Both numbers were right. The gap between them is a fee almost nobody mentions in a Stripe vs Shopify Payments fees comparison, and it was costing her about $360 a month. Here is exactly how the two price structures work in 2026, what each one really costs at different revenue levels, and when switching is worth the afternoon it takes.
On Shopify, routing card payments through Stripe costs an effective 4.9% plus 30 cents on the Basic plan, because Shopify adds a 2% third-party gateway fee on top of Stripe’s own 2.9%. Shopify Payments charges 2.9% plus 30 cents with no surcharge. Outside Shopify, Stripe’s 2.9% stands alone and is highly competitive.
Table of Contents
Stripe vs Shopify Payments Fees at a Glance
Shopify Payments and Stripe charge the same headline rate on the Basic plan: 2.9% plus 30 cents per online card transaction. The difference appears only when you use Stripe inside Shopify, which triggers a third-party gateway surcharge of 0.2% to 2% depending on your plan. That surcharge is the whole story.
| Setup | Card rate | Shopify surcharge | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Payments, Basic | 2.9% + $0.30 | None | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Shopify Payments, Grow | 2.7% + $0.30 | None | 2.7% + $0.30 |
| Shopify Payments, Advanced | 2.5% + $0.30 | None | 2.5% + $0.30 |
| Stripe inside Shopify, Basic | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.0% | 4.9% + $0.30 |
| Stripe inside Shopify, Grow | 2.9% + $0.30 | 1.0% | 3.9% + $0.30 |
| Stripe inside Shopify, Advanced | 2.9% + $0.30 | 0.6% | 3.5% + $0.30 |
| Stripe on your own site | 2.9% + $0.30 | Not applicable | 2.9% + $0.30 |
Rates from Shopify and Stripe published US pricing pages, checked August 2026.
Look at the last row. Stripe is not an expensive processor. It becomes expensive specifically when it sits inside a platform that penalises it. That distinction explains most of the confusion around why Stripe fees feel higher than the headline rate, and the same pattern shows up in how Stripe and PayPal fees compare.
The Surcharge Most Comparisons Leave Out
Shopify charges an additional transaction fee on every sale that does not go through Shopify Payments. It applies whether you use Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, or anything else, which is worth weighing before choosing payment methods for a Shopify store. The fee sits on top of whatever your gateway already charges you, and it scales down as your plan tier goes up.
What the third-party fee costs on each plan
| Shopify plan | Monthly fee | Third-party surcharge |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39 ($29 billed annually) | 2.0% |
| Grow | $105 ($79 billed annually) | 1.0% |
| Advanced | $399 ($299 billed annually) | 0.6% |
| Plus | From $2,300 on a three-year term | 0.2% |
Plan pricing and surcharge tiers verified against Shopify’s US pricing page, August 2026.
On a $50,000 month, that 2% on Basic is $1,000. Not $1,000 a year. A thousand dollars a month, paid for the privilege of using a different card processor.
The one setup where the surcharge disappears
Shopify does not charge the surcharge on manual payment methods. Bank transfers, cash on delivery, money orders, and any payment you mark as paid by hand are exempt. For most stores that covers a rounding error of total volume, but for B2B sellers invoicing on net-30 terms it can be a meaningful share.
The surcharge also does not apply in countries where Shopify Payments is unavailable. If you operate somewhere Shopify Payments does not support, you are not penalised for using a gateway you had no choice about.
How Shopify Payments Fees Work in 2026
Shopify Payments is Shopify’s built-in processor, and it runs on Stripe’s infrastructure under the hood. You are using Stripe either way. The difference is who bills you and which rate card applies. Shopify Payments carries no setup fee, no monthly fee of its own, and no surcharge. The trade is lock-in, which becomes a live question if you are already weighing alternatives as you outgrow Shopify.
Online card rates by plan
Rates drop as you move up the plan ladder. Basic pays 2.9% plus 30 cents, Grow pays 2.7% plus 30 cents, and Advanced pays 2.5% plus 30 cents on every online card transaction. Shopify Plus rates are negotiated rather than published, and typically land near 2.15% plus 30 cents at standard terms.
