Costs · Margins · The business of ecommerce
Merchants typing amazon vs shopify fees usually want a single percentage, but Shopify's own pricing page shows the cost is a plan fee plus a card rate that changes tier by tier, so the honest answer is a table, not a number.
A merchant typing “amazon vs shopify fees” into a search bar wants one number to put next to another number. That single number does not exist, at least not on the Shopify side, because Shopify prices in tiers and each tier attaches a different card rate to a different monthly fee. So the useful answer is not a percentage. It is the shape of the whole ladder, read straight from the plans, so a merchant can see which rung matches their own sales volume instead of picking the cheapest-looking label.
Shopify’s pricing page, loaded in EUR on September 5, 2026, lists four named tiers plus a Plus tier priced separately. Basic sits at €24 per month and is described for solo entrepreneurs. Grow sits at €69 per month for small teams. Advanced sits at €289 per month for what the page calls global reach. Plus starts at €2,100 per month for complex businesses. Each of these numbers is a monthly subscription charge, paid whether a single sale happens that month or a thousand do. None of them is the transaction fee. That part is a separate line on the same page and it does not move in the direction a merchant might expect.
The pricing page lists Basic’s card rate as starting from 2% + €0.25 EUR. Grow, a tier that costs almost three times as much per month, is listed with a card rate description of 8% + €0.25 EUR. Advanced, which costs roughly four times what Grow costs, comes back down to 6% + €0.25 EUR. Read in order, the sequence is 2%, then 8%, then 6%, which is not a smooth downward curve as the monthly fee rises. A merchant assuming that paying more per month always buys a lower percentage per sale would be wrong based on what the page itself states, and the only way to know which line applies is to read the specific tier’s own listed rate rather than assume a pattern.
| Plan | Monthly fee | Card rate as listed | Staff accounts | Credits offered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | €24/mo | from 2% + €0.25 EUR | not listed in facts | up to €4,000 |
| Grow | €69/mo | 8% + €0.25 EUR | up to 5 | up to €6,000 |
| Advanced | €289/mo | 6% + €0.25 EUR | up to 15 | up to €8,000 |
| Plus | from €2,100/mo | not listed in facts | not listed in facts | not listed in facts |
Shopify’s page also states a 3 day free trial followed by €1 per month for 3 months. That figure, €1, has nothing to do with the €24, €69, or €289 monthly charges that follow once the introductory window closes. A merchant reading a screenshot or a summary somewhere that says “Shopify starts at €1” is technically reading a true number, but it is the trial rate, not the standing plan rate, and the two should never be quoted as if they were the same line item.
Each plan also carries extras that are easy to miss next to the headline price. Basic mentions a built-in AI assistant with millions of tokens and credits worth up to €4,000. Grow raises that credit ceiling to €6,000 and adds up to 5 staff accounts. Advanced raises the credit ceiling again to €8,000 and lists up to 15 staff accounts, along with live third-party shipping rates. These figures move in one consistent direction, upward with the tier, unlike the card rate, which does not. So a merchant weighing plans on staff seats or credit ceilings alone will get a straightforward answer, while a merchant weighing plans on card rate alone needs to check each tier by name.
A merchant running a small catalog with modest volume should read the Basic line for what it actually says: €24 per month with a card rate starting from 2% + €0.25 EUR, and weigh that against their own expected transaction count. A merchant already outgrowing a single-owner setup should read Grow and Advanced side by side rather than assuming the pricier of the two always wins on the percentage line, since the page lists 8% + €0.25 EUR for Grow against 6% + €0.25 EUR for Advanced.
A merchant should pick a plan by matching their own monthly card volume against the specific rate listed for that tier, not by assuming higher monthly fees always mean lower percentage costs. Read the €24, €69, €289, and €2,100 figures next to their own card rates as published, and treat the €1 trial price as a separate, temporary number that has nothing to do with the standing plan cost.
It depends on the plan. The Basic plan at €24 per month lists card rates from 2% + €0.25 EUR. The Grow plan at €69 per month lists 8% + €0.25 EUR in the same pricing block. The Advanced plan at €289 per month lists 6% + €0.25 EUR. Shopify Plus starts at €2,100 per month with its own terms. None of these numbers include whatever a merchant's payment processor or app stack adds on top.
It is real as published: Shopify's pricing page states a 3 day free trial followed by €1 per month for 3 months. That introductory rate applies to the trial period only and is separate from the €24, €69, and €289 monthly figures for Basic, Grow, and Advanced once the promotional window ends.
Grow lists up to 5 staff accounts, and Advanced lists up to 15 staff accounts, both taken directly from Shopify's pricing page as loaded on September 5, 2026. Basic and Plus staff account limits are not part of the measured facts here, so they are left out rather than guessed.
Yes, according to the same pricing page. Basic mentions a built-in AI assistant with millions of tokens and up to €4,000 in credits. Grow lists up to €6,000 in credits. Advanced lists up to €8,000 in credits. These are the only credit figures published, and the page does not spell out what the credits can be spent on beyond that mention.
Both numbers matter together, because a lower monthly fee can sit next to a higher card rate and vice versa. Basic at €24 per month starts at 2% + €0.25 EUR, Grow at €69 per month is listed at 8% + €0.25 EUR, and Advanced at €289 per month is listed at 6% + €0.25 EUR. A merchant doing enough volume to notice the percentage difference should work out their own monthly card volume against these published rates rather than picking a plan by monthly fee size alone.