Shopify fees · October 2026
What Shopify really costs a small store.
A Shopify store pays for four things: the plan, a fee on every card payment, the apps it adds, and often a theme. On Basic that is $39 a month ($29 billed yearly), 2.9% + 30¢ per online card payment, whatever its apps charge, and $170 to $500 once for a paid theme. Flint has no monthly fee and charges 3.79% + 35¢ per card payment. For a small store selling $1,000 to $2,500 a month, that is $14.00 to $29.00 a month less than Shopify Basic, on the plan fee alone.
At $1,000 a month
$29.00 a month less on Flint. $45.00 on Flint against $74.00 on Shopify Basic with Shopify Payments.
At $2,000 a month
$19.00 a month less on Flint. $90.00 on Flint against $109.00 on Shopify Basic with Shopify Payments.
At $2,500 a month
$14.00 a month less on Flint. $112.50 on Flint against $126.50 on Shopify Basic with Shopify Payments.
3.79% + 35¢ on cards · no monthly fee · free sandbox · no credit card
last reviewed 2026-10-27 · sources
01Worked out
Three small stores, priced to the cent.
Each store sells $50 orders on US cards, with no subscriptions. Both columns price the same jobs: the plan and card processing.
| $1,000 a month, 20 orders | Flint | Shopify Basic | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly planShopify Basic, billed monthly | $0.00 | $39.00 | |
| Card processing, 20 ordersFlint 20 × $2.25 · Shopify 20 × $1.75 | $45.00 | $35.00 | |
| Fees for the month | $45.00 | $74.00 | |
| Per order | $2.25 | $3.70 | |
| With Shopify billed yearly ($29 plan) | $45.00 | $64.00 | |
| With a staff login (Shopify Grow, $105) | $45.00 | $138.00 | |
| $2,000 a month, 40 orders | Flint | Shopify Basic | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly planShopify Basic, billed monthly | $0.00 | $39.00 | |
| Card processing, 40 ordersFlint 40 × $2.25 · Shopify 40 × $1.75 | $90.00 | $70.00 | |
| Fees for the month | $90.00 | $109.00 | |
| Per order | $2.25 | $2.73 | |
| With Shopify billed yearly ($29 plan) | $90.00 | $99.00 | |
| With a staff login (Shopify Grow, $105) | $90.00 | $171.00 | |
| $2,500 a month, 50 orders | Flint | Shopify Basic | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly planShopify Basic, billed monthly | $0.00 | $39.00 | |
| Card processing, 50 ordersFlint 50 × $2.25 · Shopify 50 × $1.75 | $112.50 | $87.50 | |
| Fees for the month | $112.50 | $126.50 | |
| Per order | $2.25 | $2.53 | |
| With Shopify billed yearly ($29 plan) | $112.50 | $116.50 | |
| With a staff login (Shopify Grow, $105) | $112.50 | $187.50 | |
Why Flint costs less. Flint’s card fee is $0.50 more on a $50 order: $2.25 against $1.75 on Shopify Payments. But Shopify bills $39 a month before the first sale, and for a small store that plan fee is more than the difference on every order it sells.
The gap grows with your team. Basic has no staff accounts beyond the owner. The day a packer or a partner needs a login, Shopify moves you to Grow at $105 a month (2.7% + 30¢ per payment), and Flint saves $81.00 a month at $2,000. Flint seats are unlimited.
Premium cards narrow the gap. These months charge every card at Shopify’s standard rate. Shopify charges premium cards 3.5% + 30¢ on Basic, $2.05 on a $50 order. Flint charges every card the same 3.79% + 35¢.
Assumptions
- Every order is $50, tax and shipping included, paid online by a US standard card: 20, 40, and 50 orders a month. Each card fee is rounded to the cent on its own.
- Shopify Basic billed monthly at $39, with Shopify Payments at 2.9% + 30¢; the yearly line uses the $29 plan. Shopify’s introductory months and free trial are left out.
- Flint at 3.79% + 35¢ per card payment, selling through payment links and hosted checkout. Hosted checkout on your own domain adds $15 a month.
- With no subscription app on either side, Flint costs less than Shopify Basic for stores under about $3,900 a month in $50 orders (78 orders), or under $2,900 (58 orders) when Shopify is billed yearly.
- Tax calculation fees are left out of both. Flint’s automatic tax adds 0.50% of payments it calculates tax on, and nothing if you set your own rates. Shopify Tax is free until $100,000 in sales, then 0.35% per order, capped at $0.99.
- Reviews, wishlist, and product option apps run on the storefront, which Flint doesn’t host, so they are in Shopify’s full bill and in neither column here.
02Subscriptions
If you sell subscriptions with Recharge.
