Shopify developers build and maintain online stores for merchants, working as freelancers, small agencies, or contractors for larger agencies. Invoices usually cover theme customization, custom Liquid development, app integrations, store migrations, and ongoing support hours. Many also bill for custom app development, checkout customization, and performance or SEO fixes.
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Most Shopify developers price in one of three ways. Hourly billing is common for small fixes, support, and work with unclear scope, and is often tracked in 15-minute or 30-minute increments. Fixed-fee project pricing is typical for store builds, theme customizations, and migrations, usually split into milestones such as 50% upfront, a middle payment at design or staging approval, and the balance at launch. Monthly retainers cover a set number of support hours, theme updates, and small improvements, with unused hours either expiring or rolling over for a limited time. Work that needs paid third-party apps, premium themes, or stock assets should list those as separate pass-through lines, ideally paid by the client directly through their own Shopify account. Rates tend to rise for Shopify Plus, custom apps using the Admin or Storefront APIs, and rush work. Rate cards are usually split between junior and senior or between design-adjacent and engineering tasks.
| Service | Priced | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| General Shopify development (theme edits, Liquid, small fixes) | per hour | $60-150 |
| Custom app or API integration development | per hour | $100-200 |
| Shopify Plus checkout and Functions work | per hour | $125-225 |
| Theme setup and customization for a small store | flat fee | $2,000-8,000 |
| Custom theme build from design files | flat fee | $8,000-30,000 |
| Store migration (WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce to Shopify) | flat fee | $2,500-15,000 |
| Monthly support retainer | per month | $500-3,000 |
| Speed and performance audit with fixes | flat fee | $750-3,500 |
Typical US ranges. Rates vary by region, experience, and job size.
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Theme customization: homepage sections, product page layout, mobile fixes (milestone 2 of 2) | 1 flat fee | $2,250.00 | $2,250.00 |
| Product and customer data migration from WooCommerce (CSV import, 600 products, redirects) | 1 flat fee | $1,400.00 | $1,400.00 |
| Custom Liquid development: size guide modal and metafield-driven product badges | 8 hours | $110.00 | $880.00 |
| Klaviyo and Shopify Flow setup: abandoned cart and back-in-stock triggers | 4 hours | $110.00 | $440.00 |
| QA testing across devices and checkout test orders | 3 hours | $90.00 | $270.00 |
| Total | $5,240.00 | ||
Notes: Payment due within 14 days of invoice date. This is the final milestone; the 50% deposit was paid on project start. Late balances are subject to a 1.5% monthly fee. Premium theme and app subscriptions are billed to the client's Shopify account and not included here. Thirty days of bug-fix support after launch is included.
Clients often manage several stores or domains, and this ties the invoice to the right project for their bookkeeper.
Fixed-fee projects are billed in stages, and naming the milestone shows why this payment is due now.
For hourly work, task-level detail prevents disputes about what the time covered, such as development versus QA versus meetings.
Pass-through costs are not your labor revenue, and clients need to see them split out for budgeting and tax records.
Ties the charge to the agreed deliverables and makes it easy to flag out-of-scope change requests.
Work added mid-project is the most disputed item, so a written approval reference protects you.
Agencies and larger merchants often cannot pay without a PO or reference code on the invoice.
Most Shopify developers take a 30% to 50% deposit before starting a fixed-fee project, with the rest tied to milestones such as design approval, staging review, and launch. Hourly and retainer work is usually invoiced monthly or every two weeks, with retainers billed in advance on the first of the month. Net 14 is common for small merchants and net 30 for agencies and larger companies, and many freelancers add a late fee of 1% to 2% per month. Payment is typically by ACH, credit card, or wire; card payments often carry a processing fee that some developers pass on. Final theme or code handoff and removal from staging is commonly held until the last invoice is paid.
Do not push a theme live or hand over admin credentials and repository access until the final milestone is paid. If the client holds the store, you can still keep control of unpublished theme code, custom app deployments, or private app credentials until payment clears.
Ask the client to add you as a staff or collaborator account and to pay for apps, themes, and domains directly. This keeps pass-through costs off your invoices, avoids you fronting money, and avoids any ownership confusion.
State a post-launch warranty period, often 14 to 30 days, covering defects in your work only. New features, edits to content, and issues caused by new apps or Shopify platform changes are billed at your hourly rate.
Quick fixes still cost you context switching. Use a minimum of 30 or 60 minutes per request, or bundle small items into a prepaid block of hours.
Logging hours against a flat fee shows you where projects run over, helps you price the next one, and gives you evidence when scope creep needs a change order.
Use a flat fee when scope is clear, such as a defined theme customization with a page list and feature list. Use hourly when requirements are fuzzy, the client keeps changing direction, or the work is troubleshooting. Many developers do a fixed fee for the core build and hourly for anything outside the written scope.
The cleanest approach is for the client to buy them under their own Shopify account. If you must purchase on their behalf, list the exact cost as a separate line and keep the receipt. Marking up app costs is possible but should be disclosed in your agreement.
Yes. Discovery, requirements gathering, store audits, and project calls are real work and are often billed as a separate paid phase before the build. Include them as their own line items rather than hiding them in the build price.
Set a fixed number of revision rounds in your scope, commonly two for design review and one for staging QA. Additional rounds are billed hourly. Put this in writing before you start.
It depends on the state. Some states tax custom software or digital services, and others do not tax professional services at all. Check your state's rules or ask an accountant, and show any tax charged on a separate line.
Send a Shopify Developer estimate for approval, then turn it into an invoice when the work is done.
Shopify Developer estimate template