Shopify Plus vs. Shopify Markets: What’s the Difference, and Which Do You Need?

If you’ve been researching how to grow your Shopify store internationally or scale up your infrastructure, you’ve probably come across two terms that seem similar — but aren’t: Shopify Plus and Shopify Markets.

This is where things get confusing.

Some people think you have to choose between them. Others assume one replaces the other. In reality, Shopify Plus and Shopify Markets solve very different problems, and in many cases, they’re used together.

In this guide, you’ll get a clear breakdown of what each one does, how they work (and don’t work) together, and when your business actually needs one, both, or neither.

Before we dive in, here are 5 things you’ll walk away knowing:

1. Shopify Plus is a premium plan upgrade, not a localization tool — it unlocks features that help you scale.
2. Shopify Markets is a localization system, built into all Shopify plans — it helps you sell globally from a single store.
3. You can use Shopify Markets with or without Shopify Plus.
4. Shopify Plus includes features (like expansion stores and custom checkout) that make Markets even more powerful.
5. Shopify Markets helps you expand internationally — Shopify Plus helps you manage complexity once you do.

Let’s start by defining exactly what Shopify Plus and Shopify Markets are — in plain terms.

Bonus: Explore Choosing Between Shopify and Shopify Plus!

1. What Is Shopify Plus? What Is Shopify Markets?

Before comparing them, you need to understand one thing: Shopify Plus and Shopify Markets are not different versions of the same product — they’re completely separate parts of the Shopify ecosystem.

Let’s define each one clearly.

What is Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus is Shopify’s enterprise plan, designed for fast-scaling, high-volume businesses. It’s not a feature — it’s a paid upgrade that unlocks access to advanced tools, customizations, and infrastructure.

With Shopify Plus, you get:

• Custom checkout via Checkout Extensibility or Shopify Functions
• Unlimited staff accounts
• Up to 10 storefronts (via expansion stores)
• Dedicated wholesale/B2B functionality
• Advanced automation tools like Shopify Flow and Launchpad
• Priority API access, increased limits, and support

It starts at $2,300/month and usually requires a 3-year commitment. It’s built for brands doing serious volume or managing complex operations across multiple teams or regions.

What is Shopify Markets?

Shopify Markets is a set of built-in features (available on all plans) that helps you sell internationally from one Shopify store.

It lets you:

• Show your site in multiple languages
• Display prices in local currencies (with auto or manual conversion)
• Set up custom pricing, products, and tax logic per country
• Assign local payment methods by region
• Configure localized domains or subfolders (e.g., yourstore.com/fr)
• Add duties and taxes at checkout (with or without Markets Pro)

It’s free to enable — though international orders may incur 1.5%–2% currency conversion fees and small duty/tax processing fees if collected at checkout.

🔍 The Key Difference:

• Shopify Plus gives you more control over your store’s infrastructure, team access, and checkout experience.
• Shopify Markets gives you more control over how you localize your store for international customers.

They are not mutually exclusive — and they’re not competing options. Many brands use both as part of their international growth stack.

Bonus: Explore the difference between Shopify Markets and Expansion Stores!

2. Core Differences in What They Actually Do

At a glance, Shopify Plus and Shopify Markets can seem like two ways to expand your store. But once you break it down, they serve very different purposes — and solve very different problems.

Let’s look at the actual feature-level differences.

The Core Idea

• Shopify Plus gives you control, scale, and customization — features built for fast-growing brands that need more backend flexibility and team-wide infrastructure.
• Shopify Markets gives you localization tools to sell globally from a single store — without needing separate setups for each region.

These aren’t interchangeable. In fact, many brands start with Markets and later adopt Plus to manage that growth more efficiently.

Markets doesn’t change your Shopify plan — it’s available on all of them, including Plus.

👉 Example scenario: You run a U.S.-based apparel brand and want to sell in Canada, the UK, and Australia. Shopify Markets lets you localize pricing and payment methods without needing separate stores. But once you reach $2M+ in revenue and need custom checkout flows, B2B ordering, and regional storefronts — that’s when Shopify Plus becomes essential.

Bonus: Learn more about Shopify Fulfillment Network: Costs, Features, and Alternatives!

3. How They Work Together (Not Against Each Other)

One of the most common misunderstandings is thinking you have to choose between Shopify Plus and Shopify Markets.

