The Shopify Partner Program is Shopify’s open, performance-based program for agencies, consultancies and system integrators that offer services to merchants, and it pays partners through revenue share on the stores they launch, referral fees and affiliate commissions. Shopify describes it that way in its Partner Program FAQ, and says it paid $1.3 billion to partners in 2025 across apps, themes, store builds, referrals and more.
This guide is for small agencies, web agencies, ecommerce agencies and performance agencies that want to know what an agency earns and how. Every figure is in US dollars and comes from a Shopify page we read on November 10, 2026, linked next to it. Shopify changed its earnings terms on August 10, 2026 and changes its tiers on January 1, 2027, so open the linked page before you plan around a number. Amounts are paid at Shopify’s discretion and can change.
We are noprob agency, enrolled in the Shopify Partner Program. We do not speak for Shopify: what follows is Shopify’s published rules, read and put in order, plus one worked example that is our arithmetic.
How do you become a Shopify Partner?
You create a Partner account, accept the Partner Program Agreement and choose how you want to earn. Shopify’s getting started guide lays out the steps:
- Create the account and accept the Partner Program Agreement.
- Choose how to earn: stores for merchants, apps, themes or affiliation, which needs its own approval.
- Set up the organization: verify your business email, enter the company details on the Organization page of the Dev Dashboard and add a payout method.
- Build a first client transfer store from the Dev Dashboard to learn the platform and start a portfolio.
The Partner terms ask for legal age, a professional purpose, your full legal name and a valid email, and Shopify can decline an application for any reason. If you sign up for your employer, the employer becomes the Partner, and each Partner login belongs to one user. You start at the Registered tier and get the base benefits once you accept the agreement, per the program overview. After that, Shopify’s branding guidelines let you call yourself a Shopify Partner in your marketing without asking permission, as long as you follow them.
What does it cost? As of November 10, 2026 we found no joining fee on the Agreement, the Partner page or the Help pages. The only explicit statement is a June 2023 post on the Partner blog inviting you to join for free, so confirm on the sign-up screen. Development stores and client transfer stores are free for the Partner. Only partners who sell apps pay a one-time $19 registration per Partner account, and custom apps for a single merchant are exempt.
Which kind of Shopify Partner is an agency?
An agency is a service partner: it builds or runs stores for merchants, and it can add referrals on top. The Partners page shows three paths: build apps, build stores, or build a business offering services to merchants. The Partner terms split the roles in two:
- Referral Partner: promotes Shopify with an affiliate link, sends a qualified lead, or works for the merchant as a value added partner (VAP) through a development store.
- Developer: builds apps or themes, or buys ads, after registering with the developer program.
The tiers below apply to service partners and agencies. Technology partners (apps and themes) go through the App Store instead.
How does a Shopify Partner agency earn on the stores it launches?
For stores launched since August 10, 2026, the agency earns 20% of the store’s base fee plus 0.1% of its eligible online sales (GMV), for 4 years, on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus. That is what Shopify’s earnings FAQ says as of November 10, 2026. The details that decide what you actually get:
- Starter and Lite pay nothing. They do not qualify for revenue share.
- What counts as GMV. Online consumer sales net of returns. B2B is excluded, and there is a cap of 100 million a year, reset at each anniversary.
- Older stores keep the old terms. Stores launched before August 10, 2026 on Basic, Grow and Advanced keep the perpetual 20%, with no 4-year limit and no GMV share.
- Plus changed. On new co-sold Plus deals the share moves from a perpetual 15% to 20% plus 0.1% of GMV for 4 years.
- Who gets paid. The agency that built and transferred the store or, on co-sold Plus, the Launch Partner with a Statement of Work signed before the deal closes.
- No splitting. Revenue share cannot be split between agencies on the same store and stays tied to the original billing store.
- Never your own store. Earning revenue share on your own store is treated as fraud and gets you removed from the program, per the same FAQ.
Payments run twice a month: five business days after the 15th and after month end, with a $25 minimum balance, in USD.
How does the Shopify referral program pay?
