Free Shopify Profit Calculator

What net profit per order really means on Shopify

Net profit per order is the money left in your pocket after a single order has paid for itself. It is not gross margin, and it is not your Shopify payout. Gross margin only subtracts the cost of the product. Your Shopify payout only subtracts the payment fee. Net profit subtracts everything: the product, the packaging, the shipping label, the pick-and-pack time, the payment processing fee, a slice of your returns, the ad spend that won the order, and the per-order share of the subscriptions you pay every month to keep the store running.

The formula this calculator uses is straightforward once each piece is named:

• Net revenue is the selling price times units per order, minus any discount.
• Total cost is product cost plus shipping, fulfillment, payment processing, third-party gateway fee, a returns provision, marketing, and the per-order share of your plan and apps.
• Net profit is net revenue minus total cost.
• Net margin is net profit divided by net revenue.

Because the subscription costs (your Shopify plan and your apps) are monthly, the tool spreads them across your monthly order volume. Ship 400 orders a month on the $39 Basic plan and each order carries about 10 cents of plan cost. Ship 40 and each order carries about 98 cents. Volume changes the answer, which is why order volume is one of the inputs.

The full cost stack behind one Shopify order

Most thin calculators stop at revenue, cost of goods, and ads. The costs they skip are the ones that quietly turn a healthy-looking margin into a loss. Here is the full stack this tool models:

1. Product cost (COGS and packaging). What you pay to make or buy the unit, plus the box, mailer, tissue, and inserts.
2. Shipping. What you pay the carrier, net of any shipping the customer covered.
3. Fulfillment. Pick, pack, and handling, whether that is your own labour or a per-order 3PL fee.
4. Payment processing. The Shopify Payments card rate plus the fixed per-transaction fee.
5. Third-party gateway fee. Only if you use an external gateway instead of Shopify Payments. Shopify adds a transaction surcharge on top.
6. Returns provision. Your return rate times the cost of a return: the return shipping you eat plus the share of product cost you cannot recover.
7. Marketing. The acquisition cost per order, also called cost per acquisition or CPA.
8. Plan and apps. The monthly subscriptions, divided across your monthly orders.

Turn on the optional returns block and the tool computes the returns cost as your return rate times the sum of return shipping and the restocking loss (the percent of product cost written off on a returned item). A 5% return rate with $6 of return shipping and 20% restock loss on a $13.50 product adds about 44 cents to every order's cost, whether that order is returned or not, because you are provisioning across all of them.

Shopify plan and payment fees, explained

Shopify's current plan lineup is Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Plus. The mid plan was renamed to Grow, so if you have seen it called "Shopify" or "Standard" in an older guide, that is the same tier. Each plan pairs a monthly subscription with a Shopify Payments card rate. Higher plans cost more per month but charge a lower rate per sale.

These are Shopify's published US figures as of 2026 and are the editable defaults in the tool. If you are on annual billing, a legacy rate, a negotiated Plus contract, or outside the US, open the Advanced fees panel and override any value. The defaults are a convenience, not a quote, and non-US region presets are starting points you should confirm against Shopify's local pricing page.

One rule matters most: the third-party gateway fee applies only when Shopify Payments is off. When you use Shopify Payments, that surcharge is zero and the tool sets it to zero automatically. When you switch to an external gateway, Shopify adds its transaction fee on top of whatever the outside processor charges to run the card, so your real cost is the surcharge plus the gateway's own rate.

A worked example keeps it concrete. On a $50 online sale on Basic with Shopify Payments, processing is 2.9% of $50 plus $0.30, which is $1.45 + $0.30 = $1.75. Switch that same sale to a third-party gateway and Shopify adds 2.0% of $50, another $1.00, before the external processor's own fee.

When to upgrade your Shopify plan

Because a higher plan trades a bigger subscription for a smaller card rate, there is always a monthly order volume where the upgrade starts to pay for itself. Below that volume the cheaper plan wins; above it the pricier plan wins. This is the plan-crossover question, and it is the one most calculators ignore.

The tool computes it directly. It holds your product constant, works out each plan's contribution per order using that plan's card rate, and finds the volume where the extra subscription is covered by the lower fees. The math is the difference in monthly price divided by the difference in contribution per order. It then tells you, in plain language, roughly when Grow overtakes Basic and when Advanced overtakes Grow, and it highlights the cheapest plan at your current volume. If a plan never wins at your product's margin, the tool says so instead of showing a nonsense number.

Read the plan-crossover chart the same way: three lines for monthly profit against monthly order volume, with a marker at your current volume. Where the lines cross is where the recommended plan changes.

Break-even CPA and break-even ROAS

Ad platforms speak in CPA and ROAS, so the break-even block does too.

