# Does Advanced get the same 99.99% uptime positioning and priority support as Plus, or is that support-tier difference real?

Reviewed by Martin Dejnicki, Director of SEO & AI Search · facts verified October 8, 2026 · canonical: https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/advanced-vs-plus-uptime-priority-support

## Short answer

Shopify Advanced shares the 99.99% peak-event uptime average Shopify markets for Plus but not Plus's priority support, so support is the real difference. Shopify measures that average “across Shopify worldwide during the biggest flash sales and events of the year” ([shopify.com/plus](https://www.shopify.com/plus), October 2026). Plus only “might also include a 99.99% uptime SLA (service level agreement)”, while its priority phone and chat support is listed outright ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan), October 2026).

- **Uptime warranty in the Terms:** None, on any plan. Shopify “does not warrant that the Services will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free” (Terms of Service, last updated 1 August 2026) ([Shopify, Terms of Service](https://www.shopify.com/legal/terms))
- **Plus uptime service level agreement:** 99.99%, which Plus “might also include”. A possibility on the Help Center's Plus plan page, with no published measurement, exclusions or remedy ([Shopify Help Center, Shopify Plus plan](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan))
- **Published platform uptime:** 99.99% at peak events; 99.9% over 90 days. The Plus page averages Shopify worldwide during the biggest sales events; the Help Center covers all major services for the past 90 days. Neither is a plan figure ([Shopify, Shopify Plus Platform](https://www.shopify.com/plus); [Shopify Help Center, Overview](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/overview))
- **Support tier:** Enhanced live chat vs. priority support. Advanced: “enhanced 24/7 chat support”. Plus: “Priority 24/7 phone support” on the plan card, priority phone and chat in the Help Center. Neither plan publishes a response time ([Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing); [Shopify Help Center, Shopify Plus plan](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan); [Shopify Help Center, Advanced plan](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-advanced-plan))

## Deploi's call

The support-tier difference is real, but the uptime one is mostly positioning: Advanced shares Shopify's 99.99% platform average, which Shopify measures during its biggest sales events. Priority phone and chat support is published (Shopify Help Center, October 2026). The 99.99% uptime service level agreement (SLA) is only something Plus might include, so get it in writing with its measurement and remedy before you sign. Quoting the platform's observed average as though it were your entitlement is not asking about uptime properly.

**BUY: Count support toward Plus when**

- Your team runs an on-call rotation and a runbook, so a priority escalation path shortens real incidents.
- You will use Plus features that Shopify Plus Support switches on, such as bot protection ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/checkout-settings/bot-protection), October 2026).
- Your Plus order form states the uptime SLA with its measurement, exclusions and remedy.

**CUSTOMIZE: Stay on Advanced while**

- Your incidents come from your theme, apps or deploys, which Shopify's uptime calculations exclude ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/overview), October 2026).
- Uptime is the only reason on the case: the 99.99% peak-event average covers all of Shopify ([shopify.com/plus](https://www.shopify.com/plus), October 2026).
- Nobody on your side owns incident escalation yet.

## What uptime does Shopify promise on every plan?

Shopify's Terms of Service promise no uptime on any plan. They provide the Services on an “as is” and “as available” basis “without any warranty or condition, express, implied or statutory” ([Shopify Terms of Service](https://www.shopify.com/legal/terms), October 2026). They add that Shopify “does not warrant that the Services will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free.”

That is the baseline for Basic, Grow and Advanced. There is no published uptime commitment on any of them, not even a weaker one. The Terms carry no plan-specific uptime clause, so that floor sits under any [Advanced vs. Plus decision at $1M a month](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/advanced-vs-plus-at-1m-per-month).

## Does Shopify Plus come with a 99.99% uptime service level agreement?

Shopify Plus might come with a 99.99% uptime service level agreement (SLA), but Shopify does not state it as an inclusion. The Help Center's Plus plan page says the plan “might also include a 99.99% uptime SLA (service level agreement)” ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan), October 2026).

We did not find published SLA remedy terms. Nothing says what a breach entitles a Plus merchant to, how the SLA measures uptime, what it excludes, or whether service credits exist. Shopify does not publish them with the plan description, so we will not describe remedies we have not read. If uptime is load-bearing for your business, ask for the SLA by name before you sign a Plus term:

1. How is uptime measured?
1. What is excluded? Shopify's own platform uptime figure leaves out third-party outages, errors from theme customization or apps, planned maintenance, and major or natural events outside Shopify's control ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/overview), October 2026).
1. What is the remedy?

## Is the 99.99% on Shopify's Plus pages a commitment?

No: the 99.99% on Shopify's Plus page is an observed platform average, not a commitment to any store. The page shows “99.99% uptime” “on average across Shopify worldwide during the biggest flash sales and events of the year” ([shopify.com/plus](https://www.shopify.com/plus), October 2026). Because the average covers all of Shopify, Advanced stores sit inside it too.

