The honest answer is that Shopify's subscription is the least interesting part of the cost. A small store in the US can get live for under $400 in the first year if you do everything yourself on a free theme. A store that looks like a real brand and is built to sell usually lands somewhere between $1,500 and $4,500 in year one, then $350 to $1,200 a year after that, plus a cut of every sale.
Here is where all of that actually goes.
1. The Shopify Subscription
These are Shopify's published US prices. Annual billing is meaningfully cheaper, and the difference is the same money you would spend on one paid app.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per mo) | Online card rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39 | $29 | 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Grow | $105 | $79 | 2.7% + 30¢ |
| Advanced | $399 | $299 | 2.5% + 30¢ |
| Plus | from $2,300 | term contract | 2.25% + 30¢ |
Basic is right for almost every small business starting out. The jump to Grow buys you lower card rates and more staff accounts, which only pays for itself once your volume is high enough that the rate difference exceeds the extra $50 a month.
If you use a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an additional fee on every order: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced. That is on top of whatever the other gateway charges you. Using Shopify Payments as your only processor removes it entirely. For most US sellers there is no good reason to take that hit.
2. The Theme
Shopify's free themes are genuinely good now. Dawn and Horizon will run a clean store without spending anything. Paid themes in the Shopify Theme Store are a one-time purchase, generally $280 to $500, and the licence is tied to the store that bought it, so you cannot move it later or reuse it on a second store.
The thing worth knowing: a paid theme does not make your store look custom. It makes it look like the other few thousand stores running the same theme. What changes that is the photography, the type, the colour and the layout decisions made around your actual products.
3. Apps
This is where budgets quietly leak. A realistic starting stack for a new store:
- Reviews: $0 to $50 a month. Judge.me has a free plan and caps at $15 a month. Loox starts at $14.99 and goes to $49.99 for unlimited orders.
- Email: $0 to $20 a month at small volume. Shopify's own email tool gives 10,000 emails free every month, then $1 per additional 1,000. Klaviyo is free to 250 contacts, then $20 a month at 251 to 500.
- Subscriptions: $0 to $30 a month. Shopify Subscriptions is free. Appstle is free under $500 a month in subscription revenue, then $10.
A sensible new store spends $15 to $65 a month on apps. The stores that end up at $300 a month got there one $9.99 app at a time, which is worth watching for.
4. Domain
Roughly $10 to $30 a year, with a typical .com around $16. Renewals cost about the same. Buy it in your own name and your own account, whoever builds the store.
5. Someone to Build It
This is the widest range and the one most people are actually asking about.
- DIY on a free theme: $0, plus your weekends.
- Theme setup and customisation: commonly a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Shopify's own Partner Directory shows partners advertising store setup from around $250 at the low end and $1,000 to $1,200 more typically.
- Semi-custom build: $3,000 to $10,000.
- Heavy custom: Shopify's cost guide puts custom development at $2,000 to $20,000 or more, and a 20-page build at $8,000 to $30,000.
Be careful comparing hourly rates across marketplaces. Upwork's published range for Shopify developers is $15 to $29 an hour with a median of $20, which reflects an offshore market rather than a US one. That is not the same service, and the difference usually shows up in how the store behaves six months later.
What a Small Store Actually Spends in Year One
| Line | DIY floor | Designed and launched |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify plan | $348 (Basic, annual) | $348 to $468 |
| Theme | $0 (free theme) | $0 to $500 one-time |
| Domain | ~$16 | ~$16 |
| Apps | $0 | $180 to $780 |
| Build help | $0 | $500 to $3,000 |
| Year one | ~$364 | ~$1,500 to $4,500 |
Plus 2.9% and 30 cents on every sale, which at $3,000 a month in revenue is about $100 a month before anything else.
How I Do It
I design the store first as a real, working design you can look at and react to, then convert it to a Shopify theme and install it on your store once you approve the final look. You own the Shopify account and the store from the start, the Shopify subscription is paid by you directly rather than marked up through me, and the build is quoted as one flat number before any work begins.
You can see the shop designs on the templates page. If you are weighing this against staying on a marketplace, here is the Etsy comparison, and if you are comparing platforms generally, here is Wix vs Squarespace vs Shopify.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is Shopify per month?
Shopify's published US plans are Basic at $39 a month billed monthly or $29 billed annually, Grow at $105 or $79, and Advanced at $399 or $299. Shopify Plus starts around $2,300 a month and is aimed at much larger businesses. Most small stores start on Basic.
What are Shopify's transaction fees?
With Shopify Payments, online card rates are 2.9% plus 30 cents on Basic, 2.7% plus 30 cents on Grow and 2.5% plus 30 cents on Advanced. If you use a third-party payment gateway instead, Shopify adds its own fee on top: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced, and that is before the other gateway's own processing charge.
Do I have to buy a Shopify theme?
No. Shopify's free themes, including Dawn and Horizon, are genuinely usable. Paid themes in the Shopify Theme Store generally run from around $280 to $500 as a one-time purchase, and the licence is locked to the store that bought it.
How much do Shopify apps cost?
For a new small store, a practical stack is roughly $15 to $65 a month. Judge.me caps its review app at $15 a month, Shopify's own email tool includes 10,000 emails a month free, and Shopify Subscriptions is free. Costs climb once you add Klaviyo, Loox or Recharge at higher volumes.
What does a designer charge to build a Shopify store?
It depends how custom it is. Theme setup and customisation on a premium theme typically runs a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Shopify's own cost guide puts custom development at $2,000 to $20,000 or more. I build store designs and then convert them to Shopify, quoted per project.
What is the cheapest way to start a Shopify store?
Basic on annual billing, a free theme, no paid apps and a domain. That is around $364 in the first year plus transaction fees. It works, and it looks like everyone else's store, which is the trade-off you are making.
If you want a real number rather than a range, tell me about your store, roughly how many products you are launching with and whether you want me loading them or doing it yourself. You get one fixed price after a free call. For the non-ecommerce version of this question, here is what a small business website costs.