Shopify is a Canadian company, headquartered in Ottawa, and since it started billing Canadian merchants in Canadian dollars the question how much does Shopify cost in Canada finally has a clean answer. This guide lists every plan in CAD, the card and transaction fees you will actually pay, the taxes and extras that do not appear on the pricing page, and three worked examples of what a store really costs each month. Prices were checked on Shopify’s Canadian pricing page on October 25, 2026 and we update this page when they change.
Quick answer: Shopify costs C$49 a month for Basic, C$132 for Grow and C$517 for Advanced when billed monthly, or C$37, C$99 and C$389 a month when you pay for a year up front. Shopify Plus starts at C$3,400 a month. Online card rates run from 2.8 percent plus 30 cents on Basic down to 2.15 percent plus 30 cents on Plus.
Shopify stores built by Quantro start at C$1,999 fixed; see the Calgary web development page for what is included.
Shopify plans in Canada at a glance (2026, CAD)
| Plan | Pay monthly | Pay yearly (per month) | Online card rate | In person card rate | Fee if you use another payment provider |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | C$49 | C$37 | 2.8% + 30¢ | 2.6% + 0¢ | 2% |
| Grow | C$132 | C$99 | 2.6% + 30¢ | 2.5% + 0¢ | 1% |
| Advanced | C$517 | C$389 | 2.4% + 30¢ | 2.4% + 0¢ | 0.6% |
| Plus | From C$3,400 | Contact Shopify | 2.15% + 30¢ | 2.4% + 0¢ | 0.2% |
Interac debit in person costs 15 cents per transaction on Basic, Grow and Advanced and 10 cents on Plus, with no percentage. All prices are before GST, HST or QST.
What each Shopify plan is for
Basic: C$49 a month, or C$37 billed yearly
Basic is the right plan for most new Canadian stores. You get a full online store with unlimited products, Shopify’s checkout, point of sale for pop ups and markets, discount codes, abandoned checkout recovery, Shopify’s built in AI assistant and the ability to sell on Instagram, TikTok and Google. The trade off is the highest card rate at 2.8 percent plus 30 cents online, and the fewest staff accounts.
Grow: C$132 a month, or C$99 billed yearly
Grow is the plan that used to be called simply Shopify. It adds up to five staff accounts, more detailed reports, shipping discounts of up to 50 percent and a lower online card rate of 2.6 percent plus 30 cents. It makes sense once you have a small team working in the store or once your sales volume is high enough that the 0.2 point saving on card fees covers the extra subscription cost. We work that number out below.
Advanced: C$517 a month, or C$389 billed yearly
Advanced is built for stores selling across borders and in volume. It includes up to 15 staff accounts, custom reports, third party calculated shipping rates at checkout, duties and import tax estimates, and the lowest standard card rate at 2.4 percent plus 30 cents. Most Canadian brands do not need Advanced until they pass roughly C$145,000 a month in online sales, unless they need the reporting or shipping features sooner.
Plus: from C$3,400 a month
Shopify Plus is the enterprise tier. It adds a fully customizable checkout, B2B wholesale catalogs, unlimited staff accounts, up to 200 POS Pro locations, priority 24/7 phone support and a card rate of 2.15 percent plus 30 cents. The pricing page quotes Plus as starting at C$3,400 a month, and the final price depends on your sales volume and contract term.
Starter and Retail
Shopify Starter is not on the main Canadian pricing page. It is listed in US dollars at about US$5 a month, roughly C$7, and gives you product links and a simple checkout you can share in Instagram bios, WhatsApp and text messages. It is not a full website. Shopify also sells a Retail plan for businesses that sell mostly in person and only need a basic online presence. If you want a real online store, start with Basic.
Shopify card and transaction fees in Canada
Every plan includes Shopify Payments, which processes Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Interac, Shop Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay. When you use Shopify Payments there is no separate transaction fee, you pay only the card rate. On a C$100 online order that works out to:
- Basic: C$3.10 (2.8 percent plus 30 cents)
- Grow: C$2.90 (2.6 percent plus 30 cents)
- Advanced: C$2.70 (2.4 percent plus 30 cents)
- Plus: C$2.45 (2.15 percent plus 30 cents)
If you connect a different payment provider such as PayPal only, Moneris or Stripe directly, you pay that provider’s fees and Shopify adds its own transaction fee of 2 percent on Basic, 1 percent on Grow, 0.6 percent on Advanced and 0.2 percent on Plus. For almost every Canadian store that makes Shopify Payments the cheaper choice. Two more fees to know about: Shopify charges a currency conversion fee when a customer pays in a currency other than your payout currency, which matters if you sell to US shoppers in USD, and chargebacks carry a fee that is refunded if you win the dispute.
