The line items in a first-year store budget
A small online store has three kinds of cost: fixed platform fees, per-sale payment fees, and optional extras such as apps and paid domains. Shipping supplies, postage, inventory, sales tax and VAT are real costs but vary too much by business to estimate here, so they are excluded from every number below. Prices are from vendor pages read on 30 October 2026, in USD. [1][3][4][5]
| Item | Shopify | systeme.io | Scales with sales? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform plan | Basic $39/mo monthly or $29/mo yearly; Grow $105 or $79; Advanced $399 or $299 | Free $0; Startup $17/mo; Webinar $47/mo; Unlimited $97/mo (annual billing offers 2 months free) | No |
| Card processing | Shopify Payments US online rate: Basic 2.9% + 30c, Grow 2.7% + 30c, Advanced 2.5% + 30c | No systeme.io transaction fee; Stripe standard US rate 2.9% + 30c | Yes |
| Third-party payment provider | Extra fee: Basic 2%, Grow 1%, Advanced 0.6% | Not applicable | Yes |
| Domain | Can buy through Shopify; price depends on extension | Free plan includes 1 custom domain; register it at a registrar (.com $11.08 at Porkbun) | No |
| Trial or intro offer | 3-day free trial; $1/month for the first 3 months on most plans | Free plan does not expire | No |
Worked budget 1: physical goods on Shopify Basic
Hypothetical: 300 orders a year at an average of $40, so $12,000 in sales, all paid by domestic cards through Shopify Payments. Plan billed yearly at $29 per month. One .com domain priced at the Porkbun rate for comparison. [1][5]
If you prefer monthly billing and your store qualifies for the $1 offer, the plan line becomes $3 for three months plus $39 x 9 = $354, close to the yearly figure but without a 12-month commitment. [1]
| Line item | Calculation | First-year cost |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify Basic (yearly billing) | $29 x 12 | $348.00 |
| Shopify Payments percentage | 2.9% x $12,000 | $348.00 |
| Shopify Payments per-order fee | $0.30 x 300 | $90.00 |
| Domain (.com) | Porkbun registration | $11.08 |
| Apps, shipping, postage, tax | Excluded | $0 in this model |
| Total | $797.08 (6.6% of sales) |
Worked budget 2: digital goods on systeme.io
Hypothetical: 150 sales a year of a $20 download or course, so $3,000 in sales, paid by domestic cards through Stripe. systeme.io says its plans have no transaction fees; Stripe charges its standard rate. [3][4]
| Line item | Free plan | Startup plan (monthly) |
|---|---|---|
| systeme.io plan | $0 | $204 ($17 x 12) |
| Stripe percentage (2.9% x $3,000) | $87.00 | $87.00 |
| Stripe per-sale fee ($0.30 x 150) | $45.00 | $45.00 |
| Domain (.com) | $11.08 | $11.08 |
| Total | $143.08 (4.8% of sales) | $347.08 (11.6% of sales) |
Which costs scale with revenue
- Processing scales with every sale. Doubling the Shopify example to $24,000 over 600 orders doubles payment fees to $876 while the $348 plan stays the same. [1]
- Per-order fees hurt cheap products most: 30 cents is 1.5% of a $20 sale but 0.3% of a $100 sale. [1][4]
- International cards cost more on Stripe: +1.5%, plus 1% when currency conversion is needed. [4]
- On Shopify, using a third-party payment provider adds 2% on Basic on top of that provider's own fees, so $12,000 in sales would add $240. [1]
- Higher Shopify plans lower the card rate but raise the fixed fee: Grow saves 0.2 points (about $24 on $12,000) and costs $600 more per year on yearly billing, so it does not pay at this volume. [1]
Who fits which setup, and who should skip
Physical products with shipping, inventory and many SKUs fit a commerce platform such as Shopify; the yearly fixed cost is predictable and the checkout is built for orders. A seller with one product and a few sales a month may not need a full store at all. [1]
Digital products sold through a funnel fit systeme.io's Free plan, which lists 2,000 contacts, 3 sales funnels and 1 custom domain at $0. Skip it if you need physical-goods features or more than the free limits; paid plans start at $17 per month. [3]
Checklist before you commit to a year
- Estimate orders and average order value, then compute processing as rate x sales plus per-order fee x orders.
- Compare yearly versus monthly billing against how sure you are the store will last 12 months.
- Decide on the payment provider first; on Shopify it changes the transaction fee. [1]
- List the apps or add-ons you need and price each one on its own page before launch.
- Price shipping supplies, postage and sales tax separately; they are not in these budgets.
- Recalculate when sales double: processing will roughly double, the plan will not.
Questions before you decide
What does Shopify Basic cost per year?
Shopify's pricing page on 30 October 2026 listed Basic at $29 per month billed yearly ($348) or $39 per month billed monthly, plus Shopify Payments at 2.9% + 30c per US online card sale.
Does systeme.io take a cut of sales?
systeme.io's pricing page says all plans have no transaction fees. The payment processor still charges its own fee; Stripe's standard US rate is 2.9% + 30c for domestic cards.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- Shopify pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Shopify help: buying a domain through Shopify Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- systeme.io pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Stripe pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Porkbun: domain name pricing Accessed 30 Oct 2026
Sources link directly to providers. Product buttons may use separately labeled affiliate links. Read our disclosure.