Shopify Preise: what a Swiss shop really pays

The short version: The CHF price on Shopify's Swiss pricing page, checked on 6 August 2026, is CHF 21 a month for Basic on annual billing. Grow costs CHF 59, and Advanced CHF 269. Those figures are before 8.1% MWST/TVA, before payment fees, and before apps. A Swiss shop's real monthly bill is plan plus MWST plus card or TWINT fees plus any app subscriptions. The plan that pays for itself depends on your payment mix and staff seats, not the feature list. Basic is enough until you need staff accounts or B2B catalogues. Grow saves money once external payment volume passes roughly CHF 6,000 a month, because the external transaction fee drops from 2% to 1%. MWST registration becomes compulsory at CHF 100,000 of taxable annual turnover, according to the Federal Tax Administration (ESTV/AFC).

Most Shopify pricing advice you find online was written for sellers inside the EU single market. Switzerland is not in it. That changes the tax on your plan, the payment methods at your checkout, and what the border means for every outbound parcel. If you are starting from scratch, our Shopify Switzerland: set up your store guide covers the full process. If you are still evaluating the platform, What is Shopify, and does it work in Switzerland? answers that separately.

The plan price is the number Shopify advertises. It is almost never the number that leaves your account. This guide adds the lines up in francs: plan, MWST, payment fees, apps, domain. The total is what decides whether Shopify pays for itself.

A note on links: this guide uses Shopify affiliate links. If you sign up through one, we receive a commission, and you pay exactly the same as you would otherwise. You can verify the current CHF figures on Shopify's Swiss pricing page; Shopify can change them at any time, and that page is authoritative.

Shopify plans, pricing and features change; always verify the current details on shopify.com before deciding.

What Shopify's CHF price leaves out

The CHF 21 a month for Basic on annual billing is a pre-tax figure. Add 8.1% MWST/TVA and the plan costs CHF 22.70. The standard rate, set by the Federal Tax Administration (ESTV/AFC) in 2026, applies to most goods. A reduced rate of 2.6% covers food, books, and medicines. A special rate of 3.8% applies to accommodation. For most shops, 8.1% is the rate that matters.

Then come payment fees. On Shopify's Swiss pricing page, checked on 6 August 2026, a standard online card sale on Basic costs 2.95% plus CHF 0.30. TWINT costs 1.75% plus CHF 0.30. Those rates apply to every sale. On CHF 10,000 of monthly card volume, the card fee alone is CHF 325. The plan price is the smaller line.

Apps are the third. A typical Shopify store runs three to five. Some are free; many cost between CHF 10 and CHF 50 a month. Five paid apps at CHF 30 each adds CHF 150. That is more than the Basic plan itself.

Hosting, SSL, and security updates are included in every plan. There is no setup fee. Shopify offers a three-day free trial, then CHF 1 a month for three months. You can cancel or change plans at any time. Upgrades take effect immediately; downgrades apply at the next billing cycle.

Annual billing reduces the monthly price compared with monthly billing. The CHF figures above all assume annual billing, which most Swiss shops use.

Basic, Grow and Advanced in one table

The plan decision for a Swiss shop is not about features. It is about payment fees and staff seats. Here is the comparison on annual billing, before MWST.

Shopify Plus is the enterprise tier with custom pricing. It is a separate buying process for high-volume or complex operations, and this guide does not cover it.

The external payment fee is what Shopify charges when you use a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments. If you use Shopify Payments in Switzerland, those fees do not apply. The card rates still do.

Our take: For most Swiss shops starting out, Basic on annual billing is the right call. The plan costs CHF 21 before MWST, and if you route everything through Shopify Payments, the only per-sale cost is the card or TWINT rate. Grow earns its CHF 38 premium only when external payment volume is high enough that the 1% fee saving covers the price difference. Advanced is a B2B or high-volume decision, not a feature upgrade.

The thresholds in the table are editorial judgment, not Shopify's figures. The arithmetic: on annual billing, Basic costs CHF 38 less than Grow. The external fee drops by 1 percentage point. The break-even is CHF 3,800 a month of external payment volume. We round up to CHF 6,000 because not every sale goes through an external provider, and because the plan price itself carries MWST.

What TWINT, PostFinance and cards cost you

Payment mix is the variable most pricing guides ignore. For a Swiss shop, it is the one that matters most.

