Shopify vs Shopify Plus: Which is Best for Your Business?

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. What is Shopify?
3. What is Shopify Plus?
4. Key Differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus
   • Unlimited accounts for staff members
   • Complete dashboard for managing multiple stores
   • Extra support from a dedicated account manager
   • Access to the Merchant Success Program
   • Additional support resources
   • Wholesale channels for selling
   • Broader customization options
   • Comprehensive checkout control
   • More API integrations
   • Comprehensive platform integrations
   • Exclusive and unique apps
   • Powerful analytics
   • Pricing comparison
   • Comparison with Advanced Shopify, Shopify Standard, and Shopify Basic
5. When to choose Shopify Plus?
6. Final thoughts

Shopify vs. Shopify Plus: Which is the Right Option for Your Ecommerce Store?

Shopify and Shopify Plus are both powerful platforms that allow businesses to launch and manage online stores, but they cater to different needs. In this article, we will compare the two options and help you determine which one is the best fit for your business.

Introduction

In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, having a strong online presence is crucial for businesses of all sizes. Shopify is a leading ecommerce site builder that provides companies with all the tools they need to launch and run their online stores. It offers a hosted platform with features like checkout and inventory management tools, professional themes, and point-of-sale integrations as standard.

On the other hand, Shopify Plus is an upgraded version of Shopify, designed for enterprise-level businesses. It offers all the features of the standard Shopify experience, along with additional extras. With Shopify Plus, store owners have more control over their online presence, more tools for increasing sales, and better opportunities to differentiate their store from the competition.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is an ecommerce site builder that provides companies with all the necessary tools to create and manage their online stores. It offers a range of pricing plans to cater to businesses of all sizes. The core features of Shopify include checkout and inventory management tools, professionally designed themes, point-of-sale integrations, and a wide range of Shopify apps to enhance the functionality of your store.

What is Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus is the enterprise version of the Shopify platform. It is designed for large and growing businesses that require more advanced features, scalability, and customization options. Shopify Plus offers all the features of the standard Shopify experience, plus some bonus extras. It gives store owners more control over their online presence, more tools for increasing sales, and better opportunities to differentiate their store from the competition.

Key Differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus

While both Shopify and Shopify Plus offer powerful ecommerce solutions, there are several key differences between the two. Let's take a closer look at the extra functionality you can unlock with Shopify Plus:

1. Unlimited accounts for staff members

As your online store grows, you will need more staff members to manage it effectively. Unfortunately, the most expensive Shopify plan, the Advanced plan, only allows vendors to create up to 15 staff accounts. If you need more people to access your ecommerce platform, Shopify Plus is the way to go. With Shopify Plus, you can create as many staff accounts as you like, all with dedicated permission settings to control who can do what on your store. This feature allows you to set up specific accounts for customer service reps, technical administrators, and more.

2. Complete dashboard for managing multiple stores

If you're planning on using a Shopify Plus account, there's a good chance you'll also have more stores to manage. Agencies and big companies responsible for building and managing stores for other customers can benefit from Shopify Plus with its unified dashboard for managing all stores. This dashboard allows you to access everything you need to enhance the performance of each storefront, including automation tools like Shopify Flow, staff accounts, analytics, and user permissions. With unlimited staff accounts and a bulk account inviter, you can get as many people as you like involved in handling the workflows on the back end of your stores.

3. Extra support from a dedicated account manager

Shopify offers excellent customer support on all plans, but Shopify Plus takes it a step further. Each Shopify Plus customer gets a personal account manager who is responsible for ensuring that everything works properly and addressing any issues that arise. In addition to the account manager, you also get a launch engineer who can help you create your website, migrate from another platform, make custom changes to your store, and more. This level of support ensures that you have dedicated resources to help you make your store a success.

4. Access to the Merchant Success Program

In addition to support from your account manager and launch engineer, Shopify Plus customers also gain access to the Merchant Success Program. This program is a dedicated platform where business leaders can connect with experts to assist with the development and growth of their store. From Solutions Engineers to consultants, you can find the right professionals to assist with everything from sourcing the right products to leveraging integrations. Additionally, the program offers training for your team members to help them make the most of your store.

