Quick answer
- Our rating: 9.4/10. The best all-round ecommerce platform for most sellers.
- Best for: anyone selling physical products who wants to launch fast and grow without switching platforms.
- Price: from $29/mo billed yearly. Free trial + $1/mo for 3 months.
- Skip it if: you only need a simple portfolio with one or two products, or you need full control of the server code.
Try Shopify free (opens in a new tab)
Free trial + $1/mo for 3 months · Offer varies by region
Shopify at a glance
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Our score | 9.4/10 |
| Type | Hosted, all-in-one ecommerce platform (SaaS) |
| Starting price | $29/mo yearly · $39/mo monthly (Basic) |
| Free trial | 3-day free trial, then $1/month for your first 3 months on most plans (offer varies by region) |
| Transaction fees | None with Shopify Payments; 0.6–2% with other gateways |
| Selling channels | Online store, POS, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Google, YouTube, Amazon and more |
| Support | 24/7 chat and email help, extensive help center and community |
What is Shopify?
Shopify is a hosted platform that gives you everything you need to sell online in one subscription: a website with a shopping cart, secure checkout, payment processing, inventory, shipping tools, tax calculation, and reporting. Because it's hosted, you never touch servers, security patches or backups. Shopify handles them.
What sets it apart from general website builders like Wix and Squarespace is focus. Shopify is built for commerce first. Everything from the admin to the app store is designed around selling more products to more people in more places.
Shopify pros and cons
Pros
- Very easy to launch a professional store
- Shop Pay is one of the highest-converting checkouts available
- Sell online, on social and in person from one inventory
- Huge app and theme ecosystem
- Reliable, fast hosting with SSL included
- Grows from first sale to enterprise (Shopify Plus)
Cons
- Extra transaction fee if you avoid Shopify Payments
- Monthly app costs can creep up
- Some advanced customization needs Liquid code or a developer
- Annual billing needed for the best price
Ease of use
Shopify's admin is clean and organized around how a store actually works: Orders, Products, Customers, Marketing, Analytics. When you sign up, a setup checklist walks you through adding products, picking a theme, setting up payments and connecting a domain. Most people can launch a simple store in a weekend. Our step-by-step Shopify setup guide shows the exact order to do things in.
The theme editor is block-based: you add, remove and reorder sections like image banners, featured collections and testimonials without code. It's less freeform than Wix's drag-anywhere editor, and that's deliberate. Shopify themes are built so stores look good and convert on mobile.
Store design and themes
Shopify's Theme Store includes a set of free, well-built themes and hundreds of premium themes. Premium themes are a one-time purchase, typically a few hundred dollars. Every theme in the official store is mobile-responsive and reviewed by Shopify. We round up our favorites in the best Shopify themes.
Selling features
- Products and variants: sizes, colors and materials, with inventory tracked per variant and per location.
- Checkout: Shopify's checkout and Shop Pay save buyers' details, which speeds up repeat purchases across millions of Shopify stores.
- Discounts: codes, automatic discounts, buy-X-get-Y and free shipping thresholds.
- Shipping: discounted carrier rates and label printing in supported countries.
- Multichannel: sync your catalog to social, marketplace and search channels so you manage one inventory everywhere.
- Point of sale: sell at markets, pop-ups or a shop with Shopify POS.
- International: local currencies, languages and domains through Shopify Markets. See selling internationally.
Apps and integrations
The Shopify App Store is the biggest advantage over most competitors. Whatever you need, whether email marketing, reviews, subscriptions, upsells, or dropshipping, an app almost certainly exists, often with a free plan. The flip side is cost: five paid apps at $10–$30 each adds real money each month. Start lean with our best Shopify apps list.
Shopify pricing
| Plan | Monthly billing | Billed yearly | Online card rate* | 3rd-party gateway fee | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $5/mo | $5/mo | 5% + 30¢ | n/a | Selling through social media & links (no full store) |
| Basic | $39/mo | $29/mo | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2% | New stores and solo founders |
| Grow | $105/mo | $79/mo | 2.7% + 30¢ | 1% | Growing brands with a small team |
| Advanced | $399/mo | $299/mo | 2.5% + 30¢ | 0.6% | High-volume stores & international selling |
| Plus | $2,300+/mo | $2,300+/mo | Custom | 0.2% | Enterprise brands |
*US online card rates using Shopify Payments. Rates differ by country. Always confirm on Shopify's pricing page (opens in a new tab).
Most new stores should start on Basic and upgrade when the lower card rates on Grow save more than the price difference. Our full Shopify pricing breakdown includes a break-even calculation, and our Shopify store cost guide covers everything else you'll spend.
Payments and fees
Shopify Payments is built in and is the simplest option: no extra Shopify transaction fees, payouts straight to your bank, and support for Shop Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay. If you prefer another gateway, Shopify charges an additional fee per sale. That's the most common complaint about Shopify, and it's avoidable for most merchants.
SEO and marketing
Shopify handles the technical SEO basics well: clean URLs, editable titles and meta descriptions, automatic sitemaps, canonical tags, and fast global hosting. It has a built-in blog, Shopify Email for newsletters, and integrations with Google and Meta ads. Our Shopify SEO guide covers how to rank your store.
Support and reliability
Shopify offers 24/7 support through chat and email, plus a deep help center and active community forums. Uptime is excellent. Shopify handles some of the biggest sales events in retail. Wondering about safety and trust? See is Shopify legit? Its scale is a quiet advantage: you benefit from the same infrastructure as large brands from day one.
Who should use Shopify, and who shouldn't
Shopify is a great fit if you: sell physical products, want to launch quickly, plan to sell in more than one place, or want a platform you won't outgrow.
Consider an alternative if you: only sell one digital product (a dedicated digital platform may be cheaper), already run a large WordPress site (WooCommerce may fit better), or need a portfolio site first and a shop second (Squarespace). Our Shopify alternatives guide goes deeper.
Our verdict
Shopify earns our top spot because it gets the things that drive sales right with the least effort: a trusted checkout, reliable hosting, and a clear path from your first order to serious scale. It's not the cheapest platform on paper, but for most sellers it's the best value, because you'll spend your time selling instead of maintaining a website.
Start your Shopify free trial (opens in a new tab)Frequently asked questions
Is Shopify good for beginners?
Yes. Shopify is one of the easiest ways to launch a real store. Setup is guided, hosting and security are handled for you, and you can launch with a free theme. See our list of the best ecommerce platforms for beginners.
How much does Shopify cost per month?
Shopify's main plans run from $29/month (Basic, billed yearly) to $299/month (Advanced, billed yearly). There's also a $5 Starter plan for social selling and Shopify Plus for enterprises. Full details are in our Shopify pricing guide.
Does Shopify take a percentage of sales?
If you use Shopify Payments you pay standard card processing but no extra Shopify transaction fee. If you use a third-party gateway, Shopify adds a fee of 0.6%–2% depending on your plan. We explain it in Shopify transaction fees.
Can I use my own domain with Shopify?
Yes. You can buy a domain through Shopify or connect one you already own from any registrar. Every store also gets a free myshopify.com address.
Is Shopify a safe, legitimate company?
Yes. Shopify is a publicly traded company that powers millions of businesses, and its checkout is PCI DSS Level 1 compliant. Read more in Is Shopify legit?