Shopify vs Shopify Plus — The Key Differences
Style Factory
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Today I’m going to be looking at Shopify Plus vs Shopify.
Keep reading to discover which of these versions of this popular ecommerce platform is the better fit for you.
But just before I begin, a quick reminder to leave any questions you may have in the comments section. We read them all and will do our best to help.
And if you want to try out Shopify or Shopify Plus, do make use of our special link — this gives you access to a free trial and a special discount.
OK, let’s get to it. I’ll start with a key question...
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Are Shopify Plus and Shopify actually different platforms?
The short answer here is no.
They are built on the same technology, use the same Shopify themes, provide the exact same interface and have the same core functionality.
The difference between the two solutions simply boils down to the ‘enterprise-grade’ features that are unlocked when you use the Shopify Plus plan, and pricing.
Let’s look at the enterprise features first.
What’s included with Shopify Plus but not with regular Shopify plans?
Shopify vs Shopify Plus video comparison
Shopify Plus features
1. A ‘Merchant Success’ programme
When you take out a Shopify Plus plan, a ‘merchant success’ programme is provided to help you with your ongoing ecommerce strategy.
And as part of this, a ‘Launch Team‘ is on hand to help you get your store live faster, by assisting with migrations and custom integrations.
Shopify claims that this service can get enterprise users up and running on the platform within 90 days.
2. More stores
While a regular Shopify account can only be used to build one store, a Shopify Plus subscription gives you the option to create up to ten.
These extra stores can be used to create more selling opportunities, for internationalization purposes or to cater for stores with different physical locations.
Importantly, Shopify Plus lets you manage all these additional stores in the same Shopify dashboard, via an ‘Organization Admin’ tool.
3. A fully-customizable checkout
Unlike the regular versions of Shopify, Shopify Plus gives you the ability to fully customize your checkout process.
It does this by giving you full access to Shopify’s drag-and-drop checkout editor. This lets you change your checkout’s colors, images and fonts, or add additional functionality by installing checkout apps from the Shopify app store.
Given how big a role the checkout process can play in converting site visitors into customers, this is arguably one one of the most important differences between Shopify Plus and Shopify.
4. Advanced apps
Although the normal version of Shopify gives you access to a considerable number of apps and integrations — around 13,000 — Shopify Plus gives you a further range of apps to choose from.
These provide advanced features for creating digital marketing campaigns, analytics, fulfillment, content management, shipping and customer rewards.
Examples of these apps include the ShopifyQL Notebooks app, which gives you advanced reporting features, and ‘Launchpad’, a tool for planning and automating flash sales.
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5. More API calls
With the Shopify Plus plan, you can use the Shopify API — or ‘Application Programming Interface’ — in more ways.
An API is a piece of software that basically allows two applications to talk to each other.
On Shopify Plus plans you can ‘call’ it more often and use it to build more sophisticated integrations with other tools.
6. Unlimited users
While the regular Shopify plans cap the number of users that can access your Shopify store’s back end, Shopify Plus gives you unlimited staff accounts. This makes the platform more useful to larger organizations, and more scalable too.
Additionally, on Shopify Plus, you get permission settings that give you more control over the actions your staff can take in your Shopify store’s back end.
7. More point of sale locations
If you want to sell not just online but in physical locations too, you may be frustrated that the regular Shopify plans only let you sell in one point-of-sale location. Selling in any more than that involves paying fairly substantial add-on fees.
But with Shopify Plus, you can sell in up to 20 physical locations at no extra cost.
8. Sandbox stores
Shopify Plus lets Shopify Plus partners create test sites called ‘sandbox stores’ — these can be used to learn how to build on Shopify Plus or to create demos for prospective clients.
Sandbox stores let you make an unlimited number of ‘dummy’ purchases through a bogus gateway payment provider, and process an unlimited number of test orders.
They also provide a good way to try out apps, because you can add any Shopify app to a sandbox store for free.
OK, so that’s eight key features that you’ll find in Shopify Plus, but not in Shopify.
But how much does all this extra functionality cost?
Shopify vs Shopify Plus: pricing
Right, let’s talk about pricing — a fundamental difference between Shopify Plus and Shopify.
When it comes to the standard Shopify plans, there are 4 of these available, ranging from $5 to $399 per month.
With Shopify Plus, two pricing options are available: standard pricing, which starts at $2,300 USD per month, or ‘variable fee’ pricing. Variable fee pricing is a negotiable percentage of monthly sales, with this percentage depending on your requirements and the complexity of your ecommerce setup.
The key thing to note about pricing is that Shopify Plus is not cheap — so you’ll have to be very sure that you really need its feature set before choosing it as your ecommerce solution.
This brings us neatly onto the big question…
Should I use Shopify or Shopify Plus?
Well, every ecommerce project is different, so frankly there isn’t an easy answer to this question. However, I’d generally view Shopify Plus as being a good option if you:
Otherwise, the regular version of Shopify will usually suit you fine.
Shopify vs Shopify Plus: wrapping up
I hope you’ve enjoyed this Shopify Plus vs Shopify comparison — a quick reminder that you can avail of a special trial and discount for Shopify via our special link here.
For a deeper dive into the differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus, you might want to take a look at our in-depth 'Shopify vs Shopify Plus' article on the Style Factory website.
If you'd like more tips and tricks on launching an ecommerce business, please do download our free ecommerce kit.
Finally, if you have any thoughts of your own about Shopify Plus vs Shopify, or any questions you’d like to ask about either version of the platform, feel free to drop them in the comments.
Alternatives to Shopify
There are lots of alternatives to Shopify available, with key competitors including Wix, WordPress,Squarespace and ClickFunnels. Take a look at the below posts for more information about how they compare to Shopify:
This article was written by Chris Singleton. Additional research by Matt Walsh.