5. Additional support resources

In addition to the personalized support mentioned above, Shopify Plus customers also have access to a variety of other support resources. The platform offers a Facebook Community specifically designed for Shopify Plus users, allowing you to connect and learn from other businesses using the same solution. The Partners directory is another valuable resource, where you can find experts to help with API integrations, automation, and other advanced features. The Shopify Plus Academy provides additional learning resources to help you make the most of the platform.

6. Wholesale channels for selling

One of the great features exclusive to Shopify Plus is access to a wholesale channel. This feature allows you to create unique, password-protected storefronts for small businesses looking to buy from you in bulk. You can offer the same products to other companies, giving them a discount for bulk orders without changing the pricing of your standard store. Shopify Plus also provides tools to track wholesale orders, send invoices, and manage B2C and B2B sales simultaneously.

7. Broader customization options

One of the biggest differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus is the amount of control you have over customizing your store. While the standard Shopify plans allow you to customize your templates using the theme editor, making significant and in-depth changes can be challenging. Shopify Plus, on the other hand, provides full control over your store design. You can leverage the Shopify theme language, Liquid, and make changes on a code level in the backend. In addition to the launch manager and support from Shopify Plus experts, you can create a truly unique and personalized experience for your customers.

8. Comprehensive checkout control

With Shopify Plus, you have more control over the customization of your checkout and shopping cart. You can offer customers different shipping rates and payment options based on conditions like cart value or the location of your customers. Additionally, you can work with Shopify Scripts, an editing tool that allows you to experiment with customer fields, payment options, and more within the checkout page or shopping cart.

9. More API integrations with Shopify Plus

If you want to automate more of your processes and leverage a wider range of tools, you'll need access to APIs. While you can use some APIs with the basic Shopify plans, Shopify Plus gives you a lot more freedom. Shopify Plus provides enhanced resources like user multipass, which allows you to edit, adjust, and retrieve information about staff accounts. The gift card API lets you offer alternative multi-currency payment methods. Multi-pass, on the other hand, seamlessly redirects visitors to your Shopify store without the need for separate login credentials and automatically syncs customer data. Enterprises on Shopify can also use API solutions to create workflows with custom apps or build their own apps from scratch.

10. Comprehensive platform integrations

While small businesses can still utilize a wide range of apps from the Shopify Marketplace, Shopify Plus offers more support for connecting full platform tools to your store. This includes linking your website to third-party logistics solutions, product information management tools, enterprise resource planning platforms, and more. You can take advantage of connections with inventory and order management tools, global fulfillment partner platforms, warehouse management software, as well as CRM tools.

11. Exclusive and unique apps

As a Shopify Plus user, you gain access to a handful of exclusive apps not available on the standard plans. These powerful apps allow you to leverage a range of tools for increasing sales, automating processes, and enhancing the overall functionality of your store. For example, you can use the Wholesale Channel app to manage wholesale customers in the B2B world or the Bulk Account Inviter app to transfer customers from a different platform or store into your Shopify business. Other apps like Shopify Flow, Launchpad, Transporter, and Script Editor provide additional customization and automation options.

12. Powerful analytics

With Shopify Plus, you gain access to more advanced analytics capabilities to gain deeper insights into your online store's performance. While the basic Shopify plans offer access to an analytics dashboard where you can track top products, sales, referrals, and landing page performance, Shopify Plus takes it a step further. You can integrate leading analytics solutions to track industry trends and their impact on your sales. The advanced report builder allows you to create professional reports and share them with other stakeholders. From tracking sales from gift cards to analyzing customer behavior on social media, Shopify Plus provides robust analytics tools to help you grow your business.

Pricing Comparison

One of the significant considerations for businesses is pricing. Let's compare the pricing of Shopify and Shopify Plus:

Shopify offers a range of pricing plans, starting with the Basic Shopify plan at $29 per month, the Shopify plan at $79 per month, and the Advanced Shopify plan at $299 per month. The pricing remains the same each month, regardless of your sales numbers.

Shopify Plus, on the other hand, takes a different approach to pricing. The pricing is not specified on the Shopify website and requires speaking to a sales expert to calculate the total cost based on your specific requirements. In most cases, pricing starts around $2,000 per month or about 0.25% of the sales you generate each month, capped at $40,000. Additionally, if you are not using Shopify's built-in payment gateway, you will still need to pay transaction fees ranging from 0.15% to 0.30% of each transaction.

