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Shopify Plus vs. Shopify: Choosing the Right Plan for Your Business Needs in 2025

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Shopify Plus vs. Shopify

We live in an era that is purely driven by dynamic technology; everything is ONLINE! Adapting this new normal gradually prompts the business owners to chase faster in search of the ideal eCommerce platform. In this transition, the highest priority is given to the customers’ satisfaction, which only a really credible platform can satisfy their ever-demanding needs. 

Out of the most powerful eCommerce platforms, Shopify and Shopify Plus are two that are widely used by small, medium, or large businesses–But even then, just a few can settle on and finalize the decision to choose the most suited eCommerce platform for themselves, especially when they are struggling to manage the sales and customer orders across multiple channels. 

Well, this is when the Shopify vs Shopify Plus debate arises, exposing the nuanced differences in managing your business’s scalability. Shopify Ecommerce Development Services have been regarded as one of the best ecommerce options of 2025 by Forbes, offering tailored solutions to businesses. It has become a household name in ecommerce and offers an easy-to-use interface, customizable options, and top-notch customer support.

Ready to kick start your new project? Get a free quote today.

While the standard Shopify features serve small and medium businesses adequately, scaling demands upgrading to advanced versions. This is where Shopify Plus takes the lead, positioning itself as an “omnichannel enterprise” level platform.

In the first quarter of 2023, Shopify’s net income amounted to about 68 million U.S. dollars, as reported by Statista. According to another Statista report, the market value of Shopify has increased substantially over the years. In 2015, it was 2.05 billion U.S. dollars; in 2025 this changed drastically to 96.35 billion U.S. dollars. Such big, multi-dimensional fields combined as one are working in the capacity of an online storefront, a payment processor, an order fulfillment domain, and a marketing platform together in the garb of e-commerce websites. These super interesting facts and figures suggest that Shopify is catering to businesses with these cloud-based software solutions effectively.

But the challenge is to decide whether to opt for Shopify Development Services or Shopify Plus. In this article, we have explained the significant differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus by going through their features and functionalities. That will help you know both versions better offered  by a credible Shopify Development Company.

Shopify vs Shopify Plus – Do They Have a Fundamental Difference?

At its very core, Shopify and Shopify Plus are not very dissimilar. At the basic levels, they have similar structures that feature ease of use and deep functionality. However, Shopify Plus is an enhanced version of the latter, well-infused with a lot more features and customizability options. Launched in 2014, Shopify Plus is an enterprise solution—but pretty flexible—which offers more control to business owners over their storefronts online.

The most important distinction in Shopify vs Shopify Plus is this: Shopify is great for getting your business off the ground. But, to really see growth in the long term, Shopify Plus unlocks superpowers that enable.

Some Shopify plus special features are:

Organization Admin:

Fully manages commerce from one central hub for a high level overview and consolidated administration.

Advanced Apps:

Advanced apps are exclusively available to Shopify Plus merchants and give them solutions tailored for high-growth businesses. These include B2B, Wholesale channel, 

Launchpad, ShopifyQL Notebooks, and unlimited custom Level 2 PII apps.

Integrations:

Only Shopify Plus users have access to integrations like “Tax services with Avalara AvaTax.”

API Resources:

Shopify Plus offers extra API calls for custom apps. Shopify Plus members can access resources like REST, GiftCard, Multipass, User, and GraphQL. You can boost your API rate limits by contacting support.

Customizable Checkout Options:

Shopify Plus offers a customized checkout experience tailored to your brand and customer needs, potentially increasing conversion rates. However, it is important to note that Checkout, liquid file, used for customizing stores, will be removed by 2025. Shopify Plus users can use checkout extensibility to customize their pages.

Themes & Designs:

Any Shopify Development Company will grant you access to exclusive themes and greater control over store design to create a truly unique brand experience. With Shopify Plus, you can add up to 100 Shopify themes to your account, allowing for seasonal variations and long-term use.

Staff Accounts & Permissions:

Shopify Plus offers unlimited staff accounts, enhancing usability for larger organizations and scalability. Additionally, it provides superior configurations for greater control over staff actions in the store’s backend.

Locations:

With Shopify Plus, you can keep track of your products and deliver orders from as many as 200 different places.

Store Expansion:

Shopify Plus allows you to create nine additional stores globally for scaling your business and managing different locations. Besides, it also supports infinite numbers of department stores.

Markets:

The Shopify Plus plan offers the flexibility to add up to 50 Markets whenever needed.

Shopify Plus Partner Program:

You can connect with a network of certified experts who specialize in curating advanced solutions for accelerating your business.

Shopify Plus POS:

Shopify Plus includes Shopify POS Pro for all store locations, allowing seamless in-store transactions without additional costs. This facilitates effective synchronization between your online and physical store.

