A growing store reaches a point where the Advanced plan feels tight. Checkout needs a change, the wholesale side outgrows its catalogs, or the team needs more logins. The jump to Plus is large, so the question is whether you need what it adds, not whether you have outgrown the name of a plan.
This article uses Shopify's own pages to set out the prices and terms as shown, what Plus adds over Advanced, a worked example of the rate arithmetic, signs that it is time and signs it is not, and a decision list. It does not tell you to move. Prices were read on 3 November 2026, can change and differ by country, so confirm them on the pricing page for your own country before you decide. For the cost of the whole store, read how much a Shopify store costs.
What Shopify shows for each plan
Shopify's main pricing page names no country and shows US dollars. The page says pricing and payment options can differ by country. These are the figures for the two plans in question:
- Advanced: $399 a month, or $299 a month on yearly billing.
- Plus: from $2,300 a month. The pricing page shows no yearly price for Plus.
Shopify's Plus plan page gives the terms behind the Plus price. In US dollars it is $2,500 a month on a 1-year term and $2,300 a month on a 3-year term. The same page lists local prices for the euro (€2,250 and €2,100), the pound (£1,950 and £1,800), and the Canadian, Australian, Japanese and Indian currencies. It says US dollars apply to the United States and any country without a supported local currency. The pricing FAQ says you can cancel a 1- or 3-year Plus subscription when the term commitment expires.
Three more points sit outside the headline price:
- Shopify's Plus page says higher-volume or more complex businesses may pay a variable platform fee based on revenue and business model, and that it differs for B2B and D2C. It gives no percentage. You must ask the Plus team.
- The page says the base price covers standard setups and integrations. Custom development may need a Shopify Plus Partner, which has its own cost. Theme purchases and third-party apps are also extra.
- If you use a third-party payment provider, you pay that provider plus a small percentage to Shopify. The pricing page shows that third-party fee as 0.6 percent on Advanced and 0.2 percent on Plus.
What Plus adds to Advanced
This is the comparison from Shopify's pricing page and its plan pages. Where a figure comes from only one of them, it is noted.
- Checkout: limited customization on Advanced, full on Plus. The Plus page names the Checkout Branding API, editing checkout through Shopify extensions, and separate B2B and D2C checkout flows in one store.
- B2B catalogs: B2B is available on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus. On Basic, Grow and Advanced, Shopify's catalogs page allows up to 3 active catalog assignments. On Plus that limit does not apply, and you can assign catalogs straight to company locations. The Plus page adds deposit requirements, partial payments and payment requests per fulfilment.
- Staff and places: 15 staff accounts and 10 inventory locations on Advanced. Unlimited staff and up to 200 locations on Plus, with custom user groups.
- API and headless: up to 2 times the API limits on select APIs and 1 headless storefront on Advanced. Up to 10 times and 25 headless storefronts on Plus. Shopify's rate limit page gives the restore rate as 200 points a second on Advanced and 1,000 on Plus.
- Stores and themes: up to 9 expansion stores on Plus, each live one needing its own theme licence, up to 100 themes, and unlimited staging stores.
- Tools and assurance: Launchpad for scheduled promotions, Shopify Functions for custom apps, and bot protection during flash sales and launches, all listed on Shopify's Plus page. That page says the plan might also include a 99.99 percent uptime service level agreement, so ask for the terms in writing.
- Support: enhanced 24/7 chat support on Advanced, and priority 24/7 phone and chat support on Plus.
- Online standard card rate: 2.5 percent plus 30 cents on Advanced and 2.25 percent plus 30 cents on Plus, as shown on the pricing page. It also lists higher online premium card rates: 3.1 percent plus 30 cents on Advanced and 2.95 percent plus 30 cents on Plus. The page says Shopify Payments is available only in certain countries.
Shopify also describes a separate offer called Shopify for enterprise, which it also calls Commerce Components. Its page gives no prices and says to get in touch.
Do the sums before you decide
Plans cost money every month, so start with the plan prices alone, from the figures above:
- Advanced on yearly billing: $299 times 12 is $3,588 a year. On monthly billing: $399 times 12 is $4,788.
- Plus on a 3-year term: $2,300 times 12 is $27,600 a year. On a 1-year term: $2,500 times 12 is $30,000.
- The monthly gap, Plus on a 3-year term against Advanced on monthly billing: $2,300 minus $399 is $1,901.
Now the rate difference. Take a store that takes $1,000,000 a month in online card payments at the standard rates above, with all of it going through Shopify's card rates. The fixed 30 cents per order is the same on both plans, so leave it out. On Advanced, 2.5 percent is $25,000. On Plus, 2.25 percent is $22,500. The difference is $2,500, against a plan gap of $1,901. To find the break-even, divide the gap by the rate difference: $1,901 divided by 0.0025 is $760,400 a month. On Advanced with yearly billing the gap is $2,001, which gives $800,400.
