Shopify raised its prices in October 2026 — quietly, with no announcement I could find — and if you pay annually, your bill just went up. Grow now costs $89 a month on annual billing, up from $79. Advanced now costs $359 a month, up from $299. That’s $120 more a year on Grow and $720 more a year on Advanced, and most of the pricing guides ranking on Google still show the old numbers.
Here’s the short version: monthly prices didn’t move at all. Basic is still $39 a month ($29 billed annually), Grow is still $105 a month, and Advanced is still $399 a month. The hike hit only the annual-billing rates, which means it lands on the sellers who did exactly what Shopify told them to do — commit for a year to save money. The annual discount that used to be roughly 25% across the board is now 26% on Basic, 15% on Grow, and just 10% on Advanced.
This article does the math the pricing page doesn’t. You’ll get the new prices side by side with the old ones, what your store actually costs per month at $3,000, $10,000, and $33,000 in sales, the exact sales volume where each upgrade pays for itself, and the two traps — staff seats and card-rate surcharges — that decide your real bill more than the subscription fee does.
What changed, and when
Between archived captures of Shopify’s US pricing page on October 13 and October 14, 2026, two numbers changed:
| Plan | Annual price before Oct 14 | Annual price now | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $29/month | $29/month | None |
| Grow | $79/month | $89/month | +$10/month, +$120/year (+12.7%) |
| Advanced | $299/month | $359/month | +$60/month, +$720/year (+20.1%) |
Monthly billing is untouched: $39, $105, and $399. Basic’s annual rate is untouched too. And a note on verification, because this one is genuinely messy: Shopify’s own pricing page has returned both the old and new annual figures on repeated reads in late October, depending on the session. The archived captures pin the change to October 13–14, and multiple independent pricing guides that re-read the page in late October and early November confirm $89 and $359. Before you pay anything, confirm the figure on Shopify’s pricing page yourself — it takes thirty seconds and it’s the only number that matters at checkout.
The hike caps off a year of quiet changes. The middle plan was renamed from Shopify to Grow in 2026 with no feature change, Basic lost its staff accounts entirely (more on that below), and Shopify’s Terms of Service were updated on October 20, 2026, days after the price change. Shopify also rewrote its Pause and Build plan page on November 4 and redirected its separate Plus pricing page into the main pricing page on October 30. None of that was announced with fanfare either. The pattern is worth naming: Shopify now changes pricing and terms in the background and lets sellers discover it on their next invoice.
The annual discount isn’t what it was
Annual billing used to be the easy recommendation. Pay 12 months up front, save about 25% on every plan, done. That math is now uneven:
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per month) | You pay up front | You save per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39 | $29 | $348 | $120 (26%) |
| Grow | $105 | $89 | $1,068 | $192 (15%) |
| Advanced | $399 | $359 | $4,308 | $480 (10%) |
Basic is still a good annual deal. Grow’s annual saving dropped from $312 a year to $192. Advanced’s dropped from $1,200 a year to $480 — a 10% discount for handing Shopify $4,308 up front and locking yourself in for a year. That’s the first decision this hike forces: on Advanced, the annual discount is now small enough that monthly billing is a defensible choice, especially for a seasonal store that might want to downgrade after the holidays. Shopify plans are prepaid, and a downgrade only takes effect at the end of the cycle you already paid for. On annual billing, that means you’re stuck on Advanced until your year is up.
What your store actually costs per month
The subscription fee is the smallest line on most stores’ Shopify bill once card processing is counted. Here’s the true monthly cost — subscription plus Shopify Payments card fees — at three sales volumes, assuming a $50 average order value and standard domestic cards paid through Shopify Payments. The 30¢ per-order fee is included, which is why the numbers aren’t just a flat percentage.
| Monthly sales | Basic ($29 annual) | Grow ($89 annual) | Advanced ($359 annual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $3,000 (60 orders) | $134 | $188 | $452 |
| $10,000 (200 orders) | $379 | $419 | $669 |
| $33,000 (660 orders) | $1,184 | $1,178 | $1,382 |
Worked example, $10,000 in sales on Grow: $89 subscription + 2.7% of $10,000 ($270) + 200 orders × 30¢ ($60) = $419 a month. The same store on Basic pays $379 — $40 less — because at $10,000 a month the lower card rate on Grow hasn’t yet covered the $60 subscription gap.
