A UK brand owner who reads Shopify's pricing page sees pounds. An agency quote also arrives in pounds, often with a VAT question attached. To compare the two, you need the Shopify figures, a list of what else a first-year budget holds, and a way to read the build quote. This article gives you all three, with the sums shown.
Every Shopify figure here was read on Shopify's UK pages on 3 November 2026. Prices and offers change, so confirm each one before you decide. For the cost groups that apply to any store, read how much does a Shopify store cost. This article stays on the UK side and gives no agency price range, because we found no public source that supports one.
Shopify plan prices in pounds
Shopify's UK pricing page shows its plans in pounds. Yearly billing is shown as a monthly price. These are the figures on 3 November 2026:
- Basic: £19 a month on yearly billing, or £25 a month paid monthly.
- Grow: £49 a month on yearly billing, or £65 monthly.
- Advanced: £259 a month on yearly billing, or £344 monthly.
- Plus: from £1,800 a month. The page shows no yearly figure for Plus, and its FAQ mentions 1 or 3 year Plus terms, so ask Shopify what term applies to you.
Three notes help you read those numbers.
- Shopify's Help Center says a one-year cycle is paid upfront in return for a discount, and that otherwise Shopify bills every 30 days. The pricing page does not say "billed annually", so check the total at checkout before you pay.
- The page's FAQ says there are no setup fees on any plan.
- The comparison table shows additional staff accounts as not included on Basic, 5 on Grow and 15 on Advanced.
The page also advertises a 3 day free trial, then £1 a month for 3 months. Its FAQ says most plans start at £1 a month for the first 3 months, with no credit card needed for the trial. We did not find which plans qualify or any other terms, so ask what the offer covers before you budget on it. If it applies to monthly Basic billing, 3 months at £1 cost £3 instead of 3 × £25 = £75, a difference of £72.
We did not find a statement on the page about whether these prices include VAT. Ask Shopify when you sign up, and ask your accountant how VAT on Shopify's own charges works for your business.
Card rates and payment fees
Shopify's page lists online standard card rates for each plan, written as a percentage plus a fixed amount per order:
- Basic: 2% + 25p.
- Grow: 1.7% + 25p.
- Advanced: 1.5% + 25p.
- Plus: 1.3% + 25p.
In-person card rates, if you also sell at a stall or a shop, are 1.7% on Basic, 1.6% on Grow and 1.5% on Advanced and Plus, with no fixed amount.
If you take payments through a provider other than Shopify Payments, the page lists a third-party transaction fee: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. Ask that provider what it charges on top, because Shopify's page does not show it. The FAQ also says Shopify Payments is available only in certain countries, so confirm that your business qualifies. Shopify's help page for the UK lists Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Maestro among the cards, plus Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay.
When a higher plan saves money
A higher plan costs more each month and charges a lower card rate. The sum shows where the two cross. Ignore the fixed 25p, which is the same on every plan.
- Basic to Grow, yearly billing: Grow costs 12 × £49 = £588 a year and Basic costs 12 × £19 = £228, a gap of £360. Grow's card rate is 0.3 points lower (2% minus 1.7%). The gap pays back at £360 ÷ 0.003 = £120,000 of card sales a year.
- Grow to Advanced, yearly billing: 12 × £259 = £3,108 minus £588 = £2,520. The card rate is 0.2 points lower (1.7% minus 1.5%), so £2,520 ÷ 0.002 = £1,260,000 of card sales a year.
On monthly billing the Basic to Grow gap is 12 × £65 minus 12 × £25 = £480, which pays back at £480 ÷ 0.003 = £160,000. These sums count the card rate only. Staff accounts and other features can justify a higher plan sooner.
VAT-inclusive prices on the storefront
By default, Shopify shows the price you enter and adds tax at checkout. Shopify's help page says that in some countries, the UK among them, sales tax generally must be included in the displayed prices of most goods. GOV.UK's distance selling page also lists the total price, including all taxes, among the details to give a customer before an order. That page was last publicly updated in September 2015, so check the current rules before you rely on it. In Shopify, the switch sits under Settings, then Taxes and duties, and you can set it for each market.
The effect on your margin is real. Take a made-up tax rate of 10%, chosen only to show the sum. It is not a UK rate. A shelf price of £110 with tax inside holds £110 minus (£110 ÷ 1.10) = £10 of tax, so you keep £100 before costs. Set the shelf price at £100 with tax inside and you keep £100 ÷ 1.10 = £90.91. If you add tax on top of £110, the customer pays £110 × 1.10 = £121. Decide which you mean before you set prices.
Whether you charge VAT depends on your registration. GOV.UK's VAT registration page, read on 3 November 2026, shows a threshold of £90,000 of taxable turnover, tested over the last 12 months and over the next 30 days. It says a business based outside the UK must register whatever its turnover if it supplies goods or services to the UK. Thresholds can change, so check the current figure. Our guide to VAT, delivery and returns for UK customers covers this in more detail.
Shopify's UK tax page says Basic Tax is available in the UK only if your store was set up to collect tax there before 13 May 2026. Newer stores use Shopify Tax or manual settings. We did not find the price of Shopify Tax on the pages we read, so ask Shopify what it costs.