If the same $1,000,000 went through a third-party provider, Shopify's fee would be 0.6 percent on Advanced, which is $6,000, and 0.2 percent on Plus, which is $2,000. That is a $4,000 difference, and $1,901 divided by 0.004 is $475,250 a month.
The premium card rates are 3.1 and 2.95 percent, a gap of 0.15 percentage points, so on premium cards the same $1,901 divided by 0.0015 is about $1,267,333 a month.
These are examples of arithmetic, not a forecast. They leave out the variable platform fee, the Plus term you choose, theme licences, apps and partner costs. In these examples, rates alone cover the plan gap only at high card volume, so the features below may matter more.
Signs it may be time to move
- You need checkout changes that Advanced does not allow, such as a different checkout for wholesale and retail buyers.
- Your wholesale side needs more than 3 active catalog assignments, or catalogs assigned directly to company locations. See wholesale on Shopify and the Shopify Plus and B2B page.
- You have more than 15 staff logins, or need permission groups, or you run more than 10 locations.
- Your ERP, warehouse system and apps keep hitting API limits. Read connecting Shopify to your ERP first, because a better design may fix it.
- You want separate stores for regions or brands. Check Shopify Markets first, because one store may already do the job.
- You need more than one headless storefront.
- You want scheduled launches, staging stores or phone support at any hour.
Signs you can wait
Advanced already includes B2B, 15 staff accounts, 10 locations, carrier-calculated shipping, a theme and checkout pages you can customise for each market, and enhanced 24/7 chat. Shopify's Help Center says the Advanced plan includes everything in Basic and Grow. If the pain is slow pages, weak search or a missing app, a plan change will not fix it. Name the exact need, then check whether it appears in the Plus column above. If it does not, the answer is not a plan.
A decision list
Answer yes or no for each item. Write down the figure behind every yes.
- Is there a checkout change we need and cannot make today?
- Do we need more than 3 active B2B catalog assignments?
- Do we need more than 15 staff accounts or more than 10 locations?
- Have API limits caused failed or late syncs in the last quarter, and has a design fix been ruled out?
- Do we need separate stores that Shopify Markets cannot cover?
- Do we need more than one headless storefront?
- Does the rate arithmetic favour Plus at our real monthly volume, including the variable platform fee?
- Can we commit to the 1-year or 3-year term?
If you answer no to the first six, you may not need Plus yet. If you answer yes to one or more of them and yes to the last two, ask for a Plus quote. You can also use a Plus readiness check as a starting point.
Questions for Shopify's Plus team
- What is the variable platform fee for my revenue and my mix of B2B and D2C orders, in writing?
- Which currency will I be billed in, and what is the price for 1-year and 3-year terms?
- What happens at the end of the term, and what are the cancellation rules?
- How many expansion stores do I need, and what theme licences do they require?
- Which of my apps are Plus Certified, and which need replacing?
- Would any of my needs point to Shopify for enterprise instead of Plus?
ESTASOFT's site shows Clutch 2026 rankings as Top Shopify Company in Dubai, New York City and the United Kingdom. For growing stores, ESTASOFT offers Shopify Plus and B2B work. Send a short brief on the contact page with your monthly orders, your plan, and the decision-list answers, or start with the Plus readiness check.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rules or ask a qualified adviser before you decide.
Sources
- Shopify pricing (shopify.com): Advanced and Plus prices in US dollars, online standard and premium card rates, third-party fees, staff, locations, B2B catalogs, API and headless limits, checkout customization, FAQ on Plus terms (checked 3 November 2026)
- Shopify Plus plan (Shopify Help Center): Plus prices by term and currency, variable platform fee, cost notes, checkout, B2B, expansion stores, themes, staging, Launchpad, Functions, bot protection, support, uptime wording (checked 3 November 2026)
- Advanced plan (Shopify Help Center): user accounts, per-market theme and checkout customization, carrier-calculated shipping, support, includes Basic and Grow features (checked 3 November 2026)
- Shopify for enterprise (Shopify Help Center): what the enterprise offer is and that pricing is by getting in touch (checked 3 November 2026)
- B2B on Shopify (Shopify Help Center): B2B availability by plan (checked 3 November 2026)
- B2B catalogs (Shopify Help Center): the 3 active catalog assignment limit and the Plus difference (checked 3 November 2026)
- GraphQL Admin API rate limits (Shopify developer docs): restore rate by plan (checked 3 November 2026)