How Much Does a Shopify Website Cost in 2026? A Complete Breakdown

Key takeaways

• Shopify plans cost $39, $105 or $399 a month billed monthly (about $29, $79 or $299 billed annually); Shopify Plus starts at $2,300 a month.
• Premium Theme Store themes are a one-off purchase; a custom theme is a design and development project.
• Apps and payment fees are ongoing costs that grow with your store, so budget for them from day one.
• Agency build costs depend on design, catalogue size, integrations and migration more than on the platform.
• The cheapest launch is rarely the cheapest store: rebuilding later costs more than building well once.

“How much does a Shopify website cost?” has two answers: what it costs to run and what it costs to build. Running costs are predictable. Build costs depend on what you need the store to do. Here is the full breakdown for 2026.

Shopify plan costs

• Basic: $39 a month billed monthly, or about $29 a month billed annually. For new stores.
• Grow: $105 a month, or about $79 billed annually. Lower card rates and more reporting for growing stores.
• Advanced: $399 a month, or about $299 billed annually. Custom reports, lower fees and up to 15 staff accounts.
• Shopify Plus: From $2,300 a month on a three-year term, for high-volume and enterprise brands. See our Shopify Plus pricing guide.

Prices are in US dollars and vary by country. A custom domain is a small additional yearly cost.

Shopify theme costs

• Free themes: Shopify's free themes, such as Dawn, are fast and well built — a good starting point for new stores.
• Premium themes: Themes from the Shopify Theme Store are a one-off purchase, typically a few hundred dollars, with updates included.
• Custom themes: A theme designed and developed for your brand: the right choice when your products, content or brand need more than a template offers.

Apps and payments: the ongoing costs

Most stores use apps for reviews, email marketing, subscriptions, search or loyalty. Many charge monthly and some scale with your orders or contacts, so review them every quarter. Payments add a percentage per order: Shopify Payments rates depend on your plan and country, and using another payment provider adds a surcharge of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced.

Shopify design and development costs

This is where budgets differ most. What you pay a developer or agency depends on scope, not on the platform:

• Theme setup and customisation: A premium theme configured with your branding, content and a few custom sections. The fastest route to launch.
• Custom theme design and build: Bespoke UX and UI design, a custom Online Store 2.0 theme and editable sections your team can manage.
• Shopify Plus and headless builds: Checkout extensions, Shopify Functions, wholesale, multiple markets or a Hydrogen storefront for complex brands.

Within each tier, these factors move the price:

• The number of unique page templates and custom sections.
• Catalogue size and complexity: variants, bundles and product options.
• Integrations with ERP, PIM, inventory, 3PL or CRM systems.
• Migrating products, customers, orders and SEO redirects from another platform.
• Content: copywriting, photography and product data entry.
• Speed, accessibility and SEO requirements.

How to budget for a Shopify website

1. Define what you sell and to whom: Catalogue size, markets and sales channels decide most of the technical scope.
2. Separate launch from later: Launch with what earns revenue, and plan a second phase for everything else.
3. Budget for the first year: Include plan fees, apps, payments, maintenance and marketing, not just the build.
4. Ask for a fixed-scope quote: A clear scope and timeline protect you from open-ended hourly billing.

Is a cheap Shopify website worth it?

A low-cost template store is a sensible way to test a product. For an established brand, it often costs more in the end: slow pages, app bloat and a theme nobody can extend lead to a rebuild within a year or two. A solid build — fast, maintainable and easy for your team to update — is usually cheaper over the life of the store.

Want an accurate figure for your store? Share your plans and we will send a clear, itemised quote for Shopify store development. See what we have built in our case studies, then request a proposal.