Shopify Payments vs Stripe Fees: What 400 Orders Really Cost?

Picture two Shopify stores. Same Basic plan, same 400 orders a month, same $50 average cart. One takes cards with Shopify Payments and pays $729 for the month. The other uses an outside card processor with the exact same rate, 2.9% + 30¢, and pays $1,129.

That $400 gap is not a processing fee. It comes from a second charge Shopify adds whenever you take payments through anyone other than itself. Most “Shopify Payments vs Stripe” articles skip right past it, and it is the whole story.

Below you’ll find what each option costs, where the extra charge comes from, and how to work out your own number. Everything is for US stores, and the rates were last checked on October 14, 2026.

First, a surprise: Shopify Payments is already Stripe

If your store is in the US, you are probably comparing two things that run on the same engine. Shopify’s help center names Stripe as the banking partner behind Shopify Payments, and says Stripe is not offered as a separate option where Shopify Payments is available. You can read that on Shopify’s page on gateway availability.

So for most US stores, “Shopify Payments or Stripe” is not a real either-or choice. The choice that costs money is a different one: Shopify Payments, or some other processor. What your store can use depends on your country and what you sell, and you can see it in your admin under Settings, then Payments.

Stripe still matters in a few cases, and I cover them further down.

What Shopify Payments costs?

Shopify charges a flat card rate that depends on your plan, plus the plan itself. For online card sales in the US, Shopify’s pricing page lists these rates:

• Basic: 2.9% + 30¢ per order. The plan is $29 a month billed yearly, or $39 month to month.
• Grow: 2.7% + 30¢ per order. The plan is $79 a month billed yearly, or $105 month to month.
• Advanced: 2.5% + 30¢ per order. The plan is $299 a month billed yearly, or $399 month to month.

That is all you pay. Shopify’s help page on the cost of Shopify Payments says there are no third-party transaction fees when you use it. On a $50 order, the card fee comes to $1.75 on Basic, $1.65 on Grow and $1.55 on Advanced.

What Stripe charges on its own?

Stripe’s price list is just as plain. A US card costs 2.9% + 30¢. International cards add 1.5%, and currency conversion adds another 1%. Each dispute costs $15. It is all on Stripe’s pricing page.

Notice that 2.9% + 30¢ is exactly what Shopify Payments charges on Basic. That is why the card rate alone can’t tell these two apart. To check a single payment, the Stripe Fee Calculator shows the fee and what lands in your bank, and this guide to Stripe fees explains where the small extras come from.

The charge that creates the gap

When you connect a payment provider that is not Shopify Payments, Shopify adds its own fee on every order, on top of whatever the provider charges. The pricing page lists it by plan: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced. The help page mentioned above puts it plainly: if you move away from Shopify Payments, you pay Shopify’s transaction fees in addition to your new processor’s fees.

On a $50 order, that is an extra $1.00 on Basic, 50¢ on Grow and 30¢ on Advanced. It sounds small until you multiply it by 400 orders. That is the $400 from the top of this page.

400 orders in one month, with real totals

Here is the month in full. The average order is $50 and there are 400 orders, so $20,000 in sales. Plans are billed yearly. “Outside processor” means one priced like Stripe, at 2.9% + 30¢, with Shopify’s extra fee added on top. Every total includes the plan fee.

Plan	Shopify Payments	Outside processor	Extra cost
Basic	$729	$1,129	$400
Grow	$739	$979	$240
Advanced	$919	$1,119	$200

Shopify Payments on Basic works out to 3.65% of your sales. The outside processor works out to 5.65%. At this size, Shopify Payments on the Basic plan is the cheapest of all six options, and it isn’t close.

A $100 order shows the same pattern. With Shopify Payments the fee is $3.20 on Basic, $3.00 on Grow and $2.80 on Advanced. With an outside processor it is $5.20, $4.20 and $3.80.

A smaller store and a bigger one

Smaller: 100 orders a month at $40. On Basic with Shopify Payments, the month costs $175. An outside processor costs $255, which is about 46% more for the same sales.

Bigger: 1,500 orders at $75, roughly $112,500 in sales. Shopify Payments costs $3,741.50 on Basic, $3,566.50 on Grow and $3,561.50 on Advanced. The outside processor costs $5,991.50, $4,916.50 and $4,686.50. Even on Advanced, where Shopify’s extra fee is only 0.6%, Shopify Payments still saves $1,125 a month.

Could an outside processor ever win?

Only if it is far cheaper than Stripe’s list price. On a $50 order, Shopify Payments on Basic costs $1.75. An outside processor has to come in under $0.75 in total, because Shopify’s $1.00 fee is added on top. That is 1.5% of the order, all in. Hardly any processor prices that low.

On Advanced the bar is $1.25, or 2.5%. That is possible, but mostly with negotiated pricing at high volume, and Stripe itself says custom pricing is available for large businesses. If you are not at that size, the list prices will not get you there.

When Stripe on its own still makes sense?

• You sell outside your store. Invoices, payment links or a second website can run through a Stripe account. Shopify’s fee is charged on Shopify orders, so those sales are billed only by Stripe, at its normal rates.
• Shopify Payments isn’t open to you. If your country or business type isn’t supported, you will need another provider. Shopify’s fee applies there, so compare providers on their all-in cost per order.
• You have custom pricing. Large sellers sometimes negotiate rates that beat Shopify Payments even after Shopify’s fee. Do the math on your own numbers before you switch.

Should you move up a plan?

A higher plan lowers your card rate by 0.2 points at each step, but costs more every month. Take the same $50 order, yearly billing and Shopify Payments. Basic is the cheapest until you pass about 500 orders a month. Grow wins from there, until you pass about 2,200 orders. After that, Advanced is cheaper. On monthly billing, those points move to roughly 660 and 2,940 orders.

That is card-fee math only. If a higher plan gives you features you need, count that too. If you are somewhere near a switch point, the Shopify Fee Calculator finds it for your own order size.

Costs that never show up on the rate card

A few things sit outside the headline rate. International cards and currency conversion add percentage points, and Stripe lists 1.5% and 1%. Disputes cost $15 each at Stripe, and Shopify’s help center is where to check the dispute fee on your own account, since it can differ. None of this changes the picture above for a typical US store, but it will matter if you sell abroad or see a lot of chargebacks.

Run your own numbers

Your average order and your monthly volume decide everything here. Put them into the Shopify Fee Calculator to see all three plans side by side, with Shopify Payments and with an outside processor. For payments outside your store, try the Stripe Fee Calculator or the PayPal Fee Calculator. The method behind every number is on the How We Calculate page.

Rates checked on October 14, 2026. Shopify and Stripe change their pricing from time to time, so confirm on their pricing pages before you decide.