Matthew Collins, the 14th of October 2026
Shopify shows you four plans and four monthly prices. Most people pick the one that looks affordable and move on. That's how a store doing £80,000 a month ends up paying £200 more than it needs to, every month, on Basic.
The plan fee is the small number. Card fees are the big one, and they fall as you move up the plans. Past a certain revenue, the dearer plan is the cheaper plan.
We got tired of working this out on a napkin for every client call, so we built a tool. The Shopify plan calculator takes your revenue and average order value, adds the plan fee to the card fees, and marks the lowest total. It's free and there's no form in front of it.
How the calculator works
You give it three things and it does the rest.
- Monthly revenue. What the store takes online in a typical month.
- Average order value. Revenue divided by orders. The calculator uses this to count orders, because Shopify charges a fixed fee per transaction on top of the percentage.
- How you take payment. Shopify Payments, or another provider such as Stripe, Adyen or PayPal. Another provider means Shopify adds its own fee on every order, and that fee is what moves the result.
Then pick where the store is billed, and whether you pay monthly or yearly. The regions are the United Kingdom, Euro and the United States. The calculator prices all four plans and marks the lowest. Under the result, a table shows what else changes between plans. Staff accounts, trade catalogues, inventory locations and checkout customisation.
The rates come from Shopify's published pricing for each region. We check them, and the page tells you the date of the last check.
A worked example: £80,000 a month
Take a UK store doing £80,000 a month at a £65 average order. That's about 1,231 orders. On Shopify Payments, billed monthly, here's what each plan costs in total.
| Plan | Plan fee | Online card rate | Card fees | Total a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | £25 | 2% + £0.25 | £1,907.69 | £1,932.69 |
| Grow | £65 | 1.7% + £0.25 | £1,667.69 | £1,732.69 |
| Advanced | £344 | 1.5% + £0.25 | £1,507.69 | £1,851.69 |
| Plus | £1,950 | 1.3% + £0.25 | £1,347.69 | £3,297.69 |
Grow wins. It costs £200 a month less than Basic, the plan most stores start on and never leave. Advanced is only £119 behind, so a modest rise in revenue flips it. Plus is £1,565 more, which tells you this store should buy Plus for its features or not at all.
The pattern is the same at every size. The card rate drops by a fraction of a percent at each step, and that fraction is worth more as revenue grows. Roughly, on monthly billing with Shopify Payments, Grow overtakes Basic at about £13,000 a month. Advanced overtakes Grow at about £140,000. Plus overtakes Advanced on fees alone at about £800,000.
Those crossovers move with your average order value and billing choice, which is why the calculator exists. Put your own numbers in rather than trusting the rule of thumb. Figures above are from Shopify UK pricing as checked on the 14th of October 2026.
What you get beyond the lower card rate
Cost is one input. The plans also differ in what they let you do, and some of those limits bite long before the fees do.
| Basic | Grow | Advanced | Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staff accounts | Owner only | Up to 5 | Up to 15 | Unlimited |
| B2B catalogues | Up to 3 | Up to 3 | Up to 3 | Unlimited |
| Inventory locations | 10 | 10 | 10 | 200 |
| Checkout customisation | Limited | Limited | Limited | Full |
The ones we see trip businesses up most often:
- Staff accounts. Basic gives you one login. The moment a second person needs the admin, you're on Grow.
- B2B catalogues. Three is enough for a simple trade price list. It isn't enough for a distributor with tiered pricing by customer group, region and volume. That's a Plus conversation whatever the fee says. Our note on Shopify B2B without Plus sets out where that line sits.
- Checkout. Below Plus, checkout is what Shopify gives you. If you need custom fields, validation rules, or delivery and payment logic that changes by customer, you need Plus and Checkout Extensibility.
- Reports and duties. Advanced adds custom reporting and duties collection at checkout. If you sell internationally, that matters more than the £279 jump from Grow.
Two switches that change the answer
Monthly or yearly
Pay for the year upfront and Basic, Grow and Advanced drop by about a quarter. Plus works differently. Yearly uses the three-year rate and monthly uses the one-year rate. Flip the toggle in the calculator and watch the crossover points move. For a growing store that's confident about the next 12 months, yearly is usually the right call.
