Wix vs Shopify Fees Compared 2026: Which Costs

Wix vs Shopify: Two Different Ways to Sell Online

Wix and Shopify both let you build an online store, but they were built for different jobs. Wix started as a general website builder and added ecommerce on top, which makes it a natural fit for service businesses, portfolios, and restaurants that also sell a few products. Shopify was built from day one as an ecommerce engine, and it shows in its checkout, inventory tools, and app ecosystem.

That difference matters when you compare fees, because the headline monthly price is only part of the story. Transaction fees, payment gateway surcharges, app subscriptions, and template costs can quietly double what you pay. This guide breaks down every layer of Wix and Shopify fees in 2026 so you can see the real cost of each.

If you already sell on Shopify, run your numbers through our free Shopify profit calculator to see how fees eat into your margins.

Monthly Plan Pricing: Side by Side

Both platforms use tiered monthly or annual billing, and annual billing typically shaves a meaningful discount off the monthly rate. Here is how the tiers generally stack up in structure, from entry-level to advanced:

Plan Tier	Wix (typical structure)	Shopify (typical structure)
Entry ecommerce	Core / Business plan with basic store features	Basic plan with full store and 2 staff accounts
Mid-tier	Business / Business Elite with automation and more storage	Grow / standard plan with lower card rates and more staff accounts
Advanced	Business Elite with the lowest Wix transaction fees	Advanced plan with the lowest card rates and custom reports
Enterprise	Wix Enterprise (custom pricing)	Shopify Plus (custom pricing)

Prices change, and both companies adjust their plans regularly, so always check the current plans page before committing. As a rule of thumb, Wix entry ecommerce plans often start at a lower sticker price than Shopify Basic, but Shopify's plans include more selling-specific power at every tier.

Transaction Fees: Where Shopify Usually Wins

Transaction fees are the fees you pay every time a customer buys something, and they matter more than the monthly subscription for any store with real volume. Both platforms charge a percentage plus a fixed per-order fee when you use their native payments, and both add surcharges if you use a third-party gateway.

Shopify's structure is straightforward: online card rates with Shopify Payments typically sit in the high-two-percent range plus a fixed per-transaction fee, and the rate drops as you move up plan tiers. If you use an external gateway instead, Shopify adds an additional fee on top, which is why most merchants stick with Shopify Payments.

Wix works similarly through Wix Payments, with rates that are generally comparable at the entry level. The practical difference is that Shopify's rate ladder rewards growth: a store doing serious volume on an upper-tier plan often pays meaningfully less per transaction than the same store would on Wix. For a worked illustration, a $50 order at a 2.9% + 30c rate costs you $1.75 in processing; at a 2.5% + 30c rate it costs $1.55. That 20-cent difference becomes $2,000 a year at 10,000 orders.

The Hidden Costs Most Comparisons Miss

• Apps and extensions: Both platforms have app marketplaces. Shopify's ecosystem is far larger, which is great for functionality but makes it easy to stack up $30 to $150 per month in app subscriptions. Wix's smaller app market means fewer temptations, but also fewer options.
• Themes and templates: Both offer free themes. Premium themes on either platform typically cost a one-time fee in the low hundreds, so budget for this if you want a polished look.
• Domain and email: A custom domain usually costs extra per year on both platforms unless bundled into a higher tier, and professional email hosting is often a separate subscription.
• Point of sale: If you sell in person too, compare POS hardware and per-transaction in-person rates carefully. Shopify's POS ecosystem is more mature.
• Migration costs: Switching platforms later costs time and often developer fees. Picking the right one now is cheaper than migrating in a year.

How to Calculate Your True Platform Cost

Do not compare sticker prices; compare twelve-month totals. Use this formula with your real numbers: (monthly plan x 12) + (monthly orders x average order value x transaction rate) + (monthly app costs x 12) + domain and extras. Run it once for Wix and once for Shopify, and the cheaper platform reveals itself without any guesswork.

Here is how the math behaves in practice. A store doing 300 orders a month at a $60 average order value processes $18,000 monthly. At a 2.9% + 30c transaction rate, processing costs about $612 a month. At 2.6% + 30c, it costs about $558. That $54 monthly difference becomes $648 a year, which alone often covers the entire gap between plan tiers. Add $40 a month in app subscriptions and the total-cost winner gets decisive quickly.

The pattern this formula exposes is consistent: Wix usually wins below roughly $5,000 to $10,000 in monthly sales, where its lower subscription dominates the total. Above that range, Shopify's lower transaction rates at higher tiers and its conversion-optimized checkout typically pull ahead. Your order volume decides, not anyone's brand preference, so run the numbers before you commit.

Which One Actually Costs Less?

For a small store or a business where selling is secondary (a salon selling gift cards, a portfolio with a small merch line), Wix generally costs less overall because the entry plans are cheaper and you need fewer paid apps. For a dedicated ecommerce business with growing order volume, Shopify usually wins on total cost because lower transaction fees at scale, better conversion-optimized checkout, and deeper automation outweigh the higher subscription.

The honest answer: add up your expected monthly orders, multiply by each platform's per-transaction cost at your tier, then add the subscription and the apps you will actually use. That math beats any generic recommendation. For a deeper look at how Shopify's pricing tiers and fee structures work as businesses scale, read our guide on SaaS pricing models explained, which covers the tiered logic both platforms use.