Superior User Management:

Shopify Plus provides advanced security and customized user management capabilities. This includes features like SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) for unified login credentials and SCIM (System for Cross-domain Identity Management) for simplified access rights management across applications.

Data Interaction:

With Shopify Plus, you get access to ShopifyQL Notebooks, which is an exclusive tool for accessing your business data. It can help you make informed decisions by exploring, analyzing, and visualizing your growth through custom reports.

Ready to kick start your new project? Get a free quote today.

Shopify vs Shopify Plus Features

When discussing eCommerce web development services and Shopify vs Shopify Plus features, it’s important to note that they share the same technology and core functionalities. However, Shopify Plus is tailored for high-growth businesses, offering exclusive management tools and apps.

Let’s explore significant differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus from various perspectives.

1. Pricing

We will discuss the breakdown of Shopify vs Shopify Plus pricing and the way it impacts your business.

Shopify Pricing:

Shopify works on a subscription-based model with three standard plans. These plans include web hosting, SSL certificates, data security, and many more features. The plans are:

  • Basic Shopify: $29/month
  • Shopify: $79/month
  • Advanced Shopify: $299/month

You get the option to test any of the plans for free with a three-day trial. This trial period will help you decide which one serves your business purposes better.

These standard Shopify plans are a great starting point for businesses, especially those with a minimum product range. These plans are cost-effective for store owners and can be implemented easily. The plans ensure security measures, allowing you to sell confidently. They offer basic inventory management tools to monitor your products and customer data. Moreover, the plans offer user-friendly built-in sales and marketing tools to effectively promote your products.

Shopify Plus Pricing:

  • For standard configurations and integrations, every business will have to pay a minimum of $2,500 per month.
  • Once your monthly sales reach $800,000, Shopify Plus changes to a revenue-based model.
  • The revenue-based approach has a monthly maximum of $40,000.

Unlike the standard Shopify plans with fixed monthly costs, Shopify Plus offers a custom fee structure based on your sales volume. This implies that you will pay as you grow and can focus on scalability more. The variable pricing options allow you to invest more in marketing and sales efforts without worrying about fixed costs.

Ultimately, the comparison of Shopify vs Shopify Plus pricing highlights the parameters of growth. You can begin with the basic Shopify plans when starting your business. Then consider switching to Shopify Plus plans depending on growth. It is an investment that grows with your success, but you must consider the potential costs involved in switching.

2. Customizable Checkout Options: 

Shopify Plus offers a customized checkout experience tailored to your brand and customer needs, potentially increasing conversion rates. However, it is important to note that Checkout, liquid file, used for customizing stores, will be removed by 2025. Shopify Plus users can use checkout extensibility to customize their pages.

Shopify Plus users have the flexibility to personalize their checkout pages in a better way. This is very important to improve conversion rates and eliminate cart abandonment. This also helps to reduce friction that buyers may encounter during the checkout process. They can achieve this effectively by incorporating custom fields, scripts, tailored validation, personalized pricing options, multilingual checkout choices, and many more.

  • Checkout Extensibility: The checkout experience can be personalized using checkout extensibility that empowers your store’s branding. You can efficiently customize Shopify Checkout using the drag-and-drop editor and apps. This option also allows you to deliver unique experiences to customers with custom apps.
  • Custom Fields: With Shopify Plus, you can add any field for securing detailed customer data. You can add fields like text fields, checkboxes, etc., during checkout. Based on customer reactions, you can issue vouchers, coupons, gift cards, and many more.
  • Customized Scripts: This option enables you to add special tools to the checkout page using custom scripts. These tools can act as valuable marketing strategies, making buying journeys more enjoyable for your customers. This can be done by adding special discounts, adding live chat options, offering shipping charges based on the customers’ location, etc.
  • Custom Validation: Shopify Plus enables you to get rid of the one-size-fits-all validation rules by creating a unique checkout experience. This ensures customers provide the exact information you need. Custom validation catches errors right at the beginning, ensuring smooth order processing. It helps to collect essential information and strengthens validation rules for sensitive fields containing financial details.
  • Customized Pricing Options: With this, you can set up personalized pricing rules. These rules depend on factors like the customer’s location and cart items. For instance, you can charge a small shipping fee for remote deliveries. Also, reward bulk purchases with discounts.
  • Multilingual Checkout: Shopify Plus offers built-in multilingual checkout editor and app integrations for a wider range of languages. It is essential for scaling your online store globally.

3. Improved Scalability

Shopify is a convenient platform for launching your ecommerce business, but obstacles may arise as the business grows. The platform can handle a moderate amount of orders and traffic, but it can be difficult to manage scalability beyond a certain point. Once you encounter a higher volume of sales and complex requirements, you will have to switch to advanced plans.

