a lower plan.
  - question: What does the agency work cost around that choice?
    answer: The build or migration typically runs £20,000 to £35,000, plus a monthly retainer. Support is £400 to £2,000 a month. Growth starts at £3,000 a month. Shopify's own plan fee is separate.
  - question: Can we start without Plus and move later?
    answer: Yes. Plus is an upgrade on the same platform. Theme, products and customers stay. The work is setting up the features you upgraded for.
---

Shopify and Shopify Plus are the same platform with a different set of controls. For B2B, the question is whether those controls earn their place this year.

We wrote a longer note on [whether Shopify Plus is worth it](/insights/is-shopify-plus-worth-it). This one is the wholesale version, with the numbers we will actually say.

## When the lower plan is enough

A trade login, a single price list and a catalogue the buyer can reorder from can run without Plus. The limit shows up when each customer needs a different price, a different assortment or payment terms the standard checkout cannot express.

If that is not how you sell, paying for Plus does not fix a messy catalogue. The problems travel with you.

## When Plus is the wholesale tool

Plus earns the upgrade when the buyer relationship is the product.

- Company accounts, with contacts and a price that belongs to that company.
- Catalogues so a buyer does not see the retail range, or the other way around.
- Checkout rules for payment terms, draft orders and which trade orders need a review.
- Headroom for a launch or a seasonal peak if volume is genuinely the risk.

[Fáilte Foods](/work/failte-foods) is the published wholesale case. Magento to Shopify Plus, with Business Central. Onboarding rose by more than 500%. That was a Plus job because the trade model needed it, not because the logo looked better.

## What we charge, and what we do not invent

Shopify publishes its own plan prices, and they change. We will not put a Plus licence figure in an article and leave it to go stale.

What we charge is separate from that bill.

Migrations and builds typically run £20,000 to £35,000, plus a monthly retainer. A B2B build with several price lists and an ERP sits toward the top of that range.

Support after launch is £400 to £2,000 a month. Growth, when you want senior direction on the same backlog, starts at £3,000 a month.

The plan fee and our fee are both real. Mixing them into one "Plus project" number hides which one you are buying.

## How to choose

Write down the three things a trade buyer cannot do on the store today. If the list is company prices, catalogues and payment terms, start the Plus conversation. If the list is "the site is slow" or "nobody can find the product", fix that first. Plus will not do it for you.

[Get a store review](/store-review) and we will say which plan the store actually needs.

The setup steps are in [Shopify B2B setup](/insights/shopify-b2b-setup).