How much does an online store cost in Canada? A full year, line by line

What does a small store pay before its first sale?

How much does an online store cost in Canada? A small store on Shopify Basic pays about $570 a year in fixed bills before a single sale: $444 for the plan, $15.68 for a .ca domain, and $110.40 for one email seat. Card fees take 2.8% plus 30 cents per online sale, at September 2026 prices. The build is a separate one-time cost.

This guide is for a maker, a shop, a farm, or a brewery about to sell online in Canada. It adds up a whole year, one layer at a time. Picking a platform is its own question, and other guides on this site cover it. Here the job is the full bill.

I read every third-party price below on the official pages on September 11, 2026. All figures are before tax. Shopify, Square, Google, and NamesPro list theirs in Canadian dollars. Apps and paid themes list in US dollars, so I mark those with US$.

What are the seven costs of running an online store?

The platform, the payment fees, the apps, the domain and email, the build, the photos, and the shipping with your time. The first four come back every month or every year. The build is mostly paid once. The last two cost hours as well as dollars.

1. 01

   The platform subscription

   Shopify Basic is $37 CAD a month on yearly billing, which is $444 a year. Month to month it is $49. Grow is $99 a month and Advanced is $389, both on yearly billing. Square Online has a free plan, and its Plus plan is $36 a month billed yearly. All checked September 2026.

2. 02

   Payment fees on every sale

   Shopify Payments takes 2.8% plus 30 cents on each online card sale on Basic. Grow drops that to 2.6% and Advanced to 2.4%. An Amex sale on Basic costs 3.5% plus 30 cents. If you run payments through another provider, Basic adds a 2% Shopify fee on top of that provider’s own rate. Rates from September 2026.

3. 03

   Apps and add-ons

   Apps add features one monthly bill at a time. Judge.me, a popular reviews app, has a free plan and a paid plan at US$15 a month. Shopify’s own email app sends 10,000 emails a month free, then charges from US$1 per 1,000. Both bill in US dollars, so the Canadian cost moves with the exchange rate. Checked September 2026.

4. 04

   The domain and email

   A .ca domain is C$15.68 a year at NamesPro, a Canadian registrar. One Google Workspace Business Starter seat is $9.20 CAD a month on a yearly plan once the opening discount ends. That is $110.40 a year per person. Together the two come to about $126 a year. Prices from September 2026.

5. 05

   The theme or the build

   Shopify offers a set of free themes. Paid themes in its theme store listed at about US$180 to US$420 in September 2026, paid once. A custom build costs more and does more. The build section below compares all three routes.

6. 06

   Photos and product content

   Every product needs clear photos and a description that answers the buyer’s questions. You can shoot them yourself by a bright window, or hire a photographer. Photographers price by the hour or by the product, so ask for a per-product number before you book. Budget writing time for every product too.

7. 07

   Shipping and your time

   The carrier charges for every parcel, and you decide who pays it. Boxes, tape, and labels cost extra. Then there are the hours spent packing, answering messages, and keeping stock counts true.

How much does an online store cost in Canada across a year?

At a $50 average order on Shopify Basic, card fees pass the yearly plan fee at about $1,100 a month in online sales. Below that, the plan is the bigger bill. Above it, the fees are bigger. They grow with every order.

Here is one small Canadian store across one year. It runs on Shopify Basic with yearly billing and takes payment through Shopify Payments. Every sale is online, and the average order is $50. It has one email seat, a .ca domain, and no paid apps. The build is left out because it is paid once, and it gets its own section below. Rates are the September 2026 figures above, rounded to the dollar.

The fixed bills stay at about $570 a year whatever you sell. The fees move with sales. Every $50 order costs $1.70 in card fees, which is 3.4% of the sale. At $2,000 a month, a year of fees is almost double the plan. At $5,000 a month, the fees are more than four times the plan.

The plan fee is the number people compare. The card fees are the number that grows.

A bigger plan lowers the rate. At this size, it costs more than it saves. Grow is $1,188 a year on yearly billing and cuts the online rate to 2.6% (September 2026). Against Basic, it only breaks even at about $31,000 a month in online sales. If most of your sales cross a counter, Shopify versus Square for a small store in Canada shows where a cheaper start makes sense.

What does it cost to build the store itself?

The build is the one big cost you pay once. Setting up a free theme yourself costs your evenings. A paid theme runs about US$180 to US$420 once, plus setup, at September 2026 prices. A custom store with me starts at $5,500.

Do it yourself

Pick a free theme, load your products, set up shipping and taxes, and test the checkout. The only cash cost is the plan. The real cost is the hours, and a store that looks like every other store on the same theme.

A theme plus setup

Buy a paid theme once, then pay someone to set it up. The price depends on who does it and how many products go in. Get a fixed price in writing, and ask whose account holds the theme licence afterward.

