Shopify costs in 2026: fees, commissions, apps, exit

Shopify is the platform many people choose to open an online store quickly. You can start in an afternoon and the first month costs a few euros. The bill shows up later, because there are four cost items: plan fee, commissions on sales, apps and theme. Here we line them up with the Italian price list of November 2026, do a three-year sum on an example store, and say when Shopify is the right choice. If you want the sum for your store, write to us with your turnover and number of orders.

The monthly fee

The three main plans, with prices from the Italian price list:

• Basic: €27 a month, or €19 a month billed yearly;
• Grow: €74 a month, or €56 a month billed yearly;
• Advanced: €384 a month, or €289 a month billed yearly.

A new store almost always uses Basic. Higher plans lower the commissions and add features for larger teams. The fee never ends: if you stop paying, the store closes.

Commissions on every sale

With Shopify Payments, Shopify's own payment system, each online card payment costs 1.9% + €0.25 on Basic, 1.8% + €0.25 on Grow, 1.6% + €0.25 on Advanced.

If you use another payment gateway instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds its own fee: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced. It comes on top of what you pay the gateway.

To be fair: a store outside Shopify also pays the card networks. Stripe charges 1.5% + €0.25 for standard European cards. So the real difference on Basic is 0.4 points with Shopify Payments, and 2 points with an external gateway.

Apps and theme

Many features an Italian store uses every day come from apps on Shopify: reviews, advanced filters, loyalty programmes, links to management software. Italian e-invoicing needs an app or a link to external software. Many apps have their own monthly fee, added to the plan.

The theme comes from the official store. There are free themes and paid ones, bought once. To change anything beyond the theme options you need a developer who knows Liquid, the language of Shopify themes, and that work is paid separately.

A three-year sum

Take an example store: €30,000 of sales a year, with an average order of €40. That is 750 orders a year, 2,250 over three years. The apps are an assumption: two apps at €10 a month each.

On Shopify Basic, billed yearly, with Shopify Payments:

• fee: €19 for 36 months, €684;
• commissions: 1.9% of €90,000 is €1,710, plus €0.25 on 2,250 orders is €562.50. Total €2,272.50;
• apps: €20 for 36 months, €720;
• three-year total: €3,676.50.

With your own online store and Stripe:

• development: from €699, once;
• Stripe fees: 1.5% of €90,000 is €1,350, plus €562.50 in fixed fees. Total €1,912.50;
• three-year total: €2,611.50, plus hosting and domain.

In this example the difference is about one thousand euros over three years. It grows with sales, and it grows a lot if you use an external gateway on Shopify: the extra 2% on €90,000 is another €1,800. For a store that sells little, the difference is small, and Shopify has the advantage of starting without spending. The items of your own online store, one by one, are in the article how much an online store costs in 2026.

Leaving Shopify

The store lives on Shopify's servers. Products, customers and orders can be exported as CSV files. The theme only works on Shopify, and the apps don't come with you.

Changing platform therefore means rebuilding the store. You can do it without losing Google traffic, keeping the same addresses where possible and using 301 redirects for the rest. We explained the method in the article on how to redesign a website without losing Google rankings.

When Shopify makes sense

Shopify makes sense if you want to test a product in a few weeks without investing, if a ready-made theme suits your brand, or if you do dropshipping and need apps linked to suppliers.

Your own online store makes sense if the design must be yours, if margins are thin and commissions hurt, or if the store has rules that platforms handle badly. Propell, a Catania company selling leather goods wholesale, has a PrestaShop store with a custom theme: retailers find their products again, order the quantities they need and repeat an order in a few minutes. Il Sole del Sud has two different couriers for Italy and Europe and a free-shipping threshold, set up directly in the store.

Frequently asked questions

Does Shopify Payments work in Italy?

Yes. You turn it on from the dashboard and it accepts cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Payments that go through Shopify Payments don't carry the extra fee for external gateways.

Can I move my store from Shopify to my own online store?

Yes. Products, customers and orders are exported from Shopify and imported into the new store. The design is rebuilt, and the old addresses are linked to the new ones with redirects.

What is included in your €699 online store?

Custom design, catalogue, payments, shipping, technical SEO and training on the dashboard. No monthly fee and no commission to us. The price goes up with very large catalogues, integrations with management or warehouse software, and product photos and copy if you don't have them.

Do the sum for your store

On the online store development page you'll find what is included, item by item, and the comparison with Shopify. If you already have a Shopify store or are about to open one, write to us on WhatsApp at +39 389 591 6034 or through the contact form with your yearly turnover and number of orders. We send you the three-year sum for your case, and if Shopify suits you better, we tell you. We reply within one working day.