Ecommerce
What Is Shopify Plus?
Shopify Plus is Shopify's enterprise plan for large or complex online businesses, adding features beyond the standard plans such as up to nine expansion stores, unlimited staff accounts, deeper checkout customization and advanced B2B wholesale tools.
What Shopify Plus means in plain English
Shopify Plus runs on the same platform as every Shopify store, so products, orders, themes and apps work the same way. The difference is in limits and control. Shopify lists Plus as supporting 9 expansion stores, for example separate stores for other countries, up to 200 locations for inventory and fulfillment, and unlimited staff accounts at no extra cost.
Plus also opens deeper customization. Merchants can extend checkout with Shopify's extensions and run separate checkout flows for business and consumer buyers. The plan includes Launchpad for scheduling sales and promotions, and its B2B features go further than the lower plans, for example unlimited catalogs that can be assigned to individual companies.
Why Shopify Plus matters for a growing store
Most stores never need Plus. It earns its place when a business runs several regional stores, sells wholesale to companies with their own prices, or needs checkout logic the standard plans cannot handle. Shopify shows Plus pricing as a starting monthly figure that varies by region and contract term, so check the current pricing page and get a quote before weighing it against the revenue or staff time it would save.
A Shopify Plus example
A skincare brand sells in the US, UK and Australia from one Shopify store and has started taking wholesale orders from spas by email. It moves to Plus to give each spa a login with its own catalog and payment terms, adds an expansion store for a new region, and uses Launchpad to start a holiday sale at midnight without anyone online.
What to check before moving to Shopify Plus
- List the features you need and confirm each one is really Plus only, since the lower plans now include basic B2B tools.
- Ask for the current contract length and price in writing, because terms vary.
- Check that your apps and any checkout customizations work with Shopify's current checkout extensibility.
- Decide who will manage the extra stores, staff permissions and automations once they exist.
Shopify Advanced vs Shopify Plus at a glance
| Feature | Advanced | Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Staff accounts | Up to 15 | Unlimited |
| Inventory locations | Up to 10 | Up to 200 |
| Expansion stores | Not included | Up to 9 |
| B2B catalogs | Up to 3 active | Unlimited, assignable to individual companies |
| Checkout customization | Limited | Full |
| Rate when using a third-party payment provider | 0.6% | 0.2% |
| Price and term | Self-serve, billed monthly or yearly | From $2,300 a month on a 3-year term or $2,500 on a 1-year term (USD) |
How to check whether your store really needs Shopify Plus
- In your Shopify admin, open Settings, then Plan, and note your current plan and billing cycle.
- Open Settings, then Users, and count staff against your plan's limit: up to 5 on Grow and up to 15 on Advanced.
- Open Settings, then Locations, and count the places you hold stock against the limit of 10 on the standard plans.
- List the features you want that the standard plans lack, such as expansion stores, unlimited B2B catalogs or full checkout customization.
- Ask Shopify for a written quote on a 1 or 3 year term and set it against the cost of the apps, workarounds or staff time it would replace.
What good looks like: Plus makes sense when you hit a hard limit you cannot work around, such as more than 15 staff or 10 locations, or company-specific catalogs, and the yearly gain clearly exceeds the contract cost.
Free tool: Shopify Help: Shopify Plus plan
Questions to ask your web developer
“Which of our needs can only Plus meet?”
A good answer: They name each requirement, such as expansion stores or company-specific catalogs, and show it is not available on Advanced, rather than recommending Plus for growth in general.
“Will our apps and checkout changes work with checkout extensibility?”
A good answer: They list every app and script that touches checkout, confirm each one uses checkout extensions or Shopify Functions, and test the flow on a development store before switching.
“Who will run the extra stores and automations once we upgrade?”
A good answer: A named person owns product syncing between expansion stores, staff permissions and scheduled Launchpad events, with written handover notes.
Shopify Plus: common questions
What is the difference between Shopify and Shopify Plus?
Shopify is the platform and Shopify Plus is its top plan. The standard plans, Basic, Grow and Advanced, suit most stores. Plus adds higher limits, expansion stores for other regions, deeper checkout customization and advanced B2B features, and Shopify sells it on one or three year terms rather than as a simple monthly sign-up.
Is Shopify Plus worth it for a small store?
Usually not. Most of what a small or mid-sized store needs, including themes, apps, payments and basic B2B selling, is available on the standard plans. Plus becomes worth pricing out when you run several stores, need custom checkout rules or sell wholesale to many companies with different prices.
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