• Break-even CPA is the most you can pay to acquire one order and still break even. It is the order's contribution before any acquisition cost is applied. Spend less than this to win the order and you profit; spend more and you lose money on it.
• Break-even ROAS is your net revenue divided by the break-even CPA, shown as a multiple like 2.13x. Any real return on ad spend above the break-even figure is profitable at your current price and cost stack.
• Break-even price is the selling price at which net profit is exactly zero, solving for price while the revenue-based fees scale correctly. It is the floor you cannot discount below without losing money on the order.

These three numbers turn a static margin into an operating rulebook. If your break-even ROAS is 2.13x, you know at a glance that a campaign running at 3x is safe and one running at 1.8x is burning cash.

What is a good profit margin for a Shopify store?

The verdict badge uses a common rule of thumb: a net margin of 20% or more per order reads as healthy, 5% to 20% as thin, and below 5% or negative as a loss. Treat this as a starting point, not a law. Net margins vary widely by category, price point, and how heavily you lean on paid acquisition. A high-ticket, low-return-rate product can run comfortably at a lower percentage because the absolute dollars are large, while a cheap impulse item may need a fat margin to survive its shipping and processing costs. Use the badge to spot orders that need attention, then judge the actual dollars against your own targets.

Shopify fee calculator vs Shopify profit calculator

These two tools answer different questions, and it is worth being precise about which you need.

The Shopify fee calculator works out only Shopify's cut on a single sale: the payment processing fee, plus a third-party surcharge if you use an external gateway. Its output is your net payout, the money Shopify deposits.

The Shopify profit calculator on this page treats that fee as one input among many. It then subtracts your product cost, shipping, fulfillment, returns, ads, and subscriptions to show what is actually left as profit and margin. In short, the fee calculator tells you what Shopify keeps; the profit calculator tells you what you keep. Run the fee calculator when you only care about the payout on one sale, and run this profit calculator when you want the full picture per order and per month.

How to use this calculator

Enter your selling price and unit costs, add your per-order shipping, fulfillment, and ad cost, and set your monthly orders and app spend so the subscriptions get spread correctly. Pick your Shopify plan and region, and toggle Shopify Payments on or off to match how you take money. Turn on the returns block if returns are a real cost for you. The results update live: net profit per order, the full cost breakdown, the profit waterfall, break-even CPA, ROAS and price, the plan comparison, and your projected monthly profit.

Everything runs in your browser. Use the share button to copy a permalink that reopens with your exact inputs, copy a text summary for a spreadsheet or a supplier, or export the full breakdown as a CSV. Nothing is sent to a server, and there is no signup and no watermark. This is a planning tool, not accounting, tax, or GAAP advice, so confirm anything you file with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

How is net profit per order calculated on Shopify?

Start with the net revenue after any discount, then subtract every cost of that order: product cost (COGS plus packaging), shipping, fulfillment, payment processing, a returns provision, ad cost, and the per-order share of your Shopify plan and app subscriptions. What is left is net profit per order.

What is the difference between the Shopify fee calculator and this profit calculator?

The Shopify fee calculator works out only Shopify's cut on a single sale (the payment processing fee and any third-party surcharge). This profit calculator uses that fee as one input and then subtracts all your other costs to show the true net profit and margin left per order.

What are the Shopify payment processing fees in 2026?

With Shopify Payments in the US, the online card rate is 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic, 2.7% + $0.30 on Grow, and 2.5% + $0.30 on Advanced. If you use a third-party gateway instead, Shopify adds a transaction fee of 2.0% on Basic, 1.0% on Grow, and 0.6% on Advanced. Every rate in this tool is editable so you can match your exact plan.

How do I know when to upgrade my Shopify plan?

A higher plan costs more per month but charges a lower card rate, so it pays off once you do enough volume. This calculator shows the break-even order volume where Grow overtakes Basic and where Advanced overtakes Grow, and highlights the cheapest plan at your current monthly orders.

What is break-even CPA and break-even ROAS?

Break-even CPA is the most you can pay to acquire one order and still make zero profit. Break-even ROAS is your net revenue divided by that CPA, shown as a multiple. Any real ROAS above the break-even number means the order is profitable at your price and cost stack.

Is a 20% net margin good for a Shopify store?

A net margin of 20% or more per order is a common rule-of-thumb target for a healthy ecommerce store, but it is guidance, not a rule. Benchmarks vary widely by category, price point, and how much you spend on ads. Treat the verdict badge as a starting point.

Does the third-party fee always apply?

No. Shopify's third-party transaction fee applies only when you use an external payment gateway instead of Shopify Payments. When Shopify Payments is on, that surcharge is zero, and this tool turns it off automatically.

Is this Shopify profit calculator free and private?

Yes. It is 100% free with no signup, and it runs entirely in your browser. Calculating, sharing a permalink, and exporting a CSV never send your numbers to a server. It is a planning tool, not accounting, tax, or GAAP advice.