Shopify Advanced Plan Overview: Pricing, Features, and comparisons in 2023

Last updated: January 05, 2023

What is Shopify Advanced Plan?

The Shopify Advanced Plan is one of the five main Shopify pricing plans (among Shopify Starter, Shopify Basic, Shopify, and Shopify Plus). It is the next step up from the Shopify Plan, with a vast difference in rates, features, and subscription fees.

Shopify Advanced Plan is more favorable for fast-growing merchants expanding to the global market. This plan appeals to merchants who need automation on shipping prices, duties, and taxes for different regions and countries.

Starting from March 6th, 2023, you can subscribe to the Advanced Plan at a significantly discounted rate of only $1 per month for the first three months. Don’t miss out on this promotion, and sign up today to take advantage of this incredible deal.

Shopify Advanced Plan features overview

Features similar to other Shopify plans

Unlimited products
Unlimited bandwidth
Brand assets
Fraud analysis
Manual order creation
Discount codes
Abandoned cart recovery
Analytics
Finance reports
Customer support

Shopify Advanced Plan Additional Features

Online store

With the Shopify Advanced Plan, you can build a fully functional online store and customize and manage it from your Shopify account.

Additionally, Shopify offers a built-in theme editor that allows you to customize the appearance of your store. You can also access over 100 mobile-friendly Shopify Themes through the Shopify Theme Store, which includes 11 free Shopify Themes.

Blog

Blogging is a crucial part of inbound marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) because you can attract customers who are looking to make a purchase.

Your Shopify store blogging feature also allows you to share news, events, and promotions with your customers and get their feedback.

Staff

The Shopify Advanced Plan offers 15 staff accounts.

SSL certificates

Those who attempt to access a website without SSL certificates will be warned by their internet browsers.

The SSL certificates provided by Shopify give your customers access to a safe, smooth Shopify Store and help you manage your store by encrypting and publishing content securely.

Reports

Tracking your online store with reports, including:

Analytics page
Finances reports
Product Analytics
Acquisition Reports
Inventory Reports
Behavior Reports
Marketing Reports
Live View
Order Reports
Sales Reports
Retail Sale Reports
Profit Reports
Customers Reports
Custom Reports

International commerce

With the Advanced Shopify plan, you have access to Shopify Markets, a cross-border management tool that allows you to configure specific settings based on your region of operation.

Also, with the Advanced Shopify plan, you can calculate and collect duties and import taxes for your customers. You can also set product prices by country or region and adjust the price percentages.

Shopify POS

Shopify POS system

Shopify POS is a point-of-sale solution developed by Shopify that helps to sell your products in person. You can use Shopify POS to sell almost anywhere, including brick-and-mortar stores, markets, and pop-up shops.

Shopify Shipping Discount

Along with real-time shipping rates, Shopify Shipping offers substantial discounts from major carriers and the ability to print shipping labels in bulk.

Shopify Flow

Shopify Flow - an ecommerce automation solution - helps automate tasks and processes within your Shopify store and across your Shopify apps.

At the moment, Shopify Flow is only available for the Advanced Shopify Plan, the Shopify Plan, and Shopify Plus.

Carrier-calculated shipping

This feature allows you to offer your customers third-party calculated shipping rates and options when they place an order (useful if Shopify Shipping does not support your carrier).

How much does Shopify Advanced Plan cost?

Shopify Advanced Plan subscription fees

The Shopify Advanced Plan costs $399 per month (in the United States - the pricing can differ between regions).Starting from March of 2023, Shopify even offers 1$ per month for the first three months with Shopify Advanced.

For an in-depth understanding of Shopify’s features, you may opt-in to the Shopify Free Trial. With the trial, you can explore all the features that Shopify Advanced offers before deciding which plan is the best for you.

Tips: How to check Shopify Pricing for your store location

Shopify has different prices and transaction fees for different countries and regions.

If you want to sell to a specific country, it is recommended to locate your Shopify store there. However, make sure you check Shopify pricing for that country first.

Choose the country:

Step 1: Visit https://shopify.com

Step 2: Scroll down to the footer section and choose where you want to locate your store.

Choose where you want to locate your store

Step 3: A list of available languages and countries will be shown. Click on any country to view the Shopify version for that country/region.

Click on any country to view the Shopify version for that country/region

Step 4: Click on the Pricing section - usually in the header bar (in this example, I have chosen the Canada version). You might find the Shopify Pricing for Canada here different from the original United State ones.

Click on the Pricing section

Step 5: Click on Compare Pricing Plans (or a similar section in your language of choice) to view transaction fees for your store location.