In reality, these two aren’t competing tools — they’re designed to work together.

🔄 Shopify Markets Comes With All Shopify Plans — Including Plus

When you upgrade to Shopify Plus, you don’t lose access to Shopify Markets. You actually gain more flexibility in how you use it.

Markets remains your tool for:

• Language and currency localization
• Assigning products and pricing by region
• Setting up international SEO with subfolders or country domains
• Displaying local payment methods
• Charging duties and taxes at checkout

Shopify Plus simply gives you more ways to structure, automate, and customize those localized experiences.

✅ What Shopify Plus Adds to Shopify Markets

Here’s what you unlock on top of Shopify Markets once you’re on Plus:

Expansion Stores Create fully separate storefronts when subfolders aren’t enough — ideal for regions with different legal, tax, or content needs.

Custom Checkout by Region Modify your checkout experience for specific countries (e.g., payment logic, messaging, upsells).

Automated International Workflows Use Shopify Flow to automate tasks like tagging orders, triggering emails, or assigning regions to staff.

Separate Domains for SEO Strategy With expansion stores, you can use country-specific domains (e.g., yourbrand.co.uk) instead of just subfolders (yourbrand.com/uk).

Stronger Infrastructure for Global Traffic If you’re running international campaigns, Plus ensures your site can handle high-volume spikes (e.g., Black Friday in multiple regions).

🧠 The Mindset Shift

Think of it this way:

• Shopify Markets is your international storefront toolkit.
• Shopify Plus is your infrastructure upgrade that helps that toolkit scale.

You don’t “pick” one over the other. You start with Markets, and when you hit operational ceilings — checkout, staff, B2B needs, integrations — Plus gives you the tools to go further.

Bonus: Discover “ Top Shopify Alternatives: Compare Pricing & Features”

4. When Do You Actually Need Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus isn’t for everyone — and Shopify doesn’t pretend it is. But when your store reaches a certain level of scale, complexity, or team size, the limitations of standard plans start to show.

This section is about clarity: not hype, not assumptions — just real signs that it’s time to consider upgrading.

✅ You probably need Shopify Plus if…

Your team has outgrown the standard staff limits. If you need more than 15 staff accounts, or different permissions per regional manager, Plus gives you unlimited users and more role control.

You want full control over the checkout experience. With Plus, you can customize your checkout by region, add conditional logic, upsells, or integrate custom payment gateways — all things unavailable on lower plans.

You’re building separate storefronts for different markets. Shopify Plus includes 9 expansion stores, allowing you to create fully independent stores for regions like the EU, APAC, or the Middle East — while keeping everything under one contract.

You sell wholesale or B2B. Plus unlocks native B2B functionality like company profiles, price lists, payment terms, and self-serve portals — no need for workaround apps.

You need advanced automation and scheduling. Use Shopify Flow to automate operations, and Launchpad to schedule product drops, flash sales, and campaigns across stores.

You’re hitting technical ceilings. High API usage? Custom integrations? High-velocity flash sales? Plus removes many of the rate limits that block larger teams and stores.

💡 Typical upgrade triggers:

If any of these sound like your situation, Shopify Plus is likely the right move:

• $1.5M–$2M+ in annual revenue
• International team structure with multiple managers
• Aggressive B2B growth or wholesale rollout
• Frustration with current checkout limitations
• Need for tightly controlled regional branding or compliance

👉 Reminder: Shopify Plus doesn’t replace Shopify Markets — it extends it. You can still use Markets to manage localization, even as you scale into a multi-store architecture.

5. When Shopify Markets Alone Is Enough

Not every store needs Shopify Plus — especially if you’re still in the early or mid stages of international growth. In fact, for many brands, Shopify Markets on a standard plan is the smartest, most cost-effective way to expand globally without overcomplicating things.

Here’s how to know if you’re in that group.

✅ Shopify Markets may be all you need if…

You only want to run one storefront. You’re not managing totally separate teams, catalogs, or strategies per region — you just want to translate your store, set local prices, and support international shipping.

You’re not customizing the checkout (yet). You’re okay with Shopify’s standard checkout experience and don’t need advanced logic like B2B pricing, conditional flows, or multi-region checkout modifications.

Your team is small and centralized. You don’t need unlimited staff accounts or store-level permissions. One admin panel is easier to manage — and helps keep everyone aligned.

