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Flint vs Shopify

Flint vs Shopify: run the store on your own site, without the plan or the gateway fee.

To run a store on your own site without a Shopify plan or Shopify’s 2% third-party payment fee, use a commerce API that includes payments. Flint Pay has no monthly fee and no gateway fee: cards are 3.79% + 35¢ with Stripe’s processing included, and the catalog, orders, inventory, promotions, shipping, and returns come with the account. Automatic US sales tax is 0.50% of payments that carry tax. Checkout runs on your own pages, or on Flint’s hosted checkout.

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See the side-by-side table

3.79% + 35¢ on cards · no monthly fee · free sandbox · no credit card

last reviewed 2026-10-15 · sources

01Side by side

Flint vs Shopify, need by need.

The Shopify column is what Shopify's own US pricing, help center, developer docs, and API terms say today, each linked under Sources. The Flint column is what a Flint account does, with the API name behind it.

Monthly planShopify plans, US, billed monthly: Basic $39, Grow $105, Advanced $399. Plus starts at $2,300 a month on a 3-year term.Flint: No monthly fee. Unlimited seats and sandboxes.
Fee for using your own processorShopify plans, US, billed monthly: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, 0.2% on Plus, on top of the processor’s own fee, and not returned when you refund. Shopify’s third-party feeFlint: None. Stripe processes every card, and its fees are inside Flint's rate.
Card paymentsShopify plans, US, billed monthly: Shopify Payments from 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic for standard cards and 3.5% + 30¢ for premium cards, plus the plan.Flint: 3.79% + 35¢ per card payment, with no plan on top. Every fee is itemized per payment.GET /v1/balance-transactions
Checkout on your own siteShopify plans, US, billed monthly: A headless storefront's cart returns a checkoutUrl that redirects customers through Shopify's web checkout.Flint: Build checkout into your own pages with the API and Stripe Elements, or use Flint's hosted checkout, on your own domain for $15 a month.POST /v1/orders/{order_id}/pay
Pairing with another checkoutShopify plans, US, billed monthly: Shopify's API terms bar an alternative to Shopify Checkout for Shopify merchants without Shopify's express written authorization.Flint: Flint is the whole store backend, so the catalog, stock, orders, and checkout move together and nothing pairs against Shopify's API.POST /v1/products
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How switching works

02Gateway fee

What does Shopify charge when you use your own payment processor?

A third-party transaction fee on every order the processor takes: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, and 0.2% on Plus.

Shopify’s billing help says the fee is in addition to the processing fees your provider charges, is calculated on the products minus discounts plus tax plus shipping, and isn’t returned when you refund an order. So on Basic, a $50 order paid through Stripe carries Stripe’s fee and another $1.00 to Shopify, and Shopify keeps that $1.00 when you refund the order.

Flint has no gateway fee because the processing is part of the product: Stripe runs every card underneath, and Flint’s 3.79% + 35¢ covers it.

Shopify's third-party payment fee, explained →Headless Shopify checkout →

03Included

What runs the store when you leave Shopify for Flint?

One API and one dashboard behind your storefront. Each job below is a field or an endpoint on the order, in the core card rate except automatic tax.

Products carry options and variants, plus categories, modifier sets, and bundles.

POST /v1/products

Stock is held per location when payment starts, committed on success, and released on failure.

held_quantity

Codes and automatic promotions stack by rules you set, with a preview call that shows the result first.

combines_with

Automatic US sales tax is computed after discounts and recorded on each line item and in the order total.

tax_money

Shipping prices by region, goes free over a threshold, or switches to in-store pickup or scheduled local delivery.

POST /v1/delivery-methods

Returns run from a policy, with inspections, restocking fees, exchanges, and buyer self-serve.

POST /v1/return-policies

Refund one line item and its share of the discount and the tax goes back with it.

line_item_allocations

Buyers get a hosted account with their orders, tracking, returns, subscriptions, and saved cards.

GET /v1/me/orders

The commerce API →Selling physical goods on Flint →Build your own checkout →

04Worked example

Is Flint cheaper than Shopify for a small store?

