Shopify Transaction Fees Compared: All Plans (2024)

Every dollar you pay in fees is a dollar subtracted from your profit. If you’re choosing a Shopify plan—or deciding whether to stick with one—you need to know exactly what you’ll pay per transaction, how that changes by plan, and where you can cut costs. This guide gives you the real numbers across every Shopify plan, compares them to competitors, and shows you the break-even math for your store size.

What Are Shopify Transaction Fees?

Shopify charges two distinct types of fees, and confusing them is one of the most common (and costly) mistakes store owners make. Credit card processing fees are what every payment processor charges to handle the card transaction—think Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢ or Shopify Payments’ equivalent rates. Shopify transaction fees are a separate, additional percentage that Shopify charges on every sale when you use a third-party payment gateway (any processor other than Shopify Payments) instead of Shopify Payments.

Here’s the critical distinction: if you use Shopify Payments, Shopify waives its own transaction fee entirely. You still pay the card processing rate, but there’s no extra Shopify percentage stacked on top. The moment you route payments through Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, or any other third-party gateway, Shopify adds its own fee—ranging from 0.15% to 5% depending on your plan.

These fees apply to every single sale and compound with volume. A 2% transaction fee on a $50 order is just $1, but across 500 orders per month, that’s $500 gone—on top of your card processing costs.

Shopify Transaction Fees by Plan: 2024 Comparison Table

Here’s what each Shopify plan charges, as of 2024 (Source: Shopify Official Pricing Page, 2024):

The Starter plan’s 5% fee makes it viable only for low-volume social selling—not a full storefront. The jump from Basic to the Shopify plan cuts the third-party transaction fee in half (2% → 1%) and also reduces card processing rates by 0.2%.

Shopify offers discounts of up to 25% on monthly costs if you pay annually (Source: Shopify Pricing, 2024). However, annual billing does not change the transaction fee percentages. You’ll save on your subscription but pay the same per-sale rates.

Example: A pet treat subscription brand starting on Shopify Basic Plan Features: What You Actually Get at $39/month will typically find the upgrade to the Shopify plan worthwhile within six months once monthly revenue exceeds roughly $8,000. Merchants who make this switch often report that the lower card processing rate alone saves around $16/month—and if they’re using a third-party gateway, the 1% vs. 2% difference adds up far faster.

Shopify Payments vs. Third-Party Gateways: The $2,400/Year Difference

Let’s make this concrete. Imagine you run a store on the Basic plan doing $10,000/month in revenue, with an average order value (AOV) of $50 (200 transactions per month).

Scenario A: Using Stripe (third-party gateway)
– Stripe processing fee: 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction = $290 + $60 = $350
– Shopify transaction fee: 2.0% of $10,000 = $200
– Total fees: $550/month

Scenario B: Using Shopify Payments
– Shopify Payments processing fee: 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction = $290 + $60 = $350
– Shopify transaction fee: $0
– Total fees: $350/month

That’s a $200/month difference—or $2,400/year—just by switching your payment gateway. The card processing rates are identical in this example, so the entire savings comes from eliminating Shopify’s additional transaction fee.

Shopify Payments is available in the United States, Canada, UK, Australia, and over a dozen other countries (Source: Shopify Help Center, 2024). If you’re based in the US, there’s no availability barrier. Popular third-party gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, Square, and 2Checkout all trigger the additional Shopify transaction fee.

One exception worth knowing: PayPal can be offered alongside Shopify Payments as an additional checkout option. In that configuration, PayPal transactions are still subject to the Shopify transaction fee, while Shopify Payments transactions are not. Merchants who add PayPal as a secondary option often don’t realize this until they audit their fee statements.

How to Eliminate or Reduce Shopify Transaction Fees

1. Switch to Shopify Payments. This is the single most effective move. It eliminates the Shopify transaction fee entirely. If you’re currently on Stripe or another third-party gateway and operating in a supported country, the switch is straightforward: navigate to Settings → Payments in your Shopify admin and activate Shopify Payments.

2. Upgrade your plan when the math supports it. If you must use a third-party gateway, here’s the break-even calculation between Basic ($39/mo, 2% fee) and Shopify ($105/mo, 1% fee):

• Extra monthly cost: $105 − $39 = $66
• Fee savings per dollar of revenue: 2% − 1% = 1%
• Break-even revenue: $66 ÷ 0.01 = $6,600/month

If your store generates more than $6,600/month using a third-party gateway, the Shopify plan saves you money despite the higher subscription.