American Express and internationally issued cards often carry a higher rate than Visa and Mastercard on the same plan. Check your own rate card in the Shopify admin rather than assuming a flat number across all card types.
In-person and Shopify POS rates
Card-present transactions cost less because the card networks charge less for a physical tap or swipe. Shopify POS runs at 2.6% plus 10 cents on Basic, 2.5% plus 10 cents on Grow, and 2.4% plus 10 cents on Advanced. If a meaningful share of your revenue comes through a physical location, model it separately. Blending online and in-person into one average will overstate your costs.
How Stripe Fees Work in 2026
Stripe’s standard US rate has held at 2.9% plus 30 cents per successful online card charge for more than a decade, with no setup fee, no monthly fee, and no PCI fee on the standard plan. That headline rate describes exactly one scenario though: a domestic customer, paying in your currency, with a card, on a standard payout, with no subscription tooling attached.
The standard US rate card
| Payment type | Stripe rate |
|---|---|
| Online card, domestic | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| In-person, Stripe Terminal | 2.7% + $0.05 |
| Manually keyed card | 3.4% + $0.30 |
| ACH Direct Debit | 0.8%, capped at $5 |
| Dispute or chargeback | $15 per case |
| International card | +1.5% |
| Currency conversion | +1% |
Verified against Stripe’s published US pricing, August 2026.
That ACH line matters more than it looks. For a $2,000 B2B invoice, ACH Direct Debit through Stripe costs $5 flat against $58.30 on a card. If you sell high-ticket items to businesses, that single rail can justify a Stripe integration on its own.
Optional products that stack on top
Stripe’s card processing is one layer. The products around it each carry their own rate. Stripe Billing runs 0.7% of billing volume, Stripe Tax adds 0.5%, and instant payouts cost 1.5% of the amount transferred. Anyone setting up recurring payments in Stripe pays that Billing layer on top of card processing. A subscription business running Billing and Tax pays 2.9% plus 0.7% plus 0.5%, which is 4.1% before a single international card enters the mix.
Shopify bundles equivalents of most of these into the plan fee. That is a genuine advantage of the Shopify Payments route that raw rate comparisons hide.
What You Actually Pay at $10K, $50K, and $200K a Month
Percentages alone will not tell you which option is cheaper, because the 30-cent fixed fee and the monthly plan fee both change the answer. The table below assumes a $75 average order value and 100% domestic card payments. If you are still modelling launch numbers, our breakdown of what it costs to start an ecommerce store covers the fixed side of the equation.
| Monthly revenue | Basic + Shopify Payments | Basic + Stripe | Grow + Shopify Payments | Advanced + Shopify Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 (133 orders) | $369 | $569 | $415 | $649 |
| $50,000 (667 orders) | $1,689 | $2,689 | $1,655 | $1,849 |
| $200,000 (2,667 orders) | $6,639 | $8,639 | $6,305 | $6,199 |
Totals include the monthly plan fee. Card rates and plan pricing from Shopify’s US pricing page, August 2026.
Read the second column against the third. At $10,000 a month, using Stripe instead of Shopify Payments on Basic costs an extra $200 every month, or $2,400 a year. At $200,000 it costs an extra $2,000 a month. The penalty scales linearly with revenue and never gets smaller.
The break-even number most guides get wrong
You will read repeatedly that upgrading from Basic to Grow pays for itself around $7,500 to $8,000 a month. That figure is wrong for anyone on Shopify Payments, and it is easy to check.
The Grow plan costs $66 a month more than Basic on monthly billing. The card rate improves by 0.2 percentage points. Divide $66 by 0.002 and you get $33,000. Below that, Basic plus Shopify Payments is cheaper. On annual billing the gap narrows to $50 and the break-even falls to $25,000.
The $8,000 figure only holds if you are paying the third-party surcharge, because then the upgrade also cuts that fee from 2% to 1%. It is a real number for the wrong reader. If you use Shopify Payments, hold on Basic until roughly $33,000 a month. The same arithmetic puts the Grow to Advanced break-even near $147,000 a month.
