# Does Searchspring require Shopify Plus, or does it work on standard Shopify plans?

Reviewed by Martin Dejnicki, Director of SEO & AI Search · facts verified October 11, 2026 · canonical: https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/searchspring-plus-required-or-standard-plans

## Short answer

Searchspring, now Athos Commerce, does not require Shopify Plus. Its Shopify app is free to install and names no plan requirement ([Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/athoscommerce), October 2026), and Athos pitches it to "Shopify or Shopify Plus" sites ([Athos Shopify page](https://athoscommerce.com/platform/shopify-plus-site-search-and-merchandising/), October 2026). The gate is the quote, because Athos prices every plan on request ([Athos pricing page](https://athoscommerce.com/pricing/), October 2026).

- **Shopify plan Athos requires:** None named. The app listing and Athos's implementation guide name no Shopify plan; Athos pitches the app to Shopify and Shopify Plus sites (Athos Commerce, October 2026) ([Athos Commerce, Athos: Unified Discovery on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/athoscommerce); [Athos Commerce, Athos Commerce Implementation Guide](https://support-search.athoscommerce.com/hc/en-us/articles/47881199261979-Athos-Commerce-Implementation-Guide); [Athos Commerce, Easy Shopify and Shopify Plus Integration](https://athoscommerce.com/platform/shopify-plus-site-search-and-merchandising/))
- **Athos app on the App Store:** Free to install; plans quoted. Athos bills its charges in US dollars, separately from your Shopify invoice (Shopify App Store, October 2026) ([Athos Commerce, Athos: Unified Discovery on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/athoscommerce); [Athos Commerce, Athos Commerce Pricing](https://athoscommerce.com/pricing/))
- **Shopify Plus plan fee:** $2,300 a month on a 3-year term. $2,500 a month on a 1-year term, or a variable platform fee for more complex, higher-volume businesses (Shopify, October 2026) ([Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing))
- **Shopify semantic search:** Grow, Advanced and Plus only. For stores under 200,000 products and not in predictive search, so a Basic store compares Athos with native search that lacks it (Shopify Help Center, October 2026) ([Shopify Help Center, Modifying search with Shopify Search & Discovery](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/storefront-search/search-and-discovery-modify-search))

## Deploi's call

Plan is the wrong filter for Searchspring, now Athos Commerce. Catalog size, merchandiser cadence and whether anyone will operate the console are the three that decide it, and none of them appear on a Shopify pricing page.

**BUY: Buy Athos on the plan you have when**

- Your catalog has passed about 10,000 stock keeping units (SKUs), where [Deploi's Athos versus native record](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/athos-vs-native-search) scores Athos BUY (October 2026).
- A merchandiser will run the console every week.
- The platform quote and the implementation quote fit this year's budget together.

**WAIT: Stay on Shopify's native search while**

- Your catalog is under about 1,000 SKUs, which the same record scores WAIT ([Deploi's Athos versus native record](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/athos-vs-native-search), October 2026).
- You are on Basic, your complaint is search relevance, and you have not yet tested Shopify's semantic search, which needs Grow or above ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/storefront-search/search-and-discovery-modify-search), October 2026).
- The only reason on the table is a pitch to upgrade to Plus.

## What do Athos and Shopify publish about a Plus requirement?

Neither Athos nor Shopify publishes a Plus requirement for Searchspring, now sold as Athos Commerce. The Athos app's Shopify listing is free to install and names no plan requirement ([Athos listing](https://apps.shopify.com/athoscommerce), October 2026). Athos's Shopify page pitches control over an "Ecommerce Shopify or Shopify Plus Site" ([Athos Commerce](https://athoscommerce.com/platform/shopify-plus-site-search-and-merchandising/), October 2026). Athos's implementation guide compares three ways to build the integration and names no Shopify plan ([Athos Commerce](https://support-search.athoscommerce.com/hc/en-us/articles/47881199261979-Athos-Commerce-Implementation-Guide), October 2026).