A $10,000 month at $50 an order, with 30% of orders on subscription and Recharge billing them. Shopify's own Subscriptions app is free; this month is for stores that run Recharge.
| $10,000 a month, 200 orders | Flint | Shopify Basic | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly planShopify Basic, billed monthly | $0.00 | $39.00 | |
| Card processing, 200 ordersFlint 200 × $2.25 · Shopify 200 × $1.75 | $450.00 | $350.00 | |
| Subscription billing, 60 ordersFlint 60 × $0.20 · Recharge Starter, $99 + 60 × $0.94 | $12.00 | $155.40 | |
| Fees for the month | $462.00 | $544.40 | |
| Per order | $2.31 | $2.72 | |
| With Shopify billed yearly ($29 plan) | $462.00 | $534.40 | |
| With a staff login (Shopify Grow, $105) | $462.00 | $590.40 | |
Recharge charges a plan and a per-order fee. Its $25 plan covers the first 50 subscribers with no transaction fees. Past that, Starter is $99 a month plus 1.49% + 19¢ on every subscription order, $0.94 on a $50 order, on top of Shopify’s plan and card fees.
Flint adds 0.40%. That is $0.20 on the same order. Each renewal arrives as an ordinary order, declined cards are retried automatically, and subscribers skip, pause, or cancel from their buyer account.
Moving off Recharge? The Recharge alternative covers moving your subscribers to Flint.
03Every fee
Shopify's fees, plan by plan.
What each Shopify plan charges a US store in October 2026, from Shopify's own pricing and help pages, with Flint's price for the same thing in the first column.
| Fee | Flint | Shopify Basic | Shopify Grow | Shopify Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan, billed monthly | Flint: No monthly fee | Shopify Basic: $39 a month | Shopify Grow: $105 a month | Shopify Advanced: $399 a month |
| Plan, billed yearly | Flint: No plan to commit to | Shopify Basic: $29 a month | Shopify Grow: $79 a month | Shopify Advanced: $299 a month |
| Online card payment | Flint: 3.79% + 35¢, Stripe's processing included | Shopify Basic: 2.9% + 30¢ | Shopify Grow: 2.7% + 30¢ | Shopify Advanced: 2.5% + 30¢ |
| Premium cards | Flint: The same 3.79% + 35¢ | Shopify Basic: 3.5% + 30¢ | Shopify Grow: 3.3% + 30¢ | Shopify Advanced: 3.1% + 30¢ |
| Using another payment provider | Flint: No such fee: processing is part of the rate | Shopify Basic: 2% of each order, on top of the provider's fees | Shopify Grow: 1% | Shopify Advanced: 0.6% |
| Staff logins | Flint: Unlimited | Shopify Basic: No additional staff accounts | Shopify Grow: Up to 5 | Shopify Advanced: Up to 15 |
| Subscriptions | Flint: 0.40% on subscription payments, buyer portal included | Shopify Basic: Through an app | Shopify Grow: Through an app | Shopify Advanced: Through an app |
| Gift cards | Flint: Included in the card rate | Shopify Basic: Included | Shopify Grow: Included | Shopify Advanced: Included |
| Sales tax calculation | Flint: 0.50% of payments Flint calculates tax on; nothing with your own rates | Shopify Basic: Free to $100,000 in sales, then 0.35% per order, up to $0.99 | Shopify Grow: 0.35% past the allowance | Shopify Advanced: 0.35% past the allowance |
The fee per sale. On Basic, a $50 order paid by a standard card costs $1.75 with Shopify Payments, and the same order on Grow costs $1.65. Neither number includes the plan, which a small store pays whether it sells 10 orders that month or 50.
The transaction fee. Use another payment provider and Shopify charges 2% of each order on Basic, on top of the provider’s own fees, and keeps it when you refund. On Flint there is no provider to switch to and no fee for one: Stripe processes every card, and its cost is inside 3.79% + 35¢. Shopify’s third-party fee, worked out
04Apps and themes
The apps a small store adds, and what they cost.
Each app's price as its own Shopify App Store listing gives it in October 2026. Gift cards come with every Shopify plan.