Shopify Plus is built to handle high growth and large volumes of traffic with advanced security measures. It is an ideal platform for scaling businesses, offering a more customizable, user-friendly solution. It can handle up to 10,000 transactions per minute per store. This ensures that you do not miss out on sales opportunities during peak periods. Shopify Plus merchants also receive faster API call rates, enabling quicker data exchange. This helps ensure that your applications and integrations run smoothly even during high traffic volumes.

This highlights that Shopify Plus ensures effective scalability for businesses aiming to expand rapidly.

4. Storefront Customization

Shopify offers a range of customization options for setting up your online store. These options include pre-built themes and customization using HTML and CSS for modifying layouts. You can select themes from Shopify’s official theme store. The themes are designed to be responsive, providing a consistent experience across devices. Shopify also offers a range of built-in design tools to help merchants customize their themes without any coding. The platform also allows for customization through apps and third-party plugins for added functionality.

However, Shopify does not allow complete control over the design elements. This might restrict your ability to fully customize the user experience as per your requirements.

Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus takes storefront customization to a whole new level with “headless commerce” solutions. It lets you detach the front end of your store from the backend ecommerce functionalities, offering greater design flexibility. This option allows businesses to create unique, interactive, and engaging experiences. It uses the latest web technologies for providing better performance and scalability.

Headless commerce solutions also enable seamless integration with various content management systems (CMS) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. It enhances the user experience and ensures consistency across different touchpoints.

Ultimately, Shopify Plus gives you more control over your store’s appearance and functionality, providing a better user experience.

Ready to kick start your new project? Get a free quote today.

Shopify Plus Exclusive Features and Tools

Shopify Plus merchants have access to advanced features and tools.

Launchpad:

Launchpad is an automation tool that enables you to schedule sales campaigns and product launches. This tool allows you to efficiently manage flash sales, product releases, and other high-traffic events.

ShopifyQL Notebooks:

ShopifyQL Notebooks is an analytics tool that helps you understand your store’s performance by providing detailed insights. It uses a simple query language to help you access and analyze your store’s data. You can use the tool to create custom reports and visualizations, aiding in data-driven decision-making.

Flow:

Flow is an ecommerce automation tool that helps to streamline business processes. It enables you to automate repetitive tasks and create custom workflows based on triggers and conditions. This helps in saving time and reducing manual errors.

Script Editor:

This tool allows you to customize your checkout process by creating personalized discounts, promotions, and shipping methods. You can use Ruby to write custom scripts that run on your online store’s backend. The Script Editor provides greater control over the checkout experience and enhances customer satisfaction.

Wholesale Channel:

Shopify Plus includes a wholesale channel that allows you to create a separate, password-protected storefront for wholesale customers. You can use this channel to offer custom pricing, discounts, and product catalogs exclusively for your wholesale clients.

Conclusion

Shopify and Shopify Plus are excellent choices for businesses looking to set up and grow their online presence. While Shopify Ecommerce Development Services are great for launching your business, Shopify Plus unlocks powerful features to help you thrive. Shopify Plus is designed for businesses seeking advanced features, better customization options, and robust support. This plan can scale your business to new heights.

Ultimately, the decision between Shopify and Shopify Plus depends on your business’s unique needs, goals, and growth trajectory. Consider the specific features and capabilities of each platform, and choose the one that best aligns with your requirements.

FAQs

  1. What is the main difference between Shopify and Shopify Plus?

Shopify is designed for small to medium-sized businesses, offering essential ecommerce functionalities and a user-friendly interface. Shopify Plus, on the other hand, is an enterprise-level solution that provides advanced features, greater customization options, and enhanced support, making it ideal for high-volume businesses.

  1. Is Shopify Plus worth the investment for my growing business?

If your business is experiencing rapid growth and you need advanced tools for customization, automation, and multi-store management, Shopify Plus is worth the investment. It provides scalable solutions, priority support, and access to exclusive apps and features that can help you efficiently manage and expand your business.

  1. Can I upgrade from Shopify to Shopify Plus without downtime?

Yes, you can upgrade from Shopify to Shopify Plus with minimal disruption to your business. Shopify’s support team assists with the transition, ensuring a smooth upgrade process and helping you take advantage of the new features and capabilities of Shopify Plus.

  1. What are the exclusive apps available for Shopify Plus users?

Shopify Plus users have access to advanced apps like Launchpad for automating sales campaigns, ShopifyQL Notebooks for data analysis, and exclusive B2B and wholesale channel apps. These tools are designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your business operations.

  1. How does Shopify Plus handle high traffic and order volumes?

Shopify Plus is built to handle high traffic and large order volumes without compromising performance. It offers robust infrastructure, enhanced server capacity, and advanced caching mechanisms to ensure your store remains fast and responsive even during peak times.

  1. What kind of customer support can I expect with Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus provides 24/7 priority support with faster response times, a dedicated account manager for personalized assistance, and access to the Merchant Success Program. This program offers workshops, resources, and strategic guidance to help you optimize your store and achieve your business goals.

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