Shopify Plus is Shopify's enterprise tier, and it comes with a significant price jump. At roughly $2,300 per month compared to $399 for Advanced Shopify, the decision to upgrade requires careful evaluation. Having built stores on both tiers, we can help you determine whether Plus delivers enough additional value to justify the investment for your specific business.
What Shopify Plus Adds
Plus is not simply a faster version of standard Shopify. It unlocks capabilities that do not exist on lower tiers:
- Checkout customisation: Plus gives you access to checkout.liquid (and the newer Checkout Extensibility APIs), allowing deep modifications to the checkout experience. Standard plans lock the checkout completely.
- Shopify Flow: An automation engine for creating custom workflows — automatic tagging, fraud flagging, inventory alerts, and loyalty programme triggers without third-party apps.
- Expansion stores: Launch up to nine additional stores for different markets or brands under a single Plus subscription, each with its own currency and language settings.
- Launchpad: Schedule and automate product launches, flash sales, and campaign events with coordinated theme changes, pricing updates, and inventory visibility.
- B2B on Shopify: Native wholesale channel with company-specific pricing, payment terms, and catalogue visibility.
Revenue Thresholds That Signal an Upgrade
There is no magic revenue number, but the economics generally start making sense when your store processes over $1 million annually. At that volume, the lower transaction fees on Plus (starting at 0.2% versus 0.5% on Advanced) can offset a significant portion of the higher subscription cost. If you process $2 million monthly, the fee reduction alone saves roughly $6,000 per month.
Beyond pure transaction savings, consider the opportunity cost of limitations. If you are losing sales because you cannot customise checkout, cannot automate complex workflows, or are paying for multiple standalone stores instead of using expansion stores, those costs add up quickly.
When Standard Shopify Is Enough
Standard Shopify plans (including Advanced) are remarkably capable. If your store operates in a single market, has a straightforward checkout flow, and does not require heavy automation or B2B functionality, you likely do not need Plus. Many businesses generating seven figures in revenue operate perfectly well on the Advanced plan.
The app ecosystem can replicate some Plus features. Third-party automation tools, loyalty platforms, and subscription apps can fill gaps — though the cumulative cost of multiple apps can eventually approach Plus pricing anyway.
Making the Decision
Approach the Plus decision as a business case, not a technology decision. Calculate your current transaction fees, app costs, and the revenue impact of checkout limitations. Compare that against the Plus subscription cost and the value of features you would gain. If the numbers work within twelve months, upgrade. If they only work with aggressive growth assumptions, wait.
At Born Digital, we have migrated stores from standard Shopify to Plus and have also advised businesses to stay on their current plan when the upgrade was not justified. The right answer depends entirely on your specific business context, growth trajectory, and operational complexity. We can help you run the numbers and make a decision grounded in data rather than marketing.