Shopify is the world's leading online shop platform. Here's what it costs a South African business.
Shopify powers over 4 million businesses globally. It is the default recommendation for anyone starting an online shop — and for good reason. This page looks at what it specifically costs a South African merchant, where one structural difference changes the arithmetic significantly.
Shopify Payments is not available in South Africa.
Shopify's advertised monthly fees are based on using Shopify Payments as your payment gateway. Shopify Payments waives Shopify's transaction fee entirely — making the plan fee the only platform cost.
Shopify Payments is not available in South Africa. Every South African merchant must use a third-party gateway — PayFast, Peach Payments, or similar — which means Shopify's transaction fee applies to every sale, on top of the gateway's own fees. This is not unique to small merchants. It applies to every SA business regardless of plan or volume.
On Shopify Basic, that transaction fee is 2% of every sale. On a month where you sell R30,000 worth of products, R600 goes to Shopify in transaction fees — in addition to the R540 monthly plan fee — before PayFast takes their standard 3.5% + R1 per transaction.
This is a published part of Shopify's pricing, documented on their website. It is the single structural reason the cost comparison between Shopify and a custom build looks different in South Africa than it does globally.
Platform fees at R30,000/month in sales.
| Cost item | Shopify Basic | WooCommerce | Horn Dev Custom |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform / plan fee | R540/month | R0 (plugin is free) | R0 |
| Transaction fee (2% of R30k) | R600/month | R0 | R0 |
| Hosting | Included | R300–R600/month | R250/month |
| Essential plugins / apps | R300–R800/month | R200–R400/month | R0 |
| Security & maintenance | Included | R500–R2,000/month | Included |
| Realistic monthly total | R1,400–R1,900 | R1,000–R3,000 | R250 |
Shopify pricing sourced from shopify.com — subject to change. Exchange rate used: R18.60/USD (approximate, August 2026). WooCommerce figures represent typical managed hosting + plugin + maintenance costs. Verify all platform pricing before making a decision.
When does a custom build pay for itself?
A Horn Dev custom shop costs R15,000 to build. After that, running costs are R250/month. The table below shows how long it takes for the monthly saving to recover the build cost — compared to Shopify Basic.
What you have at the end of year one.
Shopify — after 12 months
- A rented storefront you do not own
- Paid R16,800+ in platform and transaction fees
- If you cancel, your store disappears
- Pricing can increase — you have no alternative but to pay or rebuild
- Your data is on Shopify's servers, exportable but dependent on their format
Horn Dev custom — after 12 months
- A shop you own outright — code, domain, data
- Paid R15,000 build + R3,000 hosting = R18,000 total
- If you move hosting, the site moves with you
- No platform can raise fees or change rules on your store
- Full source code in your git repository — backed up, portable, yours
This is not a claim that Shopify is always the wrong choice.
Shopify is a legitimate platform. It makes sense when you need to launch in days with no development budget, when your business model is uncertain and you want to test before committing, or when your transaction volumes are very low and the platform fee is negligible. For a business that expects to sell consistently at R20,000/month or more, the arithmetic shifts decisively toward ownership.
If you are unsure which route suits your situation, call or WhatsApp — a straight answer costs nothing.
Get a quote for a custom online shop.
From R15,000. Fixed scope, fixed price, PayFast integration included.