3. Use annual billing. You won’t reduce transaction fees, but you’ll lower your monthly plan cost by up to 25%, freeing up margin elsewhere (Source: Shopify Pricing, 2024).

4. Negotiate on Shopify Plus. Stores on Plus can negotiate both their subscription fee and card processing rates directly with Shopify. Merchants processing over $1 million annually typically have leverage to secure rates well below the published numbers.

5. Audit your transaction data monthly. Check your average order value and transaction count under Analytics → Reports in your Shopify admin. Higher AOV means fewer transactions for the same revenue, which reduces the impact of per-transaction flat fees (the 30¢ component). Merchants who actively optimize AOV through bundling or Best Shopify Upsell Apps to Boost Your AOV in 2025 often see a measurable reduction in their effective fee rate.

6. Factor in Shop Pay Installments carefully. When customers use Shop Pay Installments (Shopify’s buy-now-pay-later option), the fee structure differs—Shopify charges the merchant 5.9% + 30¢ for installment orders (Source: Shopify Help Center, 2024). This is significantly higher than standard processing. Factor this into your cost model before enabling BNPL.

Shopify vs. Competitors: Transaction Fee Comparison

Shopify isn’t the only platform charging (or not charging) transaction fees. Here’s how the competition stacks up, as of 2024:

BigCommerce is the most direct comparison. It charges zero transaction fees on every plan, even if you use a third-party gateway. For a store doing $25,000/month on a third-party gateway, that’s $250–$500/month you’d pay on Shopify that you wouldn’t on BigCommerce. Learn more in our Shopify vs WooCommerce 2025: Which One Wins? guide.

However, total cost of ownership matters more than any single fee line item. Shopify’s app ecosystem includes over 8,000 apps, and according to a 2023 study by Shopify, its Shop Pay checkout converts up to 50% better than guest checkouts (Source: Shopify Engineering Blog, 2023). A store owner who saves $300/month in transaction fees but loses conversions due to a weaker checkout hasn’t saved anything.

Example: BigCommerce’s zero-fee model appeals to merchants who need third-party gateway flexibility—DTC audio brand Skullcandy has publicly used the platform. But many brands at similar scale choose Shopify for its ecosystem depth, accepting the transaction fee trade-off. The right choice depends on whether gateway flexibility or ecosystem breadth drives more value for your specific business.

Real-World Cost Scenarios by Store Size

Scenario 1: New Store — $2,000/Month Revenue

Assumptions: 40 orders/month, $50 AOV, using Shopify Payments.

Verdict: Basic wins by $62/month. The card rate savings on the Shopify plan ($4/month) don’t justify the higher subscription. Merchants at this stage are better off investing that $62 into customer acquisition.

Scenario 2: Growing Store — $25,000/Month Revenue

Assumptions: 500 orders/month, $50 AOV, using Shopify Payments.

Verdict: Basic and Shopify are nearly identical in total cost when using Shopify Payments. If you’re using a third-party gateway instead, the Shopify plan saves $250/month in transaction fees at this volume—making it the clear winner. Merchants who hit this revenue range and still use a third-party gateway often don’t realize how much they’re leaving on the table until they run these numbers.

Scenario 3: High-Volume Store — $100,000/Month Revenue

Assumptions: 2,000 orders/month, $50 AOV, using Shopify Payments.

Verdict: Advanced and Shopify plans cost nearly the same at $100K/month with Shopify Payments. Advanced becomes worthwhile for its additional features (custom reports, 15 staff accounts, third-party calculated shipping rates). Plus makes sense only when you need enterprise features—checkout customization via Checkout Extensibility, dedicated support, and the ability to negotiate card rates below 2.4%.

At roughly $50,000/month in revenue, upgrading from Basic to Advanced with Shopify Payments saves enough in card processing fees to offset most of the subscription increase. With a third-party gateway, the break-even threshold for upgrading is much lower.

Other Fees That Affect Your Shopify Margins

Transaction fees aren’t the only costs eating into your margins. Keep these on your radar:

App subscriptions add up fast. According to a 2023 Shopify partner ecosystem report, the average Shopify store uses 6 apps, and premium apps typically cost $20–$200/month each. Check out our guide to Best Free Shopify Apps 2025: Top Picks That Work to optimize your app spending without breaking the bank. A $100/month app bill is common for stores needing email marketing, reviews, and upsell functionality.

