What does the less expensive Shopify Lite or Starter plan include?

Shopify Discussion
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Topic summary

The Shopify Lite plan has been discontinued and replaced by the Starter plan at $5/month. This plan is designed for selling through social media platforms and messaging apps rather than operating a full online store.

Key features included:

  • Basic starter theme with homepage, product pages, contact page, cart, and checkout
  • Product links for sharing with buyers
  • POS Lite functionality
  • Reporting and discount codes

Notable limitations:

  • Cannot change themes or use the Theme Editor
  • No product collections or blog functionality
  • No complete standalone online store

Important considerations:

  • The plan can be upgraded to standard Shopify plans as the business grows
  • Downgrading from a standard plan to Starter is not possible—requires creating a new Starter store and importing products via CSV
  • Best suited for temporary or seasonal selling (like the holiday parade mentioned) with minimal customization needs

A 3-day free trial is available, with promotional pricing of $1/month for 3 months afterward.

Summarized with AI on October 29. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

I need a link to the Lite plan or Starter plan that is less expensive. And I need to understand what it includes/doesn’t include. I’ve spent time working with a free template online and added the products we will have. If we sell anything it probably won’t be until next February/March since we are a holiday parade. I really like what I’ve seen in shopify and hope we get to use it.

I don’t think I understand what it doesn’t include/allow you to do. I’ll be a basic newbie.

2

Hi, @bririshparade .

To confirm, we no longer offer the Lite plan to new merchants, as this has since been deprecated and replaced by the Starter plan. The Starter plan is the simplest version of Shopify, allowing individuals to create a starter store and sell products easily across social media platforms or messaging apps. Some of the key features of the Starter plan includes:

  • A $5/month subscription fee
  • A dedicated starter theme with a homepage, product pages, a contact page, a cart page, and a checkout page
  • Product links to share your products with buyers, in order for them to purchase from you
  • Reporting
  • Discount codes

You can learn more about the Starter plan via our landing page here, as well as our help guide here.

The biggest difference with the Starter plan in comparison to all our other plans is that the Starter plan doesn’t allow for merchants to change themes, use the Theme Editor, display product collections, or create blogs.

If you’re looking for a plan that will allow you to easily connect with audiences through social apps, while offering you key ecommerce features, the Starter plan is worth taking a look into. The plan is easily upgradable too, allowing you to move to one of our standard subscription plans to unlock the full power of Shopify as your business grows. Keep in mind, however, that while accounts are able to be upgraded from the Starter plan to a higher Shopify plan, at this stage it isn’t possible to downgrade a standard plan to the Starter plan. So if you currently have a Shopify store that you’d like to switch to a Starter plan, the workaround here is to export your product pages as a CSV file from your current store, and to then import these onto your newly created Starter plan store.

Let me know if you need any further clarification on the Starter plan and its features.

3

@bririshparade

The Shopify Lite Plan has been replaced with the Starter plan which costs $5 every month.

This plan enables one to make sales through social medial platforms and messaging applications using a basic store, product links, POS Lite, reporting, and discount codes.

However the plan does not support a complete online store, theme customization as well as blogs.

It is recommended for those who are planning to sell through their holiday parade low budget commodities on a temporary basis in WordPress blog/Facebook because; it comes with very expensive online transactions at 5% cost and can only be upgraded but never downgraded.

To sign up, visit Shopify’s Pricing page or have a go on their free trial available for 3 days and $1 per month for 3 months in Shopify Free Trial page.