The common feedback I hear when merchants decide to migrate to another platform, rather than Shopify, is that Shopify is too expensive.
The reality is often very different, and merchants are unable to fully embrace and value all the Shopify benefits and advantages.
Shopify costs and transaction fees
OK, from the pure cost/fee point of view, Shopify is more on the expensive side. For example, the entry Shopify Basic plan costs $39 per month plus a 2.9% + 30¢ transaction fee.
All of the Shopify plans (besides the Shopify Plus) come with a free trial and $1 per month for the first three months.
Let's see how it compares with other popular solutions:
Shopify extras
Where Shopify excels above the market is the extra features and speed of platform development and innovation. Shopify has more than 4.000 people in the R&D and spent $1.7 billion on development in 2023. That's totally crazy and really hard to compete with. The speed of development is unmatched as every Shopify Edition (i.e., every 6 months) brings more than 150 platform updates.
People tend to compare what Shopify doesn't have versus their current solution, but often forget to realize how many new features they will gain.
When someone asks me: "Why Shopify?", I often highlight these five perks:
- Shopify Markets – Managing multiple stores under one instance while being able to fully localize/adapt each saves a ton of resources.
- Shopify checkout – Shopify checkout is officially the best converting checkout in the World. You can choose between a multistep and a one-page layout. Its UX is synchronized across all stores globally, so customers will feel "at home".
- Shopify Sidekick – Your personal AI assistant that helps you to run your business, but also do theme changes through vibe coding.
- Shopify apps and themes – If the basic platform functionality is not enough, you can add any of the 10k+ add-ons from the Shopify App Store. You can also choose from 900+ themes, including many free ones developed and maintained by Shopify.
- Shopify mobile app – My personal favorite is the mobile app. It gives you access to your store on the go, just like the desktop version. You can manage your business right from your pocket, wherever you are.
Where you can save with Shopify
Another area that merchants typically don't include in the decision mix is the savings. Everyone is just too focused on "how much I will pay", but the "how much I will save" is often forgotten.
With Shopify, the savings come from the required development resources, which are typically much lower compared to other platforms. Shopify is extremely "developer-friendly" and all the APIs/tools are easy to use. Not to mention the Sidekick's ability to vibe code or come up with answers to business questions like "why the business is going down".
The average TCO of Shopify is 36% lower compared to other platforms, and that's based on the research from 2024. I believe the actual TCO is even lower because of the Flow, Sidekick and Markets adoption.
Conclusion: Don't compare just the price
When deciding whether Shopify is the right fit for your business, don't compare just its costs. Include all the benefits and the potential upside it can bring. Don't forget to also include the savings – you won't need as many tech. resources, and you will still move much faster.
We see this all the time in our projects – business migrates from legacy platform to Shopify, doesn't change much, but the growth comes anyway.
To calculate the estimated Shopify TCO and total monthly costs use our Shopify pricing calculator.
If you are not sure whether Shopify is the right choice or need help with the migration, just let us know, and our agency team will be happy to assist you.
