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Read time : 7 min
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Published on 04-07-2024
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Article
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Read time : 7 min
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Published on 04-07-2024
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Shopify Vs Shopify Plus Head-to-Head Comparison: Pros, Cons and Features

Aakanksha Sharma
Aakanksha Sharma
Content Marketer
Shopify Vs Shopify Plus Head-to-Head Comparison: Pros, Cons and Features

So you've decided it's time to start an online store but can't decide between Shopify and Shopify Plus. Shopify is ideal for small to midsize businesses looking for an easy-to-use solution to sell products online. Shopify Plus caters to enterprise brands with more complex needs.

This head-to-head comparison will give you the lowdown on pricing, features, pros, cons, and more so you can determine which platform fits your needs. By the end of this guide, you'll know whether the standard Shopify plan with its simple setup and low monthly fees is sufficient, or if you require the advanced features and scalability of Shopify Plus to support your growing company.

Let's dive in and see how Shopify and Shopify Plus compare.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is an ecommerce platform that allows you to easily set up an online store to sell your products. Over 1 million businesses use Shopify, from small mom-and-pop shops to large Fortune 500 companies.

With Shopify, you get everything you need to start selling right away. You can choose from hundreds of professional themes to give your store a stylish look. You also get a secure payment gateway, shipping integrations, and marketing tools to help promote your products.

Key Features I like from Shopify:

  • Easy to use drag and drop store builder
  • 100+ modern, responsive themes
  • Secure payment processing with Shopify Payments
  • Discounted USPS shipping rates
  • 24/7 support via phone, email or live chat
  • Apps and plugins to enhance your store
  • Marketing tools like email marketing, social media integrations and gift cards

Shopify takes the hassle out of setting up an online store. For a small monthly fee, they handle all the technical details so you can focus on your business. You don’t need any coding experience to get started, and you can be selling your products within a few hours.

For larger brands, Shopify Plus offers additional features like a dedicated account manager, increased API limits, and custom store design. Pricing for Shopify Plus starts at $2,000/month.

In summary, Shopify is an easy to use, scalable ecommerce solution for businesses of all sizes. If you want to start selling online, Shopify is a great place to begin your entrepreneurial journey!

What is Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus is the enterprise version of Shopify, designed for high-volume merchants and brands. If you have outgrown the basic Shopify plan, Plus offers advanced features to help scale your business.

Key Features I like from Shopify Plus:

  • Customized Checkout : With Shopify Plus, you get a customized checkout experience. You can edit the default checkout template or build your own to match your brand. options like gift cards, promotional codes and calculated shipping rates.
  • Advanced Reporting: Robust analytics and reporting tools provide insights into customer lifetime value, cart abandonment, and sales trends over time so you can make data-driven decisions. Export reports to share with stakeholders.
  • Dedicated Support: Shopify Plus comes with a dedicated account manager, priority support, and exclusive resources to help optimize your store. They can help you create marketing plans, optimize your checkout, and plan for seasonal peaks.
  • Flexible APIs: Powerful API access allows you to customize every aspect of your store by integrating third-party apps or building your own custom apps tailored to your business needs. Robust API documentation makes development accessible for technical and non-technical users alike.
  • Accelerated Mobile Pages: Your product pages are automatically optimized for mobile devices so customers can quickly find what they need on any screen. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) load instantly, increasing page views and sales.

With a customized platform, advanced features, and dedicated support, Shopify Plus provides enterprise-level ecommerce capabilities so you can focus on growing your business. The additional expense of Plus is well worth it for high-volume brands and those looking to scale.

Bonus: Shopify Plus Headless eCommerce

Shopify Plus also enables headless ecommerce, meaning you can manage content and customer data through a central system while using Shopify's APIs to power your storefront. This decoupled approach allows for:

  • Greater flexibility and control over your front end. You can develop custom-built storefronts using any framework or CMS, while still utilizing Shopify's robust back end.
  • Integrating Shopify with existing systems. You can integrate Shopify's cart, checkout and order management with your existing web properties.
  • Faster development. Developers can build front ends independently of Shopify's backend, speeding up the development process.

If you have outgrown the basic Shopify plan and need more control, flexibility and personalized guidance, Shopify Plus is worth exploring to see if it can help propel your business to the next level.

Shopify Vs ShopifyPlus: Pricing

Whether you have a small business or a large enterprise, pricing plays an important role in choosing an ecommerce platform. Shopify and Shopify Plus cater to different budgets and business sizes.

Shopify’s pricing is straightforward and affordable, starting at $29/month. This Basic Shopify plan is ideal for new store owners or small product lines. It includes a customizable online store, unlimited products, 24/7 support, and more.

The Shopify plan at $79/month is suited for growing businesses, with access to gift cards, professional reports and abandoned cart recovery. The Advanced Shopify plan at $299/month provides the highest level of functionality, including advanced report building and third-party calculated shipping rates.

In contrast, Shopify Plus starts at $2,000/month for enterprises with high-volume sales. It is tailored to large companies with more complex needs. Shopify Plus offers multi-location inventory management, API access, and dedicated account support. Pricing is customized based on your business requirements.

