What Is Shopify Plus and How Much Does It Cost? (2026 Guide)
Shopify Plus is Shopify's enterprise commerce platform, designed for high-growth brands that have outgrown the capabilities of standard Shopify plans. The platform starts at $2,300 per month on a 3-year contract or $2,500 per month on a 1-year contract, but the real monthly cost for most merchants runs $4,000 to $10,000 or more once apps, development, and transaction fees are factored in.
This guide covers exactly what Shopify Plus is, what it costs, what is included, and whether it makes sense for your business.
Shopify Plus is the enterprise tier of the Shopify platform, built for brands doing $1 million or more in annual revenue that need capabilities the standard plans do not offer. It launched in 2014 and is used by over 50,000 merchants globally, including Gymshark, Heinz, Allbirds, and Nestlé.
The key distinction from lower-tier Shopify plans is not speed or hosting reliability, which are strong on all Shopify plans, but the commerce capabilities that only unlock on Plus: custom checkout logic via Shopify Functions, native B2B wholesale features, workflow automation, unlimited staff accounts, and the infrastructure to handle massive traffic spikes without downtime.
Shopify Plus is a fully hosted, cloud-based platform. Unlike Magento or WooCommerce, you do not manage servers, security patches, or infrastructure. Shopify handles all of that, and it is included in the monthly fee.
Monthly Cost: $2,300/month
Annual Cost: $27,600
Monthly Cost: $2,500/month
Annual Cost: $30,000
The 3-year term saves $200/month ($2,400/year) over the 1-year option. Most established merchants with confidence in the platform lock into the 3-year term. The 1-year term is the right choice if you are still evaluating whether Plus is the right fit.
For stores with very high GMV, Shopify Plus shifts from a flat fee to variable pricing once monthly sales exceed approximately $800,000. Above that threshold, you pay a percentage of monthly GMV instead of the flat fee, whichever is higher.
The variable rate is typically 0.25% to 0.40% of monthly GMV depending on contract terms. There is a cap: you will never pay more than $40,000 per month in platform fees regardless of sales volume.
Practical examples:
This variable model means your platform costs scale with your success and spike during high-volume periods like Black Friday. Budget for this if your revenue is approaching the $800K/month threshold.
Transaction fees are separate from the platform fee and apply to every sale.
With Shopify Payments (US):
Rate: 2.15% + $0.30
Rate: 3.15% + $0.30
Rate: +1.00% surcharge
Rate: 2.40% + $0.10
With a third-party payment processor: Shopify charges an additional 0.15% to 0.20% per transaction on top of your gateway's fees. At $5M/year in sales, this adds $7,500 to $10,000 per year in Shopify surcharges. For most Plus merchants, using Shopify Payments is financially advantageous.
Your monthly Shopify Plus fee includes everything in this list. These are not add-ons.
Commerce infrastructure:
Automation and customization:
B2B wholesale features:
International commerce:
Analytics and acquisition:
Support:
Basic ($39/mo): 2
Shopify ($105/mo): 5
Advanced ($399/mo): 15
Plus ($2,300+/mo): Unlimited
Basic ($39/mo): 10
Shopify ($105/mo): 10
Advanced ($399/mo): 10
Plus ($2,300+/mo): 200
Basic ($39/mo): 2.0%
Shopify ($105/mo): 1.0%
Advanced ($399/mo): 0.6%
Plus ($2,300+/mo): 0.2%
Basic ($39/mo): 2.9% + $0.30
Shopify ($105/mo): 2.7% + $0.30
Advanced ($399/mo): 2.5% + $0.30
Plus ($2,300+/mo): 2.15% + $0.30
Basic ($39/mo): No
Shopify ($105/mo): No
Advanced ($399/mo): No
Plus ($2,300+/mo): Yes
Basic ($39/mo): No
Shopify ($105/mo): No
Advanced ($399/mo): Limited
Plus ($2,300+/mo): Full
Basic ($39/mo): No
Shopify ($105/mo): No
Advanced ($399/mo): No
Plus ($2,300+/mo): Yes (full suite)
Basic ($39/mo): No
Shopify ($105/mo): No
Advanced ($399/mo): No
Plus ($2,300+/mo): 9 included
Basic ($39/mo): Not included
Shopify ($105/mo): Not included
Advanced ($399/mo): Not included
Plus ($2,300+/mo): Included
Basic ($39/mo): Limited
Shopify ($105/mo): Limited
Advanced ($399/mo): Limited
Plus ($2,300+/mo): Full
Basic ($39/mo): Chat only
Shopify ($105/mo): Chat only
Advanced ($399/mo): Enhanced chat
Plus ($2,300+/mo): 24/7 phone + chat
The gap between Advanced ($399/month) and Plus ($2,300+/month) is the most significant pricing jump in the Shopify lineup. The premium reflects capabilities that simply do not exist on lower tiers. Custom checkout alone, the ability to build checkout logic via Shopify Functions, drives meaningful conversion improvements for optimized stores.
