Shopify's pricing is partially transparent — you can see the plan costs on their website. What's less obvious is the full picture: themes, apps, payment processing, and professional setup. Here's an honest breakdown of what a Shopify store actually costs a UK small business.
Shopify's monthly plans
| Plan | Monthly cost | Key features |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | £19/month | 2 staff accounts, basic reports, standard checkout |
| Shopify | £49/month | 5 staff accounts, professional reports, lower transaction fees |
| Advanced | £259/month | 15 staff accounts, advanced reports, lowest transaction fees |
Most small businesses starting out are well-served by the Basic plan. The main reasons to upgrade are: needing more staff accounts, wanting more detailed sales reports, or reaching a sales volume where the lower transaction fees on higher plans save money.
Shopify also offers an annual billing discount — paying yearly saves around 25% compared to monthly.
Transaction fees
If you use Shopify Payments (Shopify's built-in payment processor, available to UK businesses), there are no additional transaction fees. You pay only the payment processing fee: 2% + 25p per online transaction on Basic, reducing on higher plans.
If you use a third-party payment gateway (PayPal, Stripe, etc.) instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an additional fee: 2% on Basic, 1% on Shopify, 0.5% on Advanced. For most UK businesses, using Shopify Payments avoids this entirely.
Theme costs
Shopify has free themes. The current default, Dawn, is clean, fast, and conversion-focused. For many small businesses, a properly configured free theme is entirely adequate.
Premium themes cost £150–£350 as a one-time purchase. They typically offer more design options, additional features, and sometimes better performance for specific industries (fashion, food, homewares). Worth considering if your brand requires a specific aesthetic that free themes can't achieve.
One important note: buying an expensive theme doesn't automatically make your store look good. The design decisions, photography, and product presentation matter far more than the theme price.
App costs
The Shopify App Store has thousands of apps — and many of them cost money. Common additions that small stores end up installing:
| App category | Example | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews | Judge.me, Loox | Free–£15/month |
| Email marketing | Klaviyo, Omnisend | Free–£30/month |
| Subscriptions | Recharge, Bold | £10–£40/month |
| Shipping automation | ShipStation, Shipwire | £9–£30/month |
| Loyalty / rewards | Smile.io | Free–£50/month |
| Upsell / cross-sell | ReConvert | £5–£15/month |
Not every store needs all of these. A simple store selling a handful of products might only need a reviews app and an email tool — adding £10–£20/month. A more complex store with subscriptions, loyalty schemes, and shipping automation could add £80–£100/month in app costs.
One of the advantages of working with a Shopify Partner is knowing which apps are actually worth installing for your specific business — and which are unnecessary costs.
Professional setup costs
Setting up Shopify yourself is possible. Getting it set up properly — fast, well-designed, SEO-ready, with correct payment and shipping configuration — is where professional help adds real value.
As a Shopify Partner, CloudLaunch builds Shopify stores for small businesses. Our setup typically includes:
- Theme selection and customisation to your brand
- Store settings configuration (payments, shipping, tax)
- Product setup (or guidance on your own setup)
- On-page SEO for product and collection pages
- Launch testing and go-live support
The cost of professional Shopify setup sits in the same range as a professional website build — typically £800–£2,500 depending on complexity, number of products, and the amount of customisation required.
What to budget realistically
For a small UK business launching a Shopify store:
| Item | Estimated cost |
|---|---|
| Shopify Basic plan | £19/month |
| Domain name | £10–£15/year |
| Theme (free or premium) | £0–£350 one-off |
| Essential apps | £10–£40/month |
| Professional setup | £800–£2,500 one-off |
| Ongoing monthly total | ~£30–£60/month |
The professional setup cost is a one-time investment. After that, the ongoing cost of running a Shopify store is typically £30–£60/month depending on which apps you use.
Is Shopify worth it?
For a business primarily selling products online, yes — with the right setup. A store that converts well and ranks on Google will pay back the investment relatively quickly. A store that's poorly set up, slow to load, and hard to find won't.
If you're considering Shopify, get in touch and we'll give you an honest picture of what's involved for your specific business.