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Shopify B2B Cost: Plus vs Wholesale Apps vs a Separate Store (2026 Comparison)

There are three ways to sell wholesale on Shopify, and they cost very different amounts. This guide prices them. It does not argue whether Shopify suits B2B at all (see is Shopify good for B2B), it does not walk through setup (see Shopify B2B company accounts), and it does not list the workarounds for stores without Plus in detail (see Shopify B2B without Plus). It answers the question that comes first in every B2B project we scope: how much does Shopify B2B cost, and which option is worth it at my volume?

The three options at a glance

OptionWhat you pay ShopifyWhat you getBest for
Native B2B on Shopify PlusPlus platform fee (from about $2,300/month on a three-year term, about $2,500 month-to-month)Company accounts, locations, catalogs and price lists, quantity rules, net payment terms, B2B checkout, draft orders, expansion storesBrands with real wholesale volume or DTC revenue that already justifies Plus
Wholesale apps on a standard planBasic $39, Grow $105 or Advanced $399 per month, plus the app subscriptionTag-based pricing, order forms, quick order, net terms via draft orders or invoices, wholesale sign-upStores testing B2B or with a modest number of accounts
Separate wholesale storeA second Shopify plan plus duplicated apps and themeFull isolation: separate catalogue, pricing, theme and rules; password-protected storefrontBrands whose wholesale range, branding or rules differ sharply from retail

Plan prices are Shopify’s published monthly rates as of April 2026; check shopify.com for the current figures in your country.

Option 1: native B2B on Shopify Plus

What it costs

Shopify Plus has historically started at around $2,300 per month on a three-year term or roughly $2,500 per month on a standard monthly agreement, with a revenue-based model that takes over above a certain monthly sales level (widely reported as 0.25% of sales, capped). For the full breakdown, including transaction fees and the crossover point, read our Shopify Plus pricing guide. Over a year on the three-year term the platform fee alone is about $27,600.

What that buys for B2B

Everything Shopify builds for wholesale is included: company profiles with multiple locations and buyer permissions, catalogs with per-company price lists and volume pricing, quantity rules and minimums, net payment terms with invoicing, a B2B-aware checkout, draft orders and a customer-facing account area. B2B and DTC can run on one store (blended) or on separate expansion stores, which Plus includes. There is no per-feature charge and no app to buy for the core flow.

Hidden costs

  • Implementation. Catalog structure, price lists, theme templates for company accounts and a wholesale ordering experience are project work, not settings. Budget for it the way you would for any store build.
  • Integration. Most brands that need native B2B also need an ERP or accounting sync — NetSuite, Dynamics, Xero — for invoices and net terms. That is the largest line after the platform fee; our Shopify B2B and wholesale development service exists mostly for it.
  • Contract length. The lower monthly figure assumes a three-year commitment. Price the exit as well as the entry.

Option 2: wholesale apps on a standard plan

What it costs

The plan itself is Basic at $39, Grow at $105 or Advanced at $399 per month, plus a wholesale app. Apps in this category — B2B Wholesale Club, SparkLayer and Wholesale Gorilla are the names that come up most — charge a monthly subscription published on their App Store listings, usually tiered by features and number of wholesale customers. The total is a small fraction of Plus.

What that buys

Customer-tag pricing (wholesale customers see wholesale prices), minimum quantities, quick-order forms, wholesale registration and approval, and net terms handled through draft orders or invoices. For a brand with a few dozen stockists ordering monthly, that is often enough, and many of our clients run this way for a year or two before Plus becomes the sensible move.

Where it stops

  • Pricing is implemented through discounts and tags rather than true price lists, so complex per-company catalogues get fragile.
  • Checkout cannot be customized without Plus, so B2B-specific checkout flows (purchase order numbers, terms selection) are approximations.
  • One storefront serves both audiences, so retail shoppers and buyers see the same theme, and hiding wholesale products takes care.
  • Each app is a dependency: pricing logic lives in the app, and switching later means re-doing it.

Option 3: a separate wholesale store

What it costs

A second Shopify plan (the same $39 to $399 per month tiers), a second copy of the theme, second subscriptions for every app the wholesale store needs, and an inventory or product sync app if both stores sell from the same stock. Without Plus, there is no built-in multi-store management, so two admins and two sets of settings are the real cost.

Why brands still choose it

Isolation. A wholesale store can have its own catalogue, its own pricing without discount gymnastics, its own theme built for bulk ordering, a password page, and none of the retail marketing. When the wholesale business is a different business — different products, packs, brand — a separate store is cleaner than any amount of tagging on the retail site.

Where it hurts

Two of everything: product edits, inventory reconciliation, app updates, reporting. Sync apps reduce the manual work but add another subscription and another place things can drift. Above a certain size this is exactly the problem Plus expansion stores solve, and the two-store setup becomes the argument for upgrading.

