Shopify Review UK: Pricing, Fees and Why I Use It (October 2026)
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Quick answer: Shopify is what I use for every online shop I build, and I code most websites from scratch. That should tell you something. In the UK, Basic is £25 a month (£19 billed yearly), card fees start at 2% + 25p online, and new stores get 3 days free followed by £1 a month for 3 months on most plans. It is not the cheapest way to sell online, but it is the one clients can run themselves without calling me.
Start a Shopify store with the £1-a-month trial
Shopify at a Glance
| UK plans | Basic £25, Grow £65, Advanced £344 a month |
| Yearly billing | £19, £49, £259 a month |
| Trial | 3 days free, then £1 a month for 3 months on most plans |
| Online card fee (Basic) | 2% + 25p |
| In-person card fee (Basic) | 1.7% |
| Fee for other payment providers | 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced |
| Hosting, SSL, security | Included |
| VAT | Fees exclude VAT, per Shopify's terms |
Prices from Shopify's UK pricing page on 6 October 2026.
The Shops I Have Built on Shopify
I run Glide Marketing, a UK digital marketing agency, and we build websites. Most of those I now build from scratch with AI coding tools. Online shops are the exception. Anything e-commerce goes on Shopify.
Shopify stores I have built or led:
- The EV Pros shop, the online shop for The EV Pros, the EV business I run with my dad. It sells insulated tools, PPE and workshop safety kit.
- SAM Leisure's trade store, a trade-only shop I moved off WordPress onto Shopify. I wrote up that process in my WordPress to Shopify migration checklist.
- Number Six, a designer clothing shop in Chelmsford.
- The Skincare Club, moved from WordPress to Shopify and built by my team at Glide.
So this review is from the side of the person setting stores up and then handing them to owners who are not technical.
Why I Still Pick Shopify
Clients can run it themselves. Logging in, adding a product, changing a price, refunding an order: owners pick this up in an afternoon. That matters more than anything else on this list, because a shop the owner cannot update is a shop that goes stale.
The app is good. Owners get order notifications and can fulfil, refund and edit products from their phone.
It is simple. Hosting, the SSL certificate, security and updates are Shopify's problem. There is no plugin that breaks after an update at 11pm.
Help is everywhere. Shopify has a huge support network, a big app store and a developer community. Whatever a client asks, someone has already solved it.
It works with AI coding tools. This is the part that has changed how I build. Shopify's command-line tool lets me work on a theme locally with a live preview, and Shopify's own AI Toolkit officially supports Claude Code, Codex and Cursor. I can build a custom theme with Claude Code and still hand the client a normal Shopify admin. That is the best of both.
Shopify UK Pricing in Full
| Basic | Grow | Advanced | Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | £25 | £65 | £344 | From £1,800 |
| Billed yearly | £19 a month | £49 a month | £259 a month | n/a |
| Online card rate | 2% + 25p | 1.7% + 25p | 1.5% + 25p | 1.3% + 25p |
| Amex and international cards | 3.1% + 25p | 2.7% + 25p | 2.5% + 25p | 2.3% + 25p |
| In-person card rate | 1.7% | 1.6% | 1.5% | 1.5% |
| Other payment provider fee | 2% | 1% | 0.6% | 0.2% |
| Staff accounts | None | 5 | 15 | Unlimited |
Two things catch UK shops out:
- EU cards count as international. A customer paying with a French or German card is charged at the international rate, 3.1% + 25p on Basic.
- Shopify's fees exclude VAT. Budget for it on top unless you are VAT registered.
The old Starter plan is closed to new stores. There is now a £0 "Agentic" plan for selling only through AI shopping channels, which cannot run a normal online shop.
The Free Trial
Shopify's UK pricing page currently offers 3 days free with no card needed, then £1 a month for the first 3 months on most plans. On Basic that is £72 less than paying full price for those 3 months.
If you build the store with an AI tool, Shopify's help centre says the trial is currently 4 months instead. Lovable's Shopify integration is one of those routes, which I cover in my Lovable review.
Claim the £1-a-month Shopify trial
Which Plan Should You Pick?
- Basic suits most small UK shops: one owner, a few hundred orders a month at most.
- Grow makes sense once your card fees are high enough that the lower rate (1.7% instead of 2%) covers the extra £40 a month, or you need staff logins.
- Advanced is for bigger teams and higher volume.
Work it out from your turnover. At £5,000 a month in online card sales, moving from Basic to Grow saves about £15 a month in card fees, nowhere near the £40 difference. The break-even is roughly £13,000 a month in online card sales.
What I Do Not Like
- Card fees add up. 2% + 25p on every order is a real cost on low-value products.
- The other-provider fee. Use PayPal or Stripe instead of Shopify Payments and you pay an extra 2% on Basic on top of their fees.
- Apps cost extra. Plenty of features that feel basic, like advanced reviews or subscriptions, are paid apps with their own monthly fees.
- Fixed URL structure. Products always live under /products/ and collections under /collections/. It rarely matters, but SEO people notice.
- It is a monthly bill forever. A self-hosted WooCommerce shop can be cheaper on paper. The full comparison is in my Shopify vs WooCommerce UK costs guide.
Shopify or Something Else?
Shopify vs WooCommerce: WooCommerce is free to install, but hosting, plugins and maintenance are on you. Shopify bundles all of that. For a client who wants to run their own shop, I pick Shopify. See my Shopify vs WooCommerce UK breakdown.
Shopify vs Etsy: Etsy brings buyers but takes a bigger cut and keeps the customer. Shopify gives you the customer but you bring the buyers. I sell digital products on Etsy for exactly that reason, which I explain in Etsy vs Shopify.
Shopify vs an AI app builder: tools like Lovable are great for calculators and simple apps. For a real shop with stock, payments and orders, I would not use anything other than a proper store platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is Shopify a month in the UK?
Basic is £25, Grow £65 and Advanced £344 a month, or £19, £49 and £259 a month billed yearly. Fees exclude VAT.
What are Shopify's UK card fees?
2% + 25p online on Basic, 1.7% + 25p on Grow and 1.5% + 25p on Advanced. In person, 1.7% on Basic.
Does Shopify have a free trial?
Yes. 3 days free, then £1 a month for 3 months on most plans.
Is Shopify worth it for a small UK business?
For selling physical products online, yes in my experience, mainly because owners can run it without a developer.
Can I still get the Starter plan?
No. Shopify has closed it to new stores.
Can I build a Shopify store with AI?
Yes. Shopify's AI Toolkit supports Claude Code, Codex and Cursor, and Lovable can build a Shopify storefront from a chat.
The Verdict
Shopify is the one part of my web work I have not moved to building from scratch, because the thing that matters most in a shop is that the owner can run it. It costs more each month than the alternatives, and the card fees are real. In exchange you get a shop that works, a client who can update it, and a platform that now plays nicely with AI coding tools.
Start your Shopify store with the £1-a-month trial
More Guides
- Shopify vs WooCommerce UK: real costs
- WordPress to Shopify migration checklist
- Etsy vs Shopify for UK sellers
- Lovable review
Mike McDonnell. I write The Growth Toolkit, a free Sunday email on getting the most out of AI, with the setups I use explained in plain English.
Other referral codes worth using
Mike McDonnell
Entrepreneur, author, and mental health advocate based in Great Notley, Braintree, Essex. I write about building businesses while managing bipolar disorder.
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