Shop Pay Review 2026: What It Is and How It Works
Shop Pay is a valuable tool for Shopify businesses. It helps streamline customers’ checkout process, which may result in more sales.
The bottom line:
If you have a Shopify storefront, implementing Shop Pay is typically a no-brainer. It lets shoppers save their payment info, which can minimize cart abandonment and make checkout easier. That said, don't subscribe to Shopify just for Shop Pay. Shopify subscriptions can be expensive. Its middle-tier plan, for example, is $105 per month. We also don’t recommend it for subscription-based businesses.
Software details
Payment processing fees
In-person: 2.6% + $0.10
Online: 2.9% + $0.30
Monthly fee
$39
and up for Shopify’s e-commerce plans.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Included if you use Shopify Payments as your processor.
Accelerated checkout may help decrease cart abandonment rates.
Shop Pay Installments lets you offer buy now, pay later options.
Cons
Limited to business owners already using Shopify’s POS system.
Shopify costs can quickly add up.
Compare to other products 
Shop Pay
4.1
NerdWallet rating
Payment processing fees
In-person: 2.6% + $0.10
Online: 2.9% + $0.30
Payment processing fees
In-person: 2.29% + $0.09
Online: 2.99% + $0.49
Payment processing fees
In-person: 2.6% + $0.15
Online: 3.3% + $0.30
Payment processing fees
In-person: 2.7% + $0.05
Online: 2.9% + $0.30
Need more options? Check our picks for best payment processing systems
PayPal: Best accelerated checkout alternatives. Similar to Shopify, PayPal has its own built-in accelerated checkout option. Fastlane by PayPal lets customers save their checkout information for quick purchases. PayPal also has less expensive in-person processing rates. This is a plus for businesses that sell online and in-person. Read our full PayPal Business review.
Square: Better for brick-and-mortar businesses. Square has a large selection of POS hardware for businesses with physical storefronts. And you'll find specific features for brick-and-mortar retailers, service-based businesses and restaurants alike. Shopify sells hardware, but its main focus is online sales. Read our full Square POS review.
Stripe: Better for checkout customization. Stripe is ideal for businesses that want more control over their checkout process. You can use it to integrate a pre-built checkout module into your existing website. Or, if you have developer experience, you can use its open API to create your own payment flow. Read our full Stripe review.
» MORE: Stripe vs. Shopify
Are you a shopper who came across Shop Pay during checkout?
While NerdWallet doesn’t have a specific article dedicated to how customers use Shop Pay, we do have resources on buy now, pay later options (which Shop Pay offers).
Full review
Shop Pay is an accelerated checkout service within Shopify. Customers use it to store credit card, email, shipping and billing information. Then, Shopify automatically fills out their checkout fields. This makes purchases almost instantaneous.
Shop Pay also lets you sell directly from your business’s Instagram and Facebook pages. That means customers don’t have to leave social media to complete their purchases.
Images courtesy of Shopify.
If you already use Shopify to process payments, you can activate Shop Pay from your admin page. Since it doesn’t cost extra to use, there’s little to lose. You just pay Shopify’s standard processing fees (listed in the table below).
But what if you don’t already use Shopify? Shop Pay alone isn’t a reason to subscribe to the e-commerce platform. That said, if you’re in the market for a payment processor, Shopify is a strong pick for online retailers. It offers hundreds of website templates, shipping discounts and automated marketing tools, among other features. (Read our full Shopify review.)
Shop Pay is best for:
✔️ Online businesses using Shopify.
✔️ Reducing cart abandonment.
✔️ Streamlining the checkout process.
Shopify
Shopify POS
NerdWallet Rating
5.0
Monthly Fee
$39
and up for e-commerce plans; Can upgrade to POS Pro for an extra $89.
Learn more on Shopify's website
Is Shop Pay safe?
The short answer is yes. Shopify follows standard security protocols. It encrypts customer payment details and stores them on PCI-compliant servers. The data is only available to stores when an order is placed. NerdWallet’s PCI compliance explainer provides more details on these security standards.