Your product offering is mostly shared across regions. You’re not selling entirely different products in Europe vs. Asia — maybe you adjust pricing or hide a few items per market, but the catalog is 80–90% consistent.

You’re early in your international testing. You’re trying to validate interest in Canada, Australia, or the UK — and don’t want to commit to a full expansion store setup before you see results.

💡 Example:

You’re a U.S.-based skincare brand doing $750K/year and starting to sell into the UK and EU. You translate your site using Shopify’s Translate & Adapt app, localize pricing, and display the right duties and taxes at checkout — all with Shopify Markets. You don’t need separate stores or a custom checkout yet, so upgrading to Plus would be unnecessary (and expensive) for now.

👉 Bottom line: Shopify Markets gives you most of what you need to sell globally — and it scales surprisingly far. Don’t assume you need Plus just because you’re expanding internationally.

Bonus: Here our hand-picked list of Top 10 Shopify Plus Agencies for Ecommerce!

6. Shopify Plus Features That Strengthen Your Use of Markets

If you’re already using Shopify Markets to manage international selling, upgrading to Shopify Plus doesn’t replace that system — it supercharges it.

Markets handles localization. Plus handles scale, control, and customization — especially across multiple regions, teams, or workflows.

Here’s how the two work in tandem once you’re on Plus:

✅ Expansion Stores + Shopify Markets

With Shopify Plus, you can run up to 10 storefronts under one plan — perfect for markets that need completely different:

• Languages or currencies
• Tax rules or legal structures
• Product assortments or pricing strategies
• Regional marketing or brand tone

Each store can run Shopify Markets internally, giving you the best of both:

• Expansion Store = full separation where needed
• Shopify Markets = region-level control within each store

✅ Custom Checkout Per Region

Markets handles local pricing and payment methods — but only Plus lets you:

• Show different messaging per country at checkout
• Offer market-specific upsells or incentives
• Implement conditional logic (e.g., hide a shipping option for Australia)

This helps boost conversions and removes friction in key regions.

✅ Automation Across Markets

Shopify Plus gives you Shopify Flow, which automates tasks across stores and regions:

• Tag international orders by country
• Trigger follow-ups or reviews based on language
• Assign region-specific workflows for fulfillment or support

You also get Launchpad, which helps schedule global campaigns across time zones — without logging in manually at midnight.

✅ Multi-Store SEO and Domain Strategy

Shopify Markets on standard plans uses subfolders (yourstore.com/uk). With Plus, you can:

• Assign separate domains to each expansion store (yourbrand.co.uk, yourbrand.jp)
• Build stronger local SEO profiles by region
• Avoid overlap or duplicate content across markets

👉 Markets gets you in the game. Plus gives you the tools to win at scale.

7. Final Comparison: Which One Solves Which Problem?

By now, it’s clear: Shopify Plus and Shopify Markets serve different roles. One isn’t better than the other — they just solve different problems at different stages of growth.

Here’s a final side-by-side comparison to help you quickly identify which tool addresses which need:

Shopify Plus vs. Shopify Markets: FAQ

Here are the most common questions people ask when comparing Shopify Plus and Shopify Markets.

Do I need Shopify Plus to use Shopify Markets?

No — Shopify Markets is available on all Shopify plans, including Basic, Shopify, and Advanced. You don’t need Shopify Plus to use it.

However, Plus gives you access to additional tools that enhance how you use Markets, such as expansion stores and custom checkout features.

Can I use Shopify Plus and Shopify Markets at the same time?

Yes. In fact, that’s how many high-growth brands operate. Shopify Markets handles localization within each store, while Shopify Plus allows you to run multiple stores, customize checkouts, and manage international teams more effectively.

Is Shopify Markets free?

Yes, but there are some additional costs to consider:

• Currency conversion fees (typically 1.5%–2% on foreign orders)
• Duty/tax calculation fees (if collected at checkout) There’s no added base fee to enable Shopify Markets.

Can Shopify Markets handle multiple languages and currencies?

Yes. You can show your store in different languages and currencies depending on the visitor’s location. Translation must be added manually or through apps, but the infrastructure supports it out of the box.

When should I upgrade to Shopify Plus?

Consider upgrading if:

• You need more than 15 staff accounts
• You want full control over checkout
• You plan to run separate stores per region