The short answer
Shopify is the cheaper way to start. Its Basic plan is listed at 27 US dollars a month and you can be selling within days. Its weak point in Kenya is payment: M-Pesa is not one of Shopify's built-in gateways, so you add it through another provider, and on the Basic plan Shopify takes 2% of every sale paid that way, on top of that provider's own fee. A custom store costs more up front, from Sh 165,000 at Anza Studios, and has M-Pesa checkout built in with no platform fee on each sale.
Shopify and a custom store side by side
| Shopify, Basic plan | Custom store by Anza Studios | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to start | A 3-day free trial, then the monthly plan 1 | From Sh 165,000, fixed in your quote |
| Cost each month | 27 US dollars billed monthly, or 19 billed yearly 1 | Optional care plan from Sh 12,500 a month, hosting included |
| M-Pesa | Not built in. Added through a third-party payment provider 2 | Built in. The customer gets a payment prompt on their phone and enters their PIN |
| Platform fee on each sale | 2% on sales taken through a third-party provider, plus that provider's fee 1 | None |
| Time to launch | Days, if you set it up yourself | 3 weeks |
| Who owns it | You rent the store from Shopify | You own the site, the code and the domain |
Safaricom's own merchant charge applies either way. On a Buy Goods Till it is free up to Sh 500, then 0.55% of the sale, capped at Sh 200 3.
What Shopify's 2% costs a Kenyan store
Shopify waives its transaction fee only when you use its own payment service. A staff reply on Shopify's community forum says M-Pesa is not one of its supported gateways 2, and store owners there report taking M-Pesa through providers such as Paystack, DPO and Flutterwave instead. Every sale paid that way carries Shopify's third-party fee: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced 1.
- On sales of Sh 100,000 a month, 2% is Sh 2,000.
- On sales of Sh 300,000 a month, 2% is Sh 6,000.
- On sales of Sh 1,000,000 a month, 2% is Sh 20,000.
That is before the payment provider's own fee and before the monthly plan. The more you sell, the more the rented store costs.
When Shopify is the right choice
- You are testing whether a product sells and do not want to spend much yet.
- Most of your customers pay by card, or are outside Kenya.
- You are happy to set the store up and run it yourself.
When a custom store is the right choice
- Most of your customers pay by M-Pesa, and you want the simplest checkout for them.
- You already sell steadily, so a fee on every sale adds up.
- You want to own the store outright, with no monthly rent to a platform.
- You want someone else to build it and be answerable for it.
What our store package includes is set out under online stores in Kenya, and the build cost is compared in what an online store costs in Kenya.
Sources
- Shopify, pricing page, as shown on 11 October 2026. shopify.com
- Shopify Community, staff reply of 24 April 2024 and merchant reply of 4 December 2024. community.shopify.com
- The Standard, "Safaricom halves M-Pesa merchant fees in CBK-led move", 2 August 2026. standardmedia.co.ke
Shopify's prices are in US dollars and can differ by country and over time, so check its site before you decide. Anza Studios prices are our current starting prices.