| Job | Shopify app | Listed price | On Flint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscriptions | Recharge, or Shopify Subscriptions | Listed price: Recharge: $25 a month up to 50 subscribers, then $99 a month + 1.49% + 19¢ per subscription order. Shopify Subscriptions: free. | On Flint: 0.40% on subscription payments |
| Reviews | Judge.me | Listed price: Free, or $15.00 a month on Awesome | On Flint: Stays with your website |
| Wishlist | Wishlist Hero | Listed price: Free up to 500 additions a month, then from $4.00 a month | On Flint: Stays with your website |
| Product options | Infinite Options | Listed price: $12.99 a month | On Flint: Built in: options and variants in the dashboard |
| Gift cards | Built into every plan | Listed price: Free | On Flint: Included in the card rate |
| Shopify, per month | $1k | $2k | $2.5k | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic plan, billed monthly | $39.00 | $39.00 | $39.00 | |
| Shopify Payments2.9% + 30¢ per $50 order = $1.75 | $35.00 | $70.00 | $87.50 | |
| Product options appReviews and wishlist on free plans | $12.99 | $12.99 | $12.99 | |
| Shopify's monthly bill | $86.99 | $121.99 | $139.49 | |
| Per order | $4.35 | $3.05 | $2.79 | |
| Share of sales | 8.70% | 6.10% | 5.58% | |
Apps set their own prices. Shopify’s billing help says each app’s developer sets its charges: recurring, usage-based, or one-time. Some, like Recharge, also charge on every order they handle, so the app line grows with sales the way the card fee does.
Themes are a one-time charge. Shopify’s Theme Store lists 24 free themes. Paid themes on the first page of its paid listing cost $170 to $500 once, and each license covers one store.
On Flint, the commerce comes with the account. Subscriptions, gift cards, options and variants, discounts, inventory, and returns are part of every account, so the store pays for them only through the card rate and the 0.40% subscription add-on. Reviews and wishlists stay with the website your buyers browse.
05Included
What Flint's rate covers.
3.79% + 35¢ per card payment and no monthly fee. Everything below is in that rate unless it says otherwise.
Products, variants, stock
Add products with prices and photos in the dashboard, then give each size or color its own price, SKU, and stock count on the product page. One payment link lets the buyer pick.
Subscriptions
Plan links from the dashboard, renewals that arrive as ordinary orders, automatic retries on declined cards, and a buyer account where subscribers skip, pause, or cancel. 0.40% on subscription payments.
Gift cards
Sell gift cards as products, in a fixed value or any amount the buyer chooses in your range, email them to the recipient on the date the buyer picks, and take them at checkout.
Checkout and payment links
A Flint-hosted checkout and payment links that sell items from your catalog, with cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Your own domain on hosted checkout is $15 a month.
Discounts, returns, refunds
Promotion codes, returns, and full or partial refunds, all on the same order as the sale.
Your whole team
Unlimited seats, so a packer or a bookkeeper gets a login without a plan upgrade.
06Moving
Moving a small store to Flint.
Flint doesn't host a storefront. Your buyers keep shopping on the website you already have, and Flint takes the order and the payment.
- 01
Add your products
Sign up and add each product with its price and photos in the dashboard, with its sizes or colors as variants, each with its own stock count. Gift cards are a product type of their own.
- 02
Make the links
Make a payment link for each product, where buyers pick the size or color, and a plan link for each subscription. Every link has its own URL and a QR code.
- 03
Put them on your site
Point the Buy buttons on your Squarespace, Framer, or Webflow site at the links. A developer or an AI builder can use Flint's API and hosted checkout instead.
- 04
Move your subscribers
Upload subscribers as a CSV on the dashboard's import page, which checks every row first. Each subscriber needs a card saved with Flint, and the first charge comes at their next renewal.
Selling from a Squarespace or Framer site? Read selling on Squarespace without a Commerce plan or adding a store to a Framer site. The payment links guide covers every link setting.
07Start
Price your own store on Flint.
Sign up, add one product, and make a payment link for it. The sandbox is free, so you can buy from your own link and see the fee on the order before a real buyer does.
3.79% + 35¢ on cards · no monthly fee · free sandbox · no credit card
Then read these
- 01Flint pricingEvery rate and add-on, published.
- 02Flint vs ShopifyNeed by need, for a store on its own site.
- 03Recharge alternativeSubscriptions without a subscription app.
- 04Square Online feesThe same breakdown for Square Online.
- 05Etsy feesEtsy's fees, worked out per order.
- 06Shopify headless cost calculatorA headless Shopify store, priced line by line.
08Sources
Where every Shopify number comes from.
