Etsy vs Shopify Fees (2026): The Real Cost Compared

The head-to-head numbers

Same sale, both platforms, US rates, no shipping charged, no ad fees. Etsy: $0.20 listing + 6.5% transaction + 3% + $0.25 processing. Shopify Basic with Shopify Payments: 2.9% + $0.30 per online sale. The monthly subscription is deliberately not in this table — that's what the break-even table below is for.

Etsy math: $0.20 + 6.5% + (3% + $0.25). Shopify math: 2.9% + $0.30 via Shopify Payments on the Basic plan. Using a third-party gateway adds Shopify's 2% surcharge on top of the gateway's own fees.

The break-even: when Shopify's $39 pays for itself

Every dollar Shopify saves you per sale has to cover the subscription first. Divide the monthly fee by the per-sale gap and you get the sales volume where Shopify pulls ahead:

The crossover is remarkably stable: somewhere around half a thousand dollars a month in revenue on monthly billing — roughly $400 a month on annual billing — almost regardless of what you sell.

How Etsy fees actually work

Etsy's fee structure is four small charges that compress into one of the lowest effective rates among marketplaces. On a US sale:

• Listing fee — $0.20 per unit. Charged when the listing publishes or renews, and again for each unit sold on a multi-quantity listing. Listings last four months.
• Transaction fee — 6.5% of the order total. Applies to the item price plus the shipping you charge the buyer.
• Payment processing — 3% + $0.25 per order (US), calculated on the full order total.
• Offsite Ads fee — 12–15%, only sometimes. If an offsite ad leads to a sale: 15% for shops under $10,000 in the last 12 months (participation optional), 12% above $10,000 (mandatory). Capped at $100 per order.

On a $100 sale with no shipping: $0.20 + $6.50 + $3.25 = $9.95, a 9.95% effective rate. There is no monthly fee and no fee when you sell nothing — Etsy only gets paid when you do. The Etsy fee calculator itemizes all of this from your real numbers, and our Etsy fees guide walks through each charge.

How Shopify fees actually work

Shopify's cost has two layers: the subscription (which the table above excludes) and the per-sale processing (which it includes).

• Subscription — $39/month billed monthly, $29/month billed annually (Basic plan, 2026). This is the cheapest plan with a full online store; the $5 Starter plan only gives you a checkout link. Higher tiers (Grow $105, Advanced $399) lower the card rate but don't change the logic of this comparison.
• Per-sale processing — 2.9% + $0.30 per online sale via Shopify Payments (US, Basic). No per-listing fees, unlimited products, which is why the per-sale numbers above look so good next to Etsy's.
• Third-party gateway surcharge — 2% on Basic. Use PayPal, Stripe, or any gateway other than Shopify Payments and Shopify adds 2% on top of that gateway's own fees. On a $50 sale that's an extra dollar per order — at volume, this one setting can cost more than the subscription itself.
• The extras no fee table shows. Apps (commonly $50–200/month once you add reviews, upsells, or email), a paid theme ($0–500 one-time), and your domain (~$15/year). None are mandatory, but a real store rarely pays exactly $39.

On a $100 sale with Shopify Payments: 2.9% ($2.90) + $0.30 = $3.20, a 3.2% effective rate — less than a third of Etsy's. That number is why Shopify is irresistible, and the $39 subscription is why you should pause before signing up at low volume.

When Etsy wins

Etsy loses the per-sale comparison everywhere — and still wins the overall comparison for a huge number of sellers, because the subscription changes the game:

• You sell under ~$500 a month. Below the break-even line, the $39 subscription eats every dollar of per-sale savings and then some. At $200 a month in sales, Shopify costs you $39 + ~$8 in processing while Etsy costs ~$22 in fees.
• You're testing an idea. Etsy costs $0.20 to list and nothing when you sell nothing. Shopify costs $39 in a month you sell nothing. New sellers should feel that asymmetry.
• You sell handmade, vintage, or craft supplies. Etsy's buyers arrive intending to buy exactly what you make — higher conversion, less discounting pressure, no ad spend required to be discovered.
• You have no audience. Etsy lends you its search traffic from day one. A Shopify store with no traffic is an empty shop on a street nobody walks down.
• You want zero maintenance. No apps to update, no theme to fix, no checkout to test. List the product and sell.

