Shopify Fees Explained: What You Actually Pay Per Sale (2026)
Shopify plans start at $39/mo, card processing runs 2.5–2.9% + 30¢, and using an outside gateway adds up to 2% more. Here's exactly what Shopify charges in 2026 — and why your payout isn't your revenue.
Shopify’s monthly plan fee is the part everyone sees. The fees that actually move your margin are the ones taken out of each sale before the money reaches you. Here’s the full picture for 2026, from Shopify’s own published rates — and why it matters for getting your books right.
The monthly plan
Shopify’s standard plans, billed monthly (Shopify official pricing):
- Basic — $39/mo
- Grow — $105/mo
- Advanced — $399/mo
Card processing — taken from every sale
When you use Shopify Payments, every card sale is charged a processing fee. The rate drops as you move up plans (Shopify official pricing):
- Basic — 2.9% + 30¢ per online transaction
- Grow — 2.7% + 30¢
- Advanced — 2.5% + 30¢
The fee people forget: third-party gateways
Prefer to use an outside payment gateway (PayPal, Stripe, etc.) instead of Shopify Payments? Shopify charges an extra transaction fee on top of whatever that gateway charges:
- Basic — 2%
- Grow — 1%
- Advanced — 0.6%
So on Basic, using PayPal can mean Shopify’s 2% plus PayPal’s own fee on the same sale. Switching to Shopify Payments removes the extra cut.
Why your payout isn’t your revenue
Here’s the part that wrecks DIY Shopify books. The money Shopify deposits is already net — it’s your sales, minus processing fees, minus refunds, minus chargebacks, paid out on a rolling schedule that doesn’t line up with your sales dates.
Record that payout as “sales” and your revenue is understated, your processing fees never appear as an expense, and your gross margin is wrong. The correct way is to reconcile each payout back to the orders, fees and refunds inside it — so sales are booked gross and every fee lands in its own account. That’s exactly what our Shopify bookkeeping service does, and it’s the same discipline behind the numbers that decide clean books.
Want to know if your Shopify books are reconciled right?
Our free books review tells you what’s misclassified or lumped into the payout, in plain English, within 48 hours — no obligation. Or book a free call.
Source
Not sure whether this is happening in your books?
Give us view-only access and we will tell you, in plain English, what is misclassified, unreconciled or wrong — within 48 hours. Free, and you are under no obligation to do anything about it.