What is Shopify Plus? It is Shopify’s top-tier plan for high-volume and complex businesses. It runs on the same platform as every other Shopify plan, but it unlocks deeper checkout customization, custom logic through Shopify Functions, built-in B2B selling, multiple linked stores, more staff controls, extra APIs and priority support.
In other words, Plus does not give you a different store. It gives you more control over the parts of Shopify that standard plans keep locked down. This guide explains what those parts are, who actually needs them, and what changes when you upgrade.
What is Shopify Plus, in practical terms?
Think of standard Shopify plans as a well-run building where the landlord decides how the lobby looks and which doors you can add. Shopify Plus hands you more of the keys. You still benefit from Shopify’s hosting, security and checkout infrastructure, but you can customize more of the shopping and operations experience.
The headline differences fall into five groups:
- Checkout control: customize the checkout and thank-you pages with checkout extensions and branding tools.
- Custom commerce logic: build your own discount, shipping and payment rules with Shopify Functions in custom apps.
- B2B and wholesale: sell to business customers with company accounts, catalogs and payment terms from the same store.
- Multi-store operations: run expansion stores and manage them centrally.
- Scale and support: more staff controls, extra API access and priority support.
Shopify publishes the full, current feature list in its Help Center page on the Shopify Plus plan. Limits such as the number of expansion stores or locations can change, so check that page rather than relying on figures quoted in blog posts.
Checkout customization on Shopify Plus
Checkout is where Plus differs most from standard plans. On Plus you can use checkout extensibility to add custom content and functionality to the checkout, such as delivery instructions, upsell blocks, loyalty messages or extra fields, and apply detailed branding through the Checkout Branding API.
This matters because checkout is where small frictions turn into abandoned carts. Being able to add a gift message field, show a trust badge or present a relevant offer at the right moment can be the difference between a workaround and a clean experience.
Checkout extensions are built as apps, not by editing theme files. That makes them safer to update, but it also means you need a developer or partner comfortable with Shopify’s app tooling.
Shopify Functions and the end of Shopify Scripts
Shopify Functions let developers write custom backend logic that Shopify runs during checkout: custom discount rules, shipping rate adjustments, hiding or reordering payment methods, validation rules and more.
Stores on any plan can use public apps from the Shopify App Store that contain functions. According to Shopify’s developer documentation, only stores on Shopify Plus can use custom apps that contain Shopify Function APIs. That is the key difference: on Plus, you can build logic specific to your business instead of waiting for an app that happens to fit.
Functions replaced Shopify Scripts, the older Ruby-based customization tool for Plus stores. Shopify retired Scripts on June 30, 2026. If your store used Scripts and you have not confirmed that every customization was rebuilt with Functions or replaced by an app, audit your discounts, shipping and payment rules now.
B2B and wholesale on Shopify Plus
Plus includes B2B features that let you sell to business customers from the same store you use for consumers. You can set up companies with multiple locations and buyers, assign catalogs with specific products and prices, and offer payment terms. B2B buyers and consumers can see different checkout experiences.
For brands that previously ran a separate wholesale store or handled trade orders by email and spreadsheet, this can remove a lot of manual work. The setup still takes planning: you need clean customer data, a pricing strategy for each catalog and clear rules for who can order what.
Expansion stores and the organization admin
Plus lets you run additional stores under one organization, often called expansion stores. Brands use them for separate regional storefronts, distinct brands, wholesale-only stores or staging and testing environments.
The organization admin gives you a central place to manage stores, users and permissions across them. You can create custom user groups to control what different staff members can access, which helps once several teams or agencies work on the store.
Many international businesses now handle multiple countries from a single store using Shopify Markets, so an expansion store is no longer the only route to selling abroad. Decide based on how different each market’s catalog, pricing and operations really are.
Automation, launches and other Plus tools
Plus includes tools aimed at running a busy store with fewer manual steps:
- Launchpad: schedule and automate sales events, product releases and theme changes so they go live at a set time.
- Workflow automation: Shopify Flow lets you build automations triggered by store events, such as tagging high-value customers or alerting staff to low stock. Check Shopify’s documentation for which Flow features apply to your plan.
- Extra APIs: Plus stores get access to additional APIs, such as Multipass for single sign-on with an external customer login, and can request higher rate limits through support.
Who Shopify Plus is actually for
Plus makes the most sense when your problems are about complexity and scale, not just revenue. Common signs:
- You need checkout logic that no public app provides.
- You sell both direct-to-consumer and wholesale and want one system for both.
- You run several brands or regional stores and need central control.
- You have large launches or flash sales and need scheduled, reliable changes.
- You have many staff, contractors and agencies who need tightly controlled access.
- You need to integrate the store deeply with an ERP, a custom login system or other back-office tools.
If none of these describe you, a standard plan may serve you well for now. Our guide is Shopify Plus worth it? walks through how to weigh the decision for your own store.
What changes when you upgrade
Upgrading is usually an upgrade, not a migration. Your products, customers, orders, apps and theme stay in place. What changes is what you can now build and control. In practice, a good upgrade plan includes:
- An audit of your current apps, discount rules and workarounds to see which Plus features can replace them.
- A list of checkout improvements to build with extensions and Functions, in priority order.
- A permissions review so each staff member and agency has the right access.
- A decision on whether you need expansion stores or whether Markets in one store is enough.
- A plan for B2B setup if wholesale is part of the reason you upgraded.
The plan itself does not do this work. Many brands pay for Plus and keep running the store exactly as before, which wastes most of what they are paying for. A Shopify Plus management partner can handle the build-out and ongoing changes if you do not have developers in-house.
Related reading
Plus also gives you more room to improve on-site discovery. If shoppers struggle to find products in big collections, read our guide on letting shoppers search within a Shopify collection.
FAQ
Is Shopify Plus a different platform from Shopify?
No. Shopify Plus runs on the same platform as other Shopify plans. It is a higher plan that unlocks extra features, tools, API access and support for larger or more complex businesses.
Do I have to rebuild my store to move to Shopify Plus?
Usually not. An existing Shopify store can be upgraded to Plus, keeping its products, customers, orders and theme. You then add the Plus-only features you need, such as checkout customizations or expansion stores.
How much does Shopify Plus cost?
Shopify sets Plus pricing and it can depend on your business, so get a current quote directly from Shopify. When you compare costs, also budget for the development and app work needed to use the Plus features you are paying for.
Do I need a Shopify Plus partner?
You do not have to use one, but many Plus brands work with a partner agency for checkout extensions, Shopify Functions, integrations and ongoing store management, because those tasks need development experience.