Monthly vs yearly billing: what you save
Paying for a year up front saves C$12 a month on Basic (C$144 a year), C$33 a month on Grow (C$396 a year) and C$128 a month on Advanced (C$1,536 a year). If you are confident the store will still be running in twelve months, yearly billing is the single easiest saving on this page. If you are testing an idea, stay monthly for the first few months and switch once sales are steady.
When to upgrade: the break even math
Each step up lowers your online card rate by 0.2 points (0.25 points from Advanced to Plus). Divide the extra subscription cost by that saving and you get the monthly online sales where the upgrade pays for itself, using yearly prices:
| Upgrade | Extra subscription per month | Card rate saving | Pays for itself at monthly online sales of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic to Grow | C$62 | 0.2 points | About C$31,000 |
| Grow to Advanced | C$290 | 0.2 points | About C$145,000 |
| Advanced to Plus | About C$3,000 | 0.25 points | About C$1.2 million |
Below those numbers, upgrade only if you need the features: staff accounts, reports, shipping rates or the customizable checkout. Above them, the upgrade is free money.
Taxes on Shopify fees in Canada
Shopify adds applicable Canadian sales tax to subscription invoices for merchants in Canada, so your Basic plan is C$37 plus 5 percent GST in Alberta (C$38.85) or plus 13 percent HST in Ontario (C$41.81). Registered businesses can normally claim that tax back as an input tax credit, so for most stores it is a cash flow item rather than a real cost. Card processing fees are a financial service and are not taxed the same way. Confirm the details for your province with your accountant.
The costs that are not on the pricing page
- Theme: Shopify’s free themes, including Dawn and Horizon, are good enough for most stores. Paid themes in the Shopify Theme Store are a one time purchase and most cost between US$150 and US$500.
- Apps: Reviews, email and SMS marketing, subscriptions, bundles, upsells and loyalty tools are mostly paid apps. New stores typically spend C$0 to C$50 a month, growing brands C$100 to C$300, and scaling stores C$300 to C$800 or more. Audit your apps every quarter.
- Domain: C$20 to C$40 a year through Shopify or a registrar.
- Email marketing: Shopify Email includes 10,000 emails a month free, then charges per email. Klaviyo and similar tools start at roughly C$30 a month and scale with your list.
- Point of sale: POS Lite is included on every plan. POS Pro, with staff permissions and advanced inventory, is a paid add on per retail location unless you are on Plus.
- Shipping: Shopify Shipping discounts with Canada Post, UPS and others are included, but the postage itself is still a real cost to price into your products.
- Design and build: Doing it yourself costs time. Hiring an agency costs C$1,999 to C$7,999 with Quantro or C$8,000 to C$40,000 with a typical Canadian agency, which we cover below.
What a Shopify store really costs per month: three Canadian examples
These examples use yearly billing and Shopify Payments. Card fees are included because you pay them with any platform or processor, so they belong in the real monthly number.
| Store | Plan | Orders and average order | Subscription | Card fees | Apps | Total per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Side hustle | Basic | 20 orders at C$60 (C$1,200) | C$37 | C$40 | C$0 to C$30 | C$77 to C$107 |
| Growing brand | Grow | 300 orders at C$80 (C$24,000) | C$99 | C$714 | C$100 to C$250 | C$913 to C$1,063 |
| Scaling store | Advanced | 1,500 orders at C$90 (C$135,000) | C$389 | C$3,690 | C$300 to C$800 | C$4,379 to C$4,879 |
Notice how quickly the subscription stops mattering. For the growing brand the plan is about 10 percent of monthly platform cost and card fees are about 70 percent. That is why the break even table above matters more than the headline plan price once you are selling.
Shopify vs WooCommerce cost in Canada
WooCommerce software is free, but you pay for hosting (C$15 to C$60 a month for a store that loads fast), a payment processor such as Stripe at about 2.9 percent plus 30 cents, premium plugins and the developer time to keep everything updated and secure. For a store doing under C$50,000 a month the total usually lands close to Shopify Basic or Grow, with more maintenance on your side. WooCommerce wins when you need deep customization or already run a WordPress site, Shopify wins on reliability and the time it saves. Our Shopify vs WooCommerce comparison and WordPress vs Shopify vs Squarespace guide go deeper.
How much does it cost to have a Shopify store built in Canada?
