Shopify
Hosted commerce platform for building and running an online store, selling in person and on other channels.
Our verdict
What it does well
- Store, payments, shipping and inventory managed from one dashboard
- Shopify App Store lists over 21,000 apps
- Plans publicly priced, with a trial that needs no credit card per its FAQ
Where it falls short
- No ongoing free store plan; paid plans start at $24/month on yearly billing
- Extra fee on sales made through third-party payment providers (2% on Basic)
- Card fees apply per sale on top of the monthly plan price
Shopify describes itself as an all-in-one commerce platform. You build a store with themes or AI, then manage payments, fulfilment, customers, inventory and catalogue from one admin. It sells online, in person with Point of Sale, on social media, through marketplaces and via AI chat channels, and offers cross-border selling with Shopify Markets.
Pricing on the US-dollar pricing page: Basic $24/month billed yearly ($32/month monthly), Grow $69/month yearly ($92 monthly), Advanced $299/month yearly ($399 monthly), and Plus from $2,300/month. Third-party payment provider transaction fees are 2%, 1%, 0.6% and 0.2% across those four plans. POS Pro is an add-on at $89/month per location.
The page advertises a trial of 3 days free, then $1/month for 3 months, and its FAQ says no credit card is needed. A plan called Agentic is listed at $0/month for selling in AI channels, where you pay only when you make a sale; it is not an ongoing free store plan.
Shopify compared
Open source alternatives to Shopify
Free to use, with code anyone can inspect.
Free, open-source ecommerce plugin for WordPress; you supply the WordPress site and hosting.
- Free
- Open source
Last updated 16 October 2026. Facts checked against the official site on 16 October 2026. How we make money