Shopify vs Shopify Plus: What are the Main Differences?

Shopify powers thousands of eCommerce stores and provides merchants of all sizes powerful tools to manage and scale their businesses. However, there will come the point for fast-growing merchants when they need to consider Shopify vs. Shopify Plus.

The main difference is that Shopify is for small to medium eCommerce businesses, while Shopify Plus is aimed at more significant enterprises. As a result, most merchants will start with the standard Shopify services for their stores. However, once a store begins to grow, it's essential to understand how Shopify Plus can benefit the business.

Easyship can also be your shipping partner for your Shopify or Shopify Plus store. You can easily integrate your Shopify store with Easyship to manage order fulfillment and sync your shipping.

When to Use Shopify vs. Shopify Plus

At what point in your business growth do you need to consider Shopify vs. Shopify Plus? Nearly every business will start out using the standard Shopify services. It includes everything you need to initiate, manage, and enhance your eCommerce business.

The design and layout of your Shopify website can be made to your needs as an eCommerce store. You can manage inventory, sales, shipping, and reports through an easy admin panel. In addition, it is entirely cloud-based and hosted for your convenience.

What is Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus is for enterprise merchants with a hefty monthly sales volume for their online store. These will be established enterprise businesses or well-funded startups with significant resources to launch a new store.

Shopify Plus provides these enterprises with additional resources and custom tool options. Shopify Plus helps lower the cost of ownership by making it easier to manage high-volume businesses with a small team. Essentially, Shopify Plus becomes the turnkey eCommerce partner for these companies.

The interface and basic functionality are the same as Shopify, but there are powerful features built for enterprise business structures.

Pros of Using Shopify vs. Shopify Plus

Shopify and Shopify Plus offer pros and cons for your online store. Overall, the differences come down to the company's size and monthly orders.

The standard Shopify features will provide everything needed to run the store for a small business run from home. However, a wholesaler or an enterprise will likely need the additional services offered through Shopify Plus.

Shopify Benefits

A standard Shopify plan offers benefits such as the following:

• The cost per month is affordable
• Customized web design for your Shopify flow
• 24/7 support provided
• Unlimited number of products
• Social media integration via Shopify apps
• Discount codes
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Fraud analysis
• Up to 5 staff accounts

Shopify Plus Benefits

Distinctive advantages that Shopify Plus includes on top of the standard features of all the plans are:

• Multiple languages and currencies
• Handling a high volume of sales
• Dedicated personalized support
• Unlimited staff accounts
• Fully customized and branded checkout
• Custom discounts and flash sales
• More API integrations
• Shopify Plus gives up-to-date expert analysis and the latest data

Cons of Using Shopify vs. Shopify Plus

Though there are a few, we'll go over the cons of using Shopify vs. Shopify Plus.

Shopify Cons

Here, we'll compare the cons of using Shopify for your eCommerce platform to get the full scope of Basic Shopify. This way, you can decide if Shopify or Shopify Plus is better for you and your business.

• Limits your team or staff accounts to 15
• Features are limited for large companies making 1-2 million annual revenue
• You can add only 8 locations
• Third-party calculated shipping rates are not available

Shopify Plus Cons

Your Shopify online store will require you to determine if Shopify Plus pricing is better than a basic Shopify plan. To better understand Shopify Plus's complete set of features, we'll discuss the cons of this service. This way, you can better decide what fits your needs to ace your eCommerce strategy.

• It is not suitable for content-rich websites. Ideally made for eCommerce websites and not blogs or info websites
• Although Shopify Plus is very flexible, you cannot temper the website's code. Whatever minor changes you can do are done through the front-end provided by Shopify
• Expensive as compared to Shopify Basic

Related post: Manage Your Shopify Plus Shipping with Easyship

Key Differences Between Shopify and Shopify Plus

It's essential to understand the primary differences between the two services. First, pricing is a major difference between the two services. Shopify Plus has a more expensive price tag than Shopify because of its features and support.

Shopify has three main tiers:

• Basic Shopify: Starting at $29.99 per month
• Shopify: $79.99 per month
• Advanced Shopify: $299.99 per month
• Shopify Plus: Starting at $2,000 per month

For a complete list of features and transaction fees per tier, you'll want to check out the Shopify website.

Shopify Plus plans start at $2000 per month with customized Shopify payment plans based on the revenue or enterprise level.

Shopify vs. Shopify Plus features

The basic features are the same, including an eCommerce website and backend management. But the difference lies in the advanced features of Shopify Plus:

• Personalized and unlimited support with a merchant success manager
• Include multiple languages, currencies, and channel support
• More control over the website and more flexibility with the features
• Include enhanced inventory and a personalized checkout experience
• Provides business insights through analytics, but Shopify Plus takes the game to another level by including expert analysis and detailed information

Ease of Use

Both Shopify and Shopify Plus are straightforward to use and set up. The administration panel is easy to understand. In addition, both provide easy integration with cloud-based tools.

Shopify boasts a long list of partners and integration tools to help with inventory management, shipping, and order fulfillment. In addition, you can use APIs for integration with partners.

Design

Shopify vs. Shopify Plus is almost similar when designing custom options. You can choose templates and customize them to give your visitors a branded experience.

Support

Shopify provides excellent 24/7 support but what Shopify Plus offers is something else. Shopify Plus has Customized and personalized support with a dedicated launch manager to help you. So if you want to compare the two, Shopify Plus wins hands down.

Shopify vs. Shopify Plus: Choosing the Right Platform for Your Business

Choosing an eCommerce platform for your store is one of the most important decisions you'll make as a business owner. It's essential to make sure you have a list of features you know your need and a detailed budget.

One of the main Shopify tiers will be sufficient for most small or medium businesses to get started with your store. However, for more than 10,000 orders per day, Shopify Plus gives you more control over your website and is more flexible.

Choosing which of the two you want depends on what you are planning for the future of your business. For steady growth, Shopify is perfect. However, if your ambitious need for your business is rapid growth, then Shopify Plus is an ideal choice.

Easyship is a Shopify partner providing flexible and branded shipping and order fulfillment solutions. You can easily integrate your Shopify store into Easyship. Our integration makes it easy to access the largest courier network globally with a seamless checkout process for shopping carts.

Shopify vs. Shopify Plus FAQs

When was Shopify Plus launched?

Shopify Plus was launched in 2014 as an enterprise solution by Shopify.

How to upgrade to Shopify plus?

You can upgrade to Shopify Plus through the Shopify website. Then, contact Shopify Plus directly to get a quote and guidance.

How many stores can you have on Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus lets you make nine additional stores other than your main store. So in total, you can make ten stores by using Shopify Plus.

Is Shopify Plus open-source?

No. Shopify Plus is not open-source; it is a commercial product.

How can I become a Shopify Plus partner?

If you have experience in enterprise stores or wholesale eCommerce, the partner program on Shopify may be a good fit. Apply on the Shopify website to become a Shopify Plus partner.

If you found this a helpful comparison, check out the following:

• Shopify vs. Magento
• Shopify vs. BigCommerce: Differences Explained
• Shopify vs. Squarespace