An average describes how the platform behaved. A service level agreement (SLA) describes what Shopify agrees to, so the same digits make two different claims. We often hear the average quoted back as though it were the contract, and it is not. Because Advanced stores share the average, [upgrading for uptime reassurance](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/shopify-plus-upgrade-site-speed-vs-checkout-scale) buys priority support and, at most, an SLA, not a better platform average.

> **Shopify's uptime figures disagree**
> On the Plus page, the words “on average” link to the Help Center's uptime section. That section says Shopify “has maintained a 99.9% uptime as a platform, calculated for all major Shopify services, in all geographic regions, for the past 90 days” ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/overview), October 2026). Both can be true of the Plus page, because one covers the biggest sales events and the other the last 90 days. Shopify's Plus platform page shows the same 99.99% as “Average uptime across Shopify”, with no window, and links it to that same 99.9% section ([Shopify Plus platform page](https://www.shopify.com/plus/platform), October 2026).

## How does Plus support differ from Advanced support?

Plus support differs from Advanced support in priority, channel and what it can switch on, not in any published response time.

**Plus adds priority phone support and support-led feature activation, and neither plan publishes a response time**

| Support line | Advanced | Plus |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pricing table, 24/7 support row | Enhanced live chat | Priority support |
| Plan description | “enhanced 24/7 chat support” | “priority phone and chat support” |
| Published response time | None | None |
| Features switched on through support | None listed | Bot protection; higher application programming interface (API) rate limits on request |

Sources: [Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing); [Shopify Help Center, Shopify Plus plan](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan); [Shopify Help Center, Advanced plan](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-advanced-plan); [Shopify Help Center, Protecting your store from selling to bots](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/checkout-settings/bot-protection). Verified October 8, 2026.

Shopify Plus Support is also how some Plus features get turned on, so it is more than a faster queue. [Bot protection](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/advanced-vs-plus-bot-fraud-protection) needs a request to Shopify Plus Support ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/checkout-settings/bot-protection), October 2026). The Plus plan page adds that you “can request increased API rate limits by contacting support” ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan), October 2026).

## When should uptime and support stay out of the Plus decision?

Uptime and support should stay out of the Plus decision when your incidents are your own, when nobody can use an escalation path, or when the 99.99% comes without a source.

> **When not to do this**
> - **When your last three incidents were yours.** Shopify's uptime calculations exclude errors from theme customization and from public or custom apps ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/overview), October 2026). A theme regression, an app conflict or a bad deploy is not a platform outage, so a faster support queue does not shorten it.
> - **When you have no incident process of your own.** Priority support with no on-call rotation and no runbook still leaves you finding out from a customer.
> - **When “99.99%” is being quoted at you without a source.** Ask which figure they mean: the service level agreement (SLA) Plus might include, the peak-event average, or the 99.9% figure for the past 90 days.

*Deploi describes published plan positioning here, not the contractual terms of any specific Shopify agreement. Read your own order form.*

## Deploi's point of view

**What we've seen.** During peak, the difference that changes outcomes is having an escalation path that a named person on your side already knows how to use, before the incident. Teams that first discover their support channel during an incident do not benefit much from it being a faster channel.

**Where we disagree.** Uptime is the most-quoted and least-examined claim in the whole Plus pitch. We would trade the headline figure for the published remedy terms without hesitating, and we would rather a merchant asked how uptime is measured than be told it is four nines.

**What this page adds.** that Shopify's Terms of Service warrant no uptime on any plan, that Plus only might include a 99.99% uptime SLA while Shopify's 99.99% and 99.9% uptime figures describe the whole platform, and that Shopify Plus Support is how bot protection and higher API rate limits get switched on.

## When this answer changes

- Shopify states the 99.99% uptime SLA as a Plus inclusion, or publishes its measurement, exclusions and remedies.
- Shopify changes the 24/7 support row on its pricing page, or publishes a support response time for any plan.
- Shopify's Terms of Service add an uptime warranty or service credits.
- Shopify updates the 99.99% event average on its Plus pages or the 99.9% 90-day figure in its Help Center.
- Bot protection can be switched on in the admin without a request to Shopify Plus Support.

## Sources

1. [Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), checked October 8, 2026
2. [Shopify, Shopify Plus Platform](https://www.shopify.com/plus), checked October 8, 2026
3. [Shopify Help Center, Shopify Plus plan](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan), checked October 8, 2026
4. [Shopify, Terms of Service](https://www.shopify.com/legal/terms), checked October 8, 2026
5. [Shopify Help Center, Overview](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/overview), checked October 8, 2026
6. [Shopify Help Center, Advanced plan](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-advanced-plan), checked October 8, 2026
7. [Shopify Help Center, Protecting your store from selling to bots](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/checkout-settings/bot-protection), checked October 8, 2026
8. [Shopify, Shopify Plus Platform: The commerce software for fast-growing brands](https://www.shopify.com/plus/platform), checked October 8, 2026
9. [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Advanced Shopify vs. Shopify Plus: When Is the Upgrade Worth It?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/shopify-plus-upgrade-decision), checked October 8, 2026, Deploi research