Is Shopify free to start?

There’s a trial that gets you started for a few dollars for the first month. After that the Basic plan is about $39/month. You don’t need any plan above Basic until you’re past roughly $10k/month in sales.

How much inventory should I buy for a first order?

None until a product has passed a test and keeps selling. Test with a US-warehouse supplier that ships each order for you; then place a factory order for 30–60 days of stock, with your logo.

Can I start a Shopify store with $100?

You can get the store live and the product page built for well under $100. A real product test needs about $150 of ads on top; tests much smaller than that rarely tell you anything.

How Much Does It Cost to Start a Shopify Store in 2026? (Real Numbers)

By Bobby Samai, who built and sold ionbottles.com · Updated September 28, 2026

Every ‘how much does Shopify cost’ article lists plan prices and stops. That’s not what you’re asking. You’re asking what it costs to find out if you can actually sell something. Here’s the whole budget, and where people waste money they didn’t need to spend.

One-time setup

Domain (.com, one year): $10–$16. Skip the privacy upsells and the matching .net.
Shopify: the trial gets you the first month for a few dollars, then Basic at about $39/month.

Start your Shopify trial

Open Shopify through this link and sign up with your business Gmail. The trial gets you the first month for a few dollars, and the rest of the course assumes you set it up this way.

Start my Shopify trial →

This is a referral link. It costs you nothing extra and helps keep the course price where it is.

One product test: about $300

One unit ordered through your own store from a , so you test the whole customer experience and have something to film: $25–$50.
Five days of Meta ads at about $30 a day: around $150. Less than that rarely gives Meta enough data to tell you anything.
Room for one fix and a short retest if the numbers are close: $50–$100.

Plan for more than one test. Most products anyone tests don’t sell, and experienced sellers expect several misses before a winner. A test fund that covers a handful of tests, money your family can afford to lose, is the honest budget. Inventory comes only after a product proves it sells, and sales during tests pay part of the cost back.

What you don’t need to spend on

A paid theme ($200–$400). Dawn is free and converts fine for one product.
Apps. Every app is a monthly fee and a slower store. You need two to start: your supplier’s app and Shopify’s Facebook & Instagram app for the .
A logo. Text in the header is fine until you have a product worth branding.
Inventory. The single most expensive mistake new stores make is ordering 500 units before proving one sells.
A course that costs $997. The information is not $997 better. It’s usually the same ten steps with a webinar attached.

The running costs once you’re selling

Shopify Basic ($39/month), payment processing (about 2.9% + 30¢ per order), the product and shipping cost per order, and ads. Ads are the big one; if your product sells for at least three times what it costs to deliver, there’s room to pay $15 or more in ads per sale and still make money. Run your own numbers before you test anything.

Do the math on your product

The EcomDada course includes a calculator that takes your supplier cost and gives you your ad cost per sale, break-even , and the exact stop line for your test. Step 4 of ten. $10 for the whole thing.

Questions

Is Shopify free to start?: There’s a trial that gets you started for a few dollars for the first month. After that the Basic plan is about $39/month. You don’t need any plan above Basic until you’re past roughly $10k/month in sales.
How much inventory should I buy for a first order?: None until a product has passed a test and keeps selling. Test with a US-warehouse supplier that ships each order for you; then place a factory order for 30–60 days of stock, with your logo.
Can I start a Shopify store with $100?: You can get the store live and the product page built for well under $100. A real product test needs about $150 of ads on top; tests much smaller than that rarely tell you anything.

Your coach

Bobby Samai, built and sold ionbottles.com

Laid off in 2020, built an $8.5M Shopify brand from the kitchen table and sold it, my fourth exit. Two kids, zero investors. I answer every email myself and take 30-minute calls with dads inside the course.

Watch my UpFlip interview →

$8.5M

in sales

steps

weeks