On Shopify's side, the Plus plan page lists checkout, custom apps built with Shopify Functions, extra business-to-business (B2B) features and expansion stores, among other features. It names no search, filter or collection-sorting feature ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan), October 2026). So nothing in [what Athos runs on a Shopify store](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/searchspring-search-and-merchandising-explained) waits on a Plus upgrade.

## Which features does Shopify Plus actually gate?

Shopify Plus gates checkout apps, custom Functions apps, unlimited business-to-business (B2B) catalogs and expansion stores, among others, and none of them is search.

**Plus gates checkout apps, custom Functions apps, unlimited B2B catalogs and expansion stores, Grow gates semantic search, and the Athos app needs no particular plan**

| Capability | Plan it needs |
| --- | --- |
| Install and run the Athos app | Any plan; no requirement named |
| Shopify's AI semantic search | Grow, Advanced or Plus, under 200,000 products |
| Apps on the checkout's information, shipping and payment pages | Plus only |
| Custom apps built with Shopify Functions | Plus only; public apps with functions run on any plan |
| B2B catalogs | Up to 3 on Basic, Grow and Advanced; unlimited on Plus |
| Expansion stores | 9 on Plus |

Sources: [Athos Commerce, Athos: Unified Discovery on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/athoscommerce); [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, Modifying search with Shopify Search & Discovery](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/storefront-search/search-and-discovery-modify-search); [Shopify Help Center, Customizing your checkout and customer accounts with apps](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/checkout-settings/customize-checkout-configurations/checkout-apps); [Shopify developer docs, About Shopify Functions](https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/functions); [Shopify Help Center, Shopify B2B features by plan](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/b2b/getting-started/plan-features). Verified October 9, 2026.

Plus costs $2,300 a month on a 3-year term or $2,500 on a 1-year term, and "more complex, higher volume businesses switch to a variable platform fee" ([Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), October 2026). None of that buys search, so if someone tells you to upgrade to Plus to run a third-party search platform, ask which capability requires it; Athos's own pages name none. If the real question is Plus itself, [the Advanced versus Plus answer at $1M a month](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/advanced-vs-plus-at-1m-per-month) runs the arithmetic.

## Where does your Shopify plan still change the Athos decision?

Your Shopify plan changes the free baseline Athos has to beat, not whether Athos runs. Shopify's semantic search, one of its "AI-powered" search behaviors, needs Grow, Advanced or Plus and a store under 200,000 products, and it does not apply to predictive search ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/storefront-search/search-and-discovery-modify-search), October 2026). So a Basic store compares Athos with Shopify's search without semantic understanding, while a Grow store already has it.

Grow costs $105 a month against Basic's $39 billed monthly, or $79 against $29 billed yearly ([Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), October 2026). So native semantic search adds $50 to $66 a month in plan fees, before Grow's lower card rates (Deploi arithmetic from the figures above). On Basic, try Grow's semantic search and measure your zero-result rate before an Athos demo, because [Deploi's Athos versus native record](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/athos-vs-native-search) reads zero-result queries and coarse filtering as the first strain on native search (October 2026). Deploi's answer on [the catalog size where Athos's rule engine starts to win](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/searchspring-vs-search-and-discovery-sku-threshold) covers the other half of that test.

## What gates a Searchspring purchase if Shopify Plus does not?

Three things gate buying Searchspring, now sold as Athos Commerce, on any Shopify plan: the quote, the implementation and your theme.

1. **The quote.** Athos lists Onsite, Offsite and Complete Discovery with "Request Pricing" and calls Onsite and Offsite "standalone annual plans" ([Athos Commerce](https://athoscommerce.com/pricing/), October 2026). Klevu, Athos's other search app on Shopify, prices by search requests, category page views and recommendation impressions, not by Shopify plan ([Klevu listing](https://apps.shopify.com/klevu-smart-search), October 2026). With no published Athos price, the sales conversation, not a feature flag, decides whether Athos sells to a store your size.
1. **The implementation.** Athos says "Implementation fees are custom-quoted based on project scope, complexity, and chosen implementation method" ([Athos Commerce](https://support-search.athoscommerce.com/hc/en-us/articles/47881199261979-Athos-Commerce-Implementation-Guide), October 2026), which ties the fee to the build, not to your Shopify plan. Deploi's answer on [how long an Athos implementation takes](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/searchspring-implementation-timeline) covers the calendar.
1. **Your theme.** In an Athos-led build, "the Athos team builds, deploys, and maintains the integration," and "re-theming, re-platforming, or adding custom functionality may incur extra costs" ([Athos Commerce](https://support-search.athoscommerce.com/hc/en-us/articles/47881199261979-Athos-Commerce-Implementation-Guide), October 2026). So a later theme change, replatform or custom feature can add to the bill on any plan.

