Short answer. Shopify's own Partner Directory lists 4,890 partners for store build or redesign work, and on the first page of results 12 of 16 show a price. The lowest "starting from" figure is $100 and the highest is $10,000, with a median of $200 across the 8 that give one number. Custom app work starts higher: the six single "starting from" prices on the first page of custom apps and integrations run from $75 to $3,000, median $750. A "starting from" price is the partner's own floor, not a quote. For scale, the US median wage for a web developer was $92,650 a year in May 2025, about $44.54 an hour before any agency overhead or profit. We read every Shopify page below on 9 November 2026.
Key numbers
| Item | Number |
|---|---|
| Partners for store build or redesign (Shopify Partner Directory) | 4,890 |
| Partners for theme customization (directory service page) | 4,275 |
| Partners for custom apps and integrations (directory service page) | 3,010 |
| Store build partners with a price, first 16 (4 said Contact for pricing) | 12 of 16 |
| Store build starting prices (single figures, median $200) | $100 to $10,000 |
| Custom app starting prices (6 single figures, median $750) | $75 to $3,000 |
| Headless partners showing a price, first 16 (both ranges) | 2 of 16 |
| Median web developer wage, 2025 (about $44.54 an hour, BLS) | $92,650 a year |
| Collaborator access expiry (if the collaborator has not logged in) | 90 days |
Shopify Partner Directory and Help Center, read 9 November 2026; BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 median wage.
How hiring a Shopify developer works
Shopify runs a Partner Directory, and its Help Center says the directory "connects you with Shopify Partners you can hire for services related to building and growing your business." You find a partner by name, by service or by tier, then use the Contact button on the profile.
The Help Center sorts partners into four tiers by the size of merchant they usually work with: Select (typically preferred by small and medium businesses), Plus (mid-market and larger), Premier (large enterprises) and Platinum (global enterprises). Select is the tier Shopify describes for small and medium businesses.
Billing is direct. In Shopify's words: "When the work is complete, the Partner will bill you directly. These charges don't display on your Shopify bill." So the price on the profile is the start of a conversation between you and the partner, not a Shopify rate card.
What the directory shows for each kind of work
We opened five service pages in the directory and read the first 16 partners on each, in the default sort. That is a snapshot, not a random sample, and each partner chooses how to describe its pricing, so treat the table as a map of how the market states its prices.
| Service page | Partners listed | First 16 with a price | Lowest start | Median start | Highest start |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Store build or redesign | 4,890 | 12 | $100 | $200 | $10,000 |
| Theme customization | 4,275 | 11 | $20 | $92.50 | $249 |
| Custom apps and integrations | 3,010 | 6 | $75 | $750 | $3,000 |
| Troubleshooting and problem resolution | 2,574 | 8 | $25 | $92.50 | $200 |
| Headless commerce | 1,997 | 2 | not computed | not computed | not computed |
How we counted: "Lowest", "median" and "highest" use only the partners that state a single "Starting from" number. Partners that state a range are left out of those three columns but counted in "with a price". Examples of ranges on the store build page were $500 to $999, $575 to $799 and $400 to $10,000. On the headless page both priced partners stated ranges, $1,500 to $5,000 and $100 to $1,000, and the other 14 said "Contact for pricing".
How to read a "starting from" price
Three things stand out in the snapshot.
Many partners do not publish a number. On the first page, 4 of 16 store build partners, 5 of 16 theme partners, 10 of 16 custom app partners and 14 of 16 headless partners said "Contact for pricing". Custom app and headless partners show a price least often.
The floor is not the bill. A partner whose profile says "Starting from $100" for store build is telling you the smallest job it takes, which may be a single task. The same page lists a partner starting from $10,000. Both appear under one service name.
The spread is wide even for one task. Theme customization floors run from $20 to $249 on the same page. That is about a 12 times gap between the lowest and highest single figures, and it says more about what each partner counts as a job than about what a fair price is.
Developer wages as a sanity check
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the one primary source that publishes what web developers earn. Its Occupational Outlook Handbook gives a median of $92,650 a year for web developers in May 2025 and counts 87,400 jobs in 2025, projected to reach 90,600 by 2035.
Dividing by 2,080 working hours gives $44.54 an hour. At that wage, 40 hours is $1,781.73 and 10 hours is $445.43. These are wages only: a freelancer or agency bills for overhead, tax, unbilled time and profit as well, and the BLS does not publish billing rates. A US wage also says little about a partner based elsewhere, since the directory lists partners across many countries.