Two things jump out. First, at $3,000 a month in sales, Advanced costs more than three times what Basic does, and buys you almost nothing — the lower card rate saves $12 a month against a $330 subscription gap. Second, the crossover points are further out than the plan names suggest. Grow only starts beating Basic at around $30,000 a month in sales on annual billing (about $33,000 on monthly billing). Advanced only starts beating Grow at around $135,000 a month on annual billing (about $147,000 monthly). If your store does $8,000 a month and you’re on Grow because it “feels” like the growth plan, you’re paying about $40 a month for the feeling.
The break-even math, exactly
The only reason to pay more for a higher plan is the lower card rate. Each step up cuts the standard online card rate by 0.2 percentage points — 2.9% on Basic, 2.7% on Grow, 2.5% on Advanced. So the break-even is simple division: the extra subscription cost divided by 0.002.
- Basic to Grow: $89 − $29 = $60 a month extra. $60 ÷ 0.002 = $30,000 a month in sales (annual billing). On monthly billing it’s $105 − $39 = $66, so $33,000.
- Grow to Advanced: $359 − $89 = $270 a month extra. $270 ÷ 0.002 = $135,000 a month in sales (annual billing). On monthly billing it’s $399 − $105 = $294, so $147,000.
That math assumes every order is a standard domestic card. Reality is messier, and the mess mostly makes the higher plans look slightly better, because premium and international cards cost more on every plan — but the gaps between plans stay the same 0.2 points. Shopify’s published US rates list a separate premium card rate: 3.5% on Basic, 3.3% on Grow, 3.1% on Advanced, each plus 30¢. International cards add another 1%, plus 1.5% more if currency conversion is involved.
Say 30% of your sales come through premium cards — business cards, Amex, corporate cards — which is normal for B2B-leaning stores. On Basic your blended rate is 0.7 × 2.9% + 0.3 × 3.5% = 3.08%, not 2.9%. On $10,000 in sales that’s $18 a month the flat-rate calculators never show you. The premium-card share is visible in your Shopify Payments payout details, and it’s worth a look before you decide the plan question is settled — a store with heavy premium-card volume reaches the Grow break-even a little sooner than $30,000, because every point of rate difference is worth more when the base rate is higher.
The staff-seat trap: the hike you pay without choosing
Here’s the change that costs more sellers more money than the October price hike, and it happened earlier in 2026: Basic now ships with zero staff seats. Grow includes five. Advanced includes fifteen.
That means the first person you hire — a virtual assistant to handle customer service, a freelancer to upload products, anyone who needs their own login — forces you off Basic and onto Grow. On annual billing that’s $29 to $89, a $60-a-month jump that has nothing to do with your sales volume. The sixth hire forces Grow to Advanced, a $270-a-month jump on annual billing. Collaborator accounts for agencies and POS-only staff don’t count against the limit, but a regular staff login does.
Run this against the break-even math and the trap is obvious. A store doing $5,000 a month in sales with one employee is on Grow because it has to be, not because the card-rate math supports it — and it’s paying roughly $60 a month extra for a seat that used to be included in Basic. If you’re a solo seller who will never hire, Basic at $29 annual is still the best deal Shopify offers. If you plan to hire in the next year, budget for Grow from the start and stop comparing Basic’s price to anything, because Basic stopped being your plan the day you posted the job.
The third-party gateway fee: 2% that swallows the plan discount
The other line item that dwarfs the subscription is the third-party transaction fee. If you don’t use Shopify Payments — because you’re in a country it doesn’t support, or your products got you rejected, or you simply prefer PayPal or Stripe — Shopify adds its own fee on top of the gateway’s fees on every single order:
| Plan | Shopify’s fee on top of your gateway’s fees |
|---|---|
| Basic | 2.0% |
| Grow | 1.0% |
| Advanced | 0.6% |
| Plus | 0.2% |
On Basic, a $100 order through PayPal costs roughly $2.90 + 30¢ to PayPal plus $2.00 to Shopify — $5.20 in total fees, or 5.2%. On $10,000 a month in sales through a third-party gateway on Basic, Shopify’s 2% alone is $200 a month — more than six times the $29 subscription. That fee is also the hidden reason some stores “need” Grow: dropping from 2% to 1% saves $100 a month at $10,000 in sales, which more than covers the $60 subscription gap. But notice what that means — you’re paying Shopify $89 a month largely to reduce a penalty Shopify itself charges for not using its processor. If Shopify Payments is available to you, use it; it’s the only way the fee disappears entirely. If it isn’t, factor the gateway fee into the plan math before anything else, because at most sales volumes it matters more than the subscription price.
