Salla vs Zid vs Shopify (2026): Plans, Payment Fees and the Real Cost of a Store in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt

Profitvana Editorial Team · Updated November 9, 2026

A seller in Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Egypt who wants a store of their own has three realistic builders: Salla and Zid, the Saudi platforms built around mada, Apple Pay and Arabic-first checkout, and Shopify, which prices by country and only offers its own payment processing in the UAE. The subscription is the small part of the bill. What decides the real cost is the payment fee on every order, and that is where the three differ most. Every figure below is read from the vendors' own pricing or help pages; where a vendor does not publish a rate we say so instead of quoting a blog.

Monthly plans side by side

Salla and Zid both start free with unlimited products and no commission, but the free tier accepts only bank transfer and cash on delivery; card payments need a paid plan. Shopify has no free tier beyond a 3-day trial followed by $1 a month for three months, and its Saudi and Egypt pages show lower Basic and Grow prices than its UAE page. Salla's plan prices come from its help center, as its public pricing page sits behind a bot check; Zid's are from zid.sa/pricing. Salla does not state whether its prices include 15% VAT; Zid's payments page says plans exclude VAT.

Plan	Salla	Zid	Shopify UAE	Shopify KSA / Egypt
Free tier	Basic: free, bank transfer and COD only	Starter: free forever, bank transfer and COD, no custom domain	none	none
Entry	Plus: SAR 99/mo or SAR 990/yr	Rise: SAR 99/mo	Basic: $32/mo, $24/mo yearly	Basic: $27/mo, $19/mo yearly
Mid	Pro: SAR 299/mo or SAR 2,990/yr	Growth: SAR 299/mo	Grow: $92/mo, $69/mo yearly	Grow: $72/mo, $54/mo yearly
Upper	Special: custom	Professional: contact sales	Advanced: $399/mo, $299/mo yearly	Advanced: $399/mo, $299/mo yearly
Enterprise	—	—	Plus from $2,300/mo	Plus from $2,300/mo

Payment fees: where the real cost sits

Zid Pay publishes its Growth-plan rates: 1% + SAR 1, 2.3% + SAR 1 and 3.3% + SAR 1 per transaction, excluding VAT, with no setup or monthly charge, a SAR 3 fee per deposit (free at Riyad Bank), payouts every two to three days above SAR 100, and refunds that keep only the original fee. The page's icons are not labelled in text; by Saudi market convention the 1% rate is mada, 2.3% Visa and Mastercard, and 3.3% international and Amex, but confirm the mapping in your Zid dashboard. A search snippet of the Professional tab shows 1% + SAR 0.75 and 3.2% + SAR 0.75. Zid Pay serves Saudi Arabia and Kuwait only.

Salla Payments publishes no rate card. Its help center says fees follow the payment-services contract signed when the store is verified, settlement is weekly or every 48 hours with a SAR 100 minimum, and in the UAE transfers go out on Thursdays above AED 250. Apple Pay carries no extra Salla fee and activates once mada and cards are enabled; Tabby, Tamara, Mispay, Madfu and Emkan can be switched on without published rates. If you need a number before signing, ask Salla for the contract schedule; do not budget from third-party figures.

Shopify Payments exists only in the UAE among the three countries. Online rates on the UAE pricing page are 2.9% + AED 1.00 on Basic, 2.8% on Grow, 2.7% on Advanced and 2.5% on Plus, with international and Amex cards at 3.9%, 3.8%, 3.7% and 3.5% + AED 1.00. Eligibility requires a UAE trade licence or freelancer permit and an AED account with an AE IBAN. Saudi and Egyptian stores must use a third-party gateway, and Shopify then adds its own surcharge on every order: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus, on top of what the gateway charges.

Gateway	Market	Published rate (ex VAT)
Zid Pay (Growth plan)	Saudi Arabia	1% + SAR 1 (mada); 2.3% + SAR 1 (cards); 3.3% + SAR 1 (international), inferred mapping
Salla Payments	Saudi Arabia, UAE	per contract; not published
Shopify Payments	UAE only	2.9% to 2.5% + AED 1.00 online; 3.9% to 3.5% international
Telr	UAE	Medium plan AED 0/mo at 2.25% + AED 0.50; Small AED 99/mo at 2.35% + AED 0.50; international cards +0.50%
Telr	Saudi Arabia	Entry SAR 99/mo: cards 3% + SAR 1, mada 1%, STC Pay 0.90%
PayTabs (Paymes)	Saudi Arabia	SAR 49/mo: mada 1%, cards 2.25% + SAR 1 (marked as a testing phase)
Paymob	Egypt	2.75% + EGP 3 per card transaction
Moyasar, HyperPay, Tap, Checkout.com	Gulf	quote-based; no public rate card

