Compute Shopify Payments processing fees across the Basic, Shopify, Advanced, and Plus plan tiers, online or in person. Forward: amount → net. Reverse: net → what to charge. Fees last updated 2026-04.
How Shopify Payments fees work
Shopify charges merchants in two places: a monthly subscription for access to the storefront, plus a per-transaction processing fee on every sale. The processing fee is what this calculator models. It has two moving parts — the plan you pay for (Basic, Shopify, Advanced, or Plus) and whether the buyer checked out online or in person. Higher plans get cheaper rates, and in-person swipes are cheaper than online card-not-present transactions across the board.
Shopify Payments is the native processor, and using it is the cheapest path. If you prefer an external gateway — Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net — Shopify adds a transaction-fee surcharge on top of whatever that gateway charges you. The surcharge ranges from 2% on Basic down to just 0.15% on Plus, so for high-volume merchants the math of switching away from Shopify Payments gets reasonable. Small shops almost always come out ahead sticking with Shopify Payments.
Frequently asked questions
Which Shopify plan gives me the best processing rate?
The higher the plan, the cheaper the processing rate. Basic is 2.9% + $0.30 online; Plus drops to 2.15% + $0.30. The break-even point depends on your monthly volume — upgrading from Basic ($39/mo) to Shopify ($105/mo) saves you 0.2% per transaction online, so the extra $66 in subscription pays for itself at about $33,000 in monthly sales. Run the numbers in this calculator at your actual volume before upgrading.
What is the third-party gateway fee?
If you use a payment processor other than Shopify Payments — Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, etc. — Shopify charges you a transaction-fee surcharge on top of whatever that external processor charges. The surcharge is 2% on Basic, 1% on Shopify, 0.5% on Advanced, and 0.15% on Plus. It's Shopify's way of recouping the processing margin they lose when you route payments elsewhere. For most shops, Shopify Payments is cheaper overall.
Why are in-person rates cheaper than online?
Card networks treat card-present (physical chip/swipe) transactions as lower risk than card-not-present (online-entered card numbers) — fraud rates are dramatically higher online. Networks pass the lower risk along as a lower interchange rate, and Shopify's in-person rates reflect that. Basic drops from 2.9% + $0.30 online to 2.6% + $0.10 in-person. For a brick-and-mortar shop, that's a meaningful margin improvement.
Does Shopify charge me anything beyond the processing fee?
Yes, but not on this calculator. There's the monthly subscription ($39 Basic → $2,300+ Plus), shipping-label costs if you buy through Shopify Shipping, and optional costs for apps from the Shopify App Store. Shopify also collects sales tax via Shopify Tax on some plans — that's passed through to the buyer, not a cost to the merchant. This calculator shows only the per-transaction processing fee.
Does the Shopify plan tier affect in-person rates the same way as online?
Yes, though the effect is smaller. In-person rates drop from 2.6% + $0.10 on Basic to 2.4% + $0.10 on Advanced. Plus is the same as Advanced in-person (2.4% is the floor). Because in-person already starts cheaper, the absolute dollars saved by upgrading are smaller — but for high-volume retail, even 0.2% off hundreds of daily transactions adds up quickly.