Note: Just to be sure, you can turn on your VPN (if you are outside of your target country), or turn off the VPN (if you are inside your target country).

Shopify Advanced Plan transaction fees

Merchants who use Shopify Payments can benefit from lower transaction fees with Shopify Advanced Plan.

Transaction fees with Shopify Payments

Shopify charges 2.4% + 30¢ per transaction with the Shopify Advanced Plan.

There are no other fees associated with payment gateways, as Shopify Payments is your default payment gateway.

Shopify Payments will also waive the 0.5% credit card processing fees Shopify would otherwise charge on each sale.

The only exception is purchases made with credit cards issued outside the United States, which will incur a 1% additional transaction fee.

Transaction fees without Shopify Payments

Using a third-party payment gateway provider instead of Shopify Payments will incur transaction fees.

For third-party payment gateway services, Shopify charges 0.5% credit card processing fees for Shopify Advanced Plan.

On the other hand, you still have to pay your gateway provider transaction fees. And there will also be a 1% fee for purchases made by credit card issued outside of the United States.

Additional Shopify costs for Shopify Advanced Plan

Domain for your Shopify Store

In order to gain a customer’s trust and build your brand, you must have your own domain name. Shopify offers domain names for purchase (starting at $14 per year) or you can check out other registrars like Namecheap and Godaddy.

The domain you purchased will be yours even if you leave Shopify - you can just transfer it to another registrar.

Otherwise, you can use a domain that Shopify provides (for example, “nameofyourstore.myshopify.com”). Even though your store will still be fully functional, it is not recommended.

Email Hosting

Unfortunately, email hosting is not included in the Shopify Advanced Plans (while web hosting does on almost every plan), so you must install apps to send email from your store’s domain name.

For example, you can download the Shopify Email app for free, with no charges for the first 10,000 emails. After that, you will have to pay $1 for 1000 emails sent.

Shopify Apps

Shopify Apps enhance a store’s functionality and extend its capabilities, but the costs are not included in any Shopify Pricing Plan. Therefore, which apps you should use and how many really depend on your business needs and use cases.

Shopify Apps

Meanwhile, an average merchant installs 6 Shopify Apps, and the average subscription for an app is around $19 per month.

Shopify Themes

Shopify Themes determine how your website looks and feels for customers. Similar to apps, Shopify Themes are not included in the Shopify Pricing Plans.

While most Shopify Themes will cost you a one-time purchase, you can find free themes on Shopify Theme Store or a third-party marketplace.

An average Shopify Theme might cost between $0 to $350. However, you can only transfer themes between your Shopify Stores if your theme was created by Shopify or a Shopify Partner.

Shopify POS Pricing for Shopify Advanced Plan

Shopify POS Lite is free on the Shopify Advanced Plan, while Shopify POS Pro will cost 89$ per store location.

Shopify POS hardware investments may differ for each merchant, and this estimate may only be accurate for some. We have selected the cheapest option for each type of hardware to give you an idea of the minimum Shopify POS spending:

Shopify POS Lite: from $1094 per store as a 1-time investment, covering your Shopify POS system.
Shopify POS Pro: from $2133 per store for year-1 investment. From the second year on, Shopify POS Pro will only cost 1068$ per store.

Shopify POS Lite is free on the Shopify Advanced Plan, while Shopify POS Pro will cost 89$ per store location

Shopify Advanced Plan comparison

What is the difference between Shopify Plan and the Shopify Advanced Plan?

Pricing: Shopify Plan vs Shopify Advanced Plan

Compare the prices of Shopify Plan vs Shopify Advanced Plan

The Advanced Shopify Plan costs 399$ per month, four times higher than the Shopify Plan.

On the other hand, Advanced Shopify merchants will receive an attractive 2.4%+30% fee per transaction (with Shopify Payments), plus higher Shopify shipping discounts.

Shipping discount with shopify shipping service

When it comes to subscription fees and scalability, the Advanced Shopify Plan stands out from the Basic Shopify Plan and the Shopify Plan.

We recommend staying with Shopify Plan or the Basic Shopify Plan if your monthly revenue is less than $5000, despite the transaction fees and discounts.

Feature: Shopify Plan vs Shopify Advanced Plan

You will not have these features when using Shopify Plan

Shopify Advanced Plan features that outshine the Shopify Plan:

Custom Reports: Create your own reports using Shopify’s filters and editing tools.
Staff: Shopify Advanced Plan offers 15 staff accounts.
Carrier-calculated Shipping: Using this feature, you can provide your customers with third-party calculated shipping rates and options when they place an order (useful if Shopify Shipping doesn’t support your carrier or you don’t qualify for it).
Collecting international duties and import taxes at checkout: Using this feature, you will be able to calculate and collect duties and taxes for international shipments automatically.

