Etsy vs Shopify: which costs you less?
Enter your typical order and how many you sell a month. See what each platform takes per month and how many orders it takes before Shopify's plan fee pays for itself. Free, nothing leaves your browser.
Get the Seller Profit Sheet, $14 one-time.
Shopify's number assumes you already have the buyers. Etsy's fee pays for its marketplace traffic; on Shopify, finding buyers (ads, social, search) is on you.
US rates as of October 2026: Etsy 6.5% transaction + 3% + $0.25 processing + $0.20 listing per item sold; Shopify Payments card rates by plan. Sales tax left out. Rates change; check each platform's fee page.
Whichever you pick, know which products make money
The Seller Profit Sheet reads your Etsy or Shopify sales export and shows net profit per product after fees, labels, discounts, returns and ad spend, with a red LOSING MONEY flag on anything underwater. Selling on both? It handles both in one sheet. Excel and Google Sheets, one-time $14, no subscription.
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The short answer
Per sale, Shopify is much cheaper: on a $30 order Etsy takes about $3.30 (9.5% + $0.45) and Shopify Basic about $1.17 (2.9% + 30¢). But Shopify charges a monthly plan fee whether you sell or not. Divide the plan fee by the per-order saving and you get the break-even: on a $30 order with Basic at $39 a month, that's about 19 orders a month. Below that, Etsy is cheaper even before counting traffic.
What the break-even leaves out
Traffic
Etsy's fees buy you a marketplace full of people already searching for handmade and vintage goods. A Shopify store starts with zero visitors. If getting those 19 orders means spending $50 a month on ads, Etsy is still cheaper. Most small sellers who switch keep Etsy running and add Shopify for repeat customers.
Offsite Ads
Etsy's Offsite Ads fee is 15% of the order (12% once your shop passes $10,000 in yearly sales, when the ads also become mandatory), capped at $100. If a large share of your orders come from Offsite Ads, Etsy gets expensive fast, and the break-even drops. Set the share above to see it.
Apps and extras
Shopify stores often add paid apps (reviews, email, upsells) and a domain. Add them in the apps box; they raise the break-even the same way the plan fee does.
Questions
Is Shopify cheaper than Etsy?
Per order, yes. Per month, only once you sell enough to cover the plan fee, and only if those buyers find your store without paid ads.
Can I sell on both?
Yes, and many sellers do. The catch is tracking profit across both, since each platform reports fees differently. That's what the Seller Profit Sheet above is for.
Does Etsy charge fees on shipping?
Yes. The 6.5% transaction fee and the 3% processing fee apply to the shipping you charge, not just the item. That's why this calculator uses the order total.