# Is it possible to negotiate a custom deal between Advanced and full Plus pricing, or is the plan ladder fixed with no in-between tier?

Reviewed by Martin Dejnicki, Director of SEO & AI Search · facts verified October 8, 2026 · canonical: https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/custom-pricing-tier-between-advanced-and-plus

## Short answer

No Shopify plan sits between Advanced at $399 a month and Plus from $2,300 ([shopify.com/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), October 2026). So the Plus deal moves instead: term ($2,500 a month for one year, $2,300 for three), card rate and a variable platform fee ([shopify.com/plus/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), October 2026). Paid Plus trials run 1 to 2 months at $399 a month ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plus-trial), October 2026).

- **Advanced vs. Plus list price:** $399 a month vs. from $2,300. Advanced is $299 a month billed yearly. Plus is $2,500 a month on a 1-year term or $2,300 on a 3-year term ([Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing); [Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing))
- **Plus 3-year term saving:** $200 a month, $7,200 over 3 years. $2,300 a month on a 3-year term against $2,500 on a 1-year term (Deploi arithmetic from the figures above). You can cancel when the term commitment expires ([Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing); [Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing))
- **Paid Plus trial:** $399 USD a month for 1 to 2 months. Without action, the store is “automatically enrolled in a full Plus plan” on the term chosen at setup ([Shopify Help Center, Shopify Plus trial](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plus-trial))
- **Variable platform fee:** No published rate or threshold. Shopify ties it to revenue and business model and says it differs for business-to-business and direct-to-consumer companies, with no figures ([Shopify Help Center, Shopify Plus plan](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan); [Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing))

## Deploi's call

Shopify's plan ladder is fixed and the Plus deal is not. Spend your negotiating energy on the card rate and the term, in that order, and stop looking for a middle tier that does not exist.

**BUY: Open the Plus negotiation when**

- A Plus-only capability is funded on your roadmap, the trigger Deploi's upgrade record waits for ([Deploi decision record](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/shopify-plus-upgrade-decision), October 2026).
- You can commit to 3 years, which cuts the Plus fee from $2,500 to $2,300 a month ([shopify.com/plus/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), October 2026).
- Your card volume justifies asking for a written rate per market, starting from the published US Plus rates ([shopify.com/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), October 2026).

**CUSTOMIZE: Stay on Advanced while**

- What you want is half of Plus at half the price, because no plan sits between $399 and $2,300 a month ([shopify.com/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), October 2026).
- No Plus-gated requirement is funded yet, so there is nothing to negotiate for.
- You still pay for Advanced monthly: yearly billing saves $1,200 a year (Deploi arithmetic from [shopify.com/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), October 2026).

## Is there a Shopify plan between Advanced and Plus?

No. Shopify's plan comparison runs from Basic to Plus with nothing between Advanced and Plus ([shopify.com/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), October 2026). Basic costs $39 a month or $29 billed yearly, Grow $105 or $79, and Advanced $399 or $299. Plus starts at $2,300 a month. The other plans Shopify names sit outside that gap. Shopify's pricing page also lists an Agentic plan at $0 a month for selling in AI channels, below Basic. Shopify's enterprise page names “the Shopify Plus plan or Enterprise plan,” prices neither there and offers “Get in touch” instead ([Shopify Enterprise](https://www.shopify.com/enterprise), October 2026).

So if the question is “can I pay $1,200 a month for half of Plus,” the answer is no. Asking for it wastes the goodwill you need for the term and the card rate, which do move. [Whether Advanced leaves money on the table at $1M a month](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/advanced-vs-plus-at-1m-per-month) decides whether you should be talking to Shopify at all.

## Which parts of a Shopify Plus deal can move?

The term, the pricing structure and the card rate can move in a Shopify Plus deal, because Shopify publishes each as a choice or a starting point. The plan ladder cannot.

**Term, pricing structure and card rate move inside a Plus deal, while the paid trial and Advanced's yearly billing are fixed options**

| Lever | What Shopify publishes | Where the room is |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Term length | $2,500 a month on a 1-year term, $2,300 on a 3-year term | $200 a month, $7,200 across three years, and the concession most often left on the table |
| Pricing structure | “or a variable platform fee for more complex business structures” | Revenue-linked pricing instead of a flat fee, which Shopify says “differs for B2B and D2C companies” |
| Card rate | From 2.25% + 30¢ on standard cards and 2.95% + 30¢ on premium cards; “Card rates vary by country” | The largest line at volume; a written rate per market is upside on the published card |
| Paid Plus trial | $399 USD a month for 1 to 2 months | A trial that rolls into a full Plus plan, not a middle tier |
| Advanced billing cadence | $399 monthly or $299 billed yearly | $1,200 a year, available today without talking to anyone |

Sources: [Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing); [Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/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, Shopify Plus trial](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plus-trial). Verified October 8, 2026.

