Shopify Basic is the cheapest full online store Shopify sells, at US$39 a month on monthly billing or US$29 a month billed annually. For a business starting out, that price is hard to argue with. The monthly fee is the smallest cost on the plan, though, and as sales grow, the larger costs sit in the percentage Shopify takes on every order, the staff accounts Basic doesn't include and the workarounds your team builds around the plan's limits.
Basic stops being the cheap option at a point you can calculate. Most NZ businesses pass that point earlier than they expect, and some never reach it. The arithmetic below uses Shopify's published rates as at October 2026, ex GST. Plan fees are charged in US dollars and card processing in NZ dollars, so treat the sales thresholds as the US dollar equivalent of your revenue.
What Basic costs beyond the monthly fee
Processing fees on every order
On Basic, Shopify Payments charges 2.65% plus 30 cents on domestic online card payments and 1.8% on in-person payments. Grow, the next plan up, charges 2.45% plus 30 cents online and 1.65% in person. The 30 cents is the same on both plans, so the difference comes entirely from the percentage: 0.2 points online and 0.15 points in person.
If you use a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, the gap is far wider. Shopify adds 2% to every transaction processed through another provider on Basic, against 1% on Grow. That fee sits on top of whatever the provider charges.
Staff accounts
Basic includes no additional staff accounts beyond the store owner. Grow includes five. A business where two or three people process orders, answer customers and update products ends up sharing one login, and that carries a cost the invoice never shows: there is no record of who refunded an order, changed a price or deleted a product, and access can't be removed from one person without changing it for everyone. When a staff member leaves, the password has to change for the whole team.
Apps and manual work
Some of the costs blamed on Basic are the same on every plan. Reviews, subscriptions, loyalty and email apps cost the same on Basic as on Grow or Advanced, and Shopify Flow automation is available on every paid plan. Moving up a plan doesn't remove those subscriptions. The plan-specific costs are narrower: no live courier rates at checkout, no custom report builder and no extra staff seats. Each one either costs app fees to work around or costs time.
The break-even between Basic and Grow
Grow costs US$66 a month more than Basic on monthly billing, or US$50 a month more on annual billing. The question is when Grow's lower fees cover that difference.
If you use Shopify Payments
The online card rate drops by 0.2 points on Grow. That covers the US$66 monthly difference at around US$33,000 a month in online card sales, or US$25,000 a month if you compare annual billing. For in-person sales, the 0.15 point difference covers the gap at around US$44,000 a month.
As an illustration, a store taking the equivalent of US$20,000 a month in online card payments pays about US$530 a month in percentage fees on Basic and about US$490 on Grow. The US$40 saving doesn't cover the higher plan fee, so on fees alone Basic remains the cheaper plan for that store.
If you use a third-party payment provider
The third-party fee drops from 2% to 1% on Grow, a full percentage point. The US$66 monthly difference is covered at around US$6,600 a month in sales through that provider, or US$5,000 a month on annual billing. The same US$20,000-a-month store would pay US$400 a month in Shopify's third-party fee on Basic and US$200 on Grow, saving US$200 against a US$66 plan difference. A store on an external gateway passes the break-even at very modest volume, and should also check whether Shopify Payments would be cheaper overall.
Adding the staff cost
Fees are the part of the calculation you can read from a statement. Staff access belongs in it too. If one wrong refund, one unexplained price change or one afternoon spent resetting shared passwords would cost the business more than US$66, the staff accounts on Grow are worth paying for whatever your sales figure. For most businesses with even two people in the admin, the staff limit decides the move before the fees do.
When to skip Grow and go to Advanced
Some businesses on Basic should move straight to Advanced. Advanced costs US$399 a month on monthly billing, or US$299 billed annually, and adds three things that Grow doesn't include.
Live courier rates at checkout
Advanced includes third-party calculated shipping rates as standard, so checkout can show live rates from your courier or freight aggregator. On Basic, shipping is set up as flat or weight-based rates in Shopify, and those rates drift away from what couriers charge as parcels get bulkier or addresses get more remote. A business shipping heavy goods or sending regularly to rural New Zealand either overcharges customers, which costs conversions, or undercharges and absorbs the gap. Our guide to matching Shopify shipping rates to what you pay covers how to measure that gap.