Break-even: when Plus pays for itself

Put the yearly numbers side by side. Advanced plus a wholesale app is a few thousand dollars a year (Advanced alone is $4,788 at $399 per month). Plus is about $27,600 a year on the three-year term before any revenue-based fee. The difference — roughly $20,000 or more — has to be covered by one of three things:

  1. Revenue you already have. If combined DTC and B2B sales are high enough that the revenue-based Plus model would apply anyway, the platform fee is not really a B2B decision; you are paying it for scale, and native B2B comes with it.
  2. Labour you stop paying for. Net terms, invoicing, per-company pricing and reorders handled by Shopify instead of by a person on email and spreadsheets. Count the hours honestly; for a brand with hundreds of accounts this alone can cover the gap.
  3. Orders you stop losing. Buyers who want a self-serve portal with their prices, their terms and their order history and who take their volume to a supplier that has one.

If none of the three gets close to the difference, stay on a standard plan with an app and revisit in a year. If two of them do, Plus is cheaper than it looks.

Two worked examples

Forty stockists, monthly reorders, one price list. A retail brand with forty shops that reorder once a month at a single trade discount. On Advanced with a wholesale app the yearly platform cost is $4,788 plus the app subscription; the setup is tags, one discount tier and a quick-order form; net terms are handled with draft orders and invoices from the accounting tool the brand already uses. Moving this to Plus would add roughly $20,000 a year and buy features — per-company catalogs, quantity rules, B2B checkout — that forty identical accounts do not use. The right answer is the app, with a review when the account list or pricing complexity grows.

Four hundred accounts, three price tiers, net 30, ERP. A manufacturer with hundreds of trade customers, tiered pricing by customer type, credit terms, and an ERP that issues invoices. The app route means pricing through discount rules that get fragile at three tiers, terms handled outside Shopify, and an integration written against the app rather than the platform. Native B2B on Plus puts price lists, terms and company data where the ERP can sync them, and the labour saved on order entry and invoicing is counted in hours per week. Here the platform fee is the smaller number; the integration is the budget line to protect.

Costs that are the same in every option

  • Data. Existing accounts, contacts, price agreements and open orders have to be structured and imported whichever route you choose. Clean data is the cheapest B2B project cost and the most often skipped.
  • Catalogue structure. Trade packs, case quantities, SKUs that differ from retail units, and product visibility rules must be designed once, on paper, before any setting is touched.
  • Shipping and tax for trade. Freight rules, pallet rates, tax exemption handling and invoice requirements differ from retail on every platform and every option.
  • Buyer onboarding. Registration, approval, first-order support and a short guide for buyers. A portal nobody was shown is a portal nobody uses.

Decision matrix

  • Testing wholesale, under a few dozen accounts, simple pricing: standard plan plus a wholesale app.
  • Wholesale is a different business with its own range and brand: separate store, and plan for Plus expansion stores if both sides grow.
  • Hundreds of accounts, per-company pricing, net terms, ERP in the picture: native B2B on Plus, and price the integration in the same budget.
  • Already on or near Plus for DTC reasons: native B2B, no question; the feature is included.

What we quote most often

Most of the B2B builds we scope fall into two shapes. The first is a Plus brand adding company accounts, price lists and an ERP sync to a store that already exists — the cost is the integration and the templates, not the platform. The second is a retail brand with a growing stockist list moving from spreadsheets to a wholesale app on Advanced, with the explicit plan to move to Plus at a revenue or account-count trigger we agree in advance. Both are sound; what costs money is choosing the wrong one for the volume you have. If you want the numbers run for your store, send us your order volumes and we will price all three options side by side.


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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Do you need Shopify Plus for B2B?

Not to sell wholesale at all — tag-based pricing, order forms and net terms via draft orders work on standard plans with an app. You need Shopify Plus for Shopify’s native B2B features: company accounts and locations, catalogs with price lists, quantity rules, net payment terms with invoicing, B2B checkout and expansion stores. The question is whether the volume and complexity justify the platform fee.

How much does Shopify B2B cost per month?

On Shopify Plus, native B2B is included in the platform fee, which has historically started at about $2,300 per month on a three-year term or about $2,500 month-to-month, with a revenue-based model above a certain sales level. On a standard plan you pay $39, $105 or $399 per month plus a wholesale app subscription set by the app vendor. Implementation and ERP integration are extra in both cases.

Can I run wholesale on Shopify Basic?

Yes, with a wholesale app: wholesale customers are tagged, see wholesale prices, order through a quick-order form and pay on terms through draft orders or invoices. It works for a modest number of accounts and simple pricing. The limits are complex per-company catalogues, checkout customization (Plus only) and the fact that one storefront serves both retail and trade buyers.

Is a separate wholesale store cheaper than Shopify Plus?

In subscription terms, usually yes: a second standard plan plus duplicated apps costs far less than Plus. In labour terms it is often not: two admins, two catalogues, inventory sync and double app maintenance add up. A separate store makes sense when wholesale is genuinely a different business; when it is the same products at trade prices, Plus expansion stores or a blended Plus store are cleaner.

What costs are hidden in a Shopify B2B launch?

Implementation of catalogs, price lists and account templates; ERP or accounting integration for invoices and net terms; theme work for a bulk-ordering experience; data migration of existing accounts and price agreements; and, on a three-year Plus term, the commitment itself. On app-based setups the hidden cost is the rebuild when you later move pricing logic out of the app.