How Much Does It Cost to Start a Shopify Store? Real Numbers for Month One

"Start a store for $1" is technically true, and also not the full picture. Shopify's plan is cheap to begin with. The things that cost money are the parts nobody puts in the headline: a domain, apps, test orders and, above all, getting people to visit.

This guide breaks down what you will actually spend in your first month, with three realistic budgets, so you can plan for the version that fits your savings rather than discovering costs as you go. All prices are in US dollars and were checked in November 2026.

The Shopify plan itself

Shopify currently offers a 3-day free trial, then $1/month for your first 3 months on its main plans. After that, you pay the normal price. For most new stores, that is the Basic plan at $25/month billed monthly, or $19/month if you pay yearly.

The bigger plans (Grow at $65/month, Advanced at $399/month billed monthly) add things like more staff accounts and lower card rates. You do not need them to start. Upgrade when the lower card fees would save you more than the extra monthly cost.

💡 Beginner tip: Put a reminder in your calendar for the day your $1 months end. It is easy to forget, and month four is when the real monthly cost starts.

Every cost, line by line

Domain name: $0 to $20 a year

Your store works on a free myshopify.com address, but a custom domain looks far more trustworthy. A .com usually costs around $10 to $20 a year. Stores built with storebuilder.ai get a free .store domain for the first year, already connected.

Theme: $0 to $400, once

Shopify's free themes are good enough to launch with. Paid themes are a one-time cost, usually a few hundred dollars. Our honest advice: do not buy a theme before your first sale. Product photos and copy affect sales far more than the theme does.

Apps: $0 to $50 a month

Apps are where budgets quietly grow. Many have a free plan, then charge as you grow. A typical first set is a reviews app, an email tool and maybe a product sourcing app for dropshipping. Install only what you will use this month. Every app also adds a little weight to your store's loading time.

Card processing fees: a small cut of every sale

Each time a customer pays, the payment gateway takes a fee, usually a few percent plus a small fixed amount per order. With Shopify Payments, the rate depends on your plan and country. If you use a third-party gateway instead, Shopify adds its own extra transaction fee on top. This is not an upfront cost, but you should include it when you work out your profit per order.

Products and test orders: $30 to $200

If you dropship, you do not buy stock upfront. You pay the supplier after a customer pays you. But you should still order your own products first. It is the only way to check quality, packaging and the real delivery time. Budget for one or two test orders. If you hold your own stock, this line is much bigger: you are paying for inventory before you sell it.

Marketing: $0 to whatever you decide

This is the line that decides whether anyone sees your store. Organic social media costs time instead of money. Paid ads cost money from day one. A sensible first test is around $10 a day for 30 days, about $300, on one platform. That is usually enough to learn whether a product has potential, without betting your savings on it.

Three realistic budgets for month one

Here is how those costs add up in practice. Pick the column that matches your situation.

Lean test: about $31

Best if you want to prove people will buy before spending real money. You use the $1 plan, a free domain, free apps only and organic social media. The only real cost is a test order. The trade-off is time: you will need to post consistently for weeks to get traffic.

Ads-ready: about $391

This is where most first-time sellers land. You add a .com domain, one paid app for reviews, two test orders and a $300 ad test. It is enough to get real data in a month instead of waiting for organic traffic to build.

Brand build: about $1,161

If you have savings to invest and want a stronger brand from the start, you can add product samples, your own photos and a larger ad budget. More money does not guarantee more sales, though. Do not spend at this level until a lean or ads-ready test has shown that people want what you sell.

💡 Beginner tip: Decide your maximum spend before you start, and write it down. "I will spend up to $400 to test this product" is a plan. "I will keep going until it works" is how people lose money.

Costs that catch new sellers off guard

• The end of the $1 months. From month four, your plan goes up to the normal price.
• App subscriptions you forgot about. Check Settings → Apps once a month and remove what you do not use.
• Refunds and returns. Slow delivery and unclear product photos lead to refund requests. Plan for a few.
• Chargebacks. If a customer disputes a payment, you can lose the order value plus a fee.
• Taxes. Depending on where you and your customers are, you may need to collect and report sales tax or VAT. Check the rules for your country early.

How to start for less

The biggest hidden cost in the first month is not money. It is time: picking products, writing product pages, building policy pages and setting up a theme can take a week or more. That is time you are not spending on finding customers.

With storebuilder.ai, building the store is free. You get a Shopify store with 10 products from US and EU suppliers, a theme designed for your niche, every page written and a free .store domain for the first year. You still need a Shopify plan to sell, but the $1 months go a lot further when the store is ready on day one. Want the step-by-step version instead? See our guide on how to start a Shopify store.

FAQ

Can I start a Shopify store for free?

You can build and try Shopify for free during the 3-day trial, then it is $1/month for 3 months. To sell long term, you need a paid plan. Some tools, like storebuilder.ai, let you build the whole store for free before you pay anything.

What is the cheapest Shopify plan?

For an online store, Basic is the plan most new sellers use, at $25/month billed monthly or $19/month billed yearly in the US. Shopify also has a cheaper Starter plan for selling through social media and links, but it does not include a full online store.

How much should I spend on ads at the start?

A common starting point is around $10 a day for 30 days on one platform. That is enough to see whether people click and buy. Start smaller if that is a stretch, and never spend money you cannot afford to lose.

Do I need to buy inventory?

Not if you dropship. Your supplier ships each order after the customer pays you. You should still buy one or two of your own products to check quality and delivery time.