The platform fee is the small part. The store itself, the design, product setup, apps, shipping rules, taxes, migration from your old platform and launch, is where most of the money goes. In 2026 Quantro Digital builds Shopify stores at fixed prices:
| Shopify build | Quantro fixed price | Typical Canadian agency | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customized premium theme, up to 100 products | From C$1,999 | C$8,000 to C$15,000 | 3 to 4 weeks |
| Semi custom design, custom homepage and key pages | From C$3,499 | C$15,000 to C$25,000 | 3 to 6 weeks |
| Fully custom design and sections, large catalogs | From C$7,999 | C$25,000 to C$40,000 | 5 to 8 weeks |
| Monthly care: updates, fixes, small changes | From C$149 | C$300 to C$2,500 | Ongoing |
Every build includes Shopify Payments and tax setup for Canada, shipping rules, migration of products and customers, SEO basics and training for your team. Add an AI shopping assistant for your store from C$559 or an AI receptionist that answers order calls from C$999. See our Shopify and e-commerce service, or get an instant estimate with the website cost calculator.
Seven ways to pay less for Shopify
- Bill yearly once you know the store is staying. It saves C$144 to C$1,536 a year.
- Use Shopify Payments so you never pay the extra 2 percent, 1 percent or 0.6 percent transaction fee.
- Start on Basic and upgrade when the break even math says so, not when a sales rep does.
- Start with a free theme and spend the budget on custom sections, photography and copy instead.
- Cut apps you do not use. Most stores we audit are paying for two or three apps nobody has opened in months.
- Turn on Shop Pay and local pickup, which raise conversion without adding cost.
- Use Shopify Email for the first 10,000 emails a month before paying for a separate email platform.
Frequently asked questions about Shopify pricing in Canada
How much is Shopify per month in Canada?
In 2026 Shopify costs C$49 a month for Basic, C$132 for Grow and C$517 for Advanced when you pay monthly. Paying yearly brings those to C$37, C$99 and C$389 a month. Shopify Plus starts at C$3,400 a month. Card processing fees and any paid apps or themes come on top.
Does Shopify charge Canadian merchants in CAD?
Yes. Shopify’s Canadian pricing page shows every plan in Canadian dollars and Canadian merchants are billed in CAD. Shopify Payments also pays out in CAD, and Interac is supported for in person sales.
What is the cheapest way to run a Shopify store?
The Basic plan billed yearly at C$37 a month with a free theme, Shopify Payments and no paid apps. Shopify Starter at about US$5 a month is cheaper, but it only gives you product links and a simple checkout for social media and messaging, not a full online store.
What are Shopify’s transaction fees in Canada?
With Shopify Payments there is no extra transaction fee, only the card rate: 2.8 percent plus 30 cents on Basic, 2.6 percent on Grow, 2.4 percent on Advanced and 2.15 percent on Plus for online orders. If you use another payment provider Shopify adds 2 percent, 1 percent, 0.6 percent or 0.2 percent respectively.
Does Shopify charge GST or HST on its fees?
Shopify charges applicable Canadian sales tax on subscription invoices for merchants in Canada, so budget GST, HST or QST on top of the plan price. If your business is registered you can normally claim it back as an input tax credit. Ask your accountant about your province.
Is Shopify Plus worth it for a Canadian brand?
Plus starts at C$3,400 a month, so the lower card rate alone only pays for it at roughly C$1.2 million in monthly online sales compared with Advanced. Brands buy Plus for the features: a fully customizable checkout, B2B catalogs, unlimited staff accounts, up to 200 POS Pro locations and priority support.
How much does it cost to have a Shopify store built in Canada?
Quantro Digital builds Shopify stores from C$1,999 for a customized theme, from C$3,499 for a semi custom design and from C$7,999 for a fully custom build, including setup, migration and launch. Typical Canadian agencies quote C$8,000 to C$40,000 for the same work. Use our website cost calculator for a fixed estimate.
Which Shopify plan should I choose in Canada?
Start on Basic at C$49 a month, or C$37 billed yearly. On yearly prices, Grow pays for itself through lower card rates at about C$31,000 a month in online sales, and Advanced at about C$145,000. Below those numbers, upgrade only if you need the extra staff accounts, reports or shipping features.
Want a Shopify store that pays for itself?
Quantro Digital builds and migrates Shopify stores for Canadian brands at fixed prices from C$1,999, with AI chat and automation built in. Book a free strategy call and we will tell you which plan to start on and what your store will cost to run, in writing, within one business day.
Sources: Shopify Canada pricing page, checked October 25, 2026; Shopify Help Center for Shopify Payments and Starter details. Prices change, so confirm on Shopify’s site before you sign up.
