“How much does Shopify cost?” sounds like it should have a one-line answer. It doesn’t. The plan itself is only part of the bill: transaction fees, apps, a decent theme and someone to actually build the thing all add up. Get the Shopify cost in Australia wrong at the budgeting stage and you’ll either overspend on a plan you didn’t need or get stung by fees you didn’t see coming.
This guide breaks down every line item: the official 2026 plan pricing, payment processing fees, GST, apps, and design costs, plus what a real Gold Coast store owner actually pays each month. By the end you’ll be able to build a proper budget instead of guessing.
What actually makes up the cost of a Shopify store
A Shopify store has five cost layers, and most people only budget for the first one.
- The subscription: your monthly Shopify plan.
- Transaction fees: a percentage plus a flat fee on every card sale.
- Apps: for reviews, upsells, shipping, email marketing and more.
- Theme and design: a free theme, a paid theme, or a custom build.
- Domain and email: usually small, but easy to forget.
Skip any of these when you’re budgeting and your “cheap” Shopify store quietly becomes an expensive one by month three. We’ll go through each layer below, then pull it together into a realistic monthly total.
Shopify’s official pricing plans in Australia (2026)
Shopify sells four core plans in Australia, billed in AUD, plus an enterprise tier for larger operations. Monthly pricing is cheaper if you pay annually: Shopify gives roughly a 25% discount for committing upfront.
| Plan | Monthly (pay-as-you-go) | Monthly (paid annually) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $7 | $7 | Selling via social/link-in-bio only, no full site |
| Basic | $56 | $42 | New stores, single staff account |
| Grow | $149 | $114 | Growing stores needing reports and more staff logins |
| Advanced | $575 | $431 | Higher-volume stores needing advanced reporting |
| Plus | From $3,700 | N/A | Large or high-GMV enterprise stores |
None of these prices include GST. More on that shortly. Shopify also runs promotional offers from time to time, including discounted first months on selected plans, so always check the current pricing on Shopify’s Australian site before assuming you’ll pay full price from day one.
What changes between plans
The jump from Basic to Grow isn’t really about features you’ll notice day-to-day: it’s staff accounts, more detailed reporting, and lower transaction fees on Shopify Payments. Most single-owner or small-team businesses in Australia start on Basic and only move up once they need extra logins or the reporting depth becomes worth the extra $70–90 a month.
Transaction and payment processing fees
This is where the real Shopify cost in Australia often surprises people. Every sale processed through Shopify Payments attracts a percentage-plus-fixed-fee charge, and the rate depends on your plan and the card being used.
Domestic vs international cards
On the Basic plan, Shopify Payments charges roughly 1.9% + 30¢ per transaction for standard Australian Visa and Mastercard purchases. International cards and Amex are charged at a higher rate, closer to 2.9% + 30¢. Higher-tier plans (Grow, Advanced) get progressively lower percentage rates, which is part of why high-volume stores eventually outgrow Basic.
If you use an external gateway like PayPal or a third-party processor instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds its own extra fee on top of whatever that provider already charges, so sticking with Shopify Payments is usually the cheaper route for most Australian stores.
GST and your ABN: getting Shopify billing right
Shopify’s advertised plan prices are exclusive of GST. If you’re an Australian business without a registered ABN on file, Shopify will add 10% GST to your subscription invoice automatically.
The fix is simple: register your ABN in Settings → Billing → Billing profile → Tax registration, confirm you’re GST-registered, and Shopify stops charging GST on your subscription, apps and other Shopify-billed fees from the next invoice. It won’t apply retroactively, so it’s worth doing this in your first week rather than six months in. For the exact steps and edge cases, Shopify’s own tax settings guide walks through it in detail, and it’s worth bookmarking alongside your accountant’s advice.
Apps, themes and other add-on costs
The plan and transaction fees are the predictable part. Apps are where budgets blow out, because it’s easy to install five “free trial” apps and forget three of them are now billing you monthly.
Typical extras Australian stores end up paying for:
- Reviews and UGC apps: $0–$50/month depending on volume
- Email/SMS marketing (Klaviyo, Shopify Email add-ons): $0–$100+/month as your list grows
- Shipping and freight calculators: $10–$40/month
- Premium themes: a one-off $180–$400 if the free themes don’t suit your brand
- Upsell/cross-sell apps: $10–$30/month
A lean store can run on free or low-cost apps for the first year. A store leaning hard on marketing automation and advanced upsells can easily add $150–$300/month in app fees alone, often more than the Shopify plan itself.
DIY vs hiring a developer: setup and design costs
Shopify’s drag-and-drop editor means you can technically build a store yourself for the cost of a theme. In practice, most Australian small businesses that go fully DIY spend weeks getting product pages, checkout settings, shipping zones and apps configured correctly, and that time has a real cost even if no invoice ever shows up for it.
Hiring a developer for Shopify store design Gold Coast typically runs from around $2,500 for a straightforward store built on a premium theme, up to $8,000–$15,000+ for a custom-designed build with bespoke product pages, integrations and a proper Shopify store setup covering shipping, tax and payment configuration correctly from day one. It’s a bigger upfront number, but it avoids the slow bleed of a DIY build that never quite gets finished properly. If you’re weighing up doing it yourself, our Shopify setup guide for Australian businesses walks through exactly what’s involved before you commit either way.
