Costs · Margins · The business of ecommerce
Merchants searching for a single Canadian fee number get instead four separate monthly prices and three separate card rates, and the plan a store actually needs changes which of those numbers applies.
Most people who search this phrase expect one number, a single monthly fee that applies to a Shopify store in Canada. That number does not exist. Shopify publishes four separate monthly plan prices in CAD and three separate card rate structures tied to those plans, and the figure that matters for any one store depends entirely on which plan that store sits on. Someone quoting “Shopify costs X in Canada” is usually quoting one plan’s number and leaving out the other three.
Shopify’s Canadian pricing page, loaded on September 5, 2026, lists Basic at $37 CAD a month, described as being for solo entrepreneurs. The next tier, Grow, is $99 CAD a month, described as being for small teams. Advanced sits at $389 CAD a month, described as being for global reach. Plus starts from $3,400 CAD a month, described as being for complex businesses. These four figures are what the page itself uses to separate its audiences, from someone running a store alone up to a business Shopify considers complex enough to need its top tier.
| Plan | Monthly price (CAD) | Card rate | Who it’s for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $37/mo | 8% + 30¢ CAD | Solo entrepreneurs |
| Grow | $99/mo | 6% + 30¢ CAD | Small teams |
| Advanced | $389/mo | Rate listed on page, lower tier than Grow | Global reach |
| Plus | from $3,400/mo | Rate listed on page | Complex businesses |
The page states the card rate for Basic starts at 8% + 30¢ CAD. Grow’s card rate starts at 6% + 30¢ CAD. Advanced lists its own starting card rate on the page as well, separate from both of the above. So the trade a merchant is making when moving up a plan is not just a bigger monthly bill, it is a monthly bill that buys a lower rate on every card transaction going forward. A store processing enough volume can have the lower rate on Grow or Advanced pay for the higher monthly fee compared to staying on Basic, though the page does not publish a break-even volume figure to calculate that crossover directly.
New stores get 3 days free, then $1/month for 3 months, according to the pricing page. That applies before the plan’s listed monthly price kicks in. Plus works differently: it is listed as try for $517 rather than the 3 day free trial and $1/month structure used on the lower tiers. So a merchant reading “$1 a month” and assuming that is what Shopify costs in Canada is reading an introductory offer, not an ongoing fee. The ongoing fee is whichever of $37, $99, $389, or $3,400 CAD a month matches the plan chosen once that introductory window ends.
Grow, at $99 CAD a month, includes up to 5 staff accounts, up to 50% off shipping, and the ability to earn up to $9,500 in credits. Advanced, at $389 CAD a month, includes up to 15 staff accounts, live 3rd-party shipping rates, the ability to tailor the store by region, and the ability to earn up to $13,000 in credits. These are not abstract upgrades, they are named features tied to named prices on the same page, and the staff account allowance alone moves from 5 to 15 between the two tiers. Advanced also adds live 3rd-party shipping rates and regional tailoring, neither of which appears in Grow’s listed feature set at all, so a store that needs either of those two specific capabilities has no option below Advanced’s $389 CAD a month.
The figures throughout this article were read from Shopify’s own Canadian pricing page as loaded on September 5, 2026, using the CAD prices and card rates as published there.
Check which plan tier your store actually needs before comparing any single monthly figure, since the $37, $99, $389, and $3,400 CAD prices each come bundled with a different card rate and a different set of features. Read the card rate line for your chosen plan as carefully as the monthly price, because on Shopify’s own numbers that rate moves from 8% + 30¢ CAD down to 6% + 30¢ CAD between just the first two tiers.
The published entry point is Basic at $37 CAD a month, aimed at solo entrepreneurs who want to sell online, in person, and in AI chats. Before that monthly charge starts, new stores get 3 days free and then pay $1/month for 3 months. There is no lower published monthly figure than $37 CAD once that introductory period ends. Anyone quoting a lower ongoing price for Basic is not reading the same page loaded on September 5, 2026.
Yes, and the difference is stated directly on the pricing page. Basic carries card rates starting at 8% + 30¢ CAD, Grow carries rates starting at 6% + 30¢ CAD, and Advanced lists its own separate starting rate on the same page. The rate drops as the monthly plan price rises, so a store doing enough volume can offset a higher monthly fee with a lower per-transaction rate. No blended or average rate across plans is published, only these separate starting points.
Plus is listed starting from $3,400 CAD a month, described for complex businesses, versus $389 CAD a month for Advanced, $99 CAD a month for Grow, and $37 CAD a month for Basic. Plus also has its own trial framing, listed as try for $517 rather than the 3 day free trial and $1/month for 3 months structure used for the lower tiers. The four figures sit far apart, and nothing on the page suggests a smooth ramp between Advanced and Plus.
Grow is priced at $99 CAD a month and includes up to 5 staff accounts, up to 50% off shipping, and the ability to earn up to $9,500 in credits. Advanced is priced at $389 CAD a month and includes up to 15 staff accounts, live 3rd-party shipping rates, the ability to tailor the store by region, and the ability to earn up to $13,000 in credits. The staff account allowance nearly triples and the credit ceiling rises from $9,500 to $13,000. Whether that gap is worth $290 CAD a month depends on whether a store actually needs live third-party shipping rates or regional tailoring, since those two features do not appear on Grow at all.
It is a temporary introductory rate, not a discount on the listed monthly price. The pricing page states 3 days free, then $1/month for 3 months, after which the store presumably moves to the plan's normal monthly figure, such as $37 CAD for Basic. The page does not state what happens to the rate after the 3 months beyond returning to the plan's normal listed price. Anyone budgeting past the third month should plan around the full $37, $99, or $389 CAD figure for their chosen plan, not the $1 introductory figure.