On Shopify's Swiss pricing page, checked on 6 August 2026, the card rate on Basic is 2.95% plus CHF 0.30 per transaction. TWINT is listed at 1.75% plus CHF 0.30. These rates vary by plan; the page suggests lower rates for Grow and Advanced, though this guide could not confirm the exact figures for each plan. What we can confirm is that TWINT is available through Shopify Payments in Switzerland, which means no external transaction fee on TWINT sales. Our TWINT at a Shopify checkout guide covers what is verified and what is not.

PostFinance is a separate question. Shopify Payments in Switzerland supports card payments, TWINT, and Apple Pay. Whether PostFinance is available as a direct payment method through Shopify Payments, this guide could not confirm. If you need it as a third-party gateway, the external transaction fee on your plan applies: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced.

The Baymard Institute, in its 2026 cart abandonment research, found that the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate is 70.22%. Excluding "just browsing", 40% of US cart abandonments were due to extra costs such as shipping, tax, and fees. Another 12% happened because shoppers could not see or calculate the total order cost up front. For a Swiss shop, showing TWINT at checkout and being transparent about MWST and shipping directly addresses both barriers.

Baymard also estimates that better checkout design can increase conversion rates by 35.26%. The logic is straightforward: offer the payment methods Swiss shoppers expect, show the full cost early, and keep the checkout short. TWINT at the checkout is not a nice-to-have in Switzerland. It is what your customers reach for.

The MWST question: what you pay and what you reclaim

Are Shopify's CHF prices inclusive or exclusive of MWST? Exclusive. The CHF 21 a month for Basic becomes CHF 22.70 with 8.1% MWST added. Shopify charges the tax on top of the plan price, as it would for any B2B software service consumed in Switzerland.

If your business is registered for MWST, you can reclaim the tax on your Shopify subscription as input tax. The tax you pay on the plan is a running cost, not a sunk cost, provided you are registered. Registration becomes compulsory when your taxable turnover reaches CHF 100,000 a year, according to the ESTV/AFC. Below that, registration is voluntary.

This is where Swiss advice differs from German. Under German VAT law, the small-business exemption applies if the previous year's turnover was at most EUR 25,000. The current year's turnover must be at most EUR 100,000, according to the Bundesministerium der Justiz. Switzerland has no equivalent exemption. The CHF 100,000 threshold is a registration trigger, full stop. Our how to charge MWST on your Shopify store guide walks through the admin settings.

For cross-border sales, the picture changes further. Switzerland is outside the EU. The EU-wide threshold for distance sales of goods within the EU is EUR 10,000, according to the European Commission's Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union. The VAT exemption for imported small consignments up to EUR 22 has been removed. The Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) covers distance sales of imported goods not exceeding EUR 150. If you sell into the EU from Switzerland, you are an exporter, and your buyer is an importer. That paperwork is a cost line, even if it is not on the Shopify invoice.

The Swiss add-ons: domain, POS and apps

The plan, MWST, and payment fees are the core bill. Three more lines complete it.

A domain is its own cost. Shopify domains run roughly CHF 14 to CHF 20 a year for a .ch or .com extension. You can also buy a domain from a Swiss registrar and connect it at no extra Shopify charge. A .ch domain from a local registrar is often cheaper and gives you a Swiss presence in the DNS.

Premium themes cost CHF 150 to CHF 400 as a one-time purchase. Free themes are sufficient for most starting shops. The difference is design flexibility and support, not functionality. A free theme handles products, collections, and checkout. Pay for a theme when your brand needs something the free options cannot do.

POS Pro is an add-on for physical retail. It costs roughly CHF 69 to CHF 79 a month per location. If you run a market stall in Zürich or a shop in Genève, that is the cost of linking your physical and online inventory. On Shopify Plus, POS Pro is sometimes included; for Basic, Grow, and Advanced, it is a separate charge.

Apps scale from free to over CHF 300 a month. The typical store uses three to five. Our saving tip: audit your apps every quarter. Remove what you are not using. Use Shopify Flow for automation before paying for a third-party app. Use Shopify Payments to avoid external transaction fees. A free theme and a lean app stack keep your monthly bill close to the plan price.

When a Shopify plan upgrade stops being worth it

The upgrade decision is arithmetic, not aspiration. Here are three worked monthly bills showing how the plan choice changes with external payment volume.

CHF 10,000 a month, all through Shopify Payments. Basic. Plan CHF 21. MWST on plan CHF 1.70. Card fees at 2.95% plus CHF 0.30 on 100 transactions of CHF 100 each: CHF 325. Total before apps: CHF 347.70. No external fees. Grow and Advanced cost more in plan fees with no saving.