Domain, theme and apps
Domain. The price depends on the extension you choose. Shopify's UK domains page gives a starting price in US dollars, not pounds: domains typically start at $9 a year. It says renewal pricing may differ from the first purchase. Its Help Center says a purchase is registered for one year, is not refundable, and renews each year as a fee separate from your plan. You can also buy a domain elsewhere and connect it. Read the price in the admin before you pay.
Theme. Shopify's Theme Store lists both free and paid themes. Its featured examples on 3 November 2026 showed paid prices from $150 to $420, with a dollar sign and no pound figure. Treat that as a sample, not the range. The page says themes include developer support and free updates, but it does not say whether a price is one-off, so check the theme's own page.
Apps. Each app maker sets its own price. Listings show labels such as free, free plan available and free trial available, and some show a monthly charge. The Help Center says app subscriptions follow their own billing cycles. Add up the monthly figure for every app you need and multiply by 12.
The build and how to read a quote
Shopify's page cannot tell you what the build costs, and we found no public source with a range for UK stores. So treat the build as a line you fill from quotes. These things move the price:
- How many products, variants and collections you need on day one, and who enters them.
- Whether the design uses a theme as it is, adjusts one, or needs custom work.
- Moving data from another platform, including customers, orders and old page addresses.
- Connections to accounting, stock, shipping or marketing tools.
- Extra markets, currencies or languages, and content such as photography and copy.
- Training, launch support and care after launch.
A useful quote says in plain sentences what is included and what is not. It says who pays for the theme and apps, whether prices include VAT, what a change request costs, how you accept the work, and who owns what at the end. Our one-page brief for a web agency helps you ask for quotes that match, and the questions to ask before hiring an agency help you compare them. Whoever you ask, including ESTASOFT, which has an office in London and offers Shopify solutions, ask for a quote that follows this shape.
A first-year budget worked example
This example uses Basic. The sales figures are an assumption to show the method, not a forecast: 400 orders at an average of £60.
- Sales: 400 × £60 = £24,000.
- Plan, yearly billing: 12 × £19 = £228. With monthly billing it is 12 × £25 = £300. The £72 gap is what yearly billing saves.
- Card fees: 2% of £24,000 = £480, plus 400 × 25p = £100, which makes £580.
- Plan plus card fees: £228 + £580 = £808 on yearly billing, or £300 + £580 = £880 on monthly billing.
- Compare Grow on yearly billing: 12 × £49 = £588, plus 1.7% of £24,000 = £408 and £100 in fixed fees, which makes £1,096. That is £288 more than Basic at this sales level (£1,096 minus £808).
- Apps: assume your apps add up to £30 a month. That is an assumption for the sum. 12 × £30 = £360.
So far, the lines you can read from Shopify's pages and your own app list add up to £808 + £360 = £1,168 on Basic with yearly billing. Now add the lines that only quotes and listings can fill: the domain price from the admin, a paid theme if you choose one, the build, and care after launch. Your first-year total is the sum of all of them.
Questions to ask before you approve a budget
- Do Shopify's prices on my invoice include VAT, and how does my accountant treat them?
- Does the £1 offer apply to my sign-up, and what do I pay from month 4?
- Which payment provider will I use, and what does it charge on top of Shopify's fee?
- What will the domain cost to renew, and is the theme price one-off?
- Which apps are in the build, and what does each cost per month?
- Is the quote with or without VAT, and what does a change request cost?
- Who owns the theme changes and the store accounts when the project ends?
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rules or ask a qualified adviser before you decide.
ESTASOFT can plan and build the store through its Shopify solutions. To get a quote you can compare line by line, send a short brief on the contact page. If you are still choosing a partner, read our guide to choosing a Shopify agency in the UK.
Sources
- Shopify Pricing: Find the Right Plan for Your Business (Shopify UK): plan prices in pounds on yearly and monthly billing, online and in-person card rates, third-party transaction fees, staff accounts, POS Pro price, trial offer wording, FAQ on setup fees and Shopify Payments (checked 3 November 2026)
- Shopify Help Center: pricing overview: 30 day billing, one-year cycle paid upfront, billing currencies, app subscriptions on their own cycles (checked 3 November 2026)
- Shopify Help Center: payment methods, Shopify Payments in the United Kingdom: card brands and wallets for UK stores (checked 3 November 2026)
- Shopify Help Center: include or exclude taxes in prices: UK as an example where tax is shown in prices, where the setting is, per-market setting, no change to tax reporting (checked 3 November 2026)
- Shopify Help Center: how tax collection affects pricing: default of tax added at checkout and the tax-inclusive option (checked 3 November 2026)
- Shopify Help Center: UK tax setup: Basic Tax cut-off of 13 May 2026, Shopify Tax and manual settings (checked 3 November 2026)
- Register for VAT: GOV.UK: the 90,000 pound threshold, the two tests, and the rule for businesses based outside the UK (checked 3 November 2026)
- Online and distance selling for businesses: GOV.UK: total price including all taxes among the details to give before an order (page last publicly updated September 2015) (checked 3 November 2026)
- Shopify UK domains page: starting domain price given in US dollars, renewal pricing may differ, price varies by extension (checked 3 November 2026)
- Shopify Help Center: buying domains: price depends on extension, one year registration, non-refundable, annual renewal separate from plan fees (checked 3 November 2026)
- Shopify Theme Store: free and paid themes, sample prices in dollars, developer support and free updates (checked 3 November 2026)
- Shopify App Store: pricing labels on app listings: free, free plan, free trial, monthly charges (checked 3 November 2026)