Stripe vs Shopify Payments Fees in 2026: US Cost Comparison

Shopify built Shopify Payments directly on Stripe's processing infrastructure. Both providers set an identical standard online credit card processing rate of 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. Base processing costs run equal for entry-level online transactions. The true cost difference emerges when you choose which gateway to connect to a Shopify storefront.

Shopify imposes a third-party processor fee on merchants who connect external gateways instead of using Shopify Payments. This penalty adds a 2% fee on the Basic plan, 1% on the Grow plan, 0.6% on the Advanced plan, and 0.2% on the Plus plan. Adding Stripe to a Shopify store raises your gateway processing cost by these exact percentages.

This surcharge structure makes standalone Stripe financially impractical inside the Shopify ecosystem. Unless you operate off Shopify or need specialized billing features, auditing your store rates shows that routing payments through Shopify Payments avoids thousands of dollars in annual penalty fees.

Stripe charges $0 in monthly software fees for standard services. Shopify requires a monthly e-commerce subscription ranging from $39 to $399. Shopify's standard plans cost $39 per month for Basic, $105 for Grow, and $399 for Advanced when paid monthly. Annual billing drops these costs to $29, $79, and $299 per month.

Shopify uses these subscription tiers to subsidize lower credit card processing rates. Standard online card rates fall from 2.9% plus $0.30 on Basic, to 2.7% plus $0.30 on Grow, and down to 2.5% plus $0.30 on Advanced. Premium card rates, like business or American Express cards, decrease from 3.5% plus $0.30 on Basic, to 3.3% plus $0.30 on Grow, and 3.1% plus $0.30 on Advanced.

Stripe maintains a static flat rate of 2.9% plus $0.30 for online card payments regardless of transaction volume or account age. High-volume merchants on Shopify offset expensive subscription fees through processing rate discounts. Businesses running on independent websites keep overhead low with Stripe's pay-as-you-go pricing model.

At $10,000 in monthly online volume across 200 transactions at a $50 average sale, processing costs on Shopify Payments drop from $350 per month on Basic to $310 per month on Advanced. Our exact calculations show Shopify Basic costs $350 per month ($4,200 per year at a 3.5% all-in effective rate) for online sales. Shopify Grow costs $330 per month ($3,960 per year at a 3.3% effective rate). Shopify Advanced costs $310 per month ($3,720 per year at a 3.1% effective rate). For card-present sales at this same volume, Basic costs $280 per month ($3,360 per year at 2.8%), Grow costs $270 per month ($3,240 per year at 2.7%), and Advanced costs $260 per month ($3,120 per year at 2.6%). This creates an annual spread of $1,080 between the cheapest and most expensive setups.

Scaling up to $25,000 in monthly card volume across 500 transactions at a $50 average sale widens the financial impact of plan tiers. Online processing costs total $875 per month ($10,500 per year at a 3.5% effective rate) on Basic, $825 per month ($9,900 per year at a 3.3% rate) on Grow, and $775 per month ($9,300 per year at a 3.1% rate) on Advanced. Card-present processing costs for $25,000 in volume total $700 per month ($8,400 per year at a 2.8% rate) on Basic, $675 per month ($8,100 per year at a 2.7% rate) on Grow, and $650 per month ($7,800 per year at a 2.6% rate) on Advanced.

The spread between the cheapest and most expensive tiers reaches $2,700 per year at $25,000 in monthly volume. Reviewing the history of Shopify Payments fees shows upgrading plans lowers effective card rates. Cost efficiency depends entirely on whether your transactions occur online or in person.

Stripe charges 2.7% plus $0.05 for in-person transactions. Shopify Payments charges 2.4% to 2.6% plus $0.10 depending on the platform plan. Shopify Payments in-person rates hit 2.6% plus $0.10 on Basic, 2.5% plus $0.10 on Grow, and 2.4% plus $0.10 on Advanced.

Retail merchants must factor in point-of-sale software subscriptions and hardware pricing. Shopify POS Pro, the upgraded brick-and-mortar retail management software, costs an additional $89 per location per month ($79 when billed annually). Shopify POS Lite carries no extra monthly software fee.

Hardware expenses differ between the providers. Stripe card readers range from $59 for the Reader M2 up to $299 for the Reader S700/S710. Shopify hardware ranges from $49 for a basic mobile card reader up to $459 and higher for full countertop terminal kits. We help merchants achieve rate parity by weighing these fixed hardware costs against software fees.

Stripe and Shopify Payments share an identical core dispute fee of $15 per chargeback because Shopify runs on Stripe's infrastructure. Both platforms charge a $15 counter fee if you contest a chargeback. You receive a refund only if you win the dispute.

Stripe charges 3.4% plus $0.30 per manually keyed transaction. Processing international payments introduces cross-border surcharges on both platforms. Stripe assesses a 4.4% plus $0.30 fee on international card payments, along with a 1.5% international surcharge and an extra 1% fee for currency conversion.

Shopify Payments assesses a 1% international card surcharge on all plans. International card transactions on both services incur a 1.5% surcharge with an added 1% fee when currency conversion occurs. Factoring these surcharges alongside baseline Shopify Payments fees ensures you accurately estimate processing expenses across global and keyed sales channels.