How Much Does It Cost to Launch a Shopify Store in 2026?

“How much does Shopify cost?” sounds like a simple question, and Shopify answers it on its pricing page. But the plan is only one of three costs, and usually not the biggest one.

If you are launching a brand, or moving an existing shop online, here is the full picture: what you pay Shopify, what you pay for themes and apps, and what it costs to get from an empty store to one that is genuinely ready to sell.

Layer 1: the Shopify plan

Shopify charges a monthly subscription. The Basic plan costs $27 a month billed monthly, or $19 a month if you pay for the year upfront (US pricing as of October 2026). Larger plans cost more and lower some transaction costs, which starts to matter once you sell at volume. Prices vary by country and change over time, so check Shopify’s pricing page for current figures.

Two things to know about the plan:

• Payment processing is charged per sale. If you use Shopify Payments, you pay a card fee on each transaction. If you use a different payment provider, Shopify adds its own extra fee on top (2% on the Basic plan), which gets smaller on higher plans.
• This fee goes to Shopify, not to whoever builds your store. No agency can remove it. Be wary of quotes that blur the two.

Add a domain name at around $10 to $20 a year.

Layer 2: themes and apps

Themes. Shopify offers solid free themes. Premium themes from the Shopify Theme Store are a one-time purchase, usually a few hundred dollars. A premium theme is not a custom design: it is a better starting point that still needs to be adapted to your brand.

Apps. This is where budgets drift. A typical store adds product reviews, email marketing, perhaps upsells or bundles, maybe subscriptions or a loyalty programme. Many of these charge monthly, and it is common for a store’s combined app subscriptions to cost more than the Shopify plan itself. Before installing an app, ask whether you need it now or whether it can wait until you have sales that justify it.

Layer 3: the setup, and the part everyone forgets

This is the layer with the widest price range, because it depends on who does the work and how much of it there is.

If you do it yourself, the cash cost is low, but the time cost is real. Choosing and configuring a theme is the quick part.

The part almost every budget forgets is the product catalog. For every single product you need:

• clean photos, ideally consistent across the catalog
• a title and a description that sells and that Google can understand
• variants set up correctly (sizes, colours, materials) with the right stock and prices
• the product placed in the right collections
• translations, if you sell in more than one language

For a store with 10 products, that is an afternoon. For 100 products with variants in two languages, it is weeks of work, and it is the main reason so many Shopify projects stall at “we will add the products later.”

When we built the store for Océ Paris, a Paris ready-to-wear label, the theme was the smaller job. The real work was structuring three seasonal collections and importing every product with its variants in English, French and Turkish. For Braids & Co, the challenge was different: unifying several brands’ catalogs into one coherent store with a single checkout.

What to check before you launch

An unfinished store loses its first customers. Before going live, check that:

1. Payments work. Place a real test order and refund it.
2. Shipping zones and rates are right for every country you sell to.
3. Taxes are configured for your markets.
4. Legal pages are published: returns and refund policy, privacy policy, terms of sale. Requirements differ by country; in the EU, customers buying online generally have a 14-day right of withdrawal.
5. Every product has a real description, not the manufacturer’s text copied from somewhere else.
6. The store is fast on mobile. Most shoppers will browse on a phone.
7. Analytics are installed, so you know where your first sales come from.

DIY, freelancer, agency or specialist?

• DIY makes sense for a small catalog and a tight budget, if you have the time.
• A freelancer can work well for a theme customisation, but check whether the quote includes the catalog and the setup, or only the design.
• A traditional agency suits larger brands with complex integrations, at a price that reflects it.
• A specialist with a fixed price suits brands that want a store that is complete on day one, without managing the project.

Whoever you choose, ask one question: “When you hand the store over, can I take a real order?” If the answer involves “once you add your products,” the quote does not include the catalog.

What a Rankxi Shopify store costs

We build stores that are ready to sell, catalog included.

• Starter: €1,800, one-time, with no monthly fee. Shopify theme customised to your brand, up to 30 products imported with variants, payments, shipping and tax configured and tested, reviews and email capture set up, and a Core Web Vitals score above 90. Delivered in 14 business days.
• Growth: €1,800 plus €190 a month. No limit on products, a fully custom theme design, a bilingual store, and continuous monthly changes and improvements, like having an in-house Shopify developer.

Shopify’s own subscription is paid directly to Shopify and is not included in our price. Full details are on the Shopify service page and the pricing page.

If you have products and no store to sell them in, or a store that never got finished, book a free 20-minute call. We will look at your catalog and tell you exactly what it takes to get it live.