Shopify vs Shopify Plus (2024) — Detailed Comparison!

Well, it’s obvious because there’s no clear information on the internet regarding Shopify Plus. So, it’s important to know the exact differences between them and choose the better one for your business. Otherwise, you’ll end up wasting both your money and time. 

That’s why, to ease your effort, we have come up with a detailed comparison between Shopify and Shopify Plus, where we have mentioned all the subtle information, including Pricing differences, eCommerce feature differences, support system, and many more.

So, without wasting time, let’s move forward.

Shopify vs Shopify Plus: Key Differences

Here are the key differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus.

• Shopify Plus automatically turns the currency according to the customer’s location. It also allows you to change the currency at your own will, whereas Shopify does not give you this offer.
• The pricing of Shopify Plus is a lot more expensive compared to the Shopify plans, and it will not fit into the budget of small to mid-size businesses.
• You can change the language of your store to up to five languages on Shopify, whereas on Shopify Plus, you can change your store into 25 different languages.
• You will get a launch manager and support from a merchant success manager on Shopify Plus, whereas Shopify only offers normal customer support via live chat, phone calls, and email.

Shopify vs Shopify Plus: Quick Comparison (2024)

Here is a quick comparison between Shopify and Shopify Plus:

Comparison Criteria	Shopify	Shopify Plus
Sales Limit	Technically there is no limit, but once your sales cross over $100,000, it suggests you to move to the Shopify Plus plan.	There is no sales limit in this plan.
Payment Processing Fee	Basic – 2.9% + 30¢ for online and 2.7% + 0¢ for in-person Shopify – 2.6% + 30¢ for online and 2.5% + 0¢ for in-person Advanced – 2.4% + 30¢ for online and 2.4% + 0¢ for in-person	0.15% for every transaction if you’re using a third-party payment processor, and there is no payment processing fee for using Shopify payments.
Customer Support	24*7 email, phone, and live chat support	Priority Customer Support
Additional Features	Professional reports, sell unlimited products, gift cards, and abandoned cart recovery	All the features of Shopify plus a report builder and carrier shipping in real-time
Pricing	Starts at $39/month	Starts at $2000/month

Shopify vs Shopify Plus: Overview

Shopify needs no introduction, right? It’s an all-in-one solution for every eCommerce business owner. No matter you just have started your eCommerce journey or already have a growing business, Shopify has your back. 

Now, when it comes to Shopify Plus, most people get confused. Are Shopify plus and Advanced Shopify the same? Are Shopify and Shopify Plus different platforms? – A Lot of confusion buzz around this. 

That’s why it’s mandatory to know what exactly Shopify Plus is. Well, Shopify and Shopify Plus are not different platforms. They share the same dashboard, same technology, and the same core functionalities. 

But the main difference comes when both of them target different sets of audiences. While Shopify targets beginner and medium-level retailers, Shopify Plus goes a step forward by focusing on only enterprise-level businesses. 

To simplify, Shopify Plus is a dedicated enterprise Shopify plan integrated with exclusive features and support for hypergrowth businesses.

Shopify Vs Shopify Plus –  The Detailed Comparison

We already know how Shopify and Shopify Plus differ from each other. Now, we’ll compare their pricing and core functionalities in detail to help you take the right decision for your business.

Let’s move forward.

Shopify Vs Shopify Plus: Pricing And Value For Money

As both of them focus on a different set of audiences, no doubt their pricing packages will also differ a lot. Here we’ll compare their plans and check which is worth it as per your budget.

Shopify Pricing 

Shopify mainly offers three different pricing packages – 

Basic Shopify	Shopify	Advanced Shopify
$39/month	$105/month	$399/month

All these plans offer you all necessary basic features, including unlimited product selling, abandoned cart recovery, gift cards, multi-lingual selling, market domains, and subfolders, reports, POS, and many more. You can click here to know more details. 

Remember, the more your price increases, the more you will benefit from the built-in functionalities of Shopify. E.g. the Basic plan and Shopify Plan will allow you to integrate only 2 and 5 accounts, respectively, whereas you can add upto 15 staff accounts in the Advanced Plan. Also, you will get more in-depth reports and analytics in the Advanced Plan than in the Basic and Shopify Plans.

