eHopper vs Shopify Payments fees in 2026: True costs compared

eHopper and Shopify use opposite pricing models. eHopper pairs a $14.99 per month software base with bring-your-own payment processing. Shopify bundles eCommerce software starting at $39 per month on Basic and defaults to native Shopify Payments processing at 2.6% plus $0.10 for in-person transactions. eHopper minimizes fixed monthly overhead, but you must secure an independent merchant account to accept credit cards. Shopify handles the gateway natively. Its software tiers cost $39 per month for Basic ($29 per month on annual billing), $105 per month for Grow ($79 per month annual), and $399 per month for Advanced ($299 per month annual).

Shopify Payments charges flat-rate fees dictated by your subscription tier and transaction type. On the Basic plan, in-person card transactions cost 2.6% plus $0.10. Online transactions cost 2.9% plus $0.30, and online premium cards hit 3.5% plus $0.30. As we detail in our audit of Shopify Payments fees in 2026, upgrading to the Grow tier lowers in-person processing to 2.5% plus $0.10 and online to 2.7% plus $0.30. The Advanced tier drops in-person rates to 2.4% plus $0.10 and online rates to 2.5% plus $0.30. Every plan includes a 1% surcharge on international cards.

eHopper operates strictly as point of sale software. Store owners bring their own credit card processor. Because eHopper does not act as a payment processor or lock you into a built-in gateway, your processing costs depend entirely on the merchant provider you select. This decoupled approach lets you negotiate third-party rates independently from your core software fee, making it easier to achieve true parity between your advertised and actual processing costs.

Total cost on Shopify Payments varies heavily by subscription tier and your split between card-present and online transactions. This contrasts with eHopper's fixed $14.99 monthly software fee, where you pay processing costs to an outside provider. Consider a business processing $10,000 per month in credit card volume across 200 transactions with a $50 average sale. Shopify Payments card-present fees cost $280 per month ($3,360 per year, 2.8% effective rate) on Basic. Those costs drop to $270 per month ($3,240 per year, 2.7% effective rate) on Grow, and $260 per month ($3,120 per year, 2.6% effective rate) on Advanced. eHopper charges $14.99 per month for its platform regardless of sales volume, leaving processing charges completely dependent on your separate merchant account.

Online sales trigger higher processing fees on Shopify. At $10,000 in monthly online volume with a $50 average sale, processing costs rise to $350 per month ($4,200 per year, 3.5% effective rate) on Basic. This drops to $330 per month ($3,960 per year, 3.3% effective rate) on Grow, and $310 per month ($3,720 per year, 3.1% effective rate) on Advanced. The spread between the cheapest card-present option ($3,120 per year on Advanced) and the most expensive online option ($4,200 per year on Basic) totals $1,080 per year.

At $25,000 in monthly volume across 500 transactions with a $50 average sale, the dollar impact scales. Card-present processing costs $700 per month ($8,400 per year, 2.8% effective rate) on Basic, $675 per month ($8,100 per year, 2.7% effective rate) on Grow, and $650 per month ($7,800 per year, 2.6% effective rate) on Advanced. Online transactions at $25,000 monthly volume reach $875 per month ($10,500 per year, 3.5% effective rate) on Basic, $825 per month ($9,900 per year, 3.3% effective rate) on Grow, and $775 per month ($9,300 per year, 3.1% effective rate) on Advanced. That creates a $2,700 per year spread between the cheapest and most expensive configurations. To see your specific impact, merchants should run a Shopify Payments fee audit guide. These figures stack on top of Shopify's monthly subscription fee, while eHopper's base remains $14.99 per month.

Shopify imposes a rigid third-party processor penalty if you bypass Shopify Payments. They levy a fee on every transaction processed through external payment gateways. This penalty is 2% for merchants on the Basic plan, 1% on Grow, and 0.6% on Advanced. If you want a bring-your-own-processor model like eHopper uses, this penalty creates a massive cost hurdle. When you evaluate what US merchants actually pay, these penalties wipe out most external processing discounts.

Shopify offers access to over 100 different payment gateways for online stores, tempting merchants to seek outside processors for competitive card rates. However, adding a 2% penalty fee on Basic or 1% on Grow instantly kills any margin you negotiate with a third party. eHopper charges zero third-party processor penalties. You connect external merchant accounts without platform-level surcharges bleeding your revenue.

In-person POS add-on costs highlight the structural differences between these platforms. Shopify requires a paid POS Pro upgrade for advanced retail features. eHopper focuses natively on in-store hardware. Unlocking advanced retail management tools on Shopify POS demands the POS Pro plan, adding $89 per month per location under standard billing, or $79 per month per location when billed annually. You pay this add-on cost directly on top of your core eCommerce subscription fees.

Shopify includes POS Lite with no published additional software fees, but stores requiring robust physical inventory control, staff permissions, or multi-location workflows must pay for POS Pro. By contrast, eHopper designs its $14.99 monthly base expressly for physical retail registers. Adding physical store locations on Shopify compounds your monthly software costs. eHopper maintains a lower software entry point for physical stores from day one.