What is Shopify Plus?

Key Points

• Shopify Plus is an enterprise eCommerce solution with transparent flat-rate pricing ($2,000+/month), unlimited staff accounts, and the ability to process over 10,000 transactions per minute—designed for high-volume retailers.
• Key benefits include unlimited scalability, free migration assistance, built-in tools like Shop Pay, AR/3D product features, and minimal per-transaction fees ($0.15) when using third-party processors.
• Trade-offs include fixed monthly costs, reduced control over payment processing, dependence on Shopify for backend updates, and transaction limits that may not suit extremely high-volume retailers—custom eCommerce solutions may offer better long-term value and full site ownership.

Known as a major eCommerce platform, Shopify provides business owners and entrepreneurs with the ability to sell products and goods online to anyone in the world. Shopify is a hosting platform that small business owners can use to promote their products. Users only need to sign up for the platform, and then they can access payment processing and web templates.

Users can choose from three pricing packages or go with the latest and improved Shopify Plus, which offers many benefits for eCommerce businesses. With the ability to handle more transactions than regular Shopify, unlimited staff sizes, and provided connected IT support, Shopify Plus was built as a more straightforward option for companies with high transaction volume. Let’s dive into what Shopify Plus is and how eCommerce business owners can set their business up for success.

What is Shopify Plus for eCommerce Businesses?

Shopify Plus is an enterprise eCommerce solution with transparent pricing, unlimited scalability, and comprehensive support designed for high-volume retailers who need to process thousands of transactions per minute. With transparent pricing and more scalability, Shopify Plus takes the Shopify platform’s benefits and transforms it. Before Shopify Plus, eCommerce businesses were limited to choosing one of Shopify’s packages (i.e., Basic, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify), which might present to owners a range of add-ons (like Shopify POS Pro and payment processing capabilities) and a custom eCommerce website.

Shopify Plus is yet another option for eCommerce businesses to consider. One of the most significant selling points of the Shopify Plus platform is its scalability and flat-rate cost. A Shopify Plus account supports an unlimited number of staff accounts and can process over 10,000 transactions a minute. At most, the Advanced Shopify account allows 15 staff accounts, and transaction capabilities are limited.

The perk of a flat-rate account allows businesses to be more prepared for their monthly expenses, capitalize on ROI, and improve the bottom line. Plus, members also have access to Shop Pay, which claims to improve the checkout rate and conversion rate by streamlining payment for users. Plus, it also looks to futurized operations, like built-in video, AR, 3D media for product features, and more. All-in-all, Shopify Plus offers drastic improvements for the high volume eCommerce business.

The Shopify Plus plan starts at $2,000 USD but is considered a variable fee. So if your business is more complex than standard setups and requires more integrations or sees more traffic, then the variable fee option flexes.

What Are the Benefits of Using Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus offers flat-rate pricing ($2,000+/month), unlimited staff accounts, the ability to process over 10,000 transactions per minute, free migration assistance, and built-in tools like Shop Pay and AR/3D product features. If you are a medium-to-large eCommerce business, Shopify Plus will handle many transactions at a flat rate. New companies might consider using Shopify Plus as a startup platform because it can scale with your business, saving businesses up-front costs on a custom eCommerce website. Shopify Plus can also assist current businesses with the migration of their eCommerce accounts (and charges nothing to do so), so there are no lengthy delays when switching over to this new platform.

Shopify Plus simplifies much of the confusion associated with customized eCommerce websites but includes transaction fees. For Plus members, transactions from a third-party payment processor are only $0.15. This fee is required so Shopify can maintain PCI compliance and payment integrity. Using Shopify Payments waives this transaction fee.

Shopify Plus owners also have access to Shop Pay, an accelerated checkout process that encourages more individuals to purchase rather than abandon their carts.

Other perks for using Shopify Plus are that any size business would have quick access to an eCommerce site, especially one that offers scalability, fast to market times, and streamlined web upkeep. No more managing the security side of your built eCommerce site or in managing payments on your own. Shopify Plus tries to add as many features as possible to streamline business operations.

What eCommerce Hosting Considerations Should You Know About Shopify Plus?

Before committing to Shopify Plus, consider the ongoing $2,000+/month cost, reduced control over payment processing, per-transaction fees ($0.15 for non-Shopify payment processors), transaction limits (10,000 per minute), and dependence on Shopify for backend updates. Hosting an eCommerce site on Shopify has its advantages. However, there are vital considerations that should be made before diving into a $2,000 a month fee. The first is that this $2,000 a month fee must be made for the entire life cycle of the business. Your business is also reliant on Shopify’s payment processing, which means that you have less control over how your finances are handled. If you want to use your payment processor, then you are charged $0.15 per transaction, which can add up (and defeats the purpose compared to some of the smaller accounts).

Shopify Plus is limited to 10,000 transactions per minute, which means that extremely high-volume retailers may face bottlenecks. With transaction processing delays, businesses risk turning away customers who experience slow loading times or checkout interruptions.

Shopify encourages customers to rely on their platform for back-end code updates, meaning “simple changes” to your eCommerce back-end must be outsourced. If you had an eCommerce website built by a custom software development team, they would manage the site and ensure security is maintained—often at a more affordable rate.

A software development company can build your eCommerce website and manage it for less cost compared to hosting on Shopify Plus for two to five years. Not only would this save costs long-term, but you'd be working with a team dedicated to your site, able to provide continuous improvements, updates, and security patches.

Software development teams can improve your website’s performance and handle load testing, things that are necessary for your website functionality but can be time-consuming. So while Shopify Plus suggests that many of these aspects of hosting your eCommerce site are a hassle, this is not always the case.

Software development teams are more available now and can be affordable. They will then work with you to develop your perfect eCommerce website, which will be continually updated and modified to suit the business’s needs. These expenses may be frontloaded to build the website, and even out over time to a lower monthly cost compared to a Shopify Plus account. Moreover, you will own the website, the web design, and the custom-built software.

How Do You Choose Between Shopify Plus and Custom eCommerce Solutions?

Evaluate your business needs against total cost of ownership: while Shopify Plus offers all-in-one managed hosting, custom eCommerce solutions from development teams may provide better long-term value, full ownership of your site, and independent flexibility. If you are thinking about switching from an eCommerce hosting service or legacy program and looking for something that is more in line with your business model, you can choose to go with a one-size-fits-all approach like Shopify Plus. With minimal customizability and the hosting managed by Shopify, you’ll find that managing the shop may be synchronized, but you will be reliant on Shopify and their servers forever.

Instead of making the switch to Shopify Plus, consider hiring a custom software developer to build your eCommerce website. Custom software developers are affordable for new business websites, and with a developer team, you can build lasting, long-term partnerships. This team will know your website inside-out and be there as your business changes, evolves, and updates.

Choosing a custom software developer makes sense, especially since more developers are available through boutique development firms. At Rotate, we help eCommerce businesses build custom solutions that give you full control over your website and hosting needs while maintaining long-term cost advantages.