Transaction Fees

If you use Shopify payments, you don’t need to pay one single penny as transaction fees. 

But if you use credit cards as payment gateways, Shopify charges extra on orders. For e.g –

Basic	Shopify	Advanced
2.9% +$30 cent online2.9%+$0 in person	2.6% +$30 cent online2.6%+$0 in person	2.4% +$30 cent online2.4%+$0 in person

( Pro Tip: We’ll recommend you to go for a 3-day free trial to check all the nitty-gritty features offered by Shopify.) 

Shopify Plus Pricing

The answer to “How much does Shopify Plus cost?” is still fogged as Shopify Plus hasn’t declared any fixed price till now.

But don’t worry. Here we will give you an approximate idea of the total amount you’ll have to pay if you go for Shopify Plus.

Let’s see:

• Customized website: $5k-$20k.

( Though it offers a pre-built website like Shopify plans, enterprise businesses need an out-of-the-box website to align their brand voice. In that case, it goes up to $100k.)

• Shopify Plus License fee: Starts from $2k/month.

Note that it’ll increase once you hit $10,00000/month in sales. Also, you have to pay around  $40k for $16 million monthly sales.

• Shopify Plus Apps: $0-$500

So, we can say that Shopify Plus pricing starts from $2k and goes upto $100k (approximately).

But note that this is an estimated idea of how much Shopify generally costs. But Shopify Plus has custom pricing. It completely depends on your needs and requirements. But you can always connect with Shopify Plus Experts to negotiate the pricing.  

Shopify Plus Transaction Fees

If you use Shopify Payments, you don’t need to pay extra. But, if you are located in Australia, Belgium, and Sweden, you have to pay for each transaction. 

Now, if you are a US-based merchant and pay through credit cards ( Visa and Mastercard), you have to pay 2.5%+$0.30/transaction, and for Credit card Amex, it’ll cost you 3.15%+$0.30/transaction.

And, for international merchants, it’ll charge 3.15%+$0.30/transaction.

Winner: Shopify

As per our analysis, Shopify plus is expensive, and you can afford it only if you have an enterprise-level business. 

But, great advantages come with the higher price. So, it’ll be worth it if you purchase Shopify Plus.

Moreover, Shopify Plus has hung the users in darkness as it hasn’t clearly mentioned its costs. In contrast, Shopify has a dedicated page on its pricing, which we appreciate.

Shopify Vs Shopify Plus: Ecommerce Features

Both Shopify and Shopify Plus offer countless eCommerce features that are mandatory to scale your business to the next level. But Shopify Plus goes the extra mile by integrating some exclusive features with other core functionalities of regular Shopify.

So, first, we’ll check what Shopify offers, then see the extra benefits that Shopify Plus has integrated.

Shopify eCommerce Features

Shopify offers a range of top-notch eCommerce features to its users. We’ll mention some of them below. So, have a look at them. 

• Multi-channel Selling

This feature lets you integrate other online selling channels into your store, including Amazon, eBay, social media platforms, etc. It gives you an additional edge by creating a great customer base.

• Abandoned Cart Recovery

Shopify’s all plans offer this feature. Enabling it, you can win back 40-60% of customers to your store.

• Product Management

Shopify offers a range of product management tools that help you keep track of product stocks, selling, and updating. 

• POS

Shopify POS app will help you manage product inventory, custom staff, reporting, etc. This app is free to use, but you have to pay $29/month if you are on Shopify Basic plan.

• Shopify Reporting and Analytics

Shopify offers a decent range of reporting and analytics tools to help you keep track of your business performance. 

But it depends on the plans you have purchased. For example, Shopify Basic gives you only real-time analytics of customer revenue, sales, etc. In contrast, Shopify’s Advanced Plan gives you more in-depth reports ( custom reports, profit reports) on your performance.

• Multi-currency selling

This feature is a must-have in your plan if you want to grow internationally. Fortunately, Shopify automatically converts the currency based on customers’ locations. So, it boosts user experience, which leads to more conversion rate. 

Now, we’ll see what Shopify Plus has to offer as eCommerce features.