At $2,000 a month, yes, against both ways of taking cards on Shopify Basic, even with Flint's automatic tax on every order and Shopify Tax free. Against Shopify Payments on Basic, Flint costs less up to 52 orders of $50 ($2,600) a month with automatic tax on every order, or 78 orders ($3,900) without it; with your own processor, Shopify doesn't catch up at this order size.

40 orders of $50, $2,000 a monthFlintBasic, Shopify PaymentsBasic, Stripe
Monthly plan$0.00$39.00$39.00
Card processing$89.80$70.00$70.00
Third-party transaction fee$0.00$0.00$40.00
Fees for the month$89.80$109.00$149.00
With sales tax calculated (Flint +0.50%, Shopify Tax free)$99.80$109.00$149.00

Assumptions

  • 40 online orders of $50, all on US standard cards. Shopify's premium card rate on Basic is 3.5% + 30¢; this example charges every card at the lower standard rate.
  • Flint at 3.79% + 35¢ with checkout built into your own pages. Flint-hosted checkout on your own domain adds $15 a month.
  • Shopify Basic billed monthly at $39, with Shopify Payments at 2.9% + 30¢, or with Stripe at its published 2.9% + 30¢ plus Shopify's 2% third-party fee.
  • The last row adds sales tax calculation to every order. Flint's automatic tax adds 0.50% on payments that carry tax; passing your own rates adds nothing. Shopify Tax is free until a store reaches $100,000 in sales (lifetime for stores created on or after May 13, 2026), then 0.35% per order on Basic, capped at $0.99.
  • Shopify apps and themes are left out. Against Shopify Payments on Basic, Flint costs less up to 52 orders of $50 a month ($2,600) with automatic tax on every order, or 78 orders ($3,900) without it. Against Basic with a third-party processor, Flint costs less for any order above $4.51, or $8.20 with automatic tax.

05Who Flint is for

Flint is built for US stores that run on their own site.

If that describes you, the catalog, checkout, tax, and shipping above are running the day you create your account.

US businesses

Flint onboards businesses in the US and pays out in USD to your own bank account. Buyers can pay from anywhere with a card.

Your own storefront

A Next.js, Hydrogen, or any other front end reads the catalog and creates orders through the API. Hosted checkout, payment links, and a buyer account are included.

Goods and services

Orders that ship, get picked up, deliver locally, or fulfill as a download or a service, with stock held at payment.

Developers and agents

A public OpenAPI spec, Node and PHP SDKs, a CLI, llms.txt, and MCP servers a coding agent can read.

06Switching

How do you move a store from Shopify to Flint?

Your storefront keeps its design. The backend it calls moves to Flint, starting from the product CSV Shopify's admin exports.

  1. Recreate the catalog from your export

    POST /v1/products

    Create each product with its options and variants from Shopify's product CSV, with SKUs, prices, and stock at each location.

  2. Set up shipping and pickup

    POST /v1/delivery-methods

    Create the delivery methods you offer: shipping priced by region, free over a threshold, in-store pickup, or scheduled local delivery.

  3. Point checkout at Flint

    POST /v1/orders/{order_id}/pay

    Create an order from the cart, show the totals Flint computed, and pay it with the card your page collected through Stripe Elements, or send the buyer to a hosted checkout.

  4. Move subscribers without a second charge

    billing_start

    If you sell subscriptions, each subscriber saves a card on Flint once; then create the subscription with an imported billing start so Flint charges nothing until the next renewal.

  5. Fulfill from order.paid

    order.paid

    Run fulfillment from the order.paid webhook, test every flow in a sandbox with Stripe's test cards, then switch to live keys.

Read the headless Shopify checkout guide →

07Start

From a sandbox key to a paid test order in ten minutes.

Node

npm install @flintpay/node

CLI

npm install -g @flintpay/cli

Test keys are prefixed flint_test_ and bound to a sandbox with its own data, so nothing you try there touches live money. Pay with 4242 4242 4242 4242, any future expiry, any CVC.

Then read these

  1. 01
    Shopify's third-party payment feeEvery plan's fee, and what it's calculated on
  2. 02
    Headless Shopify checkout
  3. 03
    Shopify Hydrogen alternatives
  4. 04
    The commerce API
  5. 05
    Physical products on merchant-of-record platforms
  6. 06
    Accept your first payment
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Sources

Where each claim comes from.