Conclusion

In general, Shopify Advanced Plan is intended for merchants expanding internationally. Merchants who need automated shipping prices, duties, and taxes for multiple regions and countries may find the Shopify Advance Plan very appealing.

On the other hand, if you are selling domestically or with medium sales volumes, the Shopify Plan is more suitable for your ecommerce store.

What is the difference between Shopify Plus and Shopify Advanced Plan?

Pricing: Shopify Plus vs Shopify Advanced Plan

Shopify Plus requires a minimum of $2000 monthly subscription, in comparison to just $399 per month from the Advanced Shopify Plan.

In terms of fees, the Shopify Plus starting cost is almost 6 times higher than the Shopify Advanced ones.

However, when we are talking about enterprise level, Shopify Plus is definitely a bargain and could be a lot cheaper than all of the other Shopify plans.

For example, if you have 200,000$ monthly revenue, Shopify Plus’s simple cost estimation will be $6,300. Meanwhile, Shopify Advanced will charge you $5,100.

Pricing: Shopify Plus vs Shopify Advanced Plan

However, when it comes to third-party payment gateways, Shopify Plus can be 3 times lesser than the Advanced Shopify Plan: 0.15% credit card processing fee for Shopify Plus versus 0.5% for Shopify Advanced Plan.

This is ideal for international ecommerce where you cannot always integrate Shopify Payments (which is only available in 13 countries).

Feature: Shopify Plus vs Shopify Advanced Plan

Shopify Plus features that outshine the Shopify Advanced Plan:

Shopify organization admin: The Shopify organization admin lets you manage every Shopify store in your organization from a single location. The management tools in the Shopify organization admin can be accessed by Shopify Plus merchants, including Overview, Users, Stores, and Shopify Flow.
Specialized apps and channels: These apps and channels are only available to Shopify Plus merchants: Wholesale channel, Launchpad, Script Editor, Bulk Account Inviter, and Transporter app.
Customizable checkout page: The checkout.liquid file provides a customizable checkout that gives you more control over the branding of your store.
API resources: Shopify Plus supports additional API calls that let you integrate with custom apps. The API resources can be used by Shopify Plus merchants only.
Launch team support: You can rely on the Launch Team for migration tools, strategy, and custom integrations to get your store online as quickly as possible.
Merchant Success Program: The Merchant Success Program helps you get the most value out of Shopify Plus.
Unlimited staff: The Shopify Plus plan provides you with unlimited staff accounts, allowing you to grow your team without incurring additional expenses.
Permissions: Additional permission settings are available in Shopify Plus, including separate permissions for exporting reports and permissions for specific apps.
Expansion stores: Nine expansion stores are supported by Shopify plus for internationalization and separate physical locations, among other functions.
Shopify Plus Partner Program: As part of the Shopify Plus Partner Program, you will have access to a curated list of service partners who have been hand-picked for their technical expertise to provide solutions that will support your high-growth business.
Themes: Shopify Plus allows you to add up to 100 themes to your Shopify account.
Shopify POS Pro: With Shopify Plus, you get Shopify POS Pro at no additional cost for up to 20 locations in your organization.
Integrations: There are some integrations that are only available to Shopify Plus merchants, such as tax services with Avalara AvaTax.
Shopify Plus Academy: As part of Shopify Plus, you’ll have access to a self-guided training course on key topics related to growing your business.

Conclusion

Shopify Plus includes wholesale channels, integrations, and global stores. With more customization, you might need to have in-house or outsourcing experts to make the most out of this plan.

Until you determine what your ecommerce goals are, stick with the Shopify Advanced Plan, which offers excellent ecommerce functionality for an affordable price.

Shopify Advanced Plan FAQ

What are other Shopify Pricing Plans besides the Shopify Advanced Plan?

Starter Shopify Plan: $5 per month + 5% transaction fees
Basic Shopify Plan: $39 per month, with 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction
Shopify Plan: $105 per month, with 2.6% + 30¢ per transaction
Shopify Plus: Starting at $2000 per month

Will I lose my data for upgrading or downgrading my Shopify pricing plans?

Answer: No

Your data will always be available for all of the Shopify Pricing Plans you choose. It does not matter whether you upgrade or downgrade your plan.

Do I get free hosting when I use the Shopify Advanced Plan?

Answer: Yes

With all plans except Starter, Shopify includes secure, unlimited ecommerce hosting. You may also use the Buy Button to integrate ecommerce into an existing website.