US prices: Basic $39, Grow $105, Advanced $399 a month billed monthly, or $29, $79, $299 billed yearly. Shopify Payments online rates by plan, standard and premium, 1% more for international cards. Third-party transaction fees 2%, 1%, 0.6%. Gift cards on every plan. No additional staff accounts on Basic, up to 5 on Grow, up to 15 on Advanced. Shopify pricing (US)
www.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-26The third-party fee is charged on top of the provider's fees, on (products minus discounts) plus tax plus shipping, isn't returned on refunds, and applies to gift card and store credit payments for stores created on or after May 12, 2025. Shopify Help Center: third-party transaction fees
help.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-26Shopify Tax is free until a store reaches $100,000 in sales (in a calendar year for stores created before May 13, 2026, lifetime after), then 0.35% per order in the US on Basic, Grow, and Advanced, capped at $0.99 an order. Shopify Help Center: Shopify Tax pricing
help.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-26Theme purchases are one-time charges, billed separately from the monthly bill; app charges are set by each app's developer. Shopify Help Center: types of charges
help.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-26Paid themes on the first page of the paid listing range from $170 to $500. Shopify Theme Store: paid themes
themes.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-2624 free themes, including Horizon and Dawn. Shopify Theme Store: free themes
themes.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-26Shopify Subscriptions, Shopify's own app: free. Shopify App Store: Shopify Subscriptions
apps.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-26$25 a month with no transaction fees for the first 50 subscribers; Starter $99 a month plus 1.49% + 19¢ per transaction. Shopify App Store: Recharge Subscriptions
apps.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-26Recharge's fees are charged on top of your ecommerce platform and payment processor fees. Recharge pricing
getrecharge.com · checked 2026-10-26Free plan, or Awesome at $15.00 a month. Shopify App Store: Judge.me
apps.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-26Free up to 500 wishlist additions a month; Silver $4.00 a month up to 1,000. Shopify App Store: Wishlist Hero
apps.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-26One plan, Essential, at $12.99 a month. Shopify App Store: Infinite Options
apps.shopify.com · checked 2026-10-26
last reviewed 2026-10-27 · corrections: Flint Help
FAQ
Questions about Shopify's fees.
How much does Shopify cost per month for a small store?
More than the plan. Shopify Basic is $39 a month billed monthly, or $29 a month billed yearly, and Shopify Payments takes 2.9% + 30¢ of every online card payment. A store selling $2,000 a month in $50 orders, with free review and wishlist apps and a paid product options app, pays $121.99 a month, $3.05 per order. A $10,000 store that sells subscriptions with Recharge pays $576.39. A paid theme adds a one-time $170 to $500.
What are Shopify's transaction fees?
With Shopify Payments, online card payments cost 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, 2.7% + 30¢ on Grow, and 2.5% + 30¢ on Advanced, with premium cards at 3.5% + 30¢ on Basic and 1% more for international cards. If you take payments through another provider, Shopify adds a third-party transaction fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, and 0.6% on Advanced, on top of that provider’s fees, and doesn’t return it when you refund. Shopify’s third-party fee, explained
How much does Shopify take per sale?
On Basic with Shopify Payments, a $50 online order paid by a standard card costs $1.75 in card fees. Spread the $39 plan over the month and each order costs $3.70 at $1,000 a month in sales, $2.73 at $2,000, and $2.53 at $2,500, before any apps. On Flint the same order costs $2.25, with no plan to spread.
How much do Shopify apps cost?
Each app sets its own price, and some add a fee on every order they handle. As of October 2026: Recharge subscriptions are $25 a month for up to 50 subscribers, then $99 a month plus 1.49% + 19¢ per subscription order on Starter. Shopify's own Subscriptions app is free. Judge.me reviews are free or $15.00 a month. Wishlist Hero is free up to 500 wishlist additions a month, then from $4.00. Infinite Options is $12.99 a month.
Do I have to buy a Shopify theme?
No. Shopify's Theme Store lists 24 free themes. Paid themes are a one-time charge, $170 to $500 for the themes on the first page of the paid listing in October 2026, and a theme's license covers one store.
Are gift cards included on Shopify Basic?
Yes. Shopify's pricing page lists selling gift cards on every plan, Basic included. If you take payments through a third-party provider instead of Shopify Payments, gift card and store credit payments count toward the third-party fee for stores created on or after May 12, 2025. Flint gift cards are included in the card rate, with no add-on fee.
Is Flint cheaper than Shopify for a small store?
For a small store, yes. Flint has no monthly fee and charges 3.79% + 35¢ per card payment, so a store selling $1,000 to $2,500 a month in $50 orders pays $14.00 to $29.00 a month less than on Shopify Basic with Shopify Payments, and more than that if anyone else needs a login, which takes Shopify Grow. With no subscription app on either side, Flint costs less than Shopify Basic for stores under about $3,900 a month in $50 orders (78 orders), or under $2,900 (58 orders) when Shopify is billed yearly. If you sell subscriptions with Recharge, Flint costs $82.40 a month less at $10,000 with 30% of orders on subscription.
Does Flint replace my Shopify storefront?
No. Flint runs the commerce and payments behind a store: products and variants, inventory, discounts, orders, checkout, subscriptions, gift cards, returns, and a buyer account. Buyers shop on the website you already have, through Buy buttons that open Flint payment links or hosted checkout, or on a site a developer or an AI builder connects to Flint's API.