If you are a merchant looking for a suitable e-commerce platform for your online business and do not know where to start, the best way to see whether it is for you is to try it.

Shopify offers a 3-day free trial for all new sign-ups and Shopify wishes all new sign-ups can make the best out of the free trial plan. 

This page tells you how Long Is a Shopify Free Trial and how to get an extension after the free trial ends as 3 days are really not long enough to fully experience Shopify’s various features.

Apart from that, you will also find information about paid plans on Shopify if you choose to start your business on Shopify.

How long is the Shopify free trial?

From October 2023 till now, Shopify offers a 3-day free trial, after which you can pay $1 per month for the subsequent three months. Before the latest offer, users had a free trial of 14 days and would have to pay $39 per month after the free trial. 

Shopify used to offer much longer free trial periods

In the past, Shopify provided longer trial periods. Back in 2019, new customers enjoyed a 30-day trial period after they registered a new account on Shopify.

For marketing purposes, Shopify even generously provided a 60-day trial period for a selected group of merchants to increase the popularity of the platform.

The extended trial duration could be shared with their customers as an exclusive deal.

During the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, many physical stores were struggling to make sales and even survive.

Therefore, Shopify responded by extending its free trial to 90 days, supporting struggling businesses around the world to move their businesses online. 

How to get a Shopify free trial extension?

As we have mentioned above, the standard Shopify free trial period lasts for 3 days commencing the day you sign up for it.

Many people would argue that 3 days are too short and that they do not have time to really get to know how Shopify works.

Since there are tons of features and various apps available on Shopify, it is understandable that some merchants would complain that the Shopify 3-day free trial is not long enough to convince them to subscribe to it. 

If you wish to extend your Shopify free trial period, the best chance is the talk to Shopify’s 24/7 support team and apply for a Shopify free trial extension.

You can ask them politely if they can grant you another free trial or extend the existing one. Remember that they can only extend your Shopify free trial period once if they would.

The good news is that the support team can extend your trial for a maximum of 14 days, which might not be available in the future again.

As a matter of fact, Shopify used to offer free trials with longer periods, for example, 14 days, 30 days, 60 days and even 90 days.

We should understand that Shopify promoted their free trials for different reasons. In the beginning, Shopify wishes to reach out to as many merchants as possible by giving out long-term free trials to attract new customers.

And during the Covid-19 pandemic, they helped merchants around the world turn their businesses online, which is a smart marketing move. 

Available plans for the Shopify free trial

The Shopify free trial allows you to experience different plans, including Basic, Shopify, Advanced and Plus. The subscription fees depend on the plan you choose, ranging from $33 to $2,300. 

Basic Plan

The basic plan is designed to work for solo entrepreneurs, charging $33 per month.

With this plan, you can have up to 10 inventory locations and three localised selling markets.

Additionally, the Shopify POS lite version is at your disposal for both online and in-person sales. Moreover, the 24/7 customer service team is available to you.

Shopify Plan

The Shopify Plan targets small teams that have a sizable business and seek more advanced functionalities.

This Shopify Plan will cost you $92 per month, which is almost triple the basic plan.

With the Shopify Plan, you will have 5 additional staff accounts for your online business, which is not necessarily for solo entrepreneurs. 

Advanced Plan

The advanced plan targets businesses that seek scalability, charging you $399 per month.

With this price, you can unlock the custom reporting and analysis functionality. Another 10 staff accounts will be given to your store.

What’s more, you can add global selling markets for $59 per month.

Plus Plan

The plus plan is for complex businesses as it costs $2,300 per month on a 3-year term.

You have all the features mentioned above and you can have up to 200 inventory locations, 50 selling markets and 200 Shopify POS Pro locations.

Apart from those, you can even start your wholesale business on Shopify.

How to make the most of the Shopify free trial?

If you are interested in using the Shopify free trial, please seize the opportunity to enjoy and explore the Shopify free trial benefits.

There are many different aspects that you need to think about, including functionality, compatibility, flexibility and last but not least the price.

That’s why you need to make the best use of the free trial period.

