Does Shopify take a cut of your sales?

USD figures are from Shopify's published pricing, verified July 2026; Shopify's live pricing page displays your local currency.

What you actually pay Shopify

Shopify runs on a software-subscription model: you pay a fixed monthly fee, and it stays the same whether you sell nothing or ten thousand orders. Plans run from $39 USD a month on Basic up to $2,300+ USD a month on Plus, with Grow and Advanced in between. That fee pays for the platform itself — not a share of what you sell. Our full guide breaks down what a Shopify store really costs.

The second item on your bill is card processing. When a customer pays by card, Shopify Payments charges a processing fee — 2.9% + 30¢ USD per online transaction on Basic, dropping to 2.25% + 30¢ on Plus. That's the standard cost of accepting cards, charged by every processor from Stripe to PayPal to Square — not a platform commission. Shopify's own documentation says that aside from the card rate and plan subscription, there are no monthly fees, no hidden fees, and no setup fees.

When does Shopify charge a percentage of a sale?

Shopify adds a percentage-based charge to a sale in exactly one case: when you process payments through a provider other than Shopify Payments. Then it applies a third-party transaction fee, and the rate depends on your plan — 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced, and 0.2% on Plus. Calculated on the order amount, it's the only percentage Shopify adds on top of standard card processing — and it covers the cost of integrating an outside gateway, not a share of your revenue.

Switch to Shopify Payments and that fee disappears: Shopify charges no third-party transaction fees for orders processed through Shopify Payments, and none on manual payments such as cash, cash on delivery, or bank transfer. On Plus it's waived entirely when Shopify Payments is your sole provider, and returns if you add an outside gateway. One caveat: Shopify Payments isn't offered in every country, so merchants in unsupported regions may have to use a third-party gateway and pay the fee. See how a third-party gateway's fees actually work.

How this differs from selling on a marketplace

Here Shopify differs sharply from a marketplace, which takes a referral fee from every order however the buyer paid: Etsy charges 6.5% of each order's total, TikTok Shop takes a 6% referral fee on every qualified order, and Amazon deducts a category-based referral fee on every item sold — a genuine cut of each sale. Shopify's subscription doesn't; your monthly fee is identical at $0 or $100,000 in sales. That trade-off — owning your store versus renting a marketplace audience — is the real decision here.

Other costs that can feel like a cut

A few other costs can feel like a cut, even though none is a percentage of revenue. Paid apps bill as monthly or usage-based subscriptions, premium themes are a one-time purchase, and staff-account limits can push you to a higher tier as your team grows. These raise your monthly bill, but they're fixed or optional — not a share of every order. See the fees Shopify's pricing page underplays for the full list.