Custom reports
Every plan includes Shopify's analytics and standard reports. Advanced adds the custom report builder. If someone currently exports orders to a spreadsheet each week to see sales by supplier, region or customer type, that time is a real cost the report builder removes.
More staff and lower fees
Advanced includes fifteen staff accounts and drops the online card rate to 2.35% and the third-party fee to 0.6%. For a growing team, the staff accounts alone can justify the move from Basic.
The calculation most owners leave out
Changing plans doesn't change your conversion rate. A customer sees the same theme, the same product pages and the same checkout on Basic as on Grow or Advanced. Any article promising that an upgrade will lift sales is mixing up the plan with the build. If the store isn't converting, the cause sits in the store itself, and our article on improving your Shopify conversion rate covers where to look.
The calculation that matters compares the total cost of running the store on each plan: the plan fee, the percentage fees at your actual sales and payment mix, the apps you pay for to work around plan limits and the hours your team spends on manual workarounds. We set out every line of that total in the true cost of running a Shopify store. Run it with your own figures from the last three months, and the right plan is usually obvious.
Signs Basic is costing you money
- More than one person uses the same Shopify login.
- You process payments through a third-party provider and sell more than the equivalent of a few thousand US dollars a month.
- Your online card sales through Shopify Payments are above the equivalent of US$33,000 a month.
- Customers query shipping charges or your team refunds shipping differences by hand.
- Someone builds a weekly report in a spreadsheet because the standard reports don't show what the business needs.
One sign on its own may not justify a change. Two or more, and the cheapest plan has become the more expensive one to stay on.
When Basic is still the right plan
Basic remains the right choice for a business with one person running the store, sales comfortably below the break-even thresholds, Shopify Payments as the payment provider and simple flat-rate shipping that matches courier costs closely enough. Plenty of well-run specialist stores fit that description, and paying for Grow would add cost without adding anything they use.
At the other end of the scale, the plan conversation eventually turns to Shopify Plus, which solves a different set of problems around checkout rules, trade pricing and multiple storefronts. If you aren't sure whether the friction in your store comes from the plan or from the build, a website audit will separate the two before you spend money on either.
Common questions
Is Shopify Basic enough for a small business in New Zealand?
It can be. Basic suits a store run by one person, using Shopify Payments, selling below about US$33,000 a month online and shipping at flat rates that match courier costs. Once more than one person needs admin access, or you need live courier rates at checkout, Grow or Advanced becomes the better value even though the monthly fee is higher.
How much does Shopify Basic cost in NZ?
Basic costs US$39 a month on monthly billing or US$29 a month billed annually, charged in US dollars and quoted here ex GST. On top of that, Shopify Payments charges 2.65% plus 30 cents on domestic online card payments and 1.8% in person, in NZ dollars. Using a third-party payment provider adds a 2% Shopify fee to each transaction.
When should I upgrade from Shopify Basic to Grow?
Upgrade when the fee savings or the staff accounts are worth more than the US$66 monthly difference. On Shopify Payments, the lower card rate covers it at around US$33,000 a month in online sales. With a third-party payment provider, it covers it at around US$6,600 a month. If two or more people need their own logins, upgrade regardless of sales.
Does upgrading my Shopify plan increase sales?
No, not directly. Customers see the same theme, product pages and checkout on Basic, Grow and Advanced. A higher plan lowers fees and adds staff accounts, live shipping rates and reporting, but it doesn't change how well the store converts. Sales improve when the store itself improves: clearer product pages, accurate shipping costs, faster load times and a smoother checkout path.
Do Shopify Basic stores pay higher transaction fees?
Yes. Basic has the highest processing rates of the standard plans: 2.65% plus 30 cents on domestic online card payments through Shopify Payments, against 2.45% on Grow and 2.35% on Advanced. The gap is larger with a third-party payment provider, where Shopify adds 2% per transaction on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced.
