Shopify Payments Fees Explained: What Sellers Pay in 2026

How Shopify Payments Pricing Works

Shopify Payments is Shopify's built-in payment processor, powered by Stripe. When you use Shopify Payments, you avoid the additional transaction fee that Shopify charges for third-party payment gateways. This makes it the default choice for most Shopify sellers.

The processing fee depends on your Shopify plan tier. Higher-tier plans have lower processing rates, which can make upgrading worthwhile once your sales volume reaches a certain level.

Shopify Payments Fees by Plan (2026)

Here are the current Shopify Payments rates for online credit card transactions:

If you use a third-party gateway instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds an extra fee on top of whatever your payment processor charges:

• Basic: +2.0%
• Shopify: +1.0%
• Advanced: +0.5%

This additional fee makes third-party gateways significantly more expensive than Shopify Payments for most sellers.

What You Actually Keep After Fees

Let's calculate the real take-home amount for a $50 sale on each plan:

Basic Plan (2.9% + $0.30):

• Fee: $50 × 0.029 + $0.30 = $1.75
• You keep: $48.25

Shopify Plan (2.7% + $0.30):

• Fee: $50 × 0.027 + $0.30 = $1.65
• You keep: $48.35

Advanced Plan (2.5% + $0.30):

• Fee: $50 × 0.025 + $0.30 = $1.55
• You keep: $48.45

The difference per transaction is small, but it adds up. On $10,000 in monthly sales, the fee difference between Basic and Shopify is $20/month, while the plan cost difference is $66/month. So upgrading from Basic to Shopify for payment savings alone only makes sense at higher volumes.

When Should You Upgrade Plans?

The break-even point for upgrading depends on your monthly sales volume:

Basic to Shopify ($66/mo extra, 0.2% rate savings):

• Break-even: $66 / 0.002 = $33,000/month in sales
• Below $33K/mo: Stay on Basic
• Above $33K/mo: Upgrade to Shopify

Shopify to Advanced ($294/mo extra, 0.2% rate savings):

• Break-even: $294 / 0.002 = $147,000/month in sales
• Below $147K/mo: Stay on Shopify
• Above $147K/mo: Upgrade to Advanced

These calculations only consider payment processing savings. Higher plans also include more staff accounts, better shipping discounts, and advanced reporting, which may justify upgrading sooner.

Shopify Payments vs Stripe Direct

Since Shopify Payments is powered by Stripe, many sellers wonder whether using Stripe directly would be cheaper. Here's the comparison:

• Stripe standalone: 2.9% + $0.30 (same as Shopify Basic)
• Shopify Payments on Basic: 2.9% + $0.30 (same rate)
• Shopify Payments on Advanced: 2.5% + $0.30 (lower rate)

On the Basic plan, Shopify Payments costs the same as standalone Stripe. But on higher plans, you get lower rates than Stripe's standard pricing. Plus, using Shopify Payments avoids the extra third-party gateway fee.

Use our Stripe Fee Calculator to compare your current Stripe costs with what you'd pay on Shopify Payments.

International Transaction Fees

Shopify Payments charges an additional 1% for international cards and an extra 2% for currency conversion if you accept payments in a currency different from your store's default.

For international sellers:

• International card fee: +1.0% on all plans
• Currency conversion fee: +2.0% if auto-converting

If you sell internationally, consider setting up multi-currency pricing in your Shopify store to let customers pay in their local currency, which can reduce cart abandonment even though the conversion fee applies.

How to Minimize Your Shopify Fees

1. Use Shopify Payments instead of third-party gateways to avoid the additional transaction fee.

2. Upgrade your plan when your volume justifies it. Calculate your break-even point using the formulas above.

3. Encourage higher average order values. The $0.30 fixed fee has less impact on larger transactions. A $100 sale has an effective rate of 3.2%, while a $10 sale has an effective rate of 5.9%.

4. Use in-person rates for physical sales. The in-person rate (2.6% + $0.10 on Basic) is lower than online rates.

5. Consider annual billing. Shopify offers a discount for paying annually, which reduces your effective monthly plan cost.

The Bottom Line

Shopify Payments is competitive with standalone payment processors and becomes cheaper at higher plan tiers. For most sellers, it's the obvious choice since using any other gateway triggers Shopify's additional transaction fee.

The key decision is which plan tier to choose. Stay on Basic until you're consistently above $33,000/month in sales, then upgrade. Use our Profit Margin Calculator to factor payment processing fees into your pricing strategy.