The short answer: A Shopify website is not one price but a stack of costs: the plan you pay Shopify monthly or yearly, a theme, any paid apps, payment processing on each sale, and the labor to build the store. Shopify's own prices move, so the current plan and theme figures, dated to the month they were checked, live in the Kelly WM Shopify pricing guide. Shopify builds from Kelly WM are scoped per store, quoted after the free consult.
The question hides two others: what it takes to open the store, and what it takes to keep it open. Both get easier once every cost is sorted by the way it bills.
For a per month or per year figure, add up the recurring lines and leave room for the per-order line on top. Shopify's standard plans can be billed monthly or yearly, and paying yearly lowers the effective monthly rate. The current figures for both are in the Shopify pricing guide, each dated to the month it was checked.
Every Shopify store runs on a plan. As of September 2026, Shopify's pricing page lists the standard plans as Basic, Grow and Advanced, each costing more per month than the one below it, with Plus above them, priced by the length of the term a store commits to. The same page lists a short free trial followed by a reduced introductory rate, the kind of offer Shopify changes from time to time, so check it on the day the store signs up.
The plan is also the easiest line to overspend on. A higher plan is worth paying for when the store uses what it adds, and is money spent for nothing when the store would run the same on the plan below. Plans also change what a store pays on each order, covered under processing below.
The theme. A Shopify theme sets the store's look and the path shoppers take through it. Free themes exist, and paid themes from the Theme Store are a one-time purchase. A third path is a theme coded for the store, which moves the cost out of the theme line and into the build. Choosing between those paths is the subject of should you hire a Shopify developer or use a theme.
Apps. Apps add features the plan and theme do not include, such as product reviews, subscriptions or extra filtering. Many paid apps charge on their own recurring schedule on top of the plan, and this is where monthly totals creep: each app looks small alone, but a store that adds them over the years can end up paying for several that overlap or sit unused. Before treating an app as a permanent cost, ask whether the theme could do the job instead. Apps can also load scripts that slow a storefront, a separate cost covered in how to speed up a Shopify store.
Every card payment costs something to process, so this line has no fixed size: it scales with sales. On top of processing, a store that takes payments through an outside provider also pays Shopify a transaction fee on each order. That fee shrinks on the higher plans and is waived when the store uses Shopify Payments. The rates, and how that fee differs from processing, are laid out in does Shopify charge transaction fees.
For budgeting, estimate this line from the sales the store expects rather than reading it off a price list, then set it beside the recurring lines to see what a real month costs.
The labor to build the store is paid once, and it has the widest spread of any line, because it depends on the store rather than on Shopify. What moves it:
Those inputs differ so much between stores that no list price fits them, so every Shopify build from Kelly WM is scoped per store, quoted after the free consult.
Kelly WM does publish a range for a different kind of project, a custom storefront built on its own code rather than on Shopify: $3,500 to $12,000+ one-time; a small catalog with online ordering starts at $3,500. That is the custom-storefront range, not a Shopify build price. The ecommerce website cost answer covers that custom range, including whether Shopify is the cheaper place to start.
For your own number, book a free 30-minute consult with the owner or call (407) 694-2055.
On the standard plans, yes. Shopify's pricing page shows a lower monthly rate when a plan is billed yearly, so a store that expects to stay open all year pays less across it. The tradeoff is paying up front for a plan you might later want to change. The current figures sit in the Kelly WM Shopify pricing guide, dated to the month they were checked.
Yes. The plan bills on its schedule whether or not anything sells, and so do many paid apps. What drops away in a quiet month is the per-order cost, because payment processing and any Shopify transaction fee only apply when an order comes in. Matching the plan to the store and trimming unused apps matters most for a small or seasonal store.
Shopify pricing, explained · Does Shopify charge transaction fees? · How long does it take to build a Shopify store? · Shopify web design and development · Shopify store setup · Shopify Payments, defined · The plain-English glossary
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