Set up your store

As known to many merchants, Shopify provides a wide range of themes for your online store, you can select the free themes to customize your store or pay for premium themes.

Moreover, you can start adding your products to the website and creating collections for your products in the Shopify admin dashboard.

You are highly encouraged to go through all the tabs in the settings to see what you can change and get familiar with the settings.

You should also configure taxes, sales channels and shipping.

Explore the apps and tools on Shopify

During the free trial period, you can access almost all the Shopify free trial features on the website.

You can explore the integrated tools and built-in features to customize your online store.

There is a wide range of apps that you can find helpful in many aspects of your operation in the Shopify app store. Some Apps and tools developed by third parties are compatible with Shopify.

Therefore, if you are already selling products on other platforms and wish to use the third-party tools that you have been using for a long time, don’t forget to check if they work on Shopify.

These apps and tools almost cover all aspects of your online business, including inventory management, parcel tracking, order management, customer relationship management, payment methods, checkout process and so on.

Check out the payments and other managing tools

You should definitely configure your Shopify payments. If you are used to or prefer a third-party payment provider, which is very common, you should check if your payment provider is supported by Shopify. 

You can easily start managing your online business even during the free trial period.

Basic features that you need to pay for after the trial are also available to you, including setting up payment methods, and gateways, managing orders, inventory and customer information, promoting your store with marketing tools and so on.

Charges incurred during the free trial

As the name suggests, the Shopify free trial is free of charge. During the Shopify free trial, you can enjoy all the functions included in any paid plans.

You can change the settings, customise your storefront, add products and collections, explore the built-in apps and tools, look for third-party apps in the app store and so on.

The most important thing is that you will not have to a single penny for doing so. 

Due to the fact that you can not make any sales during the free trial period, you will not be charged for shipping label fees, domain fees, theme fees, Shopify tax, Shopify email fees, taxes according to the local law and third-party transaction fees.

However, do not be surprised if you end up with a bill in your next invoice, because those could be the app-related charges.

Some merchants are determined to use Shopify as their platform, they would use the free trial period to completely set up their stores, not only including the procedures mentioned above but also subscribing to some apps for their service.

If you subscribe to apps in the app store, you will have to pay the subscription fees for them, and the bill will be shown in your next invoice.

What happens when the Shopify trial ends?

When the Shopify free trial is approaching its end, you need to sit down and think about whether you should choose Shopify as your e-commerce platform or not.

There are several aspects that you should take into account before you draw a conclusion, including your business plan, the price of the plans and so on. 

If you do not want to use Shopify in the future, your Shopify account will be paused automatically.

By pausing your account, it means even if you do not choose any paid plan at the end of your free trial, Shopify will keep your store and data for up to 30 days.

Within 30 days, if you change your mind, you can always reactivate your store. Your settings will be saved during the 30 days after your free trial ends. 

However, if you do not reactivate your account in 30 days, Shopify will delete your account information, store settings and everything, which means a permanent closure.

Deactivating your account permanently does not mean you lose everything you put in; you are allowed to export your data within that 30-day window.

If you wish to continue using Shopify as your e-commerce platform, you should choose a plan based on the detailed introduction of each plan in the previous section.

If the size of your online business is not very big, it is recommended that you start with a cheaper plan, because you can always upgrade your plan.

You should upgrade your plan when you think the current plan does not satisfy your needs, which is the best way to avoid unnecessary expenses.

After choosing a paid plan, you can start selling your products on Shopify.

To make sure you provide a smooth shopping experience, you should do a test order and try to proceed with the payment before you start selling products to your real customers.

What’s Next?

We are very certain that you will be very excited about the Shopify free trial and wish to try it out now.

This page has included all the information you need about the Shopify free trial.

Choosing an e-commerce platform is the very beginning of your online business, you should be very careful and consider every aspect. 

According to a survey, Shopify is considered one of the most popular e-commerce platforms and is highly recommended.

You are also recommended to use Channelwill, an all-in-one e-commerce platform. Channelwill has developed many apps that are highly compatible with Shopify and facilitate your operation.