Shopify vs Etsy Fees (2026): Which Is Cheaper for Sellers?

By the Profitvana Editorial Team · Updated September 2026

Shopify and Etsy charge in completely different ways: Etsy is a marketplace that takes a cut of every sale, while Shopify is your own store with a monthly plan plus payment processing. Here is how they compare in 2026.

How Etsy fees work

Etsy charges a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee on the item plus shipping, and payment processing of about 3% + $0.25 in the US (4% + £0.20 in the UK, 4% + €0.30 in most of the eurozone). Together that is 9.5% + $0.45 of each US sale — $9.95 on a $100 order. If a sale is attributed to Etsy's Offsite Ads it costs a further 12% (15% for opted-in shops under $10,000 in trailing sales), and the programme is mandatory once a shop passes $10,000.

Etsy's advantage is its built-in audience of buyers searching for handmade, vintage and craft supplies — you pay more per sale but you do not have to bring your own traffic, and there is no monthly cost unless you add Etsy Plus ($10) or Pattern ($15).

How Shopify fees work

Shopify takes no commission on your sales when you use Shopify Payments. You pay a monthly plan — $39 for Basic, $105 for Grow and $399 for Advanced at US list prices, less on annual billing — plus card processing per order. The last openly published US Basic rate was 2.9% + 30¢ for online cards; Shopify no longer prints card rates on its pricing page, so the rate in your own admin is the one that applies. Using a payment provider other than Shopify Payments adds a transaction fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced.

The trade-off: Shopify gives you a branded store and keeps per-sale costs low, but every visitor comes from your own SEO, ads, social or email. That customer-acquisition cost is the number the fee table cannot show.

Head to head: the break-even

On a single $100 sale with free shipping, Etsy takes $9.95 and Shopify about $3.20 in processing — a gap of $6.75 per order in Shopify's favour. Against a $39 monthly Basic plan, Shopify pulls ahead at about six orders a month at that order size. At a $30 average order the gap per order shrinks to about $2.20 and the break-even rises to around 18 orders a month. At very low volume Etsy's pay-per-sale model is cheaper because there is no fixed cost; at any steady volume Shopify is cheaper on fees.

Orders per month at $100	Etsy fees	Shopify fees + $39 plan	Cheaper
3	$29.85	$48.60	Etsy
6	$59.70	$58.20	Shopify
20	$199.00	$103.00	Shopify
100	$995.00	$359.00	Shopify

The cost the table hides: traffic

Etsy's 10% includes the buyer. Shopify's 3% does not. A maker who pays $15 in ads to win a $100 Shopify order is paying 18% all-in, more than Etsy, and a store with no marketing sells nothing at all. The Shopify saving is real only for orders that arrive without paid acquisition — repeat customers, an existing audience, organic search. That is why the common outcome is not a switch but a split.

Which should you choose?

Choose Etsy if you sell handmade, vintage or craft supplies, are starting from zero, or want its buyer base without building traffic. Choose Shopify if you have steady volume, an audience of your own, and want a brand and a customer list you control. Most established makers do both: Etsy for discovery, and a Shopify store for repeat buyers, where the 10% and the Offsite Ads exposure no longer apply. Etsy's rules forbid directing buyers off-platform inside listings or messages, but a card in the parcel is allowed. Run your own numbers in the calculators below before deciding.

Frequently asked questions

Is Shopify or Etsy cheaper for sellers?

Per sale, Shopify — about $3.20 processing on a $100 sale versus roughly $10 on Etsy. But Shopify adds ~$39/month regardless of sales, so at low volume Etsy's pay-per-sale model is cheaper; at steady volume Shopify wins.

At what point does Shopify become cheaper than Etsy?

Roughly when the ~7% per-sale saving exceeds the $39 monthly plan — around $550–600 in monthly sales. Above that, every extra sale widens Shopify's advantage.

Can I sell on Shopify and Etsy at the same time?

Yes — a common setup is Etsy for discovery of handmade/vintage items and a Shopify store for repeat buyers and brand. Integrations can sync inventory between the two.

Does Shopify charge a transaction fee on top of card processing?

Only if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced, in addition to that provider's own fee. With Shopify Payments there is no transaction fee.