A custom store

The Storefront is my full custom Shopify store, from $5,500. It launches with up to 25 products across up to 5 collections. The Masterpiece starts at $10,000. It adds brand identity, bespoke product and collection layouts, up to 50 products across up to 10 collections, up to 7 editorial pages, a Google Shopping feed, and a content hub.

The Storefront is $5,500 once, or $515 a month for 12 months ($6,180 total) on Own It Monthly, my 12-month payment plan. The store is yours outright at the final payment. The plan runs directly between us with no credit checks, and you can pay it off early any time without a penalty. The Masterpiece is billed by milestone and is not on Own It Monthly. Kootenay businesses get 10% off the build.

Whichever route you take, the build is paid once and the running costs come back. Take the store selling $2,000 a month from the table above. On a $5,500 Storefront, year one comes to about $6,886 before apps and shipping. Year two is about $1,386. Everything each package includes is on my Shopify store builds page.

What costs do new store owners forget?

The ones that arrive after launch. Each one is small by itself. Together they add up, so list them before you set a price on your products.

• The opening offer ending. In September 2026 Shopify offered 3 days free, then $1 a month for 3 months. Month four is the full price.
• Paying month to month. Shopify Basic comes to $588 a year that way, against $444 on yearly billing (September 2026).
• Amex sales. An online Amex sale on Basic costs 3.5% plus 30 cents, which is higher than the standard 2.8% (September 2026).
• A second payment provider. Basic adds a 2% Shopify fee on sales run through another provider, on top of that provider’s own rate.
• The exchange rate. Many apps and paid themes bill in US dollars, so the Canadian price moves.
• More email seats. Each person with a store address is another monthly seat.
• Tax on your own bills. Google lists its Workspace price before tax, so the invoice comes in higher than the price page.
• Boxes, tape, labels, and a printer that handles labels.
• Return shipping when an order comes back.
• New photos when a product changes or a new line arrives.
• The domain renewal, every year, in your own name.

What do shipping and your time really cost?

The carrier charges for every parcel. Either you or the customer pays it. Your time goes into every order too. Put a number on both before you choose a plan.

Shipping from the Kootenays covers long distances. A flat rate that works for a parcel to Cranbrook can lose money on a parcel to Halifax. You can set shipping rates by weight and by region, so each customer pays closer to the real cost.

Then count the hours. Say the store takes five hours a week between packing, messages, and stock updates. At $25 an hour, that is $6,500 a year of your time. For the store selling $2,000 a month, that is almost five times the plan, the fees, the domain and the email put together. Use your own hours and your own rate.

Good setup shrinks this line. Printed labels, saved box sizes, and product pages that answer questions before anyone asks all save minutes on each order. If you are still deciding whether you need a store at all, is Shopify worth it for a small Kootenay store walks through that choice first.

How do I budget the first year of an online store?

Build the year from the bottom up. Start with the plan, add the fees at your real sales level, then add everything that repeats. Five steps and a notepad will do it.

1. 01Pick the plan and write down its yearly price. Shopify Basic on yearly billing was $444 in September 2026.
2. 02Estimate a normal month of online sales and your average order. Multiply the number of orders by the card fee on one order.
3. 03Add the domain, one email seat for each person, and any apps you already know you need.
4. 04Add the build. That means your hours on a free theme, a paid theme plus setup, or a custom store.
5. 05Add shipping supplies and a real number for your weekly hours. The total is what the store costs you in a year.

Run the numbers again after three months of real sales. The fee line will have moved, and it tells you more than any forecast.

Sources and further reading

• Shopify pricing plans, Canada

  Read September 11, 2026, prices labelled CAD. Basic $37 a month billed yearly or $49 month to month, Grow $99, Advanced $389. Online card rates 2.8%, 2.6% and 2.4% plus 30 cents. Amex 3.5%, 3.4% and 3.3% plus 30 cents. Third-party provider fees 2%, 1% and 0.6%.

• Square Online plans, Canada

  Read September 11, 2026. Free $0, Plus $36 a month billed annually, Premium $99 billed annually. Online rates 2.8% plus $0.30 on Free and Plus, 2.5% plus $0.30 on Premium. Square states a custom domain needs an annual paid plan.

• Google Workspace pricing, Canada

  Read September 11, 2026, in CAD and before tax. Business Starter $9.20 per user a month on an annual commitment, after a discount on the first three months.

• NamesPro.ca domain pricing

  Read September 11, 2026 from a Canadian registrar. .ca C$15.68 a year and .com C$20.74 a year, processed in Canadian dollars.

• Prestige theme, Shopify Theme Store

  Read September 11, 2026. $400 USD as a one-time payment with a lifetime licence for one store. The paid theme listing showed prices from $180 to $420.

• Judge.me Product Reviews, Shopify App Store

  Read September 11, 2026. A free plan, and a paid plan at $15 a month billed in USD.

• Shopify’s email app, Shopify App Store

  Read September 11, 2026. The first 10,000 emails each month are free, then pricing starts at $1 per 1,000 emails, billed in USD.

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