Shopify Plus eCommerce Features

Shopify Plus covers all the core regular Shopify features, including some extra exclusive functionalities. These are:

• Wholesale Channel

With the Wholesale Channel option, you can create a stand-alone, password-protected store extension of your main storefront. 

It will mainly be created for wholesalers. This extension will offer similar products and services at a low price. So, it’s a win-win situation for both the shopkeepers and wholesale customers.

• Shopify Organization Admin

It lets you manage all your stores from a single location.

• Unlimited Staff Accounts and capability 

 Only Shopify’s advanced plan lets you add unlimited accounts to your storefront. Likewise, with Shopify Plus, you can add unlimited accounts to your main store. In one way, it will help you streamline the teamwork; on the other hand, you’ll have more control over the staff’s activities.

Moreover, Shopify Plus offers unlimited bandwidth and 200TB storage capacity. Also, it can tackle 4 million hits per second. 

• Customizable Checkout

You’ll have more control over your branding on Shopify Plus as it offers a customizable checkout page. You can track your potential customers’ behavior and personalize the checkout page accordingly.

• Shopify POS Pro

Unlike Shopify, Shopify Plus offers the exclusive version of Shopify POS called Shopify POS Pro. 

It integrates all the Shopify POS features, including exclusive functionalities like custom printed receipts, retail staff management, unlimited POS staff, local pickup, delivery, daily sales reports, in-app retail store analytics, etc.

• Store Expansion

With Shopify Plus, you can handle around nine store expansions for globalization.

• Shopify Plus Partner Program

Only Shopify Plus members can access the partner program, where you’ll get insight from world-class experts for exponential business growth.

• Unlimited Permission and allowance

On Shopify Plus, you are free to give/receive unlimited access to your staff. It helps you manage the team more easily by giving you full control over their activities.

• Merchant Success Program

You can unlock the hack of exponential business growth through the Merchant Success program. It’ll help you with various third-party tools, integrations, mentorship, and the latest trend update in the market.

•  Exclusive Apps and Channels

On Shopify Plus, you can integrate some premium apps that are accessed by Plus members only. For example – 

Shopify Flow is an eCommerce application that helps you automate tasks and other store functionalities.

Launchpad effectively schedules and executes events like product stocks and inventory management. You can also track the performance by using its real-time analytics reports.

Script Editor lets you add personal experience to your customers’ cart.

Bulk Account Inviter will help you invite customers to your Shopify store. 

Transporter App helps you import customer records and products to your Online store. 

• Other Integrations

Suppose you want to play the long-term game and sustain your eCommerce store; in that case, you can add exclusive integrations like Product Information Management, Enterprise Resource Planning, and Third-party Logistics with advanced API limits. 

• Analytics

On Shopify Plus, you’ll get all the reporting tools and analytics offered by regular Shopify. In addition, you’ll also receive other important analytics, including retail sales reports, profit reports, customer reports, etc.

• Other Resources

With Shopify Plus, you’ll get access to their Facebook community, Beta Program, and Shopify Plus Academy. 

Winner: Shopify Plus

The answer is clear here. Though Shopify Plus is expensive, it has compensated every penny by offering such personalized premium eCommerce features.

So, without a second thought, Shopify Plus is the winner.

Shopify Vs Shopify Plus: Customer Support

The best part of Shopify that has won millions of hearts is its out-of-the-box support system. But if we compare Shopify and Shopify Plus, we’ll find several differences.

Shopify Customer support 

If you face any technical glitches/issues, you can contact the Shopify support system through Email, live chat, and phone calls. 

Moreover, you can also connect with them via different social media channels. Even Shopify’s community forum is great for getting all your doubts solved.

( Shopify’s community is a huge online forum used by almost 9,000,00 business owners. Here you’ll find every kind of discussion around the Shopify App.)

You can also check blogs and video tutorials on Shopify’s official page for self-guidance.

Shopify Plus Customer Support

As it’s mainly designed for enterprise-level businesses, it has integrated some premium support systems, including a dedicated launch manager who’ll help you throughout the whole store setup process.

After that, you’ll receive the support of a Merchant Success Manager who’ll contribute a lot to your selling journey and lift your business to the next level.

Winner: Shopify Plus

Personal guidance can change the whole game. If you receive the personal support of an expert 24/7, it leads you to obvious growth. 

