Shopify's plan tiers determine what your subscription business can do on the platform — and what it costs to operate. The differences between plans are mostly in transaction fees, staff accounts, reporting depth, and a few platform features. For subscription merchants specifically, the tier choice has a few subscription-relevant implications worth understanding.
The current Shopify tiers
- Basic. Entry-level. Lowest monthly fee, highest transaction fees on non-Shop-Payments orders. Suitable for new stores under ~$2,500/month revenue.
- Shopify (the standard plan). Reduced transaction fees, more staff accounts, professional reports. The most common plan for growing DTC merchants.
- Advanced. Lower transaction fees still, custom reporting, third-party calculated shipping rates. Typically chosen at $20k+/month revenue.
- Shopify Plus. Enterprise tier. Custom checkout, dedicated support, automation tools (Flow, Launchpad), B2B features. Pricing is custom (typically $2,000+/month).
What changes for subscription merchants by tier
For most subscription operations, the tier itself does not gate subscription functionality — that comes from your subscription app (Joy, Recharge, Bold, etc.). But three indirect factors matter:
- Transaction fees. On non-Shop-Payments orders, fees drop from ~2% (Basic) to ~0.5% (Advanced) to 0% (Plus). For a subscription business doing $50k/month through third-party gateways, that's $750–$1,000 saved monthly by tier upgrade.
- Checkout customization. Plus unlocks custom checkout extensibility — useful for subscription-specific upsells, loyalty-program integration, or B2B subscription flows. Lower tiers use standard checkout.
- Admin automation. Plus customers get Shopify Flow, which can automate subscription-related operations (tagging high-LTV subscribers, triggering retention workflows, alerting on churn).
How to choose the right tier
Run the simple break-even math: at your current monthly volume, do the transaction-fee savings of the higher tier exceed the additional monthly subscription cost? Most merchants find:
- Under $10k/month: Basic is fine.
- $10–25k/month: Shopify (standard) usually wins on fees.
- $25k–$100k/month: Advanced often pays for itself.
- $100k+/month and needing custom checkout or B2B: Plus pays back through fees, features, and dedicated support.
For the related fee structure, see Shopify fees and Shopify transaction fees; for the broader pricing context, see Shopify pricing.