What are the fee differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus?

The main fee difference is in transaction fees and card processing rates. On the standard Shopify plan, third-party gateway transactions incur a 1% surcharge and card rates via Shopify Payments are 2.6% + $0.30 online. On Shopify Plus, the third-party surcharge drops to 0.15% and card rates are fully negotiated based on sales volume, often reaching 2.15% or lower for high-volume merchants. Plus also replaces the fixed rate structure with a merchant-specific agreement, so exact savings depend on your volume and terms.

How can I avoid extra transaction fees in Shopify Basic?

Use Shopify Payments as your payment gateway to eliminate the transaction fee entirely. When you process payments through Shopify Payments, the 2% gateway surcharge is waived on Basic and you pay only the standard credit card rate of 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction. If Shopify Payments is not available in your country, switching to a higher plan reduces the surcharge from 2% (Basic) to 1% (Shopify plan) to 0.5% (Advanced).

What is the Shopify transaction fee on the Basic plan?

The Shopify transaction fee on the Basic plan is 2% per order when using a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments. This surcharge is applied on top of whatever your gateway charges for processing. If you switch to Shopify Payments, the 2% surcharge is waived entirely and you pay only the card processing rate of 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction.

What is the difference between a Shopify transaction fee and a credit card rate?

A Shopify transaction fee is a surcharge Shopify charges when you use a third-party payment gateway. It ranges from 2% on Basic to 0.15% on Plus. A credit card rate is what your payment processor charges to handle the actual card transaction, typically 2 to 3% plus a small fixed amount. If you use Shopify Payments, there is no Shopify transaction fee, only the credit card rate applies.

At what sales volume does Shopify Plus save money on fees?

Shopify Plus starts at around $2,300 per month, so fee savings alone need to be substantial to justify the cost. For merchants using Shopify Payments, the negotiated card rates on Plus typically become cost-effective around $80,000 per month in sales. For merchants using third-party gateways, the transaction fee drop from 0.5% (Advanced) to 0.15% (Plus) saves money at somewhat lower volumes. Most merchants upgrade to Plus for the additional features, such as custom checkouts, API access, and automation, with fee savings as a secondary benefit.

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Shopify Transaction Fees: All Plans Compared [2026]

Last modified: October 7, 2026

Shopify charges 2 distinct types of fees on every transaction: a credit card processing rate and, if you use a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments, an additional transaction fee on top. Most merchants who ask about “Shopify transaction fees” are asking about that second charge. This guide covers both, breaks them down by plan, and explains exactly how to avoid the extra fee entirely.

The short version: use Shopify Payments and you pay only the card processing rate. Use any other gateway and Shopify adds a per-transaction surcharge ranging from 2% on Basic down to 0.15% on Plus. Here is what each plan actually costs.

Key Takeaways

Shopify charges 2 types of fees: a credit card processing rate (always) and a transaction fee surcharge (only when using a third-party gateway).

Use Shopify Payments to eliminate the transaction fee entirely on any plan.

Basic Shopify charges a 2% surcharge for third-party gateways; upgrading to Shopify reduces it to 1%, Advanced to 0.5%, Plus to 0.15%.

High-volume merchants on Plus can negotiate both their card processing rate and their transaction fee surcharge directly with Shopify.

What is a Shopify transaction fee?

A Shopify transaction fee is a surcharge Shopify adds when you process payments through a gateway other than Shopify Payments. It is separate from the credit card processing rate your gateway charges. The transaction fee goes to Shopify; the processing rate goes to the payment processor.

If you use Shopify Payments as your gateway, you pay no Shopify transaction fee at all. You only pay the credit card rate, which varies by plan. This is the single most direct way to cut your per-transaction cost on any Shopify plan.

Shopify transaction fees and card rates by plan

The table below shows the transaction fee (for third-party gateways) and the online credit card rate (for Shopify Payments) on each plan. In-person rates are slightly lower on every plan.

Plan	Transaction fee (3rd-party gateway)	Online card rate (Shopify Payments)
Starter	5%	5% + $0.30
Basic	2%	2.9% + $0.30
Shopify	1%	2.6% + $0.30
Advanced	0.5%	2.4% + $0.30
Plus	0.15% (negotiable)	Negotiated (typically 2.15% or lower)

A few things to note from this table. First, the Starter plan has a 5% transaction fee, making it impractical for any real sales volume. Second, upgrading from Basic to Shopify cuts the surcharge in half (2% to 1%). Third, Shopify Plus replaces fixed fees with negotiated rates, so the exact numbers depend on your sales volume and agreement with Shopify.

Basic Shopify transaction fees in practice

On Basic Shopify, the transaction fee is 2% per order when using an external gateway such as PayPal, Stripe, or any other third-party processor. On 100 orders averaging $80 each, that is $160 per month going to Shopify on top of whatever your processor charges. At higher volumes, that 2% adds up faster than the plan cost itself.

The credit card rate on Basic via Shopify Payments is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction online, and 2.7% for in-person sales. These rates are fixed and the same for every Basic merchant. If your average order value is high, the per-transaction $0.30 has less impact. If your orders are small, the fixed portion represents a larger share of each sale.

Shopify Plus transaction fees: what changes

Shopify Plus does not use the standard published fee schedule. The transaction fee drops to 0.15% for third-party gateways, and card processing rates are negotiated based on annual sales volume. For merchants processing $1 million or more per year through Shopify Payments, negotiated rates typically start below 2.2% online.

Plus also removes the external gateway transaction fee cap structure entirely for many use cases. Merchants selling in multiple currencies or using Shopify’s international payment features get additional flexibility on how fees are applied across markets. These terms are set in the merchant agreement, not on a published rate card.

