No, Shopify is not free. There is no free plan for an online store. You can try Shopify free for 3 days, and most plans then cost $1 a month for the first 3 months. After that you pay the normal price, which starts at $39 a month for Basic, and you must be on a paid plan before your store can take orders.
Disclosure: Runner AI publishes this guide. Every Shopify fact here comes from Shopify’s own pricing page and Help Center, retrieved on November 12, 2026. Shopify changes its offers often, so check the current terms before you sign up.
Key Takeaways
- The free trial is 3 days, with no credit card required. Then most plans cost $1/month for 3 months before standard pricing starts.
- You cannot sell on the free trial. A trial store starts in private mode or with checkout turned off. You must choose a paid plan to take orders.
- The cheapest full store is Basic: $39/month billed monthly, or $29/month billed yearly. The Starter plan is no longer open to new stores.
- When the trial ends without a plan, the store is paused, not deleted. Shopify keeps your products and settings and does not charge you.
- Shopify charges a 2% extra fee on Basic if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments. With Shopify Payments, you pay only the card rate.
Is Shopify free to use?
Shopify is free to try, not free to use. These are the free and nearly free ways in, as Shopify lists them today:
| Offer | What you get | Can you sell? |
|---|---|---|
| Free trial | 3 days free, no credit card | No. You must choose a paid plan first |
| Intro offer | $1/month for the first 3 months on most plans | Yes, once you are on a paid plan |
| Student offer | 4 months free to build, then $1/month for 3 months | The free months are for building; Shopify says the $1 rate is for “when you’re ready to sell” |
| Agentic plan | $0/month, card rates from 2.9% + 30¢ online | Yes, but only in AI channels. No online store |
The student offer is only for students at participating colleges and universities in the US and Canada. You sign up with your school email address.
The Agentic plan is the only plan with a $0 monthly price, but it is not a store. It lists your products so shoppers can buy them inside AI chats such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity. Shopify says “no Shopify online store required.” It does not give you a website.
How long is the Shopify free trial?
The standard trial is 3 days. Shopify’s pricing page says the trial needs no credit card, and that “most plans start at just $1 per month for the first 3 months, then switch to standard monthly pricing” after it.
Three details from the Help Center matter here:
- The trial starts when you sign up, not when you start to build. A slow start uses up your days.
- You cannot extend or reset the trial. Shopify says this plainly.
- Trial length can vary. Shopify says it depends on “different factors” and on your location. One example: stores created through an AI tool or a vibe-coding partner start with a trial that is “currently 4 months.”
So the real starting cost for most people is 3 free days, then $3 for the next 3 months.
Can you sell during the Shopify free trial?
No. Shopify’s Help Center says a trial store “is initially in private mode, or its checkout is inactive.” To take real orders, you must do two things:
- Choose a paid plan. This turns on checkout.
- Set up a payment provider, such as Shopify Payments.
Everything you build during the trial carries over when you pick a plan. Your products, theme and settings stay in place.
Use the trial to learn if you like building on Shopify. Do not plan a launch inside the 3 days.
What happens when the Shopify trial ends?
If you do not choose a plan, Shopify pauses the store. The Help Center says your store “is frozen until you choose a paid plan” and that your data, products and settings are kept. Shopify also says you are not charged when a trial ends without a plan.
If you did choose a plan during the trial, billing starts when the trial ends. Choosing a plan early does not make the trial longer. Two other points can surprise people:
- Apps bill after the trial. App charges you added during the trial show up on your first invoice.
- Cancelling takes an action. Once you are on a plan, you must deactivate the store yourself to stop the charges.
Does Shopify have a free plan?
Not for an online store. Two older options are closed to new merchants. Shopify’s Help Center says “The Starter plan isn’t available to new stores.” Starter was a simple plan for selling through product links on social media and in messages. The Pause and Build plan “is no longer available to new subscriptions.”
The $0 Agentic plan sells only in AI channels. So for a new merchant who wants a website, the cheapest real plan is Basic.
Does Shopify charge transaction fees?
It depends on how customers pay. With Shopify Payments, you pay the card rate for your plan and no extra Shopify fee. With any other payment provider, Shopify adds its own fee on top of what that provider charges.
| Plan | Price (monthly / yearly billing) | Online card rate | Extra fee with another provider |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39 / $29 per month | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2% |
| Grow | $105 / $79 per month | 2.7% + 30¢ | 1% |
| Advanced | $399 / $299 per month | 2.5% + 30¢ | 0.6% |
| Plus | from $2,300 per month | 2.25% + 30¢ | 0.2% |
People often ask how much Shopify takes from a $20 sale. On Basic with Shopify Payments and a standard card, the fee is 2.9% of $20 ($0.58) plus 30¢, so $0.88. You keep $19.12 before your plan fee and apps. If you use another provider on Basic, Shopify adds 2% ($0.40), and your provider charges its own fee as well.
For premium cards, international cards, in-person rates and a full worked example, see our Shopify fees and pricing breakdown for 2026.
What is the cheapest way to start on Shopify?
For a normal online store, this is the lowest-cost path Shopify offers today:
- Start the 3-day trial. Build a few products and pick a free theme.
- Choose Basic before you launch. If your plan qualifies for the intro offer, you pay $1/month for 3 months.
- Use Shopify Payments if it is available in your country, so you avoid the 2% third-party fee on Basic.
- Add apps slowly. Apps bill separately from the plan, and charges added in the trial appear on your first invoice.
- Switch to yearly billing only when you are sure. Basic drops from $39 to $29 a month, but you commit for a year.
