More than 5.6 million businesses worldwide use Shopify to sell online — and for the vast majority of first-time store owners, the journey starts in exactly the same place: choosing between Shopify’s pricing tiers. Pick the wrong plan and you’re either overpaying for features you don’t need, or you’re hitting walls that slow your growth. The Shopify basic plan is the most popular entry-level option for merchants who want a full online store without the higher price tag. In this guide, we break down everything included in basic Shopify and whether it’s the best starting point for your online business.
What is the Shopify Basic Plan?
Shopify offers five main pricing tiers: Starter, Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Shopify Plus. The Basic Shopify plan sits right in the middle of the entry-level range — a significant step up from the Starter plan, without the premium price of higher tiers.
Here’s a quick overview of how the plans stack up:
- Starter ($5/mo) — No online store; sell via links and social media only
- Basic ($39/mo) — Full online store, 2 staff accounts, core selling tools
- Shopify ($105/mo) — 5 staff accounts, professional reports, lower transaction fees
- Advanced ($399/mo) — Custom reporting, real-time carrier shipping, 15 staff accounts
- Shopify Plus (from $2,300/mo) — Enterprise-grade, dedicated support, unlimited staff
The key difference between Starter and Basic is the full storefront: with the Basic plan, you get a complete, customizable online store with its own domain, theme editor, and product catalog. Starter only allows you to embed a buy button or sell via direct links — you don’t get a standalone store.
Shopify Basic Plan Pricing
The Shopify Basic plan is priced at $39 per month on a monthly billing cycle in the US, or $29 per month when billed annually (saving around 25%). But pricing varies by region, and for merchants outside the US, understanding the local equivalent is essential for budgeting accurately.
| Market | Currency | Monthly | Annual/mo | Annual Total | Txn Fee* |
| United States | USD | $39/mo | $29/mo | $348/yr | 2.0% |
| United Kingdom | GBP | £25/mo | £19/mo | £228/yr | 2.0% |
| India | INR | ₹1,999/mo | ₹1,499/mo | ₹17,988/yr | 2.0% |
| Pakistan | PKR | ~PKR 10,800/mo | ~PKR 8,100/mo | ~PKR 97,200/yr | 2.0% |
*Transaction fee applies only when not using Shopify Payments. If Shopify Payments is available in your country and you use it, the transaction fee is waived.
Shopify Basic Plan UK
The monthly Basic plan in the UK works out to £25 per month, and the annual plan drops to £19 per month (25% saved).
Shopify Payments is available in the UK, so most UK merchants can avoid the 2.0% third-party transaction fee entirely by using it as their payment processor.
Shopify Basic Plan India
For Indian merchants, the Shopify Basic plan price in India is approximately ₹1,999 per month on a monthly plan, or around ₹1,499 per month billed annually.
Shopify Payments is not currently available in India. This means Indian merchants will always pay the 2.0% third-party transaction fee unless they use Shopify’s local payment integrations. Popular payment gateways like Razorpay, PayU, and CCAvenue all integrate with Shopify Basic, making checkout smooth for Indian customers despite this limitation.
Shopify Basic Plan Price in Pakistan
The Shopify Basic plan price in Pakistan is approximately PKR 10,800 per month on the monthly billing cycle, or around PKR 8,100 per month on the annual plan (~PKR 97,200/year). These figures are based on current USD-to-PKR exchange rates and may fluctuate.
Like India, Shopify Payments is not available in Pakistan, meaning the 2.0% transaction fee applies to all external payment gateways. Pakistani merchants typically use Stripe (via a US-registered business entity), 2Checkout, or local solutions. It’s worth factoring this cost into your unit economics from day one.
Core Features of the Shopify Basic Plan
Despite being the entry-level paid tier, the Basic plan is genuinely feature-rich for early-stage stores. Here is what you get:
Online Store & Storefront
You get a fully customizable online store with access to Shopify’s free and premium theme library. The drag-and-drop theme editor lets you build a professional-looking storefront without any coding knowledge. You can list an unlimited number of products with variants, images, and detailed descriptions.
Staff Accounts
The Basic plan supports 2 staff accounts (including the store owner). This is enough for a solo founder or a two-person team, but it becomes a bottleneck if you need more hands managing orders, inventory, or customer service.
Sales Channels
You can sell across multiple channels simultaneously, including your online store, Facebook Shop, TikTok Shop, and even Amazon and eBay (with third-party apps). This multi-channel capability is a significant advantage over the Starter plan.
Payments & Checkout
The Basic plan supports Shopify Payments (where available), which eliminates transaction fees and gives customers a seamless, branded checkout experience. It also supports over 100 third-party payment gateways. The checkout is optimized for conversion, with one-page checkout, Shop Pay (Shopify’s accelerated checkout), and 3D Secure authentication built in.
Marketing & Discount Tools
- Discount codes (percentage, fixed amount, free shipping, BOGO)
- Automatic discounts at checkout
- Gift cards (create and sell store gift cards)
- Abandoned cart recovery emails (automatically re-engage lost shoppers)
- Basic email marketing via Shopify Email (free up to 10,000 emails/month)
Analytics & Reporting
You get access to Shopify’s finance reports, product analytics, and the live view dashboard showing real-time store activity. What you don’t get on Basic is the professional reports suite (cohort analysis, custom reports), which requires upgrading to the Grow plan or higher.
Apps & Integrations
Full access to the Shopify App Store with over 18,000 apps for everything from PDF invoice order printer (Vify), email marketing (Klaviyo, Mailchimp), to dropshipping (DSers, Zendrop) and accounting (QuickBooks, Xero). The Basic plan has no restrictions on which apps you can install.
Shopify Basic Plan Limitations
No plan is perfect, and being honest about the Basic plan’s limitations helps you avoid surprises down the line. Here are the main ones:
- Only 2 staff accounts: If your team grows beyond two people managing the store, you’ll need to upgrade. There’s no add-on option to purchase additional staff seats on the Basic plan.
- Higher transaction fee (2.0%): Compared to the Grow plan’s 1.0% fee, the 2.0% adds up quickly at scale. On $50,000/month in revenue, that’s $1,000 in fees, which already exceeds the cost of upgrading to the Grow plan ($105/mo).
- No professional reports: Cohort analysis, custom report builder, and detailed marketing attribution reports are not available. You can work around this to some extent with the Google Analytics 4 integration, but native advanced reporting requires an upgrade.
- No duty and import tax calculation: For merchants selling internationally, automated Duties & Import Taxes at checkout requires Shopify Advanced or Plus.
The important caveat: most of these limitations only matter at a certain revenue and operational scale. For a store doing under $5,000 – $10,000/month, the Basic plan is more than sufficient.
Conclusion
For most new and growing e-commerce businesses, the Shopify basic plan delivers an excellent balance between affordability and scalability. It gives merchants everything needed to launch a professional online store, manage products, and start selling across multiple channels without overwhelming complexity. While there are limitations, the Basic Shopify plan remains one of the strongest entry-level ecommerce solutions available. As your business grows, you can always upgrade to unlock more advanced tools, but for many merchants, the Shopify basic plan is the smartest and most cost-effective place to start.
If you’re selling on Shopify and need a professional invoice solution, especially one that’s easy to customize without any coding skills, then Vify’s Order Printer app Shopify is the best choice for you. Try it for free and experience it for yourself. We’re confident you’ll love it.
