Choosing Shopify for your online business is a wise decision because it’s the best all-around e-commerce website builder out there. It allows you to create an advanced online store without overcomplicating things, plus it gives you access to a bunch of powerful sales and marketing tools that will help you grow your business. So why is there a need for Shopify Plus? While they are technically the same thing, there is a pretty obvious difference between the two. Shopify is much more suited to the small and medium businesses out there while Shopify Plus is meant to cater to large enterprises. If you’re not quite sure which one to pick, take a look at our in-depth comparison of Shopify Plus and Shopify so that you can get a better idea of which one’s best for your online business.
Shopify Plus vs Shopify Comparison Chart
| Model | Shopify Plus | Shopify |
 |  | |
| Pricing | a minimum of $2,000 per month | Basic Shopify – $29/month Shopify – $79/month Advanced Shopify – $299/month |
| Size of Business | Large enterprises | Small to medium businesses |
| Design Customization | High-level customization through Liquid | Basic customization through Shopify editor |
| Number of Themes | Over 60 | Over 60 |
| Multi-Channel Integration | Yes | Yes |
| Abandoned Cart Recovery | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-Currency Selling | Yes | Yes |
| Shopify Flow | Yes | No |
| Script Editor | Yes | No |
| 24/7 Support | Yes | Yes |
| Launch Manager | Yes | No |
| Merchant Success Manager | Yes | No |
When to Upgrade to Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus is for large enterprises while the plans under Shopify are good enough for small to medium businesses.
To set things straight right away, Shopify Plus and Shopify work exactly the same way. You’ll be presented with the same editor, dashboard, and help center. Just like Shopify, Shopify Plus gives you everything you need to make your own online store and manage it. It’s just that with Shopify Plus, you can take things up a notch as it gives you even more control when you’re setting up and customizing your website. When it comes to shipping, for example, you’ll be given access to a shipping script if you’re using Shopify Plus so that you can customize your rates. This lets you change up your shipping settings depending on a customer’s tag or what’s inside a customer’s cart.
So when should you upgrade to Shopify Plus? It really all boils down to how big your business is. All of the three plans under Shopify are enough for everyday e-commerce businesses and there shouldn’t be a need to upgrade. If you are, however, an enterprise-level business like Pixi, Rebecca Minkoff, Nescafe, or Lady Gaga that’s making multi-millions in sales, then Shopify Plus would definitely be a better match for the size of your business. You’re going to need a lot more structure to your website which Shopify Plus makes possible by giving you access to new features as well as the site’s underlying code.
Design Customization
Shopify lets you do basic customization while Shopify Plus allows high-level customization.
Whether you’re on Shopify or Shopify Plus, you get over 60 themes to choose from when you’re creating your e-commerce store. If you want to customize your website on a basic level, you can achieve that with Shopify’s editor. You can, for example, add in your products, decide where you’d like them to be placed, and sort them into categories. But if you want to perform a much higher level of customization, that’s where Shopify Plus has the edge. If you’re a Shopify Plus user, you get access to Shopify’s theme language called Liquid. Through Liquid, you can enter your own set of codes so that you can change up your website’s look. Of course, you need to know how to do a bit of coding to be able to do this.
Some enterprise-level businesses already have a website but would like to transfer to Shopify Plus. While it might sound like a terribly complicated process, Shopify Plus makes it an easy one. You’ll be assigned a dedicated launch manager whose job is to do the coding for you and make sure you’re able to get your website up and running. Basically, someone will be there to virtually hold your hand throughout the entire process. Another great thing about Shopify Plus when it comes to design flexibility is that you’re able to customize your checkout page, something you can’t do on Shopify.
E-Commerce Features
Some e-commerce features are exclusive to Shopify Plus.
Both Shopify and Shopify Plus have a Multi-Channel Integration function which can prove to be very useful for both small and large businesses. Basically, this feature lets you sell in many different places like Facebook, Amazon, and eBay so that you can diversify your sources of revenue. It also gives your products exposure to customers who haven’t even stepped foot on your website. Another feature found on both Shopify and Shopify Plus is the Abandoned Cart Recovery. If a customer puts products in their cart but leaves your site without checking out, they’ll be reminded of their forgotten items via email. This way, you’re able to recover what would otherwise be lost sales. Then there’s Multi-Currency Selling, also available on both platforms, which adjusts the currency on your website based on your customer’s location.
There are, however, a couple of e-commerce features that are exclusive to Shopify Plus. First, there’s Shopify Flow which you can use to tailor your customers’ first impression of your website. If you’re a jewelry store, for example, and a customer has the pattern of buying gold jewelry, you can make your website display your latest variants of gold jewelry so that it’s the very first thing your customer sees when they enter your website. Then there’s the Script Editor, which not only allows you to customize your shipping rates but basically lets you edit every last detail of your online store.
Support
Shopify Plus offers hands-on and personalized support.
While there is a learning curve involved when you’re first getting started on either Shopify or Shopify Plus, it shouldn’t be too hard to find your way around. If you do, however, get lost along the way, there’s absolutely no need to panic because you can always seek help from Shopify’s 24/7 support. You can get in touch with them either by calling, shooting them an email, or chatting live with them. Shopify Plus, however, offers all of this plus some extra on the side. If you’re a Shopify Plus user, you get personal support that’s dedicated to you. As mentioned, they’ll give you a launch manager who will help get things set up. After that, you’ll get a merchant success manager who will make sure your business is, you guessed it, successful.
Verdict
Shopify Plus has great features that only large enterprises will be able to afford.
To recap, Shopify and Shopify Plus are pretty much identical when it comes to their core offerings. Shopify Plus, however, has the upper hand when it comes to high-level customization as users are given access to the site’s underlying code. Shopify Plus also provides users with hands-on and dedicated support via launch managers and merchant success managers. While these features are great and can help a lot in setting up and growing your business, it’s not exactly cheap. Shopify Plus will cost you a minimum amount of $2,000 a month, a hefty price that only large enterprises should be paying for. If you’re a small to medium business owner, there’s no shame in sticking to Shopify. It’ll have all of your needs covered for a fraction of the price.