Shop Pay overview
| Payment processing model | Flat rate. |
| Payment processing fees | Shop Pay is included as part of Shopify Payments, which charges the following rates for upfront payments:
If you use Shop Pay to offer buy now, pay later options, rates typically range between 5% and 6% of the purchase price. |
| Monthly fee | You must have a Shopify POS plan to enable Shop Pay. Here’s Shopify’s POS plan pricing: Shopify e-commerce plans:
Shopify’s alternative solutions for mainly selling in-person:
|
| Contract length | No contract required. Plans are paid month to month unless you sign up for an annual, two-year or three-year plan. |
| Customer support | 24/7 chat support in all plans, plus phone support for Plus plan subscribers. |
» MORE: Shopify pricing and plans
Where Shop Pay stands out
Speeds up customers’ checkout process
When customers shop online, they face all sorts of distractions. They might, for instance, pop over to the next tab in their browser and leave your store’s page. Before you know it, they’re shopping with another retailer or responding to emails. The quicker customers can add items to their carts and pay, the better for your business.
Shop Pay speeds up the checkout process by automatically filling out customers’ information. This plays a big role in helping to reduce cart abandonment. Plus, it gives customers near instant gratification.
Has buy now, pay later options
Shop Pay Installments by Affirm lets customers spread out the cost of their purchase over multiple weeks or months.
Generally, your business pays around 6% for each transaction. But merchant rates can vary from business to business.
To qualify, your business must be located in the U.S. and sell in USD. And customers’ purchases must be at least $35 to $50, depending on which version of Shop Pay you’re using.
Merchants who qualify for the Standard version of Shop Pay can typically offer the following customer payment options for $50 to $1,000 purchases:
- Two or four interest-free payments every two weeks.
- Monthly installments for up to 12 months.
Merchants who qualify for the Premium version of Shop Pay can offer the following customer payment options for $35 to $30,000 purchases:
- Two or four interest-free payments every two weeks.
- Interest-free monthly installments for up to 12 months.
- Monthly installments for up to 24 months.
For customers, the annual percentage rate (APR) on these installments ranges from 0% to 36% of the purchase price.
Where Shop Pay falls short
Shopify costs can add up
Shopify’s e-commerce plans range from $39 to $399 per month (or $29 to $299 if you pay annually). And if you’d like access to inventory and staff management tools, you’ll need to pay an extra $89 per month for the POS Pro add-on.
Plus, Shopify doesn’t have any free plan options. This makes it more of a commitment than competitors, like Square or PayPal, with free POS software.
That said, Shopify offers more website building tools than the competition. Businesses that sell primarily online — and don’t want to bother with coding — will get the most value out of them.
What small-business owners say about Shop Pay
NerdWallet checked online forums like Reddit and reviews from sites like TrustPilot and G2 to gauge how users feel about Shop Pay. We used an AI tool to help analyze this feedback. Here are the major trends we spotted.
👍 Increased conversion
Online commenters say adding Shop Pay bumped up conversion rates. It didn’t necessarily boost them up to 50%, like Shopify advertises. But more sales is still a plus.
Sellers also notice lots of customers choose to use Shop Pay as a payment method. This suggests that it does indeed make the checkout process simpler for them.
👎 Can’t actually “set it and forget it”
Some Reddit users say they’ve experienced issues when customers delete their Shop Pay accounts or try to remove their credit card data. This is especially problematic for subscription-based businesses that deal with recurring payments.
Other commenters say Shop Pay makes it difficult for customers to switch payment methods or update expired credit card info.
This can lead to lots of customer support headaches. And unfortunately, Shopify doesn’t offer phone support unless you subscribe to its $399-per-month Plus plan.
How we evaluated Shop Pay
NerdWallet’s writers and editors independently review payment processing companies, like Shopify (and its Shop Pay service), by analyzing more than 30 data points. We collected data from Shopify’s public-facing website, help articles and company representatives.
Our evaluations also take user sentiment into account. This involves looking through individual reviews and feedback on sites like Trustpilot, the App Store, Google Play and Reddit. Then, we use AI tools to help spot larger trends within those comments. Since we cannot verify each user’s individual experience, we don’t incorporate user reviews in our star ratings. For more information on how we score payment processing companies, see our full methodology.