Shopify Plus vs Shopify — which do I need?

Shopify Plus is Shopify's enterprise tier — but "enterprise" does not mean it is only for billion-pound brands. We work with Plus merchants doing £1M–£50M+ annually, and with standard Shopify stores that are the right fit for their stage. Here is how to decide.

What Shopify Plus adds

Checkout customisation via Shopify Functions and checkout UI extensions — the piece that matters for complex pricing, B2B rules and upsells. Shopify B2B is on every plan: up to three catalogues on Basic, Grow and Advanced, and unlimited catalogues on Plus, with direct catalogue assignment, deposits and partial payments. Up to nine expansion stores. Higher API rate limits. Launchpad for scheduled sales. Priority Plus support.

Shopify Scripts stopped executing on 30 June 2026. Checkout logic that used to live in Scripts now belongs in Shopify Functions. For high-traffic stores, checkout reliability and customisation are what usually justify Plus, not the licence on its own.

What standard Shopify gives you

For many UK brands, Advanced is enough: £259 a month billed yearly, or £344 billed monthly (checked on Shopify’s UK pricing page on 3 November 2026). You still get unlimited products, a lower card rate than Basic or Grow, reporting, and the full app ecosystem. Custom themes, apps and integrations work on all plans.

If you do not need custom checkout logic, more than three B2B catalogues, or several stores under one Plus contract, Plus is likely more than you need — and that is fine.

When to upgrade

Consider Plus when turnover is approaching £800k–£1m a year, you need custom checkout logic, you need more than three B2B catalogues or deposits, you need multiple stores under one Plus licence, or API limits on Advanced are blocking integrations. B2B on its own, with three catalogues or fewer, is no longer a reason.

We help merchants assess this honestly — we have recommended standard Shopify to brands that asked for Plus, and recommended Plus to brands that underestimated their needs.

Plus pricing reality

Shopify Plus in the UK starts at £1,800 a month on a three-year term, or £1,950 a month on a one-year term (checked 3 November 2026). Migrating onto Plus is £15k–£50k+ and an upgrade starts from £10k — the year-one working is in Shopify Plus pricing in the UK.