Compare the total, not the plan price
The plan price is only the start. The real cost of a platform is the plan, plus its transaction fee, plus your payment gateway fee, plus the paid apps you need to fill gaps. Two platforms with the same sticker price can cost very differently once you add these up. Here's how Shopify and The Storemate compare on the full bill.
The plan price
Shopify sells tiered monthly plans, billed in dollars. The Storemate is priced in rupees, starting with a Free plan that does not expire. Its self-serve tiers are ₹1,199 and ₹4,999 a month — Enterprise is priced per contract — with roughly two months free if you pay yearly. For a small Indian store, rupee pricing takes the currency guesswork out of your monthly bill.
The transaction fee
This is where total cost hides. Shopify adds a fee of 0.5–2% on each sale if you don't use Shopify Payments, and Shopify Payments isn't available the same way everywhere. The Storemate gives you the choice: use Storemate Payments and pay 2.36%–3.54% per online order depending on your plan with the gateway's own charges included, or connect your own Razorpay on a paid plan and we take nothing per order. On real sales a percentage on every order adds up fast, so read what the fee covers, not just its size.
The gateway fee
Both platforms sit on top of a payment gateway that takes its own cut — Razorpay or similar in India. That fee is roughly the same whoever you build on, so it's not the deciding factor. What differs is whether the platform adds its own fee on top. That's why the transaction fee above matters so much.
The paid apps
Shopify's power comes partly from its app store, but many everyday needs mean paid apps that recur monthly — GST invoices, deeper email flows, loyalty. The Storemate includes GST invoicing, email sequences, a page builder, and analytics in the plan. Fewer apps means fewer monthly line items and less to maintain.
Do the math on your GMV
Take your expected monthly sales. Add plan, plus transaction fee times sales, plus gateway fee, plus apps. Do it for both platforms at the volume you actually expect. The winner is rarely the one with the lowest plan price. It's the one with the lowest total at your scale.
When Shopify still wins
If you depend on a specific Shopify-only app, or sell heavily to global customers, its ecosystem and maturity can be worth a higher total. Be honest about your buyers. Most Indian D2C brands sell mostly in India, and for them an India-first platform usually lands cheaper once every cost is in.
Run the numbers for real
You don't have to decide on a spreadsheet alone. The Storemate is free to start, so you can take live UPI and COD orders and see the total cost against your own sales before you commit a rupee. Compare it to your Shopify bill at your real volume, then choose.