This comes up more than I’d like 
A client asks for something — say proper cart-to-checkout consistency or advanced B2B pricing — and it turns out the clean version really needs Plus. Then comes the awkward “so this’ll cost more / need an upgrade” conversation.
How do you all handle this? Do you push for the upgrade, find a workaround app, or set expectations early in the scope? Really interested in how others navigate that convo without scaring the client off.
@Rasel ,
I usually set expectations early. During discovery I explain which features are available on standard Shopify and which require Shopify Plus so there are no surprises later.
If a workaround exists I will present both options with their pros and cons. That way the client can decide whether the upgrade is worth the long term benefits or if a simpler solution meets their current needs.
Hi @Rasel .
When I first talk with business clients, I always ask about their current pricing plans.
This helps prevent problems later on. If pricing becomes an issue during a project, I explain that they will need to upgrade to get all the features. I also show them how this is better than using temporary, less dependable options. Once clients see the benefits compared to unstable workarounds, they usually agree to the cost.
I’d handle it as an options conversation, not an upsell conversation.
Usually I frame it in 3 paths:
What helps most is setting this expectation during discovery: for every requested feature, note whether it’s supported on the current plan, possible with compromise, or requires Plus. That makes the later conversation much less awkward because it’s framed as a platform constraint, not a surprise cost.
For the client convo, I’d keep it simple: “There are a few ways to get close, but the clean/native version of this specific requirement sits behind Shopify Plus. If staying on the current plan is the priority, we can look at compromise options and I’ll outline the tradeoffs.”
That usually keeps trust intact because you’re giving them a decision, not pushing them into an upgrade.
Solid advice on the conversation itself. The thing that makes it shorter is that the list of features genuinely requiring Plus shrank a lot, so a good half of these requests do not actually need the upgrade anymore.
Ones people still assume are Plus but are not: Scripts became Shopify Functions, which run on every plan, so discount logic, cart transforms, and cart or checkout validation are all doable on Basic. Flow is free on every plan now too. So a lot of the old Plus discount and cart wishlist is just an app or a Function away.
Ones that are still genuinely Plus: native B2B (company accounts, per company catalogs and pricing), the checkout editor and checkout branding API, expansion or multiple stores, Launchpad, unlimited staff, and the higher API limits. B2B pricing done properly is the clearest real Plus line, worth flagging early because there is no clean non Plus version of it.
So the move is bucketing the request before the call. Cart to checkout consistency is usually solvable without Plus now, advanced B2B pricing usually is not. Which one did yours turn out to be?
Good bucketing above. I’d bolt one date onto it, because that’s the thing that turns this from a scoping conversation into a deadline for anyone holding a portfolio of client stores.
The Additional Scripts box on the order status page stops running for non-Plus stores on 26 August. Everything in there stops firing that day. Conversion tags, affiliate pixels, post-purchase surveys, that snippet someone added in 2021 that nobody documented. It doesn’t move to Custom Pixels on its own, and a fair slice of what people keep in there can’t be expressed as a pixel at all.
Three weeks. Worth walking the client list this month rather than finding out in September when the numbers look wrong and nobody can say since when.
Disclosure, since it’s adjacent: I build Scriptly, a Functions-based replacement for Scripts. The date isn’t mine though. That one’s Shopify’s.