The two numbers do not compete. The directory shows what partners say a job starts at; the BLS shows what an hour of this work earns an employee. If a quote implies far fewer hours than the job needs, or a very different rate from what you expected, ask how the hours were estimated.
Which kind of person to hire
This section is our opinion, not a finding from the sources.
For a small fix (a theme tweak, a broken section, a tracking pixel) we would start with a Select partner whose profile lists that exact service, and ask for a fixed price for the one task. For a new store build we would ask two or three partners for a written scope, because the same service page shows floors from $100 to $10,000. For a custom app, a checkout customization or a headless build, we would expect to pay for a scoping step first, since few of those partners publish a price at all. Our Shopify app development cost guide covers the fees a custom app quote tends to leave out, and do you need a custom Shopify app covers whether an existing app would do.
What to put in your brief
Shopify's Help Center lists what to include when you contact a partner: detailed information about your store with relevant links, your budget, your timeline, and a description of the problem or service. A brief with those four items lets a partner price the work instead of asking you to book a call.
Shopify also notes that a partner "might ask for access to your store through a collaborator account." Access is time limited: if a collaborator hasn't logged in within 90 days, the access expires automatically. Remove the collaborator yourself once the job is done.
A hypothetical example, priced two ways
This is a hypothetical, not a real client. Suppose a store owner needs 10 hours of theme work: a new homepage section, a fixed mobile menu and a corrected product page layout.
At the BLS median wage, 10 hours is about $445 in wages alone (10 x $44.54). A partner will bill more than that to cover overhead, tax and profit, so the number is a floor for a US team, not a prediction. On the theme customization page, the single starting prices on the first page run from $20 to $249, and one partner states a range of $300 to $1,000. Use those figures only as a reference point: a quote far outside them is a reason to ask what it includes.
The point of the exercise is to give you a way to check a quote. It does not tell you what any partner will charge.
Questions to ask before you sign
These are our suggestions, built from what the directory and the Help Center say partners show on a profile (location, team size, how long they have been a partner, the services they have provided in the last 4 years).
Ask whether the price is fixed or hourly, and what happens if the job takes longer. Ask which of the profile's listed services this job falls under. Ask who will do the work, since the profile shows team size but not who is assigned. Ask what you get at the end: the code changes, a written summary, and removal of their collaborator access. And ask for the scope in writing before work starts.
What we could not verify
Shopify's directory does not publish hourly rates, and we did not open a freelance marketplace for rates, so this guide gives none. Our app cost guide notes that agency-written guides quote freelance Shopify rates anywhere from $25 to $285 an hour, which shows how little those figures agree. The first-page snapshot above is one default sort on 9 November 2026 and the directory changes as partners edit profiles. Prices are in US dollars as the directory displayed them.
How imisofts can help
imisofts is a Dubai-based agency that builds and fixes Shopify stores and apps. If you would rather have one written scope than compare profiles, our hire a Shopify expert page explains what we take on and how to ask for a quote.
Sources: Shopify Help Center, hiring and working with Shopify Partners; Shopify Partner Directory service pages for store build or redesign, theme customization, custom apps and integrations, troubleshooting and headless commerce; BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, web developers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Shopify's directory does not publish a standard rate. On the first page of its store build or redesign service, the partners that state a single starting price range from $100 to $10,000, with a median of $200. For scale, the BLS median wage for US web developers was $92,650 in May 2025, about $44.54 an hour in wages alone.
Shopify's Partner Directory is the official place. It lists 4,890 partners for store build or redesign and 3,010 for custom apps and integrations (read 9 November 2026). You can search by name, service or tier and contact a partner from its profile.
Shopify's Help Center says the partner bills you directly and that these charges do not display on your Shopify bill. It does not describe any Shopify fee on that page.
It is the partner's own stated floor for that service, not a quote. On the same store build page we saw floors from $100 to $10,000, so compare scopes, not headline numbers.
Shopify describes Select partners as typically preferred by small and medium businesses, Plus partners by mid-market and larger businesses, Premier by large enterprises and Platinum by global enterprises. For a small store we would start with Select.
Shopify says a partner might ask for access through a collaborator account, and that access expires automatically if the collaborator has not logged in for 90 days. We would remove the account yourself when the work is done.