Business

Shopify Pricing Australia: Plans, Costs & Comparison

Karthik Rajakumar

27.11.25

Read time 7 minutes

Shopify is an e-commerce platform that will help you build an online store for your business. While it’s a very popular tool with 2m+ daily active users¹, it’s worth understanding Shopify’s full feature set and costs before you commit to paying for a subscription.

This blog will explore Shopify pricing in Australia, comparing each of the plans available and what you get for your money, in addition to guidance on what’s best suited for startups versus established stores.

There’s also a quick comparison of other commerce solutions — Squarespace, Wix, etc. — as a guide on how Shopify fares against the competition. Plus, a look at how you could use Wise Business to manage the finances for your online store.

Table of contents
What is Shopify? Shopify pricing Australia Pricing comparison with other platforms What to consider when choosing an e-commerce platform Wise Business: Simplify global ecommerce payments

What is Shopify?

Shopify is an e-commerce platform that lets you build a digital storefront for your business and sell products and services online without needing technical or design skills.

The big selling point is its “all-in-one” nature. Shopify has a full toolkit and features to manage things like customisable shop templates, secure payment processing, inventory tracking, and much more to run an online retail business. It supports both online and in-person sales, too.

Shopify is currently used by around 5.6m online stores¹, with users ranging from solo entrepreneurs to big, global brands, so you should find a plan that suits your needs.

Benefits of Shopify

Shopify provides a steady, core set of features to support the many facets of e-commerce, no matter which pricing plan you choose. It's basically a full ecosystem that makes managing digital storefronts simpler, while supporting growth and more demanding operations as your business scales.

The benefits of using Shopify include:

User-friendly store builder - It’s easy to set up eye-catching storefronts with drag-and-drop tools. No coding is required, and all themes are optimized for mobile.
Secure hosting - Shopify takes care of all the important back-end stuff: security, maintenance, uptime, etc., to provide secure experiences.
High quality checkout - Shopify says its checkout converts “15% better” than rival platforms².
Payment processing - Shopify allows you to accept a plethora of payment options, including credit cards and PayPal, via Shopify Payments.
Multi-channel selling - You aren’t limited to a single platform. You can use Shopify to sell on your website, social media, and marketplaces like eBay and Amazon.
Built-in analytics - It’s also easy to track the performance of your store and dig into analytics like conversion rates from the dashboard.
App integrations - You can access a vast library of 8,000+ apps and integrations to increase your store’s functionality for marketing, shipping, customer support, and more³.

Shopify pricing Australia

Now, let’s have a look at the Shopify plans and pricing in more detail. The services are sold as subscription-as-a-service, with plans, features, and allowances geared towards different types of businesses and users.

You get a 25% discount when paying for each of the tiers annually, in one go, so keep this in mind⁴. If you don’t want to get locked in and prefer more flexibility, you can subscribe monthly, albeit with a slightly higher price point.

There are four Shopify plans: Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Plus. Here’s an overview of the prices and target markets⁴.

Plan	Price/period	Best for
Basic	$42 per month billed annually, $56 per month billed monthly	Solo traders and entrepreneurs, startups and new businesses
Grow	$114 per month billed annually, $149 per month billed monthly	Small teams and growing brands needing more features
Advanced	$431 per month billed annually, $575 per month billed monthly	Businesses scaling up stores with higher sales volumes
Plus	$2,300 USD per month on a 3-year term	Enterprise brands with more complex needs

Now, let’s look at each of these tiers in turn to see what they have to offer.

Shopify Basic

Shopify Basic is the standard, entry-level service that’s ideal for new businesses that are just getting started with their online stores and need a ton of reliable features and functionality. It includes everything you’ll need to start selling online and managing orders.

The key features include⁴:

Full-featured online store
Unlimited products
Unlimited web hosting
Custom domain and free SSL certificate
10 inventory locations
24/7 chat support
Analytics with 60+ performance reports
Shopify Academy
In-person selling
Abandoned checkout recovery
International commerce (cross-border management tools)

As you can see, Basic covers all the essentials. It’s best for startups and merchants that are testing the waters of e-commerce and don’t need any additional “nice-to-haves” included in the higher tiers.

Two notable caveats for Basic are the lack of staffing for your store — there are no staff accounts, and an absence of third-party carrier-calculated shipping. These are only available on higher plans from Grow.

Shopify Grow

The second tier, Grow, is geared towards smaller teams that need multiple accounts and lower transaction fees. With Grow, if you don’t use Shopify payments, the third-party transaction fee is only 1%, rather than 2%, like with the Basic plan⁴.

You also get all the Basic features, plus these on top:

5 additional staff accounts
Shipping insurance
Lower credit card fees via Shopify payments

Shopify Grow is better for small, established businesses that are already managing a consistent number of orders per month and have an eye on growth and expansion. It’s a solid step up for scaling if the Basic plan is holding you back.