  • US monthly billing: Basic $39, Grow $105, Advanced $399, Plus from $2,300. Shopify Payments online standard cards from 2.9% + 30¢ and premium cards 3.5% + 30¢ on Basic. Third-party transaction fees 2%, 1%, 0.6%, 0.2%. Shopify pricing (US)

    www.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-15

  • Shopify Tax is free until a store reaches $100,000 in sales, lifetime for stores created on or after May 13, 2026 and per calendar year before; then 0.35% per order in the US on Basic, Grow, or Advanced, capped at $0.99 an order. Shopify Help Center: Shopify Tax pricing

    help.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-15

  • Plus from $2,300 a month on a 3-year term, or $2,500 on a 1-year term. Shopify Plus pricing

    www.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-15

  • Charged when a third-party provider takes the payment, in addition to its processing fees; calculated on (products minus discounts) plus tax plus shipping; not returned on refunds. Shopify Help Center: Third-party transaction fees

    help.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-15

  • Last updated October 7, 2026. Section 2.3.18: no alternative to Shopify Checkout for Shopify merchants without express written authorization. Shopify API License and Terms of Use

    www.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-15

  • The cart's checkoutUrl redirects customers through Shopify's web checkout. Shopify developer docs: Manage a cart

    shopify.dev · checked 2026-10-15

  • 2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction for US domestic cards. Stripe pricing

    stripe.com · checked 2026-10-15

last reviewed 2026-10-15 · corrections: Flint Help

FAQ

Questions people ask.

Is Flint a good alternative to Shopify?

For a US business with its own storefront that wants to stop paying a monthly plan and a gateway fee, yes. Flint has no monthly fee, cards at 3.79% + 35¢ with Stripe processing included, and the catalog with variants, inventory held at payment, promotions, automatic US sales tax, shipping and pickup, returns, subscriptions, and a hosted checkout, with automatic tax and subscriptions as priced add-ons. Sign up on the web or from the terminal with flint signup.

Does Shopify charge a fee for using a third-party payment provider?

Yes. Shopify charges 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, and 0.2% on Plus on orders a third-party provider takes, in addition to the provider’s own fee. It’s calculated on products minus discounts plus tax plus shipping, and it isn’t returned when you refund an order. Shopify’s third-party fee, explained

Can I keep Shopify and use Flint as the checkout?

No. Section 2.3.18 of Shopify's API terms bars an alternative to Shopify Checkout for Shopify merchants without Shopify's express written authorization. Flint replaces the store's backend instead: products, variants, stock, orders, tax, and checkout move to Flint, and your storefront keeps its design.

How much does Flint cost compared with Shopify?

Flint has no monthly fee and charges 3.79% + 35¢ per card payment. At 40 orders of $50 a month, that is $89.80, or $99.80 with automatic tax (0.50%) on every order, against $109.00 on Shopify Basic with Shopify Payments and $149.00 on Basic with Stripe and the 2% third-party fee, with Shopify Tax free under its $100,000 threshold. Shopify Payments on Basic costs less in these fees above 52 orders of $50 a month with Flint's automatic tax on every order, or above 78 orders without it, before apps or premium cards.

Do I need my own storefront to use Flint?

For a full store, yes. Flint is a commerce API with a hosted checkout, payment links, and a hosted buyer account. Your storefront is your own site or app, such as a Next.js or Hydrogen front end, and it reads products and creates orders through the API. Payment links sell without a storefront.

Where does checkout run on Flint?

Wherever you choose. Build it into your own pages with the API and Stripe Elements, which needs no custom domain because the page is already yours, or send buyers to Flint's hosted checkout, which runs on your own domain for $15 a month. Card details go from the buyer's browser to Stripe, so neither your server nor Flint sees card numbers.

Keep your storefront. Drop the plan and the gateway fee.

Free sandbox, no credit card, no sales call. Import a product with variants, take a test payment on your own page, and refund one line with its share of the tax.

Sign up
Read the headless Shopify checkout guide

Or run npm install -g @flintpay/cli && flint signup to create your account and a sandbox key from the terminal. CLI guide

More comparisons · last reviewed 2026-10-15