Shopify Payments or another provider
This is the one people miss. If you process cards through Stripe, Adyen, PayPal or a bank gateway, Shopify charges an extra fee on every order. That sits on top of what your provider takes.
| Plan | Fee for using another provider |
|---|---|
| Basic | 2% |
| Grow | 1% |
| Advanced | 0.6% |
| Plus | 0.2% |
On £80,000 a month, that's £1,600 on Basic against £160 on Plus. Sometimes another provider is the right call. A B2B invoicing flow, a legacy merchant account, or a market Shopify Payments doesn't cover. The calculator shows you what that choice costs. Often the cheapest fix is to move to Shopify Payments, and leave the plan as it is.
When Plus is worth more than the saving
On fees alone, most stores under £800,000 a month shouldn't be on Plus. We still move businesses to Plus well below that, and the reason is never the card rate.
You buy Plus when you need to:
- Change the checkout. Custom fields, address validation, rules that hide or show payment and delivery methods, and upsells on the checkout page itself.
- Run more than three trade catalogues, or give B2B customers company accounts, net terms and quantity rules that work properly.
- Add stores. Plus includes expansion stores for new markets or brands at no extra plan fee.
- Automate at volume. Shopify Flow does more on Plus, and Launchpad handles scheduled drops and sales.
- Hold 200 inventory locations instead of 10, which sounds absurd until you're a wholesaler with a dealer network.
If none of those apply, the calculator has probably already told you to stay on Grow or Advanced. If two or three apply, the £1,950 is paying for capability, and the lower card rate is a bonus on top. The wider decision is in whether Shopify Plus is worth it. The build work sits with Shopify design and build.
At very high volume, Shopify quotes Plus as a variable platform fee rather than a flat monthly amount. The calculator uses the published flat rate, so if you're well past £1m a month, use the result as a floor and get a quote.
What the calculator leaves out
It's an estimate of plan and card costs, not a full bill. Things it doesn't include:
- Amex and international cards, which carry higher rates on every plan.
- VAT on the plan fee.
- App subscriptions, which for a typical Plus store add more than the plan fee itself.
- Point of sale, which has its own pricing.
- Euro card rates outside Ireland, which vary by country.
- Any negotiated Plus rate. If you're already on Plus and have a contract, your numbers are better than ours.
Amounts stay in the billing currency when you switch country. The calculator doesn't convert between them.
Common questions
Which Shopify plan is cheapest?
It depends on your monthly revenue, your average order value and how you take payment. Below about £13,000 a month, Basic. From there to about £140,000, Grow. Above that, Advanced. Those are rough figures for UK stores on Shopify Payments, billed monthly. The calculator gives you the exact answer for your store.
Is Shopify Grow the same as Shopify?
Yes. Grow is Shopify's current name for the middle plan, which used to be called simply Shopify. The pricing and features are the same tier.
Does paying yearly change which plan wins?
It can. Basic, Grow and Advanced all drop by about a quarter when you pay for the year upfront, so the crossover points shift. Plus moves from the one-year rate to the three-year rate. Toggle it in the calculator and compare.
Is Shopify Plus worth it for a small business?
On fees alone, rarely. Plus starts to pay for itself through the card rate at around £800,000 a month. Businesses move earlier because they need checkout changes, more than three B2B catalogues, expansion stores or more inventory locations. If you need two or more of those, it's worth it at a much lower revenue.
What are Shopify transaction fees for using another payment provider?
In the UK, 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. Shopify charges that on every order, on top of your provider's own fees. Using Shopify Payments removes this fee entirely.
Does the calculator work for EUR and USD stores?
Yes. Pick where the store is billed and the calculator uses that region's published rates. Euro card rates differ outside Ireland, so treat the EUR result as a close estimate rather than an exact figure.
Run your own numbers
Two inputs, 30 seconds, and you'll know whether you're on the right plan. Open the Shopify plan calculator.
If the answer surprises you, or the fee isn't really the question, send us the store. We'll look at checkout, trade catalogues and the systems behind the order, and tell you which plan fits and why. Get a free store review or book a call.