[Nov 2024] Shopify Free Trial – 3 Days Free + 3 Months for $1 each.
Special time limited offer, Shopify free trial 90 days.
3 Days Free + 3 Months for $1 each.
New merchants looking to start a Shopify store generally want to try before they buy. That just makes sense.
The trouble is that over the years these free trial periods have varied greatly. From 3 days to 90 days is a big difference.
How long do you need to see whether the platform is right for you?
In a few days you might just be able to get to grips with the theme and test a few features and apps. Then you have to make a definite decision.
Surely, it would be much better to sign up for a 30, 60 or 90-day trial and check it out thoroughly before you move to a paid version.
But there is some confusion over what’s possible.
So, are the “rumours” of lengthy Shopify trials true or a myth? And could you be scammed?
We clear up your questions about Shopify free trials once and for all below…
The standard free Shopify trial
The free trials that Shopify offered has changed drastically over the years.
Previously the standard 14-day free trial allowed merchants to try Shopify before committing to an active monthly plan. As of 2022 Shopify has changed this to a 3 day free trial with the first 3 months at $1/month.
It starts on the day you join up so make sure you’re ready to go with setting up your store from day one.
It allows you to get your store together and make important decisions about its functionality but bear in mind that you can’t actually sell anything until you select a monthly plan.
If at the end of the 3-day trial you have not selected an active plan, Shopify will pause your ability to work on your store until you have committed.
Taking no further action will automatically cancel your Shopify account.
Shopify 30-day free trial
Officially, the 30-day Shopify trial is no longer available. It was consigned to history sometime in 2019, never to reappear (to date).
Depending on your business venture, Shopify might grant you a longer free trial but you will probably have to go through a third party to get it.
That means that you may need to subscribe to another service in order to be offered the 30-day trial.
Shopify “44-day trial”
This one is not meant to be an actual trial. It’s just meant to be clever mental arithmetic but it really isn’t even that.
You might see some offers of a “44-day free trial” out there. These combine the 14-day trial and the 30-day refund policy from Shopify to arrive at 44 days for free.
That would work well if Shopify had such a refund policy. But it doesn’t. No refunds. It’s stated clearly here.
Shopify 60-day trial
Back in 2019, Shopify offered different trial days for exclusive partners, including 21 days and 60-day trials. Exclusive landing pages were provided to sign up and partners could pass the link on to their audience.
They were not advertised all on Google for the average man (store) in the street (online).
The 60-day Shopify free trial is no longer offered even for exclusive partners, as far as we know. If you Google it, you’ll still find references to it and people are still on the lookout on Shopify forums but unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to be available.
If you do see it offered, it is probably by scammers, who want to suck you into affiliate programs that you really don’t want to be part of, so beware!
Shopify 90-day extended trial
Shopify was running a temporary 90-day free trial promotion to new merchants and development stores. It ended on June 1st, 2020.
This extended trial was a response to the COVID-19 lockdowns that happened all over the world between March and May 2020, when many bricks and mortar businesses found the right opportunity to move online.
It was available without any coupon code or credit card. You just needed an email address to sign up and it caused quite a stir, generating excellent interest.
The official line from Shopify now?
“In March, we introduced 90 day free trials as a temporary relief effort to help businesses get online during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of June 1, this offer ended and we’ve returned to our standard 14-day free trial.”
So, despite many requests from potential merchants for the extended trial to continue, the only official free trial available to new stores right now is the 3 day one with 90 days at $1/month.
A Shopify partner account can open the door to a longer trial
One move that you can consider as a new store is to team up with a Shopify partner.
Shopify partners are experts in their field and they help other Shopify store owners get set up on the platform in a variety of ways: from help in the design and development stage to assistance with marketing skills that help businesses grow.
Around one in three Shopify merchants seek help from Shopify Partners every six months.
You may be able to access exclusive offers if you are in the development stage with your new store and choose to team up with a Shopify partner.
This can potentially allow you to trial the platform for as long as you need in “store development mode” before opening to the public and accepting orders.
Effectively, that gives you an unlimited trial…of course, you pay for the privilege of working with a dedicated Shopify expert but you do not pay for use of the platform until you sign up for a monthly plan and open your store.
After you launch, you can continue to seek help from a Shopify partner or cut loose and go it alone.
Either way, you should be in good shape to conquer the world – compared to going it alone from day one with nothing more than a 3-day trial and a good deal of hope to fuel your ambitions.
Why do you need a longer trial?
One of the great beauties of Shopify is that you can choose from over 2,400 apps featured on the Shopify App store to customize your ecommerce store.
These can help you improve functionality and get your store performing just as you like.
It is difficult to see Shopify working in full flow in a few days – a longer trial allows you to test much more.
Whether you want to improve reporting, payment systems, shipping, product images, customer service, inventory, SEO marketing or another aspect of your store, an app is available that integrates with Shopify – and many of these apps have free trials.
You can test the apps out at the same time as you assess whether Shopify is right for you.
This makes a longer Shopify free trial program a huge benefit. Not only can you play around with Shopify themes but you can explore much more in the way of personalization with the apps.
However, note that when you sign up for Shopify trial, you will be asked to choose a plan. If you are only intending to test the platform, you can only install and test the free apps. Paid apps will require you to have a paid Shopify subscription plan.
Start, run, and grow your business
Whether you have an offline store that you want to take online or a brand new ecommerce idea that you want to get off the ground, a long free trial period with Shopify can help you launch your store properly after all the testing is done.
No rushing, no rash decisions, no mistakes!
While the 3-day trial + 90 day discount appears to be the only one available right now, keep checking. As you have seen, Shopify promotions change regularly – and free trials are also sometimes run locally in certain countries but not in others.
We’re quite confident that no matter which free trial you take, you’ll find that Shopify is the right platform to start, run, and grow your business – just like over a million other businesses out there have found to date.