CHF 50,000 a month, 50% through an external gateway. Basic: CHF 21 + 2% of CHF 25,000 = CHF 521. Grow: CHF 59 + 1% of CHF 25,000 = CHF 309. Advanced: CHF 269 + 0.6% of CHF 25,000 = CHF 419. Grow wins by CHF 212 over Basic. Card fees on the Shopify Payments portion apply on top in all three cases.

CHF 100,000 a month, 80% through an external gateway. Basic: CHF 21 + 2% of CHF 80,000 = CHF 1,621. Grow: CHF 59 + 1% of CHF 80,000 = CHF 859. Advanced: CHF 269 + 0.6% of CHF 80,000 = CHF 749. Advanced wins by CHF 110 over Grow.

The rule: if everything goes through Shopify Payments, stay on Basic until you need staff accounts or B2B. If a meaningful share of your volume goes through an external provider, the fee difference drives the upgrade.

Here is a decision checklist you can copy:

Upgrade checklist (our suggested version):

• Is more than CHF 6,000 a month going through an external payment provider? If yes, calculate whether Grow's 1% fee saving covers the CHF 38 plan difference. - Do you need more than the staff accounts Basic allows? Check Shopify's pricing page for the current limit. - Do you need B2B catalogues or custom checkout? Advanced is the entry point. - Do you need more than one inventory location? Grow supports more than Basic. - Is more than CHF 70,000 a month going through an external provider? Advanced's 0.6% fee likely pays for itself.

If you answered no to all five, Basic on annual billing is the right plan. The cost of Shopify in Switzerland comes down to what you add on top, not which tier you pick.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Shopify shop in Switzerland really cost per month in CHF?

A bare Basic store on annual billing costs CHF 21 in plan, CHF 1.70 in MWST, and then payment fees on every sale. On CHF 10,000 of monthly card volume at 2.95% plus CHF 0.30 per transaction, expect about CHF 325 in card fees. Add CHF 15 to CHF 150 for apps, and the total lands between CHF 360 and CHF 500 a month before any domain or theme purchase.

What Swiss payment methods does Shopify support besides TWINT?

Shopify Payments in Switzerland supports major credit and debit cards, TWINT, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Shop Pay. PostFinance may require a third-party gateway, which triggers the external transaction fee on your plan. The exact availability depends on your account setup; check Shopify's Swiss pricing page for the current list.

Are Shopify's prices in Switzerland inclusive or exclusive of MWST?

Exclusive. The CHF 21 a month for Basic on annual billing is the pre-tax price. Shopify adds 8.1% MWST on top, making it CHF 22.70. The MWST appears as a separate line on your Shopify invoice. If you are registered, you reclaim it as input tax on your quarterly MWST return. If not, it is a cost you absorb.

At what CHF revenue does upgrading from Basic to Grow pay off?

On annual billing, Grow costs CHF 38 more per month than Basic. The external transaction fee drops from 2% to 1%. Upgrades take effect immediately, so you can switch mid-month if your volume spikes. If you use Shopify Payments for everything, there is no external fee to save.

How much does a .ch domain cost with Shopify?

Shopify charges roughly CHF 14 to CHF 20 a year for a domain. A .ch domain bought from a Swiss registrar like Infomaniak or Switch may be cheaper and can be connected to your Shopify store at no extra charge. The connection takes one DNS change and about 24 hours to propagate.

What hidden costs arise for Swiss merchants selling internationally?

Every EU-bound parcel is an export. The EU removed the VAT exemption for small consignments under EUR 22, and the IOSS covers imports up to EUR 150. You or your logistics partner must handle customs declarations. Currency conversion fees may apply if you sell in EUR. These are not Shopify fees, but they are real costs that affect your margin on cross-border orders.

Sources

1. Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung ESTV, "Schweizer Mehrwertsteuersätze". https://www.estv.admin.ch/de/mwst-steuersaetze-schweiz — checked on 26 August 2026
2. Eidgenössische Steuerverwaltung ESTV, "MWST-Steuerpflicht". https://www.estv.admin.ch/de/mwst-steuerpflicht — checked on 26 August 2026
3. Bundesministerium der Justiz, "Umsatzsteuergesetz (UStG) § 19 Besteuerung der Kleinunternehmer". https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ustg_1980/__19.html — checked on 26 August 2026
4. European Commission, Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, "VAT e-Commerce - One Stop Shop". https://vat-one-stop-shop.ec.europa.eu/index_en — checked on 26 August 2026
5. Baymard Institute, "50 Cart Abandonment Rate Statistics 2026". https://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate — checked on 26 August 2026
6. Shopify, "Pricing — Switzerland". https://www.shopify.com/ch/pricing — checked on 6 August 2026