Real-world example: what a Gold Coast retailer pays
A homewares retailer we worked with on the Gold Coast runs a mid-sized Shopify store doing around $18,000 a month in sales. Here’s roughly what their monthly Shopify cost in Australia looks like:
- Basic plan (paid annually): $42
- Shopify Payments fees (~1.9% average blended rate): ~$342
- Two apps (reviews + email marketing): $65
- Premium theme: one-off $320 (amortised, roughly $27/month over a year)
- Domain renewal: ~$2/month averaged
That’s a real-world monthly total closer to $480, dominated almost entirely by transaction fees rather than the subscription itself. That’s exactly why focusing only on the “$42 a month” headline number gives you the wrong picture.
Typical monthly cost by business stage
| Business stage | Plan | Typical monthly total (incl. fees + apps) |
|---|---|---|
| Just starting, low volume | Basic | $80–$150 |
| Established, steady sales | Basic or Grow | $250–$500 |
| Growing, multiple staff | Grow | $500–$1,200 |
| High-volume retailer | Advanced | $1,500–$4,000+ |
These figures assume Shopify Payments and a moderate app stack. Heavy marketing automation or freight-heavy stores will sit higher.
How to keep your Shopify costs down
A few habits keep the Shopify cost in Australia under control without limiting growth:
- Audit your apps quarterly. Uninstall anything you’re not actively using. Trial apps are the most common silent cost creep.
- Register your ABN immediately to avoid paying GST on top of every Shopify bill.
- Pay annually once you’re confident in the platform, to lock in the ~25% discount.
- Stick with Shopify Payments rather than a third-party gateway, to avoid the additional surcharge.
- Review your plan every six months: move up a tier only when the extra features or lower transaction rate genuinely pay for themselves.
If your store is growing fast enough that transaction volume is now your biggest line item, it’s worth running the numbers on whether a higher plan’s lower percentage rate would save more than the extra subscription costs.
It’s also worth remembering that the Shopify cost in Australia is only half the equation. A beautifully built store with no traffic doesn’t sell anything. Budget separately for getting found, whether that’s working through a Shopify SEO checklist to lift organic traffic, investing in Shopify SEO properly from launch, or running paid traffic through Google Ads alongside your SEO work while the store builds authority.
The bottom line
A Shopify store in Australia isn’t a flat $42 or $56 a month: it’s a subscription plus transaction fees, apps, and whatever you spend on design and setup. Budget realistically from the start (think $250–$500 a month for an established small store) and you won’t be caught out three months in. Getting your ABN registered, your app stack lean, and your store built properly the first time makes the biggest difference to what you actually pay.
Weighing up Shopify against other platforms, or want a store built properly without the DIY guesswork? Our Gold Coast web design team can scope a Shopify build around your actual budget, not just the sticker price.
FAQs
How much does Shopify cost per month in Australia?
Shopify’s Basic plan costs $56/month paid monthly, or $42/month if you pay annually, plus 10% GST unless you’ve registered your ABN. On top of the subscription, expect transaction fees of roughly 1.9%–2.9% per sale and $20–$100+/month in apps, so most small Australian stores land between $250 and $500 a month in total.
Does Shopify charge GST in Australia?
Yes, Shopify adds 10% GST to your subscription by default. If your business has a registered ABN, you can add it under Settings → Billing → Tax registration and confirm you’re GST-registered, and Shopify then stops charging GST on your subscription, apps and other Shopify-billed fees from your next invoice.
What are Shopify’s transaction fees in Australia?
Using Shopify Payments on the Basic plan, standard Australian Visa and Mastercard transactions are charged around 1.9% + 30¢. International cards and Amex attract a higher rate near 2.9% + 30¢. Using an external payment gateway instead of Shopify Payments adds an extra surcharge on top, so most Australian merchants save money staying with Shopify Payments.
Is Shopify cheaper than hiring a web designer?
The Shopify subscription itself is cheap, but a DIY build takes real time to set up properly: product pages, shipping, tax and apps all need configuring. A professionally built Shopify store typically costs $2,500–$15,000+ depending on complexity, which is often worth it to avoid a half-finished DIY store that costs sales through poor conversion.
How much do Shopify apps cost in total?
Most Australian stores spend somewhere between $20 and $300+ a month on apps, depending on how many marketing, review and shipping tools they run. A lean store can operate on free or low-cost apps early on, but costs climb quickly if you add multiple marketing automation and upsell apps without regularly reviewing what’s actually being used.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Shopify’s standard plans?
Shopify’s Starter plan costs $7/month and covers selling through social media and a simple link-in-bio page, but it doesn’t include a full online store. For a genuine ecommerce website, Basic is the realistic entry point. Comparing Shopify against WooCommerce is worth doing if you want to weigh subscription-based pricing against a self-hosted alternative — the route our ecommerce website design team takes for larger catalogues.