The referral program pays a fixed amount for each merchant you bring that meets Shopify’s conditions, and the amount depends on the product the merchant buys. Here are the figures as of November 10, 2026:
- Plus or Enterprise: $2,500 one time, and since August 10, 2026 also on upgrades. The lead must be sent before the deal opens, the deal must close within 90 days with a signed contract, and the merchant needs more than $5,000 in net GMV.
- POS Pro: $500 one time, for a new merchant active 10 or more days a month for 2 months, with more than $1,000 a month.
- Affiliate program: $150 per referral in the US, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and other markets, and $25 in Africa, India, Latin America and the rest of Asia. It applies to Basic, Grow and Advanced paid at full price; Plus, Enterprise and Retail are excluded.
- Tracking: an affiliate referral is tracked for 30 days from the click, and up to 400 days if the merchant starts with a free trial.
- Payments products: POS Payments pays 20% of Shopify’s net profit for 4 years (it was 2), not 20% of sales, and since August 10, 2026 B2B Payments pays 20% of profit for 4 years and Shop Pay off Shopify 0.1% for 1 year, per the earnings FAQ.
Two cautions. Affiliate earnings need a separate application and its approval, and not every application is approved. And as of November 10, 2026 the Partner terms describe the affiliate bounty differently from the fixed amounts above, so read the page that applies to you. The Referral Partner must also say plainly that they are paid for referrals, following FTC guidelines, per the same terms.
Which Shopify Partner tiers apply today, and which from 2027?
Until December 31, 2026 there are five tiers (Registered, Select, Plus, Premier, Platinum), and from January 1, 2027 there are five new ones (Registered, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond). Today’s tiers are in the Q4 2026 service partner guide, updated quarterly, with the next update on January 1, 2027. As of November 10, 2026 the guide gives these thresholds, and the stronger of the two dimensions counts:
- Revenue from new merchants and co-sell: Select $100,000, Plus $500,000, Premier $2 million, Platinum $5 million.
- Revenue from existing merchants: Select $500,000, Plus $2.5 million, Premier $10 million, Platinum $25 million. Ongoing relationships, for example through a collaborator account, count.
- Merchants required: Select 1 Plus or 10 standard; Plus 2 Plus or 40 standard; Premier 4 Plus; Platinum 6 Plus.
- Directory: a listing in the Partner Directory starts at the Plus tier.
From January 1, 2027 the program overview replaces them. Registered stays the entry point with no minimums. Select, Plus and Premier are retired, and the old Platinum, today the top tier, sits under Diamond. Each tier above Registered needs both attributed GMV and a number of shops:
- Silver: $25,000 of attributed GMV and 1 shop, in 1 year.
- Gold: $5 million and 5 shops, in 4 years.
- Platinum: $50 million and 20 shops, in 4 years.
- Diamond: $500 million and 25 shops, in 4 years.
Tiers update every day, and a tier you reach stays for at least six months. Benefits start at the Silver badge and the Partner Directory, with Advisory support up to Gold, Strategic support at Platinum, Embedded support at Diamond and co-marketing funds from Gold, all per the same page. Since November 4, 2026 the Dev Dashboard shows your expected 2027 tier, and the renewed Partner Directory was announced for November 9, 2026, per Shopify’s tiers post. The tier badge must be updated within 48 hours of a change, and Shopify can revoke a tier designation at any time.
One point is not settled. The tiers post ties the shop count to revenue share, while the Help Center says any plan counts, and Starter and Lite pay no revenue share. Until Shopify says which applies, plan on the stricter reading.
What does Shopify attribute to a partner?
Shopify attributes to a partner the shops the partner launched or transferred to a merchant, on any plan, in the last 4 years. Development and test stores are excluded, and from 2027 collaborator access alone, or a referral alone, does not make a shop attributed. That changes how you should work:
- Build in a client transfer store, not a dev store. A client transfer store is created in your organization and passes to the client at launch. Before the transfer it has no real transactions and no custom or draft apps.