What to do now
If you sell on Shopify, run this five-minute check before your next billing cycle:
- Check which billing cycle you’re on. In your admin, go to Settings → Plan. If you’re on annual Grow or Advanced, the new rate hits at your next renewal, not retroactively. Note the date — that’s your real deadline for deciding.
- Do the break-even with your actual numbers. Take last month’s sales, divide the subscription gap by 0.002, and see which side of $30,000 (or $135,000) you’re on. If you’re under it, the lower plan is cheaper even after the hike, and the hike is a reason to downgrade, not to grumble and stay.
- Count your staff seats. If you’re on Basic with zero seats and no hiring plans, stay. If you’ll hire within the year, price Grow in now.
- Check your premium-card share. In your Shopify Payments payout details, look at what share of orders came through premium or international cards. If it’s high, the higher plan’s rate cut is worth slightly more than the simple math says.
- Confirm the price before you commit. Shopify’s own page has shown both old and new annual figures on different reads since the change. Open shopify.com/pricing and read the number on your screen before switching plans or renewing annually. And if you were budgeting from a guide written before October 14, throw its annual figures out — Grow at $79 and Advanced at $299 are gone.
One more consideration for sellers weighing a switch away from Shopify entirely: the October hike narrows the gap with competitors, but it doesn’t close it on features. If you sell digital products, Sellfy’s zero-fee pricing is one of the cheaper alternatives worth pricing up the same way. Shopify’s affiliate program pays $150 per referral, which some store owners use to offset part of their own subscription — worth knowing about, though it’s not a reason to stay on a plan that doesn’t fit your volume. The honest comparison is total monthly cost at your sales level, not the sticker price. At $10,000 a month in sales, Shopify on Grow costs about $419 a month all-in through Shopify Payments. Any alternative you price up should be measured the same way — subscription plus processing plus gateway fees — or the comparison is meaningless.
The bottom line
Shopify’s October 2026 hike is small in dollars and big in what it signals. Grow costs $120 more a year. Advanced costs $720 more a year. The annual discount that made yearly billing a no-brainer is now 15% on Grow and 10% on Advanced, which makes monthly billing a reasonable choice for seasonal stores on Advanced. The subscription fee is still the smallest part of the bill — card rates, premium-card surcharges, the third-party gateway fee, and the staff-seat ladder decide what you actually pay. Do the break-even with your own numbers, check your renewal date, and don’t let a guide written before October 14, 2026 tell you what Shopify costs. That guide is out of date now, and the pricing page is the only source that counts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Shopify cost in 2026 after the price increase?
On annual billing: Basic $29/month, Grow $89/month, Advanced $359/month. On monthly billing: Basic $39, Grow $105, Advanced $399. Plus starts at $2,300 a month on a three-year term. The October 2026 increase raised only the annual rates for Grow (from $79) and Advanced (from $299); monthly prices and Basic’s annual price didn’t change.
When did Shopify raise Grow to $89 and Advanced to $359?
Between archived captures of Shopify’s US pricing page on October 13 and October 14, 2026. Shopify didn’t announce the change. Multiple pricing guides confirmed the new figures by re-reading the live page in late October and early November 2026, though the page has returned both old and new figures on different reads since then — confirm the current number on Shopify’s pricing page before paying.
At what sales volume does Shopify Grow pay for itself over Basic?
About $30,000 a month in sales on annual billing (about $33,000 on monthly billing), based purely on the card-rate difference — Grow charges 2.7% versus Basic’s 2.9% on standard online cards. Below that volume, Basic is cheaper. The exception is staff: Basic includes zero staff seats, so hiring even one person forces the move to Grow regardless of sales.
At what sales volume does Advanced pay for itself over Grow?
About $135,000 a month in sales on annual billing (about $147,000 on monthly billing), from the 2.5% versus 2.7% card-rate difference. A store doing $10,000 a month pays roughly $250 a month more on Advanced than on Grow for about $20 a month in card-rate savings. Advanced makes sense for high-volume stores, custom reporting needs, or teams needing more than five staff seats.
Does Shopify Basic really have no staff accounts?
Yes. As of 2026, Basic includes zero staff seats — only the store owner login. Grow includes five staff seats and Advanced includes fifteen. This is a change from earlier years, when Basic included staff accounts, and it’s the most common reason small stores end up on Grow before their sales justify it.
What is Shopify’s third-party transaction fee?
If you use a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an extra fee on every order: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, and 0.2% on Plus. It’s charged on top of whatever the gateway itself charges. Using Shopify Payments avoids it entirely. On $10,000 a month in sales, the Basic fee alone is $200 a month — far more than the subscription itself.