While the monthly cost of Shopify can seem higher, their transaction fees are lower than Shopify Plus. Shopify charges 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction. Shopify Plus has a 0.5-0.75% transaction fee for the first $1M in monthly sales and 0.25-0.5% after for enterprise merchants.

My Verdict - For small to midsize stores on a budget, Shopify’s affordable and scalable plans are ideal. Large enterprises will benefit most from a customized Shopify Plus solution and lower transaction fees.

Shopify Vs ShopifyPlus: Features

When comparing Shopify and Shopify Plus, the features and capabilities are where the biggest differences come into play. Shopify offers solid core ecommerce features for small to midsize businesses, while Shopify Plus is an enterprise ecommerce platform made for large companies with complex needs.

Shopify’s features include:

  • A user-friendly website builder with templates
  • Integrated payment processing with Shopify Payments
  • Shipping and fulfillment integration with carriers like USPS, UPS and DHL
  • A mobile commerce app to manage your store on the go
  • Marketing tools like email, social media and SEO to help drive sales
  • Over 2,000 apps to extend your store’s functionality

Shopify Plus builds on these features and also offers:

  • Advanced customization of your store with a liquid API and custom storefront
  • Robust API access for complex integrations
  • Wholesale channel tools to sell to other retailers
  • Inventory and order management features for high-volume stores
  • Dedicated support team and success manager
  • Enterprise-level security and hosting infrastructure
  • Additional apps and integrations geared toward large brands

While the core features are quite similar across both platforms, Shopify Plus is designed to handle significantly higher sales volume, more customization needs and complex business processes. The enterprise-level features, dedicated support, and infrastructure of Shopify Plus cater to large brands with more sophisticated operations.

My Verdict: For small to midsize stores, Shopify’s features are likely sufficient, user-friendly and budget-friendly. But as your business scales, the advanced functionality of Shopify Plus helps ensure you have a platform that can support your growth. Evaluating your needs and future goals can help determine which solution is the best fit.

Scalability: Which Platform Is Best for Growing Businesses

If you're looking to scale your business over time, Shopify Plus is the better option. Shopify's platform is ideal for small to midsize stores, but can become limiting as your business grows. Shopify Plus, on the other hand, is built to handle high-volume stores with more advanced needs.

  1. Unlimited everything

With Shopify Plus, you get unlimited everything - bandwidth, storage, products, apps, and more. No need to worry about overages or upgrade fees. This gives you the freedom to expand without constraints.

  1. Faster loading

Shopify Plus uses a high-performance infrastructure that can handle up to 10,000 checkouts per minute and billions of page views per month. Your store will load lightning fast, even during busy periods like holiday sales or flash promotions. Customers will have a seamless experience whether they're on mobile, desktop or an app.

  1. Advanced features

Shopify Plus offers many features ideal for enterprise brands, like:

  • A wholesale channel to easily sell to retailers
  • An advanced POS for managing multiple locations
  • taxes for global selling
  • App and data access controls
  • Multi-location inventory management

These sophisticated capabilities would be difficult to achieve with regular Shopify.

  1. Dedicated support

As a Shopify Plus merchant, you'll have a dedicated success manager and 24/7 support from Shopify experts. They'll help you optimize your store, troubleshoot issues and offer guidance to overcome challenges as you scale.

While more expensive, Shopify Plus is the best choice if you want an ecommerce platform that can handle significant growth and complexity. The additional features, functionality and dedicated support will ensure your business reaches its full potential.

Final Verdict: Deciding Between Shopify vs Shopify Plus

So, should you choose Shopify or Shopify Plus? The choice ultimately comes down to your business needs, budget, and growth plans.

Shopify is ideal if:

  • You have a small to medium-sized business
  • You're on a tight budget
  • You want an easy-to-use solution to get an online store up and running quickly
  • You don't require advanced features like custom APIs or dedicated support

Shopify Plus is better suited if:

  • You have a large, high-volume business
  • You need a highly scalable solution to support your growth
  • You require custom features, dedicated support, and API access
  • Budget isn't a major concern and you want the best solution for your enterprise
  • You value exclusive features like cart scripts, storefront API, and POS Pro

Both platforms are competitively priced for what they offer and can work for businesses of varying sizes. Shopify Plus simply provides more advanced tools and dedicated resources for larger companies with more complex needs.

If you're still unsure which to choose, consider starting with Shopify's 14-day free trial to experience the platform. You can then upgrade to Shopify Plus at any time as your business grows. The choice is yours - go with what feels right for your company and budget right now. You really can't go wrong with either solution, but one may suit your particular needs better at this point in time. Think long-term, but start small and scale up as needed.

Whichever you decide, I wish you the very best of success with your ecommerce store! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Conclusion

So there you have it, the key differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus laid out for you. As you can see, while the platforms share some similarities in their offerings, Shopify Plus is really geared more toward high-volume and enterprise businesses. The additional features, functionality, support, and scalability that come with the Plus plan are ideal if you're anticipating a ton of orders and traffic, or need more advanced customization and integrations. For smaller businesses just getting started though, the standard Shopify plan should work great and help you build a solid foundation to grow from. At the end of the day, you know your business and needs best, so go with the option that you think will set you up for success, both now and into the future. Happy selling!