The $2,300/month platform fee is the starting point, not the total. Most Plus merchants spend significantly more once the full cost picture is counted.
The average Shopify Plus store runs 15 to 20 apps. Many of the most valuable ones are paid.
Typical Monthly Cost: $500 to $2,000+
Typical Monthly Cost: $200 to $800
Typical Monthly Cost: $300 to $1,000
Typical Monthly Cost: $200 to $800
Typical Monthly Cost: $300 to $1,000+
Typical Monthly Cost: $100 to $500
Realistic total app spend for a mature Plus operation: $1,500 to $5,000 per month.
A paid Shopify theme from the Theme Store costs $250 to $400 as a one-time purchase. A custom theme built by an agency runs $10,000 to $50,000 depending on complexity. Ongoing development retainers from a Shopify Plus agency typically run $5,000 to $20,000 per month.
Moving from another platform (Magento, BigCommerce, SuiteCommerce) to Shopify Plus involves one-time costs:
Platform Fee: $2,300
Apps: $1,500
Development: $2,000
Monthly Total: ~$5,800
Platform Fee: $2,300
Apps: $3,000
Development: $5,000
Monthly Total: ~$10,300
Platform Fee: $5,000 (variable)
Apps: $5,000
Development: $10,000+
Monthly Total: ~$20,000+
These estimates exclude payment processing fees, which apply to every transaction separately.
The transaction fee difference between Shopify Advanced (0.6% on third-party gateways) and Shopify Plus (0.2%) creates concrete savings at scale.
At $500,000/month in sales: the 0.4% fee difference saves $2,000/month in transaction costs. That nearly offsets the entire difference between Advanced ($399) and Plus ($2,300), which is $1,901. At $500K/month in sales, Shopify Plus begins to pay for itself through transaction fee savings alone, before counting the value of custom checkout, automation, or B2B features.
Most merchants find the financial case for Shopify Plus becomes clear at $1 million or more in annual revenue, or roughly $83,000/month in sales.
Custom checkout logic. If you need percentage discounts for specific customer segments, buy-X-get-Y offers, custom shipping rules, or post-purchase upsells built into the checkout, Shopify Functions on Plus is the only way to implement these without a third-party app with its own limitations.
Automation at scale. Shopify Flow handles rule-based automation for order management, inventory alerts, customer tagging, fraud rules, and more. For merchants managing hundreds or thousands of orders daily, Flow eliminates significant manual overhead.
B2B wholesale on the same platform. Running B2B and DTC from a single Shopify admin without separate platforms or complex app workarounds requires Shopify Plus. The native B2B feature set, company accounts, price lists, payment terms, gated catalogs, is only available on Plus.
Handling traffic spikes. Shopify Plus handles 10,000+ checkouts per minute without degraded performance. If your current platform crashes or slows on sale days, Shopify Plus eliminates that risk.
International expansion. Shopify Markets and expansion stores give Plus merchants the infrastructure to run multiple regional storefronts from one admin without duplicating operations.
The financials do not support the upgrade: you are under $1M/year in annual revenue, your margins are thin enough that the fixed cost is material, or your technical requirements fit entirely within what Advanced provides.
Uncap's focus is B2B commerce for manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers, and Shopify Plus is the platform we recommend for most of these operations. The reason is the native B2B feature set that arrived with Shopify Plus's wholesale infrastructure.
Before Shopify Plus's native B2B capabilities, running wholesale on Shopify required a collection of apps and workarounds: customer-tagged pricing apps, password-protected collections, manual draft order workflows. Today's Shopify Plus B2B feature set handles the core wholesale requirements natively: company accounts with multi-contact hierarchies, customer-specific price lists, gated catalogs, net payment terms enforced at checkout, and a self-service buyer portal.
For a B2B manufacturer evaluating whether to stay on a legacy ERP portal, migrate from a platform like SuiteCommerce or Optimizely Commerce, or build a wholesale operation from scratch, Shopify Plus is the clearest path to a modern, maintainable wholesale operation without the developer dependency that legacy platforms require.