So, Shopify Plus is the best choice if you want to grow your business with personalized support and guidance.

Shopify Vs Shopify Plus: Themes and Designs

Your eCommerce store is more or less like the front door, and now it’s up to you whether you’ll greet your customers or not. And a beautiful customized store always greets them by showing them aesthetic visuals. 

So, let’s see who has nailed this feature. 

Shopify Themes and designs

Shopify has 90+ premium themes ( both paid and free) that cost you around $0-$180. UX Professionals design all the themes. So, there’s no compromise with the theme quality.

However, you can customize the themes by using the editor. But you need some prior coding knowledge to do so. Otherwise, you have to hire a developer.

Shopify Plus Themes and Designs

Like Shopify, Shopify Plus also offers 90+ theme templates. But Unlike Shopify, you can take your customization to the next level with Shopify Liquid, a template language created by Shopify.

 If needed, your launch manager will help you customize your store theme aligned with your brand voice. Also, with AR, Video, and 3D visuals on Product Pages, you can enhance customers’ shopping experience.

Also, on Shopify Plus, you can customize the checkout page, which regular Shopify lacks. 

Winner: Shopify Plus 

Though Shopify and Shopify Plus offer the same themes and templates, Shopify Plus goes the extra mile by allowing you to customize your Shopify checkout page and offering its personal theme language and rich visuals. 

Shopify Vs Shopify Plus: Ease of Use

Shopify is well-known for its easy-to-use interface. But we need to see which is easier to navigate between Shopify and Shopify Plus.

Shopify Ease-of-Use

Shopify is one of the beginner-friendly eCommerce platforms available in the market. From Setting up a store to adding products to selling, everything is a matter of a few clicks.

But the problem comes while customizing themes and templates for your store. If you have prior coding knowledge, no issues; but if you haven’t, you might need the guidance of a tech-savvy person.

Shopify Plus Ease-of-Use

Honestly, Shopify Plus is also simple and flawless to use. And the best part is you’ll receive detailed guidance of your account manager throughout your selling journey.

If you face any issues, they are ready to help you immediately. So, Shopify Plus is also easy to navigate with personalized advice and guidance.

Winner: It’s a Draw

We find both are simple to use, and anyone with decent tech knowledge can navigate them.

Who Should Use Shopify?

Though Shopify claims it’s the perfect platform for every kind of business, we find this platform more convenient for beginner to medium-level businesses.

So, if you have just started out or have a medium-level business, you can thrive with Shopify. Even its basic plan integrates exclusive features like abandoned cart recovery that its competitors lack.

So, we would suggest this platform for newbies and growing eCommerce entrepreneurs. Stores like Ud Store and The Hollywood Reporter are scaling their businesses with Shopify. 

Who Should Use Shopify Plus?

If you already have some authority in this eCommerce business world and looking forward to scaling it to the next level, believe us, Shopify Plus is your best suit.

Still, if you are a newbie and have the budget to afford Shopify Plus, you can rely on this platform. It’ll give you obvious growth within a short period. 

Allbirds, Lola, and Entertainment are examples of successful Shopify Plus stores. 

When Should You Switch to Shopify Plus?

If you are a beginner, we won’t suggest opting for Shopify Plus. In that case, you can go for regular Shopify Plans. 

Once you scale your business internationally and generate huge revenue ($1M annually), you can switch to Shopify Plus to compete with other enterprise-level businesses.

But, if you haven’t used Shopify before, don’t purchase any plan immediately. Rather, go for its free trial and then choose the best for yourself. 

Related Read:

• Best Shopify Alternatives

Final Thoughts: Shopify Vs Shopify Plus (2024)

Both Shopify and Shopify Plus are perfect in their places as far as budget and other selling requirements are concerned. Surely, Shopify can’t beat Shopify Plus in these cases. But, still, Shopify has more cost-effective eCommerce features than other eCommerce platforms available in the market. And the only problem you’ll face with Shopify Plus is its high pricing. But it’s worth it as Shopify Plus offers customized selling functionalities to the merchants.

Now, it’s up to you! 

Calculate your budget, keep a smart goal, and then decide which platform would be the best for your business.

If you have any doubt regarding this, let us know in the comment section below.

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