The success of your online retail business depends on the technology you choose. Though there is no shortage of technologies for creating eCommerce websites, Shopify is one of the top technologies to rely on. Indeed, Shopify is one of the top-selling eCommerce platforms with excellent features and functionalities.
As a cloud-based hosted eCommerce platform, Shopify has gained good fame among businesses of varied sizes. It offers an excellent infrastructure and optimized servers that provide impressive performance, great scalability, security, and complete stability for eCommerce website development.
With so many plans, it is often puzzling for businesses to select the right option for them. Shopify vs Shopify Plus is one of the rising dilemmas among them as determining the best option can be a hitch. Moreover, if you want to opt for Shopify development services and cannot decide between Shopify vs Shopify Plus, this is the right place for you to get rid of the conundrum.
This blog will help you select between Shopify vs Shopify Plus; keep reading to get the best choice.
Shopify vs Shopify Plus: A Quick Rundown
Whether you are a small business or a large enterprise, Shopify has got you covered for your eCommerce development needs. The best part of Shopify is that it offers various plans as per different business requirements.
Shopify and Shopify Plus are two popular plans of the platform that come with various benefits. Moreover, this also creates confusion among businesses about which one to choose between Shopify vs Shopify Plus for eCommerce development.
Shopify Plus inherits all state-of-the-art features of Shopify extended with scalability, effectiveness, and support to meet corporate or enterprise demands. Hence, Shopify Plus is an advanced version with additional benefits.
While Shopify is fit for small, medium, and large businesses, Shopify Plus is an enterprise-level eCommerce platform. Hence, it caters to enterprises whose demands and needs are much higher than regular businesses.
Moreover, besides these plans, Shopify offers many more, including basic Shopify, Shopify Advanced, and Shopify Lite. You can choose a plan based on your business needs.
You may also read: Shopify Plus vs Shopify Advanced: Which Platform Is Ideal For Your Website!
Shopify vs Shopify Plus: How are they different?
Most of the features you have on Shopify are also available on Shopify Plus. However, there are some differences due to the extra additions in Shopify Plus. Due to the difference between Shopify and Shopify Plus, each of the plans is suitable for various business needs.
The Shopify plan offers everything you need for a growing business, but Shopify Plus is loaded with powerful features for high volume and complex businesses. The differences between these two plans can be understood by the extra benefits that come with Shopify Plus. We will examine the advantages of Shopify Plus to find out the difference and go with the right option for Shopify web development.
The following differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus are based on the extra benefits.
- Shopify Plus comes with Shopify organization admin that allows you to manage all stores from a single location.
- It offers additional API calls that enable you to integrate with custom apps.
- It provides advanced Shopify apps that are helpful for high-growth merchants.
- Nine expansion stores are provided for selling in different currencies or languages, separate physical locations, and internationalization.
- It allows you to add up to 100 themes on a Shopify account for testing new themes.
- More control over the staff’s actions with additional permission settings.
- A wholesale channel is provided that allows you to create a different, password-protected wholesale store.
- Access to checkout. liquid allows you to make advanced customizations to Shopify checkout.
A Comparison Table for Shopify vs Shopify Plus
| Shopify | Shopify Plus | |
| Cost | $79/month | $2,000/month |
| Features | Multichannel sales tools, full range of payment processing options, Shopify Payments, In-built shipping labels, credit card processing with fraud protection | All features of Shopify are extended with:
One dashboard to run multiple websites, AI technology for customizing user experience, customer-based pricing, customize shipping processes |
| Downsides | Limited user accounts, higher fees for credit card processing | Pricing, the added learning curve for enterprise tools |
| Customer Support | Phone, chat, and email support | Ongoing Merchant Success Manager and Dedicated Launch Manager |
| Best For | Multichannel eCommerce businesses, side-gigs, print-on-demand, and dropshipping businesses, and startups | Businesses requiring sales tools focused on volume, businesses managing wholesale or country-specific websites, and high-volume multichannel businesses. |
When to Choose What Between Shopify vs Shopify Plus?
Shopify is a robust eCommerce platform with excellent benefits. Further, Shopify development services are preferred by many businesses. Moreover, developing an eCommerce website is a huge investment plan. As we have discussed the key differences between Shopify vs Shopify Plus, you must have understood that Shopify Plus is a larger investment.
Prior to making any decision about Shopify web development, you must have a list of features you need and a detailed budget. If you want to develop an eCommerce website on Shopify, selecting the right plan is crucial for a successful start. Startups to small and mid-size businesses can find Shopify the right fit for them.
However, for large enterprises whose sales volume is very high, Shopify Plus is an apt choice for fulfilling all their eCommerce needs. As a cloud-hosted eCommerce platform, Shopify is an all-in-one solution for creating, managing, and operating eCommerce. You can choose a reliable Shopify development company to build an eCommerce store based on your preferences.
You might be intrigued to know: when should you switch to Shopify Plus? In a nutshell, you can start an eCommerce business with Basic Shopify or Shopify when your business doesn’t have significant sales volume. Further, you can switch to Shopify Plus when the sales rise.
Shopify vs Shopify Plus: Cost of Developing an eCommerce Website
The cost is an essential factor when selecting an eCommerce development platform. As we have already discussed above, Shopify Plus comes with a lot of additional benefits than the standard Shopify plan. As a result, the cost of creating a Shopify Plus website is also high compared to the standard plan. It also depends on many other Shopify website development factors.
Moreover, starting with the basic plan of this eCommerce platform, you reach as high as the Plus version. But as you move higher, the costs also increase for setting up a full-fledged eCommerce website. However, the cost of Shopify development services also depends on requirements. Indeed, the more features and complexity you have in your website, the more expenses it will yield to your project.
Final note
Shopify vs Shopify Plus has been a dilemma for many businesses when it comes to eCommerce web development. Moreover, the real choice for a business depends on multiple factors, especially the size of the business. You can go through the benefits and features that both these plans offer and find out the one that fits your requirements. There is no hard and fast rule for selecting an eCommerce platform, but the one that fits your needs perfectly could be a go-to choice. Moreover, CSSChopper can help you to develop a robust Shopify eCommerce website for you by selecting the appropriate option. You can rely on us to create the right website for you. Reach out to us, don’t hesitate!
