The Short Answer
Shopify has no free tier. Every plan that gives you an actual online store is paid, starting at $39 per month for Basic. Anyone telling you otherwise is describing one of four things, and it is worth knowing which:
| What they mean | What it actually is | Real cost |
|---|---|---|
| "Shopify is free to try" | The 3-day trial | $0 for 3 days |
| "Shopify is $1" | The introductory offer after the trial | $1/mo for 3 months |
| "Shopify has a $5 plan" | Starter — checkout links, not a storefront | $5/mo |
| "Shopify apps are free" | True of many apps, including all ten of ours | $0 |
What Is Genuinely Free
Plenty of what a store needs costs nothing, which is why the "$39 and nothing else" budget is realistic:
- The trial. Three days, no card required, full access to build and configure.
- Themes. Shopify's free themes are fast, responsive and maintained by Shopify itself. A paid theme buys a different look, not a better store.
- SSL, hosting and bandwidth. Unlimited, on every plan, included.
- Unlimited products. No plan caps how much you can list.
- Abandoned cart recovery. Included on every plan, including Basic.
- A great many apps. Including all ten of ours — email popups, sticky add to cart, free shipping bars, upsells, countdown timers, accessibility and translation — which are free to install.
What is never free is the subscription and the payment processing. Those two are the business model.
The Trial and the $1 Offer
The trial is three days. That is short, and it is short deliberately — it is enough to see the admin, load products and pick a theme, not enough to build a finished store.
The part that matters more is what follows: Shopify currently charges $1 per month for the first three months. That turns the real question from "can I afford $39 to find out?" into "can I afford $3?" For anyone genuinely testing an idea, that is the offer to use, and it is why the trial length matters less than it looks.
And it gets closer to free than that. Shopify credits 1% of your sales back against your subscription for the first six months — up to $5,000 on Basic, $7,500 on Grow and $10,000 on Advanced. A store doing $2,000 a month earns roughly $120 in credit over that period, which is more than the $3 the promotional pricing costs. For the first six months, a store that sells anything at all can genuinely run at close to zero net subscription cost. The credits require Shopify Payments and are credit against the plan rather than cash — the full terms are in the free trial guide.
We cover the mechanics — what happens at the end, whether you need a card, what carries over — in the Shopify free trial guide.
The $5 Starter Plan Is Not a Store
Starter costs $5 a month and is regularly mistaken for a cheap version of Shopify. It is a different product.
Starter gives you product pages and checkout links you can paste into Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp or an email. It does not give you a full storefront with collections, navigation and search. If you sell through social media and DMs, it is genuinely useful and very cheap. If you want a website customers browse, it is not the plan you want.
Platforms That Are Actually Free
If free is a hard requirement, these exist — with the trade-offs stated honestly:
| Option | Free? | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Etsy | No monthly fee | 6.5% transaction + listing fees + you do not own the customer |
| Square Online | Free tier exists | Square branding, limited features, higher processing |
| WooCommerce | Plugin is free | You pay for hosting, and you own every technical problem |
| Big Cartel | Free up to 5 products | Five products |
| Social selling only | Yes | No storefront, no SEO, no owned audience |
The honest summary: free platforms move the cost from a subscription to either a transaction percentage or your own time. At low volume that is often the right trade. Etsy's roughly 9–11% all-in overtakes Shopify's $39 somewhere around $500–$700 a month in sales, which arrives faster than most people expect. See Shopify vs Etsy for the arithmetic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a free Shopify plan?
No. Shopify has no permanently free tier. The cheapest plan that gives you a full online store is Basic at $39 per month, or $29 per month billed annually. The Starter plan at $5 per month provides checkout links rather than a storefront.
How long is the Shopify free trial?
Three days, with no credit card required to start. After the trial, Shopify currently offers $1 per month for the first three months, so the first 90 days cost roughly $3 in total.
Can I build my store during the free trial without paying?
Yes. The trial gives full access to the admin, so you can add products, configure a theme, set up shipping and connect a domain. You cannot sell to customers until you select a plan — checkout stays disabled until the store is on a paid plan.
Are Shopify apps free?
Many are, including all ten EasyApps apps, which are free to install. Others charge $10 to $50 per month each. Apps are the most common reason a store's costs exceed its budget, so install only what you can justify.
What happens to my store if I do not pay?
Shopify pauses the store. Your data and configuration are retained, and the storefront becomes unavailable to customers until you select a plan again. You do not lose your work by letting a trial lapse.
💡 Ready to put this into practice? Shopify's free 3-day trial — then $1/month for 3 months, plus 1% of sales back in credits — is long enough to set it up and see the numbers. Start your free trial → (affiliate link)