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, and its India page lists them in rupees. The Storemate is priced in rupees too, 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 2 months free if you pay yearly. With both priced in rupees, the plan is the easy line to compare - the fees below are where the real difference sits.
Shopify's plans on its India page
Shopify's India pricing page lists its plans in rupees. Basic is ₹1,994 a month, or ₹1,499 a month if you pay yearly. Grow is ₹7,447 a month, or ₹5,599 a month yearly. Advanced is ₹30,164 a month, or ₹22,680 a month yearly. The yearly price saves money, but you pay for the whole year up front. Check the plan page for staff logins too. Basic lists extra staff accounts as not included, while Grow includes 5. If you only need one login and a simple store, Basic may be enough. Once a team joins, the maths can change a lot.
The transaction fee
This is where total cost hides. Shopify adds a fee of 0.6–2% on each sale on its Basic, Grow and Advanced plans if you don't use Shopify Payments, and Shopify Payments is not offered in India. 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.
What Razorpay charges on each order
Here is the gateway number to plug in. Razorpay's standard plan charges 2% per successful transaction on domestic cards, UPI, netbanking and wallets. GST at 18% is added on that fee. There is no setup fee and no yearly maintenance charge. So a ₹1,000 order costs you ₹20 plus ₹3.60 GST in gateway fees. International cards cost more, up to 3%, so price overseas orders with that in mind. All of this is the same whether your store runs on Shopify or on The Storemate with your own Razorpay account.
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.
A worked example at ₹1 lakh a month
| Cost line | Shopify Basic, yearly billing | The Storemate Starter, own Razorpay |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | ₹1,499 a month | ₹1,199 a month |
| Platform fee on ₹1,00,000 of sales | ₹2,000 (2% with a third-party gateway) | Nothing per order |
| Razorpay fee | ₹2,000 plus GST | ₹2,000 plus GST |
| GST invoices and email flows | Often paid apps | Included in the plan |
What the example shows
On these numbers, the Shopify side costs ₹3,499 before the gateway fee and any apps. The Storemate side is its plan price before the same gateway fee. Your own numbers will differ, so swap in your real sales. Keep one pattern in mind. A per-sale fee grows every time your sales grow, while a plan price stays flat. Run the sums again at ₹5,00,000 a month. Shopify's 2% on Basic becomes ₹10,000, while the plan price on the other side does not move. Add paid apps to the Shopify side, and the gap widens further. So the bigger you get, the more a per-sale fee matters.
Monthly or yearly: which should you pick?
Both platforms reward you for paying a year up front. On Shopify's India page, Basic drops from ₹1,994 to ₹1,499 a month on yearly billing. The Storemate gives roughly 2 months free if you pay yearly. A yearly plan is cheaper, but it locks you in. Pay monthly while you test, then switch to yearly once real orders prove the fit. That way the discount rewards a choice you are already sure of, rather than one you hope works out.
Costs that are easy to miss
A few costs hide outside the plan card. Check whether the theme you want is free or paid. Your domain renews every year. Needing staff logins can push you to a higher plan. SMS or WhatsApp messages to buyers, and any courier aggregator plan, belong on the sheet too. Returned COD orders cost you shipping both ways, whatever platform you use. A paid app you tried once and forgot can keep billing every month. Add each one to your sheet before you compare. The cheaper platform is the one that stays cheaper once every line is in.
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.