The checkout is the real difference
On every other plan the checkout is close to untouchable. Plus opens it: custom fields, custom logic, custom interface blocks through checkout UI extensions. If you need age verification, delivery-date selection, gift options or B2B approval inside the checkout, there is no route that avoids Plus.
Worth knowing before you plan: Shopify Scripts stopped running on 30 June 2026 (editing had already ended on 15 April). Checkout logic now belongs in Shopify Functions — discount rules, shipping-method filtering, payment-method ordering. A store that relied on Scripts and was not migrated has lost that logic silently; rebuilding it is its own project, not a side task.
- Discount and shipping logic via Shopify Functions
- Custom checkout blocks via UI Extensions
- Scripts switched off since 30 June 2026
B2B without a catalogue ceiling
Since April 2026 every Shopify plan includes B2B: company profiles, payment terms, volume pricing and up to three B2B catalogues. Plus removes the ceiling — unlimited catalogues for customer-specific pricing, catalogues assigned directly to companies and locations, and partial payments and deposits. For merchants with negotiated prices per account, that difference is usually the single strongest reason to move.
Setting it up is not a toggle. Price lists, catalogue permissions and tax exemptions have to match your existing customer structure — and that data almost always lives in the ERP rather than in Shopify.
More stores, for markets that are genuinely different
Plus includes additional expansion stores. They make sense when markets really diverge: different catalogue, different warehouse, different legal regime. For language or currency differences alone, Shopify Markets inside one store is simpler and far cheaper to maintain.
This decision is made once and is expensive to reverse, so we work it through beforehand: duplicated product maintenance and a second theme, against clean market separation.
Automation: Flow and Launchpad
Flow removes rule-following work from the day: flag fraud checks, tag customers by order value, alert a supplier on low stock, push a return into a ticket. Launchpad schedules campaigns ahead — theme swap, price change and product publication at a set time, without anyone sitting at a laptop at midnight.
Both replace work that people would otherwise do, which is why the return is measurable in hours rather than in features.
The organisation layer
Plus accounts get a layer above the individual store: central user management, permissions across every store and a combined view of orders. Past a certain team size, this is the point where access control stops being a spreadsheet.
We configure roles so agencies, freelancers and staff see only what they need, and so that someone leaving the team is one click rather than an audit.
When the move is not worth it
If the pressure comes from product count, traffic or speed, Plus changes nothing: those limits are identical on every plan. A slow store does not become fast on Plus, and a catalogue of 20,000 products runs the same on Advanced.
We say this even when the Plus project would be the larger engagement for us. A migration that solves nothing costs you an annual fee and costs us the credibility.
Moving from Advanced to Plus
Technically it is not a data migration — it is the same store with expanded permissions. The effort comes afterwards: rethinking the checkout, Functions instead of Scripts, building the B2B structure, sorting out roles. Realistically several weeks of work, split into pieces that can each go live on their own.
We start with whatever saves money or hours soonest and let the rest follow. A big-bang relaunch timed to the Plus start date is rarely necessary and rarely wise.
What Plus costs
Shopify's own pricing page lists Plus from around $2,300 a month on a three-year term (around $2,500 on one year); at high volume a revenue-based fee negotiated with Shopify replaces the flat rate. Terms change, so confirm the current figure with Shopify before you build a model on it.
What we can put a number on is our side: consulting, delivery and retainer rates are published on the pricing page. The decision should rest on both figures together, not one of them.