International Cards and Currency Conversion
Both processors charge more when the card was issued abroad or when the payment currency differs from your settlement currency. The two fees are separate and can both apply to the same transaction. Stripe adds 1.5% for an international card and 1% for conversion. Shopify adds 1% for an international card and 1.5% for conversion on US stores. Sellers listing in several currencies should read up on Stripe multi-currency pricing before setting international price points.
A $100 sale to a European customer paying in euros costs a US Stripe merchant 2.9% plus 1.5% plus 1%, which is $5.70 rather than $3.20. That is a 78% increase in processing cost on the same sale.
The April 2026 change to Shopify conversion fees
Shopify changed how it calculates currency conversion on US stores effective 6 April 2026. The 1.5% conversion fee is now charged on the gross order value rather than on the converted portion. If you sell internationally at any scale, your effective conversion cost rose that month even though the headline percentage did not move.
Anyone reading a comparison written before that date is working from stale math. It is worth pulling three months of payout reports and checking your own blended rate rather than trusting a published figure, including this one. There are also practical ways of reducing the FX spread on payouts once you know what you are paying.
When Stripe Still Beats Shopify Payments
Stripe wins inside Shopify in a narrow but real set of cases, and it is worth being honest that the surcharge does not automatically settle the question.
ACH Direct Debit at 0.8% capped at $5 has no Shopify Payments equivalent, and for B2B sellers with high average order values it can outweigh a 2% surcharge on the card portion. Stripe also handles complex subscription logic, usage-based billing, and marketplace payouts through Stripe Connect for marketplaces in ways Shopify’s native tooling does not reach.
Then there is availability. Shopify Payments only operates in supported countries and declines some business categories outright. If you sell supplements, CBD, firearms accessories, or anything in a restricted category, the choice may be made for you. Stripe has its own restricted list, but the two do not overlap perfectly.
Finally, if you run storefronts beyond Shopify, on a custom site, a mobile app, or a second platform, keeping one Stripe account across all of them simplifies reconciliation enough that some merchants accept the surcharge deliberately. That is a defensible trade, as long as you have priced it.
When Shopify Payments Wins
For most Shopify stores selling domestically to consumers, Shopify Payments is the cheaper option and the argument is not close. You avoid a surcharge of 0.6% to 2%, you get one dashboard for orders and payouts, and fraud tools come bundled rather than metered.
The operational case matters as much as the rate. Chargeback evidence submits from the order page. Refunds sync automatically. Payout reconciliation matches the order data because it comes from the same system. Anyone who has spent a month matching Stripe payouts against Shopify order exports by hand knows what that saves.
If your store is domestic, consumer-facing, card-based, and fully on Shopify, use Shopify Payments. The exceptions above are real, but they are exceptions.
Payouts, Chargebacks, and Refunds
Both processors hold your first payout longer than the steady-state schedule while they verify the account. Stripe typically releases the first payout 7 to 14 days after the first successful charge, then settles on a rolling two-day basis for US accounts, with weekly or monthly schedules available. Shopify Payments follows a similar pattern and then pays out on a set schedule tied to your region. The full detail sits in our guide to how Stripe payout schedules work.
Chargebacks cost $15 on both platforms. Shopify refunds that fee if you win the dispute. Stripe does the same on standard accounts, though the real cost of dispute resolution includes the staff time nobody bills for.
Refunds are where both quietly cost you money. Neither processor returns the original processing fee when you refund a customer. On a $200 return processed at 2.9% plus 30 cents, you refund the customer $200 and stay out of pocket $6.10. Stores with return rates above 15% should build that into their margin calculations, because at volume it stops being a rounding error.
How to Lower Your Rate
The single highest-leverage move is switching to Shopify Payments if you are not already on it. Nothing else on this list matches a 200 basis point saving for an afternoon of setup work.