If you pay monthly and the $1 offer applies, your first year on Basic costs about $354 in plan fees: 3 months at $1 plus 9 months at $39. Card fees and apps come on top.
If you are a student in the US or Canada, check the student offer first. Four free months to build is far more time than 3 days.
When starting on Shopify makes sense, and when it does not
Shopify is a good choice if you plan to sell steadily, want a large theme and app catalog, and can afford $39 a month after the intro period. The $1 offer gives you three months to test real sales for $3.
It is a weaker choice if you want to build for weeks before you spend anything. Three days is short, and you cannot take an order until you pay. It also costs more if you cannot use Shopify Payments, because Basic then adds 2% to every sale.
If you are still deciding whether the platform is right for you at all, read whether Shopify is worth it in 2026. If your worry is safety or trust, see whether Shopify is legit.
An option with a free build plan: Runner AI
Runner AI is an AI-native e-commerce platform. You describe your store in chat, and the AI builds the storefront, product pages and checkout. You keep editing by chat or with visual tools.
Runner has a real $0 plan. It is a plan, not a 3-day trial. On the Free plan you get 150 welcome credits plus quest rewards, one project, and a live visual preview of your store. You can clone a website as a starting point, use AI product sourcing and dropshipping, and connect Stripe, TikTok and more.
You can also publish on the Free plan, to a free runnerai.dev address, with a Runner watermark. To use your own domain, remove the watermark and keep the store always on, you need Plus or higher.
| Runner plan | Price | Credits | What it adds | Runner fee per sale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 150 welcome credits plus quest rewards | Build 1 project and publish it to a free runnerai.dev address, with a watermark |
5% |
| Plus | $25/month | 1,000 per billing cycle | 1 always-on published store, custom domain, no watermark, unlimited products | 2% |
| Pro | $49/month | 2,500 per billing cycle | Full AI toolkit: Creative Studio, automation, ads, SEO, experiments | 1.5% |
| Max | $159/month | 10,000 per billing cycle | Up to 3 always-on stores | 1% |
Annual billing is 20% lower on every paid plan, so Plus is $20 a month billed yearly. The payment provider’s own fee, such as Stripe’s card fee, is separate and applies on every plan in addition to the Runner fee. Current prices are on Runner’s pricing page.
Here is the honest trade-off. Runner Plus costs $14 a month less than Shopify Basic at monthly billing, but Runner adds a 2% fee per sale and Shopify Basic adds none when you use Shopify Payments. At about $700 a month in sales, the two costs meet, before card fees. Above that, Shopify Basic is likely cheaper. Below it, Runner Plus is likely cheaper.
Runner fits you if you want to build and publish a full store at $0 before you pay anything, and you would rather describe changes in chat than set up themes and apps.
Shopify is the better fit if you need in-person point-of-sale or Shopify’s app catalog, or you already sell well above $700 a month and want the lowest per-sale cost.
For a feature-by-feature look, see Runner AI vs Shopify. For more choices, see our list of Shopify alternatives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you use Shopify for free?
Only for the 3-day trial, and you cannot sell during it. After the trial, most plans cost $1 a month for 3 months, then the standard price. The $0 Agentic plan sells only in AI chats and gives you no online store.
Does Shopify need a credit card for the free trial?
No. Shopify says the 3-day trial needs no credit card. You add payment details when you choose a plan.
Will Shopify charge me when the trial ends?
Not if you have not chosen a plan. Shopify pauses the store and keeps your data. If you chose a plan during the trial, billing starts when the trial ends.
Can I still sign up for the Shopify Starter plan?
No. Shopify’s Help Center says the Starter plan isn’t available to new stores. Existing stores that leave Starter cannot switch back to it.
Does Shopify charge transaction fees on every sale?
With Shopify Payments, you pay only the card rate: 2.9% + 30¢ online on Basic. With another payment provider, Shopify adds 2% on Basic, down to 0.2% on Plus.
Is it cheaper to sell on Etsy or Shopify?
It depends on your sales volume and on where your shoppers come from. A marketplace and your own store charge in different ways. See Shopify vs Etsy for the fee comparison.
Sources
- Shopify Pricing — 3-day free trial with no credit card, $1/month for 3 months on most plans, Basic/Grow/Advanced/Plus prices, online card rates, third-party transaction fees, Agentic plan at $0/month. Retrieved 2026-11-12.
- Shopify Help Center: Free trial — trial stores start in private mode or with checkout inactive, a paid plan is needed to sell, store paused and data kept when the trial ends, trial cannot be extended, trial length can vary, 4-month trial for stores created with an AI tool, app charges on first invoice. Retrieved 2026-11-12.
- Shopify Help Center: Pricing plans FAQ — no charge when a trial expires without a plan, Pause and Build no longer available to new subscriptions, third-party fees apply to transactions through third-party providers. Retrieved 2026-11-12.
- Shopify Help Center: Starter plan — Starter plan not available to new stores, product links for social and messaging. Retrieved 2026-11-12.
- Shopify Agentic plan — no monthly fee, card rates from 2.9% + 30¢ online, no online store required, AI channels listed. Retrieved 2026-11-12.
- Shopify Free Trial Offer — 3-day trial with no credit card, choose a plan after the trial. Retrieved 2026-11-12.
- Shopify for Students — 4 months free to build, then $1/month for 3 months, participating US and Canadian schools, school email sign-up. Retrieved 2026-11-12.
- Runner AI Pricing — Runner plan prices, credits, free publishing to a
runnerai.devaddress, custom domain on Plus or higher, Runner fee per sale.
