Shopify: build your online store and run it without handling the tech

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Shopify lets you open an online store with no server to rent and no code to write: you pick a theme, add your products, connect payments and can start selling the same day. The same interface then handles orders, inventory, shipping, promotions and, if needed, in-store or social media sales. It is the most widely used turnkey e-commerce platform, used both by creators launching their first product and by major brands.

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The Shopify home page, English version (screenshot from October 2026).

What is Shopify?

Shopify is online software (SaaS) sold by subscription: hosting, the SSL certificate, updates and security are handled by the company, and the merchant works only from the admin interface, in the browser or on mobile. The store’s look relies on themes, free or paid, which you edit with a visual editor or, to go further, in Liquid, Shopify’s own templating language. For anything the core product doesn’t do (customer reviews, subscriptions, loyalty, translation, ERP sync…), you pick from the Shopify App Store, which has thousands of apps, often billed monthly. Payments preferably go through Shopify Payments, the built-in solution; using another gateway is still possible, but an extra commission is then added to every sale. An artificial intelligence assistant, Sidekick, helps write product descriptions and pages, and the platform is now pushing sales directly inside conversational assistants.

The story begins in 2004 in Canada, with Snowdevil, a small online snowboard shop. Unable to find satisfactory e-commerce software, Tobias Lütke, a programmer, wrote his own; he turned it into a product with Scott Lake and Daniel Weinand, and Shopify was born in 2006. The company, based in Ottawa and led by Tobias Lütke, went public in 2015 and now trades in Toronto and on the Nasdaq. It posted $11.6 billion in revenue in 2025, up 30% year over year. In October 2026, W3Techs finds Shopify on 5.3% of all websites, or 7.9% of sites whose content management system can be identified.

Shopify at a glance

Type: Online e-commerce platform (SaaS)
Founded: 2006
Founders: Tobias Lütke, Scott Lake, Daniel Weinand
Headquarters: Ottawa (Canada)
Listed on: Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange (SHOP)
Revenue: $11.6B in 2025
Market share: 7.9% of identified CMSs (W3Techs, October 2026)
Free plan: No, 3-day trial, then $1/month for 3 months
Starting price: $29/month billed yearly ($39 monthly)

What is Shopify used for?

Open your online store
a catalog with unlimited products, variants, inventory, orders, returns and discount codes, managed from a single interface.
Design your site
ready-made themes, a visual block editor and the option to generate a first version from a simple prompt.
Get paid by your customers
cards, PayPal, Klarna and local payment methods through Shopify Payments, with a checkout known for its speed.
Forget about hosting
servers, the SSL certificate, updates and traffic spikes are Shopify’s job, and your domain name connects in a few clicks.
Add features à la carte
the App Store covers customer reviews, subscriptions, loyalty, translation or a link to your business software.
Sell where your customers are
social networks, marketplaces and AI assistants get the same catalog, synced with your inventory.
Sell in-store too
a point of sale on a phone, tablet or card reader, linked to the online store’s inventory and customer records.
Follow up with your customers
automations and abandoned cart recovery are included, along with a monthly quota of free email campaigns, billed per thousand beyond that.
Get help from AI
Sidekick writes product descriptions, prepares analyses and answers your questions about the store.

Shopify review

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When you want to sell online without becoming a developer, Shopify is almost always the first solution you look at, and often the one you keep. Setup is quick, the interface stays clear even as the catalog grows, and the most sensitive part, payments, works without surprises. Above all, the platform grows with you: the store opened on a Sunday night can become, a few years later, a brand with physical stores, B2B and several countries, without switching tools.

The advertised Basic subscription is only a starting point: a paid theme, a few apps billed monthly and the fees on every sale quickly drive up the bill, and that is often where a small store’s costs double. Shopify also pushes its own payment module, charging 2% on the entry plan for sales processed through another gateway. It is best to run the numbers over a full year, apps included, before committing.

Freedom has its limits too. You can customize a lot, but within the framework Shopify sets: an imposed URL structure, checkout pages where only the look can be adjusted outside the Plus plan, and advanced features that rely on third-party apps of varying upkeep. And since everything depends on the platform, an account review or a held payout can halt your business, with support sometimes slow to sort things out.

For a project with a real catalog to sell, it is one of the safest bets on the market; to test an idea on no budget, its real cost can come as a surprise.

