Shopify's pricing page shows three main plans — Basic, Shopify, and Advanced — with different monthly prices and a list of features. Most merchants glance at the feature comparison and choose the cheapest plan that seems to cover their needs. This is often the right decision for new stores, but as your revenue grows, it can become an expensive mistake.
The real cost difference between Shopify plans is not the monthly subscription — it is the transaction fees. A brand doing £500,000 in annual revenue could save thousands of pounds per year simply by being on the right plan. This guide shows you exactly how the maths works for UK brands.
Plan overview
Shopify offers five plans, but this article focuses on the three main ones most UK brands will choose between:
- Shopify Basic — £25/month. Designed for new ecommerce businesses and small stores.
- Shopify — £65/month. Designed for growing businesses that need better reporting and lower fees.
- Advanced — £399/month. Designed for scaling businesses that need custom reporting, calculated shipping, and the lowest fees.
Additionally, Shopify Starter (£5/month) exists for social media selling without a full store, and Shopify Plus (from approximately £1,750/month) serves enterprise brands. For understanding what a Shopify build should cost, the plan choice is one important component.
Pricing breakdown
| Feature | Basic (£25/mo) | Shopify (£65/mo) | Advanced (£399/mo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online store | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Unlimited products | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Staff accounts | 2 | 5 | 15 |
| Inventory locations | Up to 10 | Up to 10 | Up to 10 |
| Shopify Payments rate (UK) | 2.5% + 25p | 2.4% + 25p | 2.2% + 25p |
| Third-party gateway fee | 2.0% | 1.0% | 0.5% |
| Reports | Basic | Professional | Custom |
| Abandoned cart recovery | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Discount codes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gift cards | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Third-party calculated shipping | No | No | Yes |
| Duties and import taxes | No | No | Yes |
Transaction fees: the hidden cost
This is where the real money is. If you use Shopify Payments (which most UK merchants should), the credit card processing rate decreases with each plan tier. The difference of 0.1-0.3% may seem small, but it adds up rapidly.
For a store processing £250,000 per year through Shopify Payments:
- Basic: £6,250 in processing fees (2.5%)
- Shopify: £6,000 in processing fees (2.4%) — saves £250/year
- Advanced: £5,500 in processing fees (2.2%) — saves £750/year
For a store processing £500,000 per year:
- Basic: £12,500
- Shopify: £12,000 — saves £500/year
- Advanced: £11,000 — saves £1,500/year
If you use a third-party payment gateway instead of Shopify Payments, the additional transaction fees are even more significant: 2% on Basic, 1% on Shopify, and 0.5% on Advanced. For high-volume stores using third-party gateways, upgrading your plan can pay for itself through fee savings alone.
Reporting and analytics
All plans include Shopify's basic analytics dashboard with sales data, traffic sources, and customer insights. The differences are in reporting depth:
Basic: Pre-built reports covering sales, customers, finances, and marketing. Adequate for understanding your store's performance but limited in customisation.
Shopify: Professional reports add the ability to filter, sort, and export more detailed data. You can create custom reports by modifying existing templates. This is the level most growing brands need for data-driven decision-making.
Advanced: Custom report builder allows you to create reports from scratch using any data point in your store. This is valuable for brands with complex reporting requirements, multiple sales channels, or detailed financial analysis needs.
For most UK brands doing £100k-£500k in annual revenue, the Shopify plan's professional reports are sufficient. Brands needing custom analytics can supplement with tools like Google Analytics or specialist platforms. For guidance on what to track, see our Shopify analytics setup guide.
Staff accounts
Basic provides 2 staff accounts, Shopify provides 5, and Advanced provides 15. These are separate from the store owner account and allow team members to access the admin with customisable permissions.
If you have more than 2 people who need access to your Shopify admin (team members, contractors, agencies), you will need to upgrade from Basic. Note that collaborator accounts — used by agencies and Shopify developers — do not count towards your staff account limit.
International features
All plans include Shopify Markets for international selling with multi-currency support. However, Advanced includes additional international features:
- Duties and import taxes: Advanced can show estimated duties and import taxes at checkout, which reduces surprise costs for international customers and improves conversion.
- Market-specific pricing: More granular control over pricing for different international markets.
- Third-party calculated shipping: Real-time shipping rates from carriers, which is particularly valuable for international orders with variable shipping costs.
For UK brands selling domestically only, these international features are not relevant. For brands selling internationally, they can meaningfully improve the customer experience and reduce cart abandonment on international orders.
Shipping features
All plans include Shopify Shipping with discounted rates from carriers and shipping label printing. The key difference is that only Advanced includes third-party calculated shipping rates — real-time carrier rates at checkout based on package dimensions and destination.
On Basic and Shopify plans, you can set flat rates, weight-based rates, or price-based rates. For most UK domestic shipping, these are adequate. For brands with variable product sizes or significant international shipping, calculated rates on Advanced provide more accurate pricing.
Inventory locations
All three plans support up to 10 inventory locations. This covers warehouses, retail stores, pop-up locations, and fulfilment centres. For most UK brands, 10 locations is more than sufficient. If you need more, Shopify Plus supports up to 200 locations.
The breakeven calculation
The question is not which plan is cheapest — it is which plan gives you the best total cost when you factor in both subscription and transaction fees.
Basic to Shopify upgrade breakeven: The Shopify plan costs £40/month more than Basic (£480/year). With Shopify Payments, you save 0.1% on processing fees. To recoup £480 in fee savings, you need approximately £480,000 in annual sales. However, the professional reports and additional staff accounts add value before that revenue threshold.
Shopify to Advanced upgrade breakeven: Advanced costs £334/month more than Shopify (£4,008/year). You save 0.2% on processing fees. To recoup £4,008, you need approximately £2,000,000 in annual sales through Shopify Payments alone. However, third-party calculated shipping, duties estimation, and custom reporting add value before that threshold.
If you use a third-party gateway instead of Shopify Payments, the breakeven points are much lower because the additional transaction fee differences are larger (2% vs 1% vs 0.5%).
When to consider Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus (from approximately £1,750/month) is worth considering when your annual revenue exceeds £1 million or when you need specific enterprise features: checkout customisation, Shopify Flow automation, exclusive apps (Launchpad, Script Editor), dedicated support, higher API rate limits, and the ability to run multiple expansion stores.
The checkout customisation capability alone can justify the upgrade for brands where even small conversion improvements translate to significant revenue. For a detailed analysis, see our Shopify Plus pricing guide.
Our recommendation by revenue
- Under £100k/year: Start with Shopify Basic. It includes everything you need to launch and grow.
- £100k-£500k/year: Consider upgrading to the Shopify plan for professional reports and lower fees.
- £500k-£1M/year: Evaluate the Shopify or Advanced plan based on your specific needs (international selling, calculated shipping, custom reports).
- Over £1M/year: Evaluate Shopify Plus for checkout customisation, automation, and enterprise features.
These are guidelines, not rules. Your specific circumstances — transaction volume, payment gateway choice, team size, international selling needs — should determine your plan choice.
Summary
Choosing the right Shopify plan is primarily a financial decision driven by transaction fees. Start with the plan that matches your current revenue and feature needs, and upgrade when the fee savings or additional features justify the higher subscription cost. Shopify makes plan changes easy — you can upgrade or downgrade at any time without penalties.
The most common mistake is staying on Basic too long. When your annual revenue exceeds £200k-£300k, the professional reports and lower transaction fees on the Shopify plan typically justify the upgrade. Run the numbers for your specific situation.
If you need help determining the right Shopify plan for your business, or you are building a new store and want guidance on plan selection, get in touch. We will help you make the financially optimal choice.