Comparison with Advanced Shopify, Shopify Standard, and Shopify Basic

To provide a comprehensive comparison, let's also briefly look at three other plans offered by Shopify: Advanced Shopify, Shopify Standard, and Shopify Basic.

Advanced Shopify

The closest premium plan to Shopify Plus is the Advanced Shopify plan. It is designed for businesses selling large volumes of products without venturing into the enterprise space. The advanced plan offers unlimited storage capacity, third-party calculated shipping rates, up to 15 staff accounts, automation tools, customized reporting options, and more. The fees for transactions are lower than on other Shopify plans. For online transactions, the fee starts at 2.4% plus 30 cents, while in-person transactions cost 2.4% of your sales. At a price of $299 per month, Advanced Shopify is more affordable than Shopify Plus and still comes with most of the key features businesses might need.

Shopify Standard

The Shopify standard plan, priced at $79 per month, is a popular choice for many businesses. It offers all the features of the basic plan, such as up to five staff accounts, gift card support, performance reports, and an abandoned cart recovery tool. This plan also allows you to sell internationally, enabling country-specific currency conversions and domains. Transaction fees for online sales start at 2.6% plus 30 cents, while in-person transactions cost 2.5%.

Shopify Basic

Shopify Basic is a simpler plan intended for smaller store owners who are just starting to build their online presence. Priced at $29 per month, it offers features like unlimited listings for products you can sell via social media channels and online marketplaces, card readers for an additional fee, and basic reports and analytics. The fees for online purchases start at 2.9% plus 30 cents, and in-person transactions cost 2.7%.

When to choose Shopify Plus?

While the regular Shopify plans offer most of the ecommerce features businesses need to run an effective store, there are instances where investing in Shopify Plus might make sense, such as:

• If you have multiple stores that need management: Shopify Plus is a great choice if you have a lot of stores to manage. The unified dashboard allows you to access everything you need to enhance the performance of each storefront, including automation tools, staff accounts, analytics, and user permissions.
• If you have a large international customer base: Shopify Plus is ideal if you have a large customer base across different countries, as it offers automatic currency conversion and country-specific pricing.
• If you have specific API and integration requirements: If you need custom tools and want more API integrations to automate processes and connect various platforms to your store, Shopify Plus provides the flexibility to cater to your specific needs.
• If you want comprehensive control over the checkout experience: Shopify Plus gives you more control over customizing the checkout and shopping cart. You can offer customers different shipping rates, payment options, and customization options based on various conditions.
• If you have a large team that needs access and management tools: With Shopify Plus, you have unlimited staff accounts and dedicated permission settings, making it easier to manage large teams and control who can do what on your store.
• If you want access to exclusive tools and services: Shopify Plus offers powerful exclusive tools like the wholesale channel app, the bulk account inviter app, Shopify Flow, Launchpad, Transporter, and more. These tools allow you to increase sales, automate processes, and enhance the overall functionality of your store.

It's worth noting that Shopify Plus is an expensive option, particularly for small companies. Unless you're selling a significant number of products across multiple stores or platforms, Shopify Plus may not be necessary. However, if you're a growing business with a large customer base and sales, the additional support and tools offered by Shopify Plus could be well worth the investment.

Final thoughts

Shopify and Shopify Plus both offer robust ecommerce solutions, but they cater to different needs. If you're a small to medium-sized business looking for a reliable and feature-rich ecommerce platform, the standard Shopify plans will likely meet your requirements. However, if you're an enterprise-level business with specific needs like managing multiple stores, requiring advanced customization options, and accessing personalized support and exclusive features, then Shopify Plus may be the right option for your business.

Remember to thoroughly evaluate your business needs and budget constraints before making a decision. Take advantage of the free trial period offered by Shopify to test the platform and see if it aligns with your goals. Ultimately, the right choice between Shopify and Shopify Plus will depend on your unique business requirements and long-term growth strategy.

If you're ready to get started with Shopify, make sure to use the link in the description to sign up and get your first three months for just one dollar. We hope this comparison guide has helped you gain a better understanding of the differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus and has provided insights to choose the right option for your ecommerce store.