## When should a merchant skip Searchspring on any plan?

A merchant should skip Searchspring, now sold as Athos Commerce, on any Shopify plan when the catalog is small, nobody will run the console or the only reason is an upgrade pitch.

> **When not to buy Athos, whatever your plan**
> - **Under roughly 1,000 stock keeping units (SKUs).** [Deploi's Athos versus native record](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/athos-vs-native-search) scores that catalog WAIT, because native Search & Discovery covers it free (October 2026).
> - **When nobody will operate the console.** A quoted annual plan with no merchandiser behind it buys an index and no rules.
> - **When the pitch is a Plus upgrade.** Plus buys checkout apps, custom Functions apps, more wholesale catalogs and expansion stores, among other things, and none of them is search ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan), October 2026).

## Deploi's point of view

**Where we disagree.** App marketplaces and agency blogs routinely tag discovery platforms as enterprise or Plus-tier tooling. That framing sells upgrades. The documented requirements do not support it.

**What we tell clients to do first.** Ask Athos for the platform quote and the implementation quote together. In our judgment, "Does it need Plus?" is usually a budget question, and neither quote turns on your Shopify plan.

**What this page adds.** The parent explains what Athos runs and how it is sold. This page checks Athos's and Shopify's own pages for a Plus requirement, finds none for search or merchandising, and shows where the Shopify plan still matters: the native semantic search Athos has to beat.

## When this answer changes

- Athos adds a Shopify plan requirement to its listing or implementation guide.
- Shopify moves a search or merchandising feature behind Plus.
- Shopify brings semantic search to the Basic plan or to predictive search.
- Shopify changes the Plus price, the Basic or Grow price, or its variable platform fee.
- Athos publishes list prices for its plans.

## Sources

1. [Athos Commerce, Easy Shopify and Shopify Plus Integration](https://athoscommerce.com/platform/shopify-plus-site-search-and-merchandising/), checked October 9, 2026
2. [Athos Commerce, Athos: Unified Discovery on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/athoscommerce), checked October 9, 2026
3. [Athos Commerce, Athos Commerce Implementation Guide](https://support-search.athoscommerce.com/hc/en-us/articles/47881199261979-Athos-Commerce-Implementation-Guide), checked October 9, 2026
4. [Shopify Help Center, Shopify Plus plan](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/intro-to-shopify/pricing-plans/plans-features/shopify-plus-plan), checked October 11, 2026
5. [Shopify Help Center, Modifying search with Shopify Search & Discovery](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/storefront-search/search-and-discovery-modify-search), checked October 9, 2026
6. [Shopify Help Center, Customizing your checkout and customer accounts with apps](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/checkout-settings/customize-checkout-configurations/checkout-apps), checked October 9, 2026
7. [Shopify developer docs, About Shopify Functions](https://shopify.dev/docs/apps/build/functions), checked October 9, 2026
8. [Shopify Help Center, Shopify B2B features by plan](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/b2b/getting-started/plan-features), checked October 9, 2026
9. [Shopify, Shopify Plus pricing](https://www.shopify.com/plus/pricing), checked October 9, 2026
10. [Athos Commerce, Athos Commerce Pricing](https://athoscommerce.com/pricing/), checked October 9, 2026
11. [Shopify, Pricing](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), checked October 9, 2026
12. [Klevu, Klevu AI Search & Discovery on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/klevu-smart-search), checked October 9, 2026
13. [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Athos Commerce vs. Native Search & Discovery: Upgrade or Wait?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/athos-vs-native-search), checked October 9, 2026, Deploi research