Worked example: 200 orders a month at SAR 150 in Saudi Arabia

Take SAR 30,000 of monthly sales, 200 orders, paid 70% by mada and 30% by Visa or Mastercard. On Zid Growth the gateway costs about SAR 210 on the mada share (1% of 21,000) plus SAR 207 on cards (2.3% of 9,000), plus SAR 200 in SAR 1 fixed fees, about SAR 617, plus the SAR 299 plan: roughly SAR 916 before VAT, 3.1% of sales. On Shopify Grow in Saudi Arabia you pay $54 a month on the yearly plan (about SAR 203), Shopify's 1% third-party surcharge (SAR 300) and a gateway such as Telr Entry at SAR 99 a month with mada 1% (SAR 210) and cards 3% + SAR 1 (SAR 270 + 60): about SAR 1,142, 3.8% of sales. On Salla Pro the plan is SAR 299 and the gateway cost depends on your contract; at Zid-like rates it lands near Zid's total.

At that volume the Saudi platforms win on cost because Shopify's surcharge and the separate gateway subscription stack on top of its plan. Shopify's case is different in the UAE, where Shopify Payments removes the surcharge and the second subscription, and for any seller who needs Shopify's app ecosystem, multi-currency selling or an existing Shopify theme.

Which to choose

Saudi seller, domestic customers: Salla or Zid. Both give mada, Apple Pay, STC Pay and BNPL in an Arabic checkout and integrate with Saudi couriers and the ZATCA e-invoicing rules. Zid publishes its rates, which makes budgeting easier; Salla has the larger app and theme market. Start on the free tier to test demand, then move to Plus or Rise for card payments.

UAE seller: Shopify is competitive once Shopify Payments is approved, because the UAE is the only one of the three countries where it exists. Salla also serves the UAE with Thursday settlements. Compare the 2.9% + AED 1.00 Shopify rate with Telr's 2.25% + AED 0.50 Medium plan, which has no monthly fee but needs a separate integration.

Egyptian seller: Shopify Payments is unavailable, so the realistic stack is Shopify Basic at $19 a month on the yearly plan plus Paymob at 2.75% + EGP 3 plus Shopify's 2% surcharge, or a local builder. Salla and Zid do not operate gateways in Egypt. Given the surcharge, many Egyptian sellers start on a marketplace instead; see Amazon.eg fees and noon fees.

Selling abroad from the Gulf: Shopify's multi-currency checkout and international apps matter more than the local gateway. Pair it with the payout options in getting paid.

Dated changes

26 August 2026: Shopify Payments in the UAE became generally available on the Advanced plan (Shopify changelog), after a Plus-only launch earlier in 2026; the UAE pricing page now lists it on every plan. 27 October 2026: Salla's store-plans help article updated. 2 November 2026: Zid Pay activation article updated. 6 November 2026: date of the Shopify Balance rate footnote on the three country pricing pages. 17 April 2025: Shopify renamed its mid plan from Shopify to Grow at the same price. Salla's half-price annual promotion ended on 30 September 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Is Salla or Zid cheaper?

Their plans are priced identically at SAR 99 and SAR 299 a month, and both have a free tier limited to bank transfer and cash on delivery. The difference is the gateway: Zid publishes 1% + SAR 1 for mada and 2.3% + SAR 1 for cards on Growth, while Salla's rates are set in your contract.

Does Shopify Payments work in Saudi Arabia or Egypt?

No. Shopify's supported-countries list includes the UAE but not Saudi Arabia or Egypt. Stores there use a third-party gateway and pay Shopify's surcharge of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced.

What does Shopify cost in Saudi Arabia?

Basic $27 a month or $19 on the yearly plan, Grow $72 or $54, Advanced $399 or $299, as shown on shopify.com/sa/pricing on 9 November 2026, plus the gateway and the third-party surcharge.

Is Salla free?

Salla Basic is free with unlimited products and no commission, but electronic payments are available only on paid plans. Plus costs SAR 99 a month or SAR 990 a year and Pro SAR 299 a month or SAR 2,990 a year.

What is the mada fee on a Saudi online store?

Zid Pay publishes 1% + SAR 1 on its Growth plan, Telr 1% on its Saudi plans and PayTabs 1% on Paymes. Salla's mada rate is contractual.

Sources

Figures were read from the pages below on November 9, 2026. Where a page publishes no figure for an item we say so rather than quoting a secondary source.