Currency conversion fees apply when you sell internationally through Shopify Payments. Shopify charges 1.5% for currency conversion in the US and 2% in most other countries (Source: Shopify Help Center, 2024). If 30% of your $10,000/month revenue comes from international customers, that’s $45–$60/month in conversion fees alone.

Chargeback fees cost $15 per dispute in the United States, regardless of whether you win the dispute (Source: Shopify Help Center, 2024). High chargeback rates can also trigger account reviews. According to Baymard Institute (2024), roughly 1.5% of ecommerce transactions result in chargebacks—so a 2,000-order store could face 30 disputes and $450 in fees monthly if their rate matches the industry average.

Shopify POS fees for in-person sales vary by plan. The card-present rates (2.4%–2.6% + 10¢) are lower than online rates, but you may need the Shopify POS Pro add-on at $89/month per location for full retail functionality like staff permissions and inventory management.

Shopify Capital offers merchant financing, but the repayment structure includes a fixed borrowing cost (not a traditional interest rate) that typically ranges from 10%–17% of the borrowed amount (Source: Shopify Capital, 2024). Factor this into your cost model if you’re considering financing for inventory or marketing spend.

Which Shopify Plan Is Right for Your Store?

Start with two questions: How much monthly revenue do you generate? and Will you use Shopify Payments or a third-party gateway?

If you’re using Shopify Payments, your plan choice hinges on card processing rates and feature needs rather than transaction fees (since those are waived). The card rate differences between plans only matter at higher volumes—below $10,000/month, Basic is almost always the right call.

If you’re using a third-party gateway, transaction fees become the dominant cost variable. The 2% fee on Basic, 1% on Shopify, and 0.5% on Advanced create clear break-even points that should drive your decision.

Here’s a quick recommendation grid:

• Starter ($5/mo): Social media selling only, very low volume, testing a product idea
• Basic ($39/mo): New stores under $10,000/month, using Shopify Payments
• Shopify ($105/mo): Growing stores at $7,000–$50,000/month, or any store using a third-party gateway above $6,600/month
• Advanced ($399/mo): Scaling stores above $50,000/month, or those needing advanced reporting and lower card rates
• Plus (~$2,300/mo): Enterprise stores above $500,000/month needing checkout customization, dedicated support, and negotiated rates

Run your own numbers with this formula:

Total monthly fee cost = (Card processing rate × monthly revenue) + (Per-transaction fee × number of orders) + (Shopify transaction fee % × monthly revenue) + monthly subscription

Plug in your actual revenue, order count, and preferred gateway. The plan with the lowest total is your answer. Revisit this calculation every quarter as your volume changes—what’s cheapest at $5,000/month rarely stays cheapest at $20,000/month.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Shopify charge transaction fees if I use Shopify Payments?

No. Shopify waives its transaction fee entirely when you use Shopify Payments. You still pay card processing rates (2.4%–2.9% + 30¢ depending on your plan, as of 2024), but there’s no extra Shopify percentage on top.

What is the Shopify transaction fee on the Basic plan?

On the Basic plan, Shopify charges a 2% transaction fee when you use a third-party payment gateway like Stripe or PayPal. This fee is in addition to whatever the gateway itself charges for processing.

How do I avoid Shopify transaction fees without using Shopify Payments?

You cannot fully eliminate Shopify’s transaction fee while using a third-party gateway. Even Shopify Plus, the most expensive plan, still charges 0.15%. The only way to remove the fee completely is to use Shopify Payments as your primary processor. Upgrading to a higher-tier plan reduces the fee but does not eliminate it.

Is Shopify cheaper than WooCommerce for transaction fees?

WooCommerce charges no platform-level transaction fee—you only pay your payment gateway’s rates. Shopify adds its own fee when you use a third-party gateway. However, WooCommerce requires self-hosting (typically $20–$50/month for reliable managed WordPress hosting), plus ongoing costs for security, maintenance, and premium plugins. When you factor in total cost of ownership—including developer time and plugin fees—the gap narrows, and in some cases Shopify on the Basic plan with Shopify Payments is comparable or less expensive for stores under $25,000/month in revenue.