Understanding Shopify Limits: What You Need to Know

Shopify is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms, powering millions of online stores worldwide. While it offers robust features, flexible plans, and scalability, it’s important to be aware of the various limits that Shopify imposes on its stores. These limits can affect store performance, integrations, and growth, especially for businesses that are scaling rapidly.

In this article, we’ll dive into the different types of Shopify limits that store owners may encounter, from product counts to API calls, and explain what they mean for your store.

---

1. Product Limits

When setting up your Shopify store, one of the most important things to consider is the number of products you can list.

- Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify Plans:

Shopify allows you to list up to 100,000 products on these plans. This is more than sufficient for most small and medium-sized businesses, but as your store grows, you might hit this limit.

- Shopify Plus Plan:

If you’re on the Shopify Plus plan, which is designed for high-volume businesses, you can list more than 100,000 products. This plan has much higher scalability and flexibility in terms of product listing limits.

2. File Storage Limits

Shopify also has limits on the amount of storage space available for images, videos, and other media files used on your store.

- Storage Limit for Files:

On most Shopify plans, you get up to 5GB of file storage. If your store requires additional file storage (such as for high-quality images or video content), you may need to manage your file sizes or consider external hosting solutions.

For Shopify Plus users, there is a higher storage allowance, but it’s still recommended to optimize your media files (e.g., using image compression tools) to avoid running into storage limitations.

3. API Rate Limits

Shopify uses APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to enable integrations with third-party apps, custom development, and other platforms. These APIs are subject to rate limits to ensure the system remains stable and that resources are distributed efficiently.

- REST API Limits:

For stores using Shopify’s REST API, you can make up to 2 calls per second per store. If your application exceeds this limit, you will get an error response indicating that you've hit the rate limit. You’ll need to adjust your integration or manage the number of API requests to avoid issues.

- GraphQL API Limits:

The GraphQL Admin API has a different approach to rate limits, which is based on "cost" rather than the number of requests. Each GraphQL query consumes a certain amount of "cost" points, and the store is allowed a set cost per second. For most stores, this will not be an issue unless you're handling large amounts of data or running custom integrations.

4. Order Limits

Shopify doesn’t place a strict limit on the number of orders you can process, but there are some indirect limits to consider based on your plan and infrastructure:

- Shopify Basic and Standard Plans:

These plans can handle a large number of orders, but Shopify has thresholds for features like real-time shipping rates and inventory tracking. If you’re processing a very high volume of orders, you may need to upgrade to the Advanced Shopify plan to get additional tools, including enhanced reporting and higher limits on shipping and inventory.

- Shopify Plus Plan:

For high-volume merchants, Shopify Plus provides enterprise-level capabilities with unlimited orders, enhanced APIs, and premium features designed to handle large sales volumes efficiently.

5. Variants per Product

Shopify has a limit on the number of product variants you can create for each item.

- Standard Shopify Plans:

You can create up to 100 variants per product. This means that for a product, you can have combinations of size, colour, style, etc., but the total number of possible combinations can’t exceed 100.

- Shopify Plus Plan:

Shopify Plus users are able to work with custom variants, although they still operate under the 100-variant limit. However, Shopify Plus offers more flexibility in managing complex product variants and options.

6. Customer Limits

As your store grows, managing customers effectively becomes a key aspect of your business operations. Shopify offers robust customer management tools but also has limitations on the number of customers you can store and manage.

- Shopify Basic and Shopify Plans:

You can have up to 1,000,000 customers in your database, which is more than enough for most businesses. However, as the number of customers grows, it's essential to have an organized system for handling customer data.

- Shopify Plus Plan:

On the Shopify Plus plan, you are granted access to more powerful customer segmentation tools and can handle even larger customer databases. However, in practice, Shopify Plus cannot have a strict upper limit on the number of customers it can manage.

7. Shopify Payments Limits

Shopify Payments, Shopify’s in-house payment gateway, is a convenient way to process transactions, but it does have certain transaction limits:

- Transaction Volume Limits:

Shopify Payments is generally designed to handle a wide range of transaction volumes. However, stores processing extremely high transaction volumes may need to work with Shopify’s support team to ensure everything runs smoothly. Shopify also reserves the right to temporarily suspend payments if they detect potentially suspicious or risky activity.

- Country-Specific Payment Restrictions:

Shopify Payments is available in a limited number of countries. If you plan on selling in a country where Shopify Payments isn't available, you may have to rely on third-party payment gateways, which may have additional limits or fees.

8. Shipping Limits

Shopify has some shipping-related limits, especially when it comes to:

- Shipping Zones and Rates:

You can set up up to 100 shipping zones per store, each with its own shipping rate. However, for more complex shipping needs, like handling international taxes or offering detailed shipping options, you may need to integrate third-party apps.

- Custom Shipping Labels:

For stores that offer custom shipping labels through Shopify’s built-in system, there may be limits to how many labels you can print in a given time frame, depending on your plan.

---

Conclusion

While Shopify offers a powerful, scalable platform for building and running an online store, it's essential to be aware of its various limits. These include restrictions on product listings, API calls, customer databases, and more. Fortunately, Shopify’s higher-tier plans, like Shopify Plus, offer more flexibility and support for growing businesses.

By understanding these limits and planning accordingly, you can avoid potential roadblocks as you scale your business. Whether you're a small business or an enterprise, Shopify offers a solid foundation to build and grow, but knowing the platform’s limitations will ensure a smoother experience in the long run.