Strengths

An online store ready to sell in a few hours, with no technical skills.
Hosting, security and scaling fully handled.
A fast, reliable checkout, with local payment methods.
A very rich ecosystem of themes, apps and specialized agencies.
A single platform for the website, the physical store, social media and marketplaces.
Room to grow for a long time, all the way to B2B and international sales.

Weaknesses

A real cost well above the subscription, between apps, theme and fees.
A commission of 0.2% to 2% on sales processed outside Shopify Payments.
Controlled customization: imposed URLs, checkout editable only on Plus.
A reliance on third-party apps of widely varying quality and price.
Uneven support, especially during an account suspension or a held payout.
No lasting free plan, only a short trial.

Is Shopify worth it?

Yes, if you have products to sell and want to focus on the business rather than the tech. Whether it is just starting out or already established, a brand will find a solid store, effective payments and the option to add a physical store, B2B or new countries without rebuilding everything. It is also the simplest choice when you want to rely on an agency: plenty of them know it inside out.

Not necessarily, if your budget is very tight, if you are selling three products to test an idea, or if you want to keep control over all the code and data. WooCommerce, on WordPress, and PrestaShop, open source software that originated in France, offer more freedom at a lower starting cost, in exchange for handling hosting and maintenance yourself. For a brochure site with a few sales, Wix or Squarespace are often enough, and BigCommerce remains the closest hosted alternative for a large catalog.

How much does Shopify cost?

Shopify is sold by subscription across four plans: Basic starts at $39 a month, or $29 a month billed yearly, and Plus, for large brands, starts at $2,300 a month. Paying yearly saves about a quarter. On top of that come the payment fees taken on each sale, which go down as you move up the plans, and an extra commission if you take payments with a solution other than Shopify Payments.

Plan	Per month	Per month, billed yearly	Included	Who it's for
Basic	$39	$29	Complete store, 10 inventory locations, 24/7 chat support; highest online card rates	Solo entrepreneurs
Grow	$105	$79	5 staff accounts, shipping discounts; lower online card rates	Small teams
Advanced	$399	$299	15 staff accounts, real-time carrier rates, store by region; reduced online card rates	Stores selling internationally
Plus	$2,300	—	Starting at this price: unlimited staff, 200 locations, unlimited B2B, customizable checkout; lowest online card rates	Large brands and complex organizations

Source: official Shopify pricing page (US version, archived copy of November 6, 2026).

3-day free trial with no credit card, then $1 a month for 3 months on most plans, before the regular rate.
Online card rates with Shopify Payments: 2.9% + 30¢ (Basic), 2.7% + 30¢ (Grow), 2.5% + 30¢ (Advanced), 2.25% + 30¢ (Plus); premium and international cards cost more.
Without Shopify Payments, a commission of 2% (Basic), 1% (Grow), 0.6% (Advanced) or 0.2% (Plus) is added to the fees of the chosen gateway.
POS Pro, the advanced point of sale, costs $89 a month per location (20 locations included with Plus).
Beyond 50 orders a month synced from marketplaces: 1%, up to $99 a month. SMS campaigns are billed per message.
An Agentic plan, free of any monthly fee, lets you sell only on AI channels, with card fees charged on each sale.
Premium themes and App Store apps are billed separately by their developers.

FAQ

Answers to questions about Shopify

Is Shopify free?

No. Shopify offers a 3-day free trial, then $1 a month for 3 months on most plans. After that, the subscription starts with the Basic plan, at $39 a month or $29 a month billed yearly.

Does Shopify take a commission on sales?

With Shopify Payments, only payment processing fees apply, and they are highest on the Basic plan. If you take payments with another gateway, Shopify adds a commission of 2% to 0.2% depending on the plan.

Which Shopify plan should you choose to start?

Basic is enough to launch a store on your own: it includes every online selling feature. Grow becomes worthwhile when several people work on the store, or when sales volume is high enough for its lower payment fees to offset the difference in subscription price.

Who is behind Shopify?

Shopify Inc., a Canadian company founded in 2006 out of an online snowboard shop by Tobias Lütke, Scott Lake and Daniel Weinand. Based in Ottawa and listed in Toronto and on the Nasdaq, it posted $11.6 billion in revenue in 2025.

Is it easy to leave Shopify?

Products, customers and orders export as CSV files, but the theme, the apps and the URL structure don’t transfer as they are: migrating to another platform means rebuilding the site and planning redirects.

Information checked on October 31, 2026