How much is a Shopify website? It costs a monthly plan fee, a build you do yourself or pay for, and a fee on each sale. As of November 2026 the plans run from $29 a month billed yearly to $359, with Plus from $2,300.
The total depends on three separate bills, and only one of them is a quote. This guide prices each bill, adds up three years of plan fees and ends with a test for whether to build the store yourself or hire someone. Along the way it answers the two phrasings owners type most: how much for a Shopify website at the cheapest end, and how much does a Shopify website cost once a developer is involved.
How much is a Shopify website per month?
As of November 2026, Basic is $29 a month billed yearly or $39 billed monthly, Grow is $89 or $105, Advanced is $359 or $399, and Plus starts at $2,300, all from Shopify’s pricing page. Apps and payment fees come on top.
Anyone asking how much does a Shopify website cost needs the whole picture, so split the price into three bills.
The monthly bill is the plan plus the apps you install. Shopify says the plan includes secure hosting, unlimited bandwidth and an SSL certificate, so you do not rent a server. App fees are set by each app’s developer and, according to Shopify’s trial guide, appear on your next Shopify invoice.
As of November 2026, billing monthly instead of yearly adds $10 a month on Basic, which is $120 a year for the same plan. Choose yearly once you are sure the store will stay open.
Selling in person is a separate line. As of November 2026 the pricing page lists POS Pro at $89 a month per location, so a shop with 2 counters adds $178 a month. Skip it if you only sell online.
So how much is a Shopify website per month for a small online store? Often the plan, a handful of apps and nothing else. Keep the app list short, because each app is another fee and another script on every page.
Is Shopify free to start?
Not quite. As of November 2026 the pricing page offers 3 days free, then $1 a month for the first 3 months on most plans, before standard monthly pricing begins.
That makes the first quarter cheap and the fourth month the real answer to how much is a Shopify website each month, so budget with the plan table, not the $1 offer. A trial is still a good way to build before paying.
Know the limits first. Per Shopify’s free trial guide, a trial store starts in private mode, so customers cannot buy until you choose a paid plan, and selling needs a payment provider. The good news is that you lose no work when you pick a plan: products, designs and settings carry over.
How much is a Shopify website per year?
Start with the plan alone. As of November 2026, at yearly billing, Basic is $29 × 12 = $348 a year, Grow is $89 × 12 = $1,068 and Advanced is $359 × 12 = $4,308, using the prices on Shopify’s pricing page.
As of November 2026, three years of plan fees alone come to $1,044 on Basic ($348 × 3), $3,204 on Grow and $12,924 on Advanced, per the same pricing page. A bigger plan is a bet on sales volume, so most new stores start on Basic and move up only when reports or staff accounts justify it. Our Shopify website development cost guide runs the break-even test for that move.
The third bill is where owners are surprised. As of November 2026, per Shopify’s pricing page, third-party transaction fees are 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. Shopify’s Payments help page says you are not charged them on orders processed through Shopify Payments.
Here is a worked example with invented sales, using the 2% Basic rate listed on the same page as of November 2026. A store on Basic sells $5,000 a month through a third-party gateway. The fee is 2% × $5,000 = $100 a month, which is more than three times the $29 plan. Check which provider your orders will use before you decide how much a Shopify website really costs you.
That is why how much does a Shopify website cost per year cannot be answered from the plan table alone. A domain adds a yearly fee too. Shopify’s domain guide says it is charged separately from the plan and its price depends on the extension you pick.
What does it cost to build a Shopify website?
It costs the theme you choose, plus either your own time or a developer’s quote. How much for a Shopify website at the build stage is mostly a choice between those two routes, not a market rate.
Start with the theme. As of November 2026 the Theme Store lists paid themes from $170 to $420 on its home page and offers a Free price filter. Per Shopify’s themes guide, you can customize a theme in the theme editor without code.
Here is a first-year sheet for an invented candle store that builds its own site. The apps and domain lines are assumptions, since their prices are set by others.
- Plan: Basic, billed yearly, $29 × 12 = $348.
- Theme: a free theme, $0.
- Apps: 2 apps for 12 months at an assumed 20 dollars each a month, which is 480 dollars.
- Domain: an assumed 15 dollars for the year.
That totals $843 for the year before payment fees, which is the realistic floor when asking how much is a Shopify website for a store you build yourself. Swap in your own plan, theme and app list and the same sheet works.
Hiring changes line 2 and adds a quote, so how much does a Shopify website cost with a developer is the sheet plus that one number. Ask for it as a separate number, with the scope in writing, rather than a single launch price.
How much is a custom Shopify website?
More than a themed store, because the extra work is design and code, and the price follows the hours. We do not publish a market range for how much a Shopify website costs when it is custom, because no primary source tracks one.
Here is how that looks with an invented quote. A candle brand is quoted $2,400 for a customized theme, $900 for a bundle-builder feature and $600 for moving 300 products from an old store. Three lines make $3,900, and the owner can now see that the feature is the line to cut or phase. A single “$3,900 custom build” would hide that choice.
A store counts as custom when its layout, product pages or checkout steps go beyond what the theme editor offers. Ask a developer to price three things on separate lines:
- The theme work: a customized existing theme or a new design.
- The features that need code, each described in one sentence.
- Anything moved from an old store, such as products, customers and redirects.
So how much does a Shopify website cost when it is custom? The sum of those three lines, plus upkeep. Custom work also leaves a running cost. Code written for one theme must be checked each time the theme updates, so ask who maintains it and how much that costs per month. If your old store is on another platform, read our Magento vs Shopify comparison before you scope the move. How the fee is billed matters as well; the pricing models guide explains fixed fees, hourly rates and retainers.
Do you need a developer for a Shopify website?
Not always. A small catalog on a theme that fits is within reach of one careful owner, while a move from another platform or custom code is where a developer earns the fee. When someone asks how much for a Shopify website, the honest answer starts with this question.
Shopify’s pricing page says plans include hosting and a free SSL certificate, so there is no server to manage. What remains is judgment: choosing a theme, writing product pages, connecting payments and shipping. Plan on 2 to 3 evenings for 20 products if you have photos ready. That figure is our rule of thumb, not a Shopify number.
Write one sheet that answers how much is a Shopify website for you: plan, apps, domain, payment fees and any developer quote. Tracking and search setup are the lines owners skip when they build alone. A launch that lacks analytics, ad pixels, a sitemap submitted to Search Console and redirects from an old domain costs more to fix later than to set up first. If you hire, make those lines part of the written scope.
Our Shopify development page lists the services and starting prices. If you want a view of how much for a Shopify website like yours before you decide, the free audit reviews your store’s theme, apps and setup and sends a PDF report on what we would change.
How long does it take to build a Shopify website?
A simple themed store can be set up in days (our own estimate, not a Shopify figure), while a developer-built store takes weeks. Time is a cost too, because the plan fee runs while the store is unfinished.
For our own projects, the published timing is the scope within 2 workdays and the build in 2 to 4 weeks depending on size. Testing, launch and handover fill the final week, as described on our Shopify development page. Whoever you hire, ask for dates that specific, because the date you launch decides when the answer to how much is a Shopify website stops growing.
A store that launches late also changes how much a Shopify website costs in its first year, since every extra month adds a plan fee. Delays usually come from content, not code: photos, descriptions and policies arrive late. A launch checklist agreed on day 1 shortens the build more than a faster developer does.
To keep the clock honest, build on a trial first. Per Shopify’s trial guide, progress carries over when you choose a paid plan. You pay the $1 introductory rate while you build, then start the standard plan on launch day. Now you can answer how much is a Shopify website for your own store with your own numbers. More cost guides are in buying guides.