After that, four levers are worth pulling. Move to annual billing, which cuts the plan fee by roughly 25% and requires no operational change. Raise your average order value through bundling, because the fixed 30 cents costs 0.6% at a $50 order and only 0.2% at $150. Time your plan upgrade to the real break-even rather than the one you read online. And once you cross roughly $500,000 a month in card volume, negotiate. Check Stripe volume discount eligibility first, and understand how interchange-plus differs from flat-rate pricing, because that is the structure a negotiated deal usually moves you onto. Shopify Payments rates stop being fixed at scale, and merchants who put a competing quote in front of Shopify’s finance team routinely land below the published rate card.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Shopify Payments the same as Stripe? Shopify Payments runs on Stripe’s infrastructure, so the underlying processing is Stripe. It is not the same product. Shopify Payments is billed by Shopify, uses Shopify’s own rate card, and only works inside a Shopify store. A Stripe account is independent and works anywhere you can install it.
Can I use Stripe with Shopify? Yes. Stripe is available as a third-party payment gateway in the Shopify admin. Shopify will add a third-party transaction fee of 0.2% to 2% on top of Stripe’s own rate, depending on your plan. The integration works fine, it just costs more.
Which is cheaper, Stripe or Shopify Payments? Inside a Shopify store, Shopify Payments is cheaper for almost every domestic seller because it avoids the surcharge. Outside Shopify, Stripe at 2.9% plus 30 cents is competitive with any major processor. The platform you sell on decides the answer, not the processor.
How do I avoid Shopify transaction fees? Use Shopify Payments as your primary gateway. That removes the third-party fee entirely on every plan. You cannot avoid the card processing rate itself, since that covers interchange paid to the card-issuing bank and is a genuine cost rather than a platform charge.
Does Shopify Payments have a monthly fee? No. Shopify Payments adds no monthly or setup fee of its own. You still pay your Shopify plan subscription, which ranges from $39 a month on Basic to $399 on Advanced at monthly billing, and card processing on each sale.
What happens to my subscriptions if I switch from Stripe to Shopify Payments? Stored card details do not transfer automatically between processors. Recurring customers usually need to re-authorise. Most subscription apps handle this with a re-authorisation email, but plan for churn during the transition and run the switch outside your peak season.
Do I pay both Stripe fees and Shopify fees on the same sale? Yes, if Stripe is your gateway. Stripe takes its 2.9% plus 30 cents and Shopify takes its surcharge separately. They appear as two different line items, which is why the true cost is easy to miss until you reconcile a full month.
Is 2.9% plus 30 cents a good rate in 2026? It is the standard flat rate across most major processors for card-not-present transactions and it is fair for stores under roughly $100,000 a month. Above that, interchange-plus pricing or a negotiated rate will usually beat it, sometimes by 30 to 50 basis points.
Does Shopify Payments work in every country? No. Shopify Payments is available in a limited set of countries and excludes certain business categories. If it is unavailable where you operate, Shopify waives the third-party surcharge, so a gateway like Stripe carries no penalty.
How much do international sales really cost? Budget an extra 2% to 2.5% on top of your base rate for a foreign card requiring currency conversion. A $100 European sale through Stripe costs $5.70 rather than $3.20. Price international orders accordingly rather than absorbing the difference.
Conclusion
The store owner with the spreadsheet switched to Shopify Payments over a weekend. Her processing costs dropped from roughly 4.9% to 2.9% on the same volume, which came to about $4,300 a year on an $18,000 month. Nothing about her store changed except which gateway processed the card.
That is the practical shape of the Stripe vs Shopify Payments fees question for most sellers. The headline rates are close enough to look interchangeable, and the surcharge sitting underneath them is what actually decides the cost. If you sell domestically to consumers on Shopify, Shopify Payments almost certainly wins. If you invoice businesses, sell across multiple platforms, or need billing logic Shopify cannot reach, Stripe may still earn its 2%.
Either way, the number worth knowing is your own. Pull last quarter’s payouts, divide total fees by total revenue, and compare that blended rate against the tables above. If the number surprises you, it is usually a sign that a full Shopify audit would find more than one leak. What does your real rate turn out to be once refunds and international orders are in the mix?
