Shopify Plus Explained (2026): Pricing, Features and Who Needs It

Shopify Plus is Shopify's plan for high-volume and complex businesses. As of October 2026, it starts at $2,300 a month on a 3-year term or $2,500 a month on a 1-year term, and businesses with more complex setups can be moved to a variable platform fee based on revenue. In return, you get full checkout customization, unlimited staff, 200 inventory locations, unlimited B2B catalogs, up to 9 expansion stores, higher API limits and a set of Plus-only tools.

The question most brands are really asking is whether they need Plus or whether Advanced, at $399 a month, is enough. The gap between the two has narrowed: since April 2026, B2B with up to 3 catalogs is available on every paid plan, and every plan now gets the same 200+ reports. What still separates Plus is checkout control, scale, automation and the contract.

This guide covers what Plus includes now, how its pricing works, which features you only get on Plus, who it suits and how to upgrade or migrate. For the full plan line-up, see our Shopify plans and pricing guide and the Shopify hub.

How Shopify Plus pricing works

The Shopify Plus pricing page says the plan "starts at $2,300 USD a month for standard setups and integrations on a 3-year term, or $2,500 USD per month for a 1-year term. More complex, higher volume businesses switch to a variable platform fee based on their revenue and business model."

A few details from the pricing page and Shopify's Plus plan Help Center page matter when you budget:

• Term commitment: Shopify's pricing FAQ says "If you choose a 1- or 3-year Plus subscription, you can cancel when your term commitment expires."
• Variable fee: the Help Center says the variable platform fee "differs for B2B and D2C companies." No percentage is published, so you only get it from sales.
• Stores: your main store and 9 expansion stores are included. More stores cost "an extra $300 USD per month per store, or a revenue share across all stores." One brand per contract; separate brands need separate contracts.
• Other costs: Shopify says there are none, "but if you need custom development you should factor a Shopify Plus Partners into your budget," along with one-time theme purchases and third-party apps.
• Local pricing: the Help Center lists Plus in other currencies, for example £1,950 (1-year) or £1,800 (3-year) per month in the UK, and $3,650 or $3,400 CAD in Canada.

Plus payment rates and fees

Shopify's US pricing page lists Plus card rates starting at 2.25% + 30¢ for standard online cards, 2.95% + 30¢ for premium cards and 2.3% + 10¢ in person. The Plus pricing page adds that "Card rates vary by country," so your contract rate comes from sales.

If Shopify Payments is your primary gateway, "Third-party transaction fees are waived globally." If you use another processor, you pay that processor plus 0.20% per transaction to Shopify. Plus stores that use Shopify Payments as their only provider also avoid the third-party fees on gift card and store credit payments that apply to newer stores on other plans. Our transaction fees guide covers these rules in detail.

Plus vs Advanced: what you actually get

Balance rates are as of 30 September 2026 and are variable rewards, not interest. API limits are from Shopify's developer documentation; our guide to Shopify API rate limits explains what they mean in practice.

Plus-only features worth knowing

Checkout customization

Checkout is the biggest practical difference. Shopify's developer docs say "Checkout UI extensions for the information, shipping, and payment steps are available only to stores on a Shopify Plus plan." Other plans can customize the Thank you and Order status pages with blocks and pixels, but not the main checkout steps. The old checkout.liquid file is no longer supported, so on Plus these changes are made with checkout extensions and apps.

Shopify Functions in custom apps

Any plan can use public App Store apps that contain Functions, but "Only stores on a Shopify Plus plan can use custom apps that contain Shopify Function APIs." That matters now that Shopify Scripts stopped running on 30 June 2026: Shopify's guidance for brands that relied on Scripts for custom discount, shipping or payment logic is to recreate those customizations with Functions. Our article on Shopify apps vs Shopify Functions explains the trade-offs.

B2B depth

Basic, Grow and Advanced get up to 3 B2B catalogs. Plus adds unlimited catalogs for customer-specific pricing, direct catalog assignment to companies and locations, deposits, partial payments and payment requests per fulfillment.

Expansion stores and organization tools

Plus includes 9 expansion stores (for other regions, a wholesale store or separate physical locations) and unlimited staging stores. Shopify notes that each live expansion store needs its own theme license. Organization-level settings, user groups and analytics across stores are Plus features.