Shopify Advanced

Shopify Advanced takes things a step further with features designed for larger or fast-growing businesses, especially those selling internationally or running multiple fulfilment centres. With this tier, you can create and tailor stores for different countries, which will be valuable if you’re working in markets outside Australia.

With Advanced, you get the baseline Basic and Grow features, plus these⁴:

“Enhanced live chat” and 24/7 customer support
Local storefronts for different markets
15 staff accounts
Lower transaction and card fees
Multi-currency payouts

Advanced is the first tier that lets you connect multiple bank accounts to get payments in currencies other than AUD. It also offers a lower third-party transaction fee again, this time at a 0.6% rate.

Shopify Plus

Finally, Shopify Plus is the top-tier service for large retailers that go through a very high volume of sales and require dedicated support and tailored solutions for complex needs. This is reflected in the price, which starts at $2,300 USD per month⁴. There’s no set AUD price for this tier, but it is available on both 1-year and 3-year terms.

Plus really ups the ante with lots of tools and features that are marketed by Shopify as “Just for Plus.” These include⁴:

Advanced checkout customizations
High volume checkout for big sales events
Up to 9 free expansion stores
Bot protection
Exclusive API access and endpoints
Custom app functions and user groups

All of those are on top of “standard” features exclusive to the package that differentiate it from other tiers. These include⁴:

200 inventory locations
Priority live chat and phone customer support
Unlimited staff accounts
Lower transaction fees (0.2%)

Additional solutions offered by Shopify

In addition to the four main plans, Shopify also offers two “alternative solutions” for very specific sellers.

Shopify Starter

The Starter plan lets users take advantage of the newer social selling trend by facilitating business through popular social media and messaging apps. All without having to build out a full website. For $7 per month, you get to “sell instantly” with simple product shots and descriptions backed by essential tools for managing orders⁵. This is ideal for influencers and content creators.

Shopify POS (Retail)

The POS or Retail plan is built for physical retailers that need in-person selling tools and integration with an online store. This tier costs $129 per month and includes features to manage inventory and support staff on-site⁴.

Pricing comparison between Shopify and other platforms

Shopify isn’t the only e-commerce platform. There are multiple competitors you can use to achieve similar results. Some of these might make more sense depending on your business size, technical skill, and budget.

Here’s a quick rundown of the most popular platforms.

Platform	Cost	Overview
Shopify	$7—$2,300 per month (AUD)⁴	Full e-commerce ecosystem with advanced scaling and features
Squarespace	$16—$99 per month (USD)⁶	Stylish design templates, commonly used for portfolios and creative work
Wix	$21—$199 per month (AUD)⁷	Flexible, drag-and-drop website builder for small businesses
GoDaddy	$29.95—$42.96 per month (AUD)⁸	Simple building tools for beginners wanting a fast setup
WooCommerce	Free⁹	Open-source software for WordPress users

What to consider when choosing an e-commerce platform

Take the time to research everything in-depth to whittle down the options and select the right e-commerce platform for your business. Start by listing your specific business needs and goals, and then linking these to “must-have” features. You can then begin shortlisting plans that make the most sense.

Ideally, you want a platform that works for the here and now with enough wiggle room to support future ambitions.

Factors to evaluate before deciding include:

Budget - Fees can add up over time. Calculate the savings you’ll make on transaction fees (and other perks) with specific platforms and plans, and decide if it’s worth the increased subscription costs based on your monthly sales and team size.
Business model - Your business model might dictate which platform (and plan) is most suitable. For example, dropshippers have very different technical needs than in-store retailers offering pickup services.
Integrations - Check whether the platform can connect to the tools you currently use for daily business, like accounting software, email platforms, and marketplaces.
Scalability - Make sure the platform has plans that give you room to grow as your sales increase, or add new accounts for thriving teams.
International expansion - If you’re selling to customers overseas (or planning to), you’ll need a platform that can support doing business internationally.

Wise Business: Simplify global ecommerce payments

Reviewing your ecommerce budget goes beyond simply selecting the right subscription tier, especially if you plan to source stock internationally or use plugins billed in US Dollars. High conversion fees on these everyday operational expenses can quietly erode the profit margins you are trying to protect.

Wise Business helps solve this inefficiency by allowing you to pay foreign suppliers and subscription costs at the mid-market rate. By connecting Wise Business directly with your accounting software, you can keep a closer eye on your actual cash flow and ensure you aren't overpaying on currency exchange just to keep your store running.

Wise Business helps streamline overseas business payments without foreign transaction fees, saving up to 3x compared to other providers.

Free to register — Send money to 140+ currencies with no hidden exchange rate markups
Make up to 1,000 transfers at once with the Wise batch payments feature
Fast, low-cost payouts to customers, freelancers, employees, investors, and suppliers globally
Automate invoice payments, recurring transfers, and international payroll
Fast and fully secure payments through Wise, even for large amounts

Tired of hidden fees and complex processes when making overseas payments?

Start sending with a Wise Business account! 🚀

This general advice does not take into account your objectives, financial circumstances or needs and you should consider if it is appropriate for you.

Sources:

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