The comparison that matters for B2B manufacturers is not Shopify Plus at $27,600/year versus Shopify Advanced at $4,788/year. It is Shopify Plus at $27,600/year versus the $80,000 to $200,000 annual total cost of running a wholesale operation on a legacy ERP portal with developer-dependent customization.
Shopify Plus is worth the investment when: you are generating $1M or more annually and the transaction fee savings offset the premium, you need custom checkout logic that does not exist on lower plans, you run or plan to run B2B wholesale alongside DTC, you need to handle high-traffic events reliably, or you are expanding internationally and need multi-market infrastructure.
It is not worth the investment when: your annual revenue is under $1M, your store requirements fit within Advanced's capabilities, or you are in an early stage where operational complexity has not yet outpaced what standard plans handle.
For B2B manufacturers replacing legacy commerce infrastructure, the question is rarely whether Shopify Plus is worth its platform fee. It almost always is. The question is whether the migration project is scoped and executed correctly so the benefits actually materialize.
Shopify offers a free trial for Shopify Plus. You can explore the platform before committing to a contract.
When you are ready to implement, the Shopify Partner Directory lists certified Plus Partners and Platinum Partners who can scope and manage your implementation. The difference between a successful Plus implementation and a costly rebuild six months later is almost always in the discovery and architecture work done before development begins.
Uncap is a Shopify Platinum Partner that has been building B2B commerce operations on Shopify Plus since 2013, with over 380 implementations for manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers. If you are evaluating Shopify Plus for a B2B operation, Book a Strategy Session and we will walk you through whether the platform and investment make sense for your specific situation.
What is Shopify Plus?
Shopify Plus is Shopify's enterprise commerce platform, designed for high-growth brands and businesses with complex commerce requirements. It offers custom checkout via Shopify Functions, native B2B wholesale features, unlimited staff accounts, workflow automation through Shopify Flow, multi-store management, international commerce via Shopify Markets, and 24/7 priority support with a dedicated Merchant Success Manager.
How much does Shopify Plus cost per month?
Shopify Plus costs $2,300 per month on a 3-year contract or $2,500 per month on a 1-year contract. For stores with very high sales volume (approximately $800,000 or more per month in GMV), pricing switches to a variable rate of 0.25% to 0.40% of monthly GMV, capped at $40,000 per month. The platform fee does not include transaction fees, which are charged separately on every sale.
How much is Shopify Plus per year?
On a 3-year commitment, Shopify Plus costs $27,600 per year ($2,300/month). On a 1-year commitment, it costs $30,000 per year ($2,500/month).
Is Shopify Plus worth it?
Shopify Plus is worth the investment for merchants doing $1M or more in annual revenue who need custom checkout logic, B2B wholesale capabilities, workflow automation, or reliable high-traffic performance. The break-even point where transaction fee savings from Plus offset the premium over Shopify Advanced is approximately $500,000 per month in sales.
What is the difference between Shopify and Shopify Plus?
The main differences are: Shopify Plus offers custom checkout via Shopify Functions (not available on lower plans), native B2B company accounts and price lists, unlimited staff accounts, 9 expansion stores, Shopify Flow automation, Shopify Markets for international commerce, and 24/7 phone support with a dedicated account manager. Standard Shopify plans (Basic, Shopify, Advanced) do not include these capabilities.
What is the downside to Shopify Plus?
The primary downsides are cost and lock-in. At $2,300 to $2,500/month for the platform alone, with additional app, development, and transaction fees bringing total monthly costs to $5,000 to $20,000+, Shopify Plus is a significant financial commitment. The 3-year contract term locks you in for three years. Additionally, while Shopify Plus handles most ecommerce and wholesale requirements well, it is not an ERP system and does not replace financial, inventory, or fulfillment management software for complex operations.
How much does Shopify Plus charge per transaction?
With Shopify Payments (the built-in payment processor), Shopify Plus charges 2.15% + $0.30 per online transaction in the US for Visa/Mastercard, and 3.15% + $0.30 for American Express. If you use a third-party payment processor instead, Shopify charges an additional 0.15% to 0.20% per transaction surcharge.
Is it worth upgrading to Shopify Plus from Shopify Advanced?
The upgrade from Shopify Advanced ($399/month) to Shopify Plus ($2,300+/month) is worth it when you need custom checkout logic via Shopify Functions, B2B native features, or when your transaction volume is high enough that the lower processing rates (2.15% vs. 2.5% on Advanced) offset the premium. At approximately $500,000/month in sales, the transaction fee savings alone approach the cost difference between the two plans.
Does Shopify Plus have a free trial?
Yes. Shopify offers a free trial for Shopify Plus. You can explore the platform and native features before committing to a contract term.