- A dev store cannot be handed over. It is for building and testing, with a limit of 250 per organization, no real transactions and a password. It cannot be transferred to a client or converted into a production store.
- The commission follows the transfer. The commission on stores you build comes only from transferring a client transfer store to the merchant.
- The transfer has steps. You enter the client’s email, the client accepts and picks a plan, and a pending transfer expires after seven days. Turn off Shopify Payments, Balance, Credit and Capital first, or the transfer fails.
Two dashboards matter. The Partner Dashboard covers the commercial side: referrals, leads, theme listings and your Partner Directory profile. The Dev Dashboard covers apps, dev stores, client transfer stores and collaborator access requests. If a client store already exists, ask for a collaborator account, the recommended access. Never ask for the client’s login.
What does the Shopify Partner Program add up to for a small agency?
Take a hypothetical agency that launches 5 stores in a year after August 10, 2026, each with $500,000 of eligible online sales a year: the GMV part of the revenue share is $2,500 a year. This is an example, not a forecast. The $500,000 and the 5 stores are our assumptions. The percentages and amounts are Shopify’s, linked above. The arithmetic:
- GMV share: 0.1% of $500,000 is $500 a store a year, so $2,500 a year across 5 stores, for 4 years on each store.
- Base fee share: 20% of each store’s base fee, for 4 years. We leave it out because it depends on each store’s plan.
- Two Plus referrals that close: 2 x $2,500 is $5,000 one time.
- Four affiliate referrals in the US: 4 x $150 is $600.
- Tiers in 2027: 5 shops meets the shop count for Gold, and one store clears the Silver GMV on paper. The $5 million of Gold is a separate test.
Read it for what it is: a recurring extra on top of what you charge for the build, which grows with the number of stores that stay and sell. It is not a salary.
What if your agency brings only a few stores a year?
Besides the official program, an agency can earn on each project: with our Ambassador program you refer a store or resell the migration under your own brand, and you earn from €1,000 per project. The two work side by side. The Shopify program builds over the years with the stores that stay and sell, and a direct earning arrives with each migration you bring us.
If you want to see what the migration itself involves, start with our Shopify migration guide, then read how the Nazzi migration went, and see our Shopify migration service.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Shopify Partner Program?
It is Shopify’s open, performance-based program for agencies, consultancies and system integrators that offer services to merchants. Partners earn through revenue share on the stores they launch, referral fees and, with a separate approved application, affiliate commissions.
How do you become a Shopify Partner?
Create a Partner account, accept the Partner Program Agreement and choose how you want to earn. Then verify your business email, add your company details and a payout method. You start at the Registered tier, and Shopify can decline an application.
How much does a Shopify Partner earn per store?
For stores launched since August 10, 2026 on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus, Shopify’s earnings FAQ lists 20% of the base fee plus 0.1% of eligible online sales (GMV), for 4 years. Starter and Lite pay no revenue share, and Shopify can change amounts.
How does the Shopify referral program pay?
A referral that closes on Plus or Enterprise pays a one-time $2,500 if conditions are met. A POS Pro referral pays $500. The affiliate program pays $150 per referral in the US, Canada and Europe, and $25 in Africa, India, Latin America and the rest of Asia.
What are the Shopify Partner tiers in 2027?
From January 1, 2027 the tiers are Registered, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. Each above Registered needs both attributed sales (GMV) and a number of shops: Silver is $25,000 and 1 shop, Gold $5 million and 5 shops.
Can an agency earn on migrations beyond the Shopify Partner Program?
Yes, per project. With the noprob agency Ambassador program you refer a store or resell the Shopify migration under your own brand, and you earn from €1,000 per project.
The Shopify Launch Sprint moves your store to Shopify in 14 days with our Custom AI System: a fixed calendar, a public price and 4 written guarantees.
Antonio Manitta
Founder & eCommerce Manager at NoProb Agency
For over 7 years I have helped fashion, supplements, and DTC brands scale their eCommerce. I work in long-term partnership with three brands at a time, building stable systems that compound.
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