When Shopify wins

Above the break-even line, Shopify wins on fees — and it wins on things fees can't measure:

• You sell over ~$600 a month. The per-sale savings now exceed the subscription with room to spare, and the gap keeps widening: at $5,000 a month in $50 orders, Shopify saves you roughly $345 a month in fees for a $39 subscription.
• Brand control. Your domain, your checkout, your design, your customer emails. On Etsy you're a tenant; on Shopify you own the building.
• No marketplace wildcards. Etsy's 12–15% Offsite Ads fee can land on any order and dwarf the entire fee difference. Shopify has no equivalent surprise — your fee is your fee.
• Higher average order values. The per-sale gap grows with price ($6.75 at $100), so high-ticket sellers cross the break-even line fastest — about six $100 orders a month.
• Repeat customers. Email your past buyers directly instead of re-winning them in Etsy's search results every time. Customer lifetime value is where Shopify's math really compounds.

Beyond the fees: what the table doesn't show

Per-sale fees decide your margin per order; these decide whether the business works at all.

• Traffic is the real cost. Etsy's fee bundles built-in demand — millions of shoppers searching with intent. Shopify's fee bundles software; the shoppers are your problem. A store spending $300 a month on ads to make $2,000 in sales has erased the entire fee advantage before the first order ships. If you can't answer "where will my first 100 visitors come from," start on Etsy.
• The 2% gateway trap. The table assumes Shopify Payments. Run that same store through an external gateway on Basic and every sale costs an extra 2% — a $50 order jumps from $1.75 to $2.75 in Shopify-side fees, and the break-even line moves substantially against you.
• App creep. Reviews, upsells, email marketing, loyalty — each is $10–30 a month, and a real store stacks several. Budget $50–200 a month in apps once you're past the testing phase, and add it to the subscription side of your break-even math.
• Etsy's Offsite Ads wildcard. That 12–15% fee only hits orders attributed to offsite ads, but when it hits a $100 sale it takes $12–15 — more than Shopify's subscription-plus-fees would have cost on that order. Price bestsellers for the ad case.
• Cash flow and commitment. Shopify bills whether you sell or not; annual billing cuts the fee to $29/month but locks you in for a year. Etsy takes its cut only when money changes hands. Match the commitment to your confidence.

The verdict framework

Stop asking “which is cheaper?” and ask these three questions instead:

• 1. What will you sell per month? Honestly under ~$500 → Etsy, no contest. Confidently over ~$600 → Shopify starts winning. In between → run your exact numbers through the Etsy calculator and compare against $39 + 2.9% + $0.30.
• 2. Who brings the customers? If the answer is "I have no audience yet," borrow Etsy's marketplace while you build one. If it's "my Instagram/TikTok/email list," Shopify keeps far more of each sale those channels produce.
• 3. Marketplace or brand? Plugging into existing buyer intent → Etsy. Building an asset you own — customer list, brand, repeat purchase flow → Shopify.

Many successful sellers end up running both: Etsy as the discovery channel where marketplace buyers find them, and a Shopify store as the home base where repeat customers buy free of marketplace fees and rules. Start where your next sale comes from, not where the fee table looks prettiest.

Rates checked October 2026 against Etsy's published fee structure and Shopify's 2026 pricing (Basic $39/month, $29/month annual; Shopify Payments 2.9% + $0.30 US online). US rates, no shipping charged, no ad fees. This is a pricing aid, not tax or accounting advice. Not affiliated with Etsy, Inc. or Shopify Inc.

Etsy vs Shopify Fees questions, answered