Plus-only apps and marketing tools

• Launchpad for scheduled and automated sales campaigns and product launches.
• Combined Listings for showing separate products (for example, colors) as one listing.
• Shopify Audiences for ad targeting, available to eligible Plus stores in the US and Canada that use Shopify Payments.
• Bot protection during flash sales and high-demand launches.
• Test drives of new features before launch.

Other Plus extras

Shopify's Help Center lists up to 100 themes in your theme library, 1 TB of file storage per store, notification email suppression, Plus-only APIs such as Multipass and GiftCard, extended card authorization periods (up to 30 days for Visa, Mastercard and Amex, with a 1.75% charge when you capture after the standard 7 days) and the option to connect your own identity provider for customer accounts.

Who needs Shopify Plus

Card rates alone rarely justify Plus. Compare Plus at $2,300 a month with Advanced at $399 on monthly billing:

• Extra subscription cost: $2,300 − $399 = $1,901 a month.
• Rate saving on standard online cards: 2.5% − 2.25% = 0.25 percentage points.
• Break-even: $1,901 ÷ 0.0025 = $760,400 a month in standard online card sales.

Against Advanced on yearly billing ($299), the gap is $2,001 and the break-even is $800,400 a month. On a 1-year Plus term at $2,500, it's ($2,500 − $399) ÷ 0.0025 = $840,400 a month. Your negotiated rate may differ, so treat these as starting points.

So the decision is usually about features. Plus tends to make sense if you:

• Need to change the information, shipping or payment steps of checkout.
• Rely on custom discount, shipping or payment logic that has to run as custom Functions.
• Sell wholesale with customer-specific price lists beyond 3 catalogs.
• Run several regional stores for one brand and want them under one contract.
• Have more than 15 staff, more than 10 locations or many retail stores using POS Pro.
• Run high-traffic launches and need bot protection and higher API limits for integrations.

If none of those apply, Advanced is likely the better value.

Trying Plus: the $399 paid trial

Eligible merchants can try Plus before committing. Shopify's Plus trial page says "The Shopify Plus trial is a paid trial" at $399 a month in the US, and "The trial length is 1 to 2 months, depending on your store status." The trial includes most Plus features, such as checkout customizations, custom apps with Functions, Combined Listings, Launchpad, 200 locations and unlimited staff.

Some features aren't in the trial: expansion stores, organization settings, test drives and bot protection. The trial allows up to 20 themes rather than 100, and POS Pro is an additional cost.

The important rule: "If you take no action by the end of your trial, then your store is automatically enrolled in a full Plus plan." The term and duration follow the options you chose during trial setup, so decide before the trial ends.

Upgrading or migrating to Plus

From another Shopify plan

In your admin, go to Settings, then Plan, then Change plan, and select Plus or Try Plus. To upgrade early from a trial, choose Upgrade early, confirm a 1-year or 3-year term and subscribe. If you downgrade from a Plus trial, Shopify says you lose Plus-only features: app blocks on checkout pages are removed, custom apps lose access to Functions, and anything above the new plan's staff and location limits is deactivated.

From another platform

Shopify's Plus pricing page says "Shopify doesn't charge you to migrate, but paid services are available," and that migration costs "depend on your business and existing commerce platform." Budget for the work itself (data migration, theme build, integrations and redirects), whether your own team or a partner does it. If you're coming from Magento, our Magento to Shopify migration guide walks through the process.

Before you sign

• Map every customization you need at checkout and confirm it's possible with checkout extensions.
• List any old Shopify Scripts and plan their Functions replacements.
• Move off legacy customer accounts, which Shopify deprecated on 26 February 2026.
• Ask sales for your card rates, whether the variable platform fee applies to you, and the exact term.

Conclusion

Shopify Plus is a contract plan for brands that have outgrown Advanced on features, not just volume. Its pricing starts at $2,300 a month on a 3-year term, and the real reasons to buy it are checkout control, custom Functions, B2B depth, expansion stores and scale. Use the paid trial to test the features you'd actually use, and decide before it auto-converts. If you're weighing a move to Plus, eSEOspace's Shopify website design team builds and migrates Plus stores.

Frequently asked questions