- Short answer
- A plan-based charge level that triggers a bill before your billing date; no Shopify help page we read in October 2026 says you can raise it
- What counts toward it
- Third-party transaction fees, recurring app charges and other charges; subscription fees are in your running total, not threshold bills
- Where you see yours
- Settings > Billing, Current billing cycle — shown only when the cycle has charges
- The amount
- Plan-based defaults run from $60 USD (trial) to $4,000 USD (Plus)
- What you can raise
- No help page we read says the threshold can be raised; a usage-based app's spending limit can be
- Shipping labels
- After a threshold bill, admin-bought shipping labels stay available up to 110% of the threshold, then pay to continue
What is a Shopify billing threshold?
A billing threshold is a monetary amount: once your account activity exceeds it, Shopify issues a new bill without waiting for your regular subscription billing date. The Help Center calls it your plan-based billing threshold.
The charges that count are, for example, your third-party transaction fees, recurring app charges and other outstanding charges or fees. Your plan itself is handled differently: monthly subscription fees are included in your running total, but they're not included in threshold bills. If those other charges stay below the threshold during a monthly billing cycle, you get a bill only on your regular subscription billing date.
Not every separate invoice is a threshold bill: one-time charges such as domains, themes and one-time app charges can land on their own bills.
Where do you find your threshold amount?
Open the Billing page in your Shopify admin:
- Settings
- Billing
When a billing cycle carries third-party transaction fees, recurring app charges or other charges, your threshold is displayed in the Current billing cycle section of that page. If you have no transaction fees or other charges, the threshold isn't displayed at all.
Two Shopify help pages, both read on October 18, 2026, name that section differently: the billing cycles and thresholds page says Current billing cycle, while the Shopify charges page puts the threshold amount in the Bills section. Look for the threshold line on Settings > Billing under either heading.
Shopify's Buying return labels page lists default billing thresholds by plan: $60 USD on a trial; $200 USD on Basic, Starter and Lite; $480 USD on Grow; $1,280 USD on Advanced; and $4,000 USD on Plus. These are defaults, not necessarily your amount, and that page gives no amounts for other billing currencies; your own threshold is the one shown on Settings > Billing. The $400 USD on the billing cycles and thresholds page is a worked example, not a typical amount.
Can you raise your Shopify billing threshold?
No Shopify page we read on October 18, 2026 (billing cycles and thresholds, Shopify charges, shipping-label billing, buying return labels, app charges, types of charges and Shopify's pricing page, plus the RSS feeds of both Shopify changelogs) says you can raise, lower or change your billing threshold, either yourself or through Support.
There is a limit you can raise, and Shopify's wording makes it easy to confuse with this one. Its app charges page says usage-based apps can include a spending limit that prevents app charges from exceeding a maximum threshold over the duration of the billing period. That is an app setting, not your billing threshold:
Billing threshold vs app spending limit
| Billing threshold | App spending limit | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Triggers a new bill once your charges exceed it | Stops further charges for that app until a new billing cycle starts |
| Who sets the amount | Plan-based | You do |
| What it covers | Third-party transaction fees, recurring app charges and other charges | The usage charges of one app |
Source: Shopify Help Center, billing cycles and thresholds and app charges pages, read October 18, 2026.
To raise a usage-based app's spending limit, go to:
- Settings
- Apps
If your question is about the threshold itself, Shopify Support is the only contact the billing cycles and thresholds page names, and the page lists what to gather before you reach out about a threshold issue; it does not describe a way to change the amount.
Why did Shopify bill you before your billing date?
Shopify's help pages describe several situations that bring a bill you might not expect, including these:
- Your third-party transaction fees, recurring app charges and other charges exceeded the threshold, so Shopify issued a threshold bill; recurring app charges land on that bill or your next 30-day bill, whichever comes first.
- On a monthly plan you're billed every 30 days, so a 31-day month can bring two bills; see how the billing cycle works.
- On an annual plan you still get a monthly bill for other charges, such as recurring or one-time charges; with no charges, it shows $0 USD.
You can change how often you're charged for your plan, but you can't choose a specific bill date, and bills are issued in the UTC time zone.
Shipping labels you buy in your Shopify admin run on the same threshold: shipping label invoices are based on threshold billing, except your first label, which is billed individually. Buying many labels quickly can trigger a threshold bill before your regular date, which is how a shipping bill can arrive mid-month.
After a threshold bill, you can keep buying shipping labels in your Shopify admin until the total reaches 110% of your threshold amount; after that, no more labels until you pay the issued bill. If labels won't buy at all, check for an unpaid threshold bill first.
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