## Can the variable platform fee get you a Plus price below $2,300?

No. Shopify prices Plus from $2,300 a month and points the variable platform fee at bigger businesses, not smaller ones. The Plus pricing page says the plan “starts at $2,300 USD a month for standard setups and integrations” ([shopify.com/plus/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), October 2026). That page adds: “More complex, higher volume businesses switch to a variable platform fee based on their revenue and business model.” The Help Center softens “switch to” into “there might be a variable platform fee,” one that differs for B2B (business-to-business) and D2C (direct-to-consumer) companies ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan), October 2026). Neither page publishes a rate, a threshold or a cap.

Our reading of that wording: the variable fee is built for larger and more complex businesses, so it is not a back door to a cheaper Plus. In US dollars, the only Plus plan price Shopify publishes below $2,300 a month is the paid trial: $399 USD a month for 1 to 2 months ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plus-trial), October 2026). We will not reverse-engineer a percentage from anecdote. [The five terms to get in writing about the variable fee](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/plus-expansion-stores-variable-platform-fee) turn it into contract language.

## How should you run the Plus pricing conversation?

Run the Plus pricing conversation in five steps, because the numbers you bring decide which levers move.

1. **Bring the number that matters.** Twelve months of online sales, split by payment processor. The third-party share decides whether Shopify's third-party fee cut from 0.6% to 0.2% is worth anything ([shopify.com/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), October 2026).
1. **Ask for the card rate in writing, per market.** Shopify Payments rates “vary by plan type and market” ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/shopify-payments/onboarding/cost-of-shopify-payments), October 2026), so one blended number is not an answer if you sell in more than one country.
1. **Price both terms.** The 3-year term saves $200 a month, or $7,200 in all (Deploi arithmetic from [shopify.com/plus/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), October 2026). Shopify says you can cancel a 1-year or 3-year Plus subscription “when your term commitment expires” ([shopify.com/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), October 2026), so weigh that saving against three years of lock-in.
1. **Separate the plan from the launch.** Implementation, theme work and app migration are not plan negotiation, so keep them out of a number you cannot audit line by line.
1. **Re-open it every year.** Shopify's Plus plan page notes that “Pricing is subject to change” ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan), October 2026), and your volume changes too.

## When should you not negotiate a Plus deal?

Don't negotiate a Shopify Plus deal yet when nothing on your roadmap needs Plus, when no third party processes your payments or when peak is close.

> **When not to do this**
> - **When you have no Plus-gated requirement.** You would be negotiating for capabilities you will not use, so even a discount buys nothing.
> - **When your third-party processor share is near zero.** Shopify's third-party fee falls from 0.6% on Advanced to 0.2% on Plus ([shopify.com/pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), October 2026), so with no third-party volume the conversation is about the card rate alone.
> - **When you are inside 60 days of peak.** Nobody makes good contract decisions in October.
> - **When you would start Shopify's paid Plus trial, at $399 USD a month, without a decision date.** A store that takes no action is “automatically enrolled in a full Plus plan” ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plus-trial), October 2026).

## Deploi's point of view

**What we've seen.** Term length is the concession most merchants never ask about, and it is the one that requires no approval from anyone. The card rate is the one that needs a real GMV story, which means it needs preparation rather than persistence.

**Where we disagree.** The common advice is to wait until Shopify approaches you, on the theory that inbound interest means better pricing. We think that mostly means later pricing. If a Plus-gated capability is funded on your roadmap, the timing of the conversation is set by the roadmap, not by who called whom.

**What this page adds.** That the negotiable surface of a Plus deal is term, structure and card rate rather than tier; that the only prices near the gap are a temporary paid Plus trial and an unpriced Enterprise plan; and that Shopify words the variable platform fee two ways and quantifies neither.

## When this answer changes

- Shopify adds a plan between Advanced and Plus, or publishes a price for the Enterprise plan.
- Shopify changes the Plus term prices of $2,500 and $2,300 a month, or Advanced's $399 and $299.
- Shopify publishes a rate, threshold or cap for the variable platform fee.
- Shopify changes the paid Plus trial's price, length or automatic enrollment.
- Your third-party processor share rises, so the 0.6% to 0.2% fee line starts to count.

## Sources

1. [Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), checked October 8, 2026
2. [Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), 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 Help Center, Shopify Plus trial](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plus-trial), checked October 8, 2026
5. [Shopify, Shopify Enterprise](https://www.shopify.com/enterprise), checked October 8, 2026
6. [Shopify Help Center, Shopify Payments fees](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/shopify-payments/onboarding/cost-of-shopify-payments), checked October 8, 2026
7. [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