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Ecommerce Platform Pricing, Real Cost

The monthly price is only half the bill. The extra transaction fee, a cut some platforms take on top of card processing, is what really decides the cost as you grow. Set your monthly sales and rank platforms by what they actually cost.

$5,000
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Real $/mo ▲PlatformMonthly feeExtra txn feeNotes

Indicative entry-plan pricing (annual billing) as last reviewed 11 July 2026. Transaction fees shown are the platform's own extra fee when using a third-party payment gateway; using the platform's native payments usually removes it. Card processing (~2.9% + 30c) applies everywhere and is not shown. Confirm current pricing before buying.

How the ranking works. Real $/mo = the monthly plan fee plus the platform's extra transaction fee applied to your sales. Slide your monthly sales: at low volume the cheap plans win, but as you scale, platforms with a 0% extra fee (BigCommerce, Wix, Squarespace Commerce) pull ahead of Shopify's plans if you use an outside gateway, because a percentage of sales grows while a flat fee does not. Using a platform's own payment processor removes its extra fee, so if you are happy with Shopify Payments the picture changes, features then decide.
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Does Shopify really charge extra fees?

Only if you do not use Shopify Payments. With an outside gateway (PayPal, Stripe) Shopify adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Shopify and 0.5% on Advanced, on top of normal card processing. Use Shopify Payments and that extra fee is zero. This page shows the third-party scenario so you can judge the risk.

Which platform has no transaction fees?

BigCommerce, Wix and Squarespace's Commerce plans charge 0% extra on any gateway. Square Online, Ecwid and Shift4Shop also avoid extra platform fees when using their own processor. WooCommerce is free software with no platform fee, but you supply your own WordPress hosting.

Are card-processing fees included?

No. Every platform charges roughly 2.9% + 30c per sale to process a card, whichever processor you use, so it does not change the ranking. This compares the platform's own extra fee, which is what varies.