Shopify: A Platform Built Around the Checkout

What Shopify is

Shopify is a hosted commerce platform. Products, inventory, checkout, payments, taxes, shipping labels and order management are all part of the core product, and themes control how the storefront looks. Features Shopify does not include come from its app store, where outside developers sell add-ons on monthly subscriptions.

Content pages and a blog exist, but they are secondary. If your website is mainly about publishing, Shopify's content tools may feel thin; if it is mainly about selling, the core product covers the main jobs in one place.

Plans and prices

The pricing page also lists an "Agentic" plan at $0 a month with a 2.9% plus 30 cents online card rate, and a point-of-sale add-on (POS Pro) at $89 a month. Neither is a full online store plan of the kind compared in this guide, so we leave them out of the table.

How the two payment fees work

Shopify charges in one of two ways on each online sale, depending on how you take payment.

1. Shopify's own payment processing. The online card rate in the table applies, for example 2.9% plus 30 cents on Basic.
2. A third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments. Shopify adds its own fee (2% on Basic, down to 0.2% on Plus), and your outside provider then charges its rate on top. Shopify's help center makes one exception: if Shopify Payments is your primary provider, PayPal orders are exempt from that fee.

That second route is why the plan choice matters more as sales grow. On $100,000 of online sales a year through an outside provider, the Shopify fee alone would be $2,000 on Basic and $1,000 on Grow, before the provider's charges. The ecommerce fees guide explains how to compare these properly, and the cost calculator does the arithmetic.

Apps and themes

Shopify's app store fills gaps such as reviews, subscriptions, wholesale pricing, advanced search or loyalty programs. Apps can charge monthly, and several small subscriptions can together cost more than the plan itself. Before launch, list every app you think you need with its monthly price, and check whether the feature is already part of your chosen plan. Paid themes are a one-off purchase, while free themes from Shopify can be a reasonable starting point.

Leaving Shopify

Shopify's help center describes exporting products to a CSV file, either all products, a selection or a filtered set. Two limits are worth knowing:

• "When you export your products, the images associated with each product aren't included in the CSV file." Shopify suggests keeping the original store and its listings live until an import is finished, so the images stay reachable.
• Very large exports can time out and should be split with filters; any product with more than 100 variants causes the file to be emailed rather than downloaded.

Orders have their own export in the Shopify admin. The storefront theme, apps and their data do not move to another platform, so leaving means rebuilding the store design and replacing app features one by one.

Planning a Shopify store

A few decisions before launch make the store cheaper and easier to run:

1. Choose your payment route first. Using Shopify's own payments avoids the extra third-party fee; if you must use another provider, budget for that percentage.
2. List the apps you need, with prices. Total them as a monthly figure and compare it with the plan price.
3. Pick a theme that supports your catalog. Stores with many variants or collections need a theme built for that.
4. Prepare product data in a spreadsheet with titles, descriptions, prices, variants and image file names. It speeds up import and gives you a copy outside Shopify.
5. Write shipping, returns and privacy policies before launch; shoppers look for them.
6. Test checkout with a real order and refund it, so you see the whole flow as a customer does.

The Shopify decision in three questions

1. Which payment provider? With Shopify Payments, the card rate in the plan table applies and there is no third-party fee. With another provider as your primary one, Shopify adds its fee on every plan, though its help center says PayPal orders are exempt when Shopify Payments is your primary provider.
2. What will apps add? Total the monthly price of every app on your list and set it beside the plan price.
3. Does the theme fit the catalog? Load your real number of products and variants into a trial store and check collection pages on a phone.

A worked month for a small store

These figures are illustrative: a store on Basic with yearly billing, $3,000 of online sales in a month from 60 orders, Shopify Payments, and $25 a month of apps.

Processing is the largest line, and it grows with sales; the plan price does not. That is why the card rate and payment route deserve as much attention as the plan.

Strengths and limits

Strengths. A complete commerce stack in one subscription; a checkout that Shopify builds and maintains; hosting, security and platform updates handled by Shopify; a large app store.

Limits. Content and blogging tools are basic compared with a publishing CMS; app subscriptions add up; using an outside payment provider adds a Shopify fee; and the storefront does not export.

Who Shopify tends to fit

Reading the facts above, Shopify fits businesses where online sales are the main job of the website, from a first store to a large catalog, and owners who would rather pay a predictable platform fee than manage hosting. It is a weaker fit for content-led sites that sell a few items on the side, where a builder with a simple store or WordPress with WooCommerce may cost less. See Shopify vs WooCommerce for that comparison.

Sources for this page

1. Shopify: Plans & pricing. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
2. Shopify Help Center: Exporting products. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
3. Shopify Help Center: Exporting orders. Official source, read November 4, 2026.
4. Shopify Help Center: Exploring PayPal payment integrations and fees. Official source, read November 4, 2026.