Subscription fees versus transaction charges: compare costs

An ecommerce platform subscription is a recurring charge for access, usually billed monthly or annually; payment processing is charged per payment, often as a percentage plus a fixed amount. Other charges can be triggered by a payment provider, eligible order GMV or app usage, so compare the subscription and each charge using matching sales and payment assumptions.

Identify who charges what

Record each charge’s recipient and basis: a subscription’s billing period, a processor’s payment value and count, a platform fee’s eligible payments or order GMV, or an app’s stated usage unit. An order and a payment are not always the same unit.

Check the provider rules

Shopify’s Australian pricing page lists Basic at $42 per month on yearly billing or $56 AUD per month on monthly billing, with Shopify Payments card rates from 1.7% + $0.30 AUD. It lists Grow at $114 per month with rates from 1.55% + $0.30 AUD, Advanced at $431 per month with rates from 1.35% + $0.30 AUD, and Plus from $3,700 per month with rates from 1.15% + $0.30 AUD.

Those are Shopify Payments card rates, not a fee to add to every order regardless of payment method. A separate platform fee may apply when a particular payment provider is used, so use the applicable store terms and payment methods when calculating it.

BigCommerce lists Core at $29 per month, Growth at $79 and Scale at $299, each with a 25% saving when billed annually; Performance has custom pricing starting at $1,499 per month, billed annually. Core includes up to $30,000 in trailing 12-month (TTM) GMV before auto-upgrading to Growth, which includes up to $100,000 TTM GMV before auto-upgrading to Scale.

Scale lists a $33,333 monthly GMV cap and a 0.9% charge on GMV above the cap. BigCommerce states zero fees with Embedded Payment Providers for Core, Growth and Scale; processor charges remain separate. Its annual online sales calculation uses TTM GMV, defined as gross order value minus 10%.

WooCommerce payment processing depends on the chosen gateway, while hosting or extensions can add other costs. WooPayments has no setup fees or monthly fees for online payments: it deducts pay-as-you-go fees from each payment, with the base fee usually combining a percentage and a fixed amount.

WooPayments fees vary with the merchant’s country, customer’s country, currency and payment method. An added percentage can apply to international payments or currency conversion; its dispute fee is flat and is refunded if the merchant challenges and wins. Processing fees are not refunded when a customer is refunded, and VAT, GST or Consumption Tax may apply to fees.

Key Fee Details by Platform (Australia)

Calculate a comparable monthly amount

Total = subscription equivalent + processor charges + applicable platform fees + usage-based app charges. Keep each charge tied to its actual basis: for a percentage-plus-fixed processing fee, calculate charged payment value × percentage + number of payments × fixed amount. Repeat for each material payment category.

For example, assume 100 eligible Shopify Basic card payments of AUD $100 each in a month. At the listed starting rate of 1.7% + AUD $0.30 per payment, processing is $170 + $30 = AUD $200; adding the $42 monthly equivalent for yearly-billed Basic gives AUD $242 before any other applicable fees or taxes.

Show the billing commitment beside any monthly equivalent: a yearly-billed plan may require more cash up front than a monthly plan. Keep quotes in different currencies separate until you choose an exchange-rate assumption, and record GST separately when it applies.

Shopify vs BigCommerce vs WooCommerce: Monthly Cost Comparison (100 card payments of $100 each)

Test a possible break-even point

If two plans differ only in subscription amount and an applicable percentage rate, divide the extra subscription by the rate saving expressed as a decimal. For example, using Shopify’s displayed Basic and Grow monthly amounts ($42 and $114) and starting card rates (1.7% and 1.55%), the $72 subscription difference divided by the 0.0015 rate saving gives a break-even charged value of AUD $48,000 per month.

That comparison assumes the same number of eligible card payments, so the $0.30 fixed fee per payment cancels out. Recalculate if fixed fees, payment methods, tier thresholds or app charges differ.