The net effect for a high-volume merchant is significant. Moving from Basic (2% surcharge, 2.9% card rate) to Plus (0.15% surcharge, negotiated card rate) on $5 million in annual sales can save tens of thousands of dollars in fees, often exceeding the difference in monthly subscription cost.

How to avoid Shopify transaction fees

The only way to avoid Shopify’s transaction fee is to use Shopify Payments as your payment processor. Shopify waives the surcharge entirely for merchants on all plans, including Basic, when Shopify Payments handles the transaction. You still pay the card processing rate, but the additional gateway surcharge disappears.

Shopify Payments is available in most major markets. If it is not available in your country, you cannot avoid the transaction fee on any plan. For merchants where Shopify Payments is available, switching is typically the highest-return fee reduction available without upgrading plans.

If you need a gateway Shopify Payments does not support, such as a specific local payment method, factor the 2% (Basic) or 1% (Shopify plan) surcharge into your pricing decisions from the start.

When does upgrading plans reduce your fees?

If you use Shopify Payments, the transaction fee is already 0 on any plan. The question then becomes whether the lower card processing rate on a higher plan saves enough to cover the higher subscription cost.

Rough break-even points using Shopify Payments (online sales, no third-party gateway):

Basic to Shopify: the card rate drops 0.3% (from 2.9% to 2.6%), costing roughly $29/month more. Break-even is around $9,700/month in sales, where the 0.3% saving covers the plan difference.
Shopify to Advanced: the rate drops another 0.2%, with a higher plan cost. Break-even is around $38,000/month in sales.
Advanced to Plus: Plus starts at $2,300/month and rates are negotiated. Break-even for Plus only makes sense at $80,000/month or above for fee savings alone, though Plus includes features (custom checkouts, API access, automation) that provide value beyond fee reduction.

If you use a third-party gateway and cannot switch to Shopify Payments, the transaction fee savings from upgrading are direct. Moving from Basic (2%) to Shopify (1%) saves 1% on every sale, which covers the plan difference at around $2,900/month in sales.

Basic Shopify vs Shopify Plus: fee summary

Basic and Plus sit at opposite ends of the Shopify pricing structure, so the fee gap between them is the widest. Basic is a published-rate plan for new and small merchants. Plus is a negotiated-rate plan built for high-volume and enterprise merchants.

For a merchant at $500,000 in annual online sales using Shopify Payments, Basic costs roughly $14,500/year in card processing fees at 2.9% + $0.30 (excluding the fixed portion). An Advanced merchant running the same volume pays around $12,000/year at 2.4%. The fee gap grows proportionally with sales volume, which is why upgrading plans is worth modeling before staying on Basic by default.

For our full breakdown of what Shopify’s plans cover beyond fees, see the Shopify plan comparison guide.

To run these numbers against your own sales, use our Shopify fee calculator.

FAQs

What are the fee differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus?

The main fee difference is in transaction fees and card processing rates. On the standard Shopify plan, third-party gateway transactions incur a 1% surcharge and card rates via Shopify Payments are 2.6% + $0.30 online. On Shopify Plus, the third-party surcharge drops to 0.15% and card rates are fully negotiated based on sales volume, often reaching 2.15% or lower for high-volume merchants. Plus also replaces the fixed rate structure with a merchant-specific agreement, so exact savings depend on your volume and terms.
How can I avoid extra transaction fees in Shopify Basic?

Use Shopify Payments as your payment gateway to eliminate the transaction fee entirely. When you process payments through Shopify Payments, the 2% gateway surcharge is waived on Basic and you pay only the standard credit card rate of 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction. If Shopify Payments is not available in your country, switching to a higher plan reduces the surcharge from 2% (Basic) to 1% (Shopify plan) to 0.5% (Advanced).
What is the Shopify transaction fee on the Basic plan?

The Shopify transaction fee on the Basic plan is 2% per order when using a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments. This surcharge is applied on top of whatever your gateway charges for processing. If you switch to Shopify Payments, the 2% surcharge is waived entirely and you pay only the card processing rate of 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction.
What is the difference between a Shopify transaction fee and a credit card rate?

A Shopify transaction fee is a surcharge Shopify charges when you use a third-party payment gateway. It ranges from 2% on Basic to 0.15% on Plus. A credit card rate is what your payment processor charges to handle the actual card transaction, typically 2 to 3% plus a small fixed amount. If you use Shopify Payments, there is no Shopify transaction fee, only the credit card rate applies.
At what sales volume does Shopify Plus save money on fees?

Shopify Plus starts at around $2,300 per month, so fee savings alone need to be substantial to justify the cost. For merchants using Shopify Payments, the negotiated card rates on Plus typically become cost-effective around $80,000 per month in sales. For merchants using third-party gateways, the transaction fee drop from 0.5% (Advanced) to 0.15% (Plus) saves money at somewhat lower volumes. Most merchants upgrade to Plus for the additional features, such as custom checkouts, API access, and automation, with fee savings as a secondary benefit.

Conclusion: Shopify Transaction Fees by Plan

Shopify charges a transaction fee only when you use a third-party payment gateway. On Basic, that surcharge is 2%; on the Shopify plan it drops to 1%; on Advanced to 0.5%; and on Plus to 0.15%, negotiated. The simplest way to eliminate the fee on any plan is to use Shopify Payments. If Shopify Payments is available in your market and you are currently using another gateway, switching is the most direct fee reduction available. For high-volume merchants on Basic, upgrading to the Shopify or Advanced plan and using Shopify Payments together typically saves more than the plan cost difference once monthly sales exceed $10,000.

Written by:

Avi Klein

Vast experience in the online world. Shopify Expert, SEO expert, Web developer and consultant to several online companies. Read more about our approach to reviewing themes and apps.