Yes, Shopify is available in Pakistan. You can sign up from Pakistan, pick a plan and open a store today. What you cannot use is Shopify Payments, Shopify's own checkout, so every Shopify store in Pakistan takes money through a local gateway or cash on delivery, and that changes the cost. This guide covers what works, what it costs and when WooCommerce is the better choice.
I build online stores for Pakistani businesses, mostly on WooCommerce, so I have a view. Every figure below links to the provider's own page, checked on 5 November 2026.
Shopify in Pakistan: what works and what does not
The platform itself works the same as anywhere else: themes, products, orders, shipping rates and apps. The gap is payments. Shopify keeps a list of countries where Shopify Payments is available, and Pakistan is not on it. Stripe and PayPal are not options for a Pakistani business either, for the reasons in my guide to payment gateways in Pakistan.
So a Pakistani Shopify store has three ways to get paid: a local gateway that connects to Shopify, a bank transfer or wallet number shown at checkout, or cash on delivery.
Payment gateways that connect to Shopify in Pakistan
- Safepay. Safepay has apps on the Shopify App Store, including one for Raast payments from Pakistani banks and wallets. Its card and wallet rates are on its own pricing page.
- PayFast. PayFast names Shopify among the platforms its checkout connects to. Ask them how the connection works for your plan before you sign.
- Cash on delivery. Shopify lets you add manual payment methods, and cash on delivery is one of them. It needs the same controls as on any platform: confirm the order before you dispatch it.
Check each gateway's paperwork early. Most want a CNIC, a bank account in the business name and an NTN, and approval can take longer than building the store.
What a Shopify store costs in Pakistan
Shopify charges in dollars. Its pricing page lists the Basic plan at $29 a month billed yearly, or $39 a month billed monthly. Paid themes and many apps add their own monthly fees on top.
The cost most store owners miss is the transaction fee. Pakistani stores cannot use Shopify Payments, so orders paid through an outside provider carry a Shopify fee: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced. That comes on top of what the gateway itself takes, so a card payment on Basic pays both.
| Shopify in Pakistan | WooCommerce in Pakistan | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | From $29 a month, billed in dollars | None; you pay for hosting |
| Fee per online order | Gateway fee plus 2% on Basic | Gateway fee only |
| Local gateways | A few, through apps | Most Pakistani gateways have a plugin |
| Who runs the server | Shopify | You or your developer |
| Who owns the store | You rent it on Shopify | You own the files and the data |
Shopify or WooCommerce for a Pakistani store?
Choose Shopify if you want to start quickly, sell a modest range, and never think about hosting or updates. It is a good product, and the monthly fee buys you peace of mind.
Choose WooCommerce if margins are thin, most orders are cash on delivery or wallets, or you want local gateways and couriers without depending on apps. There is no platform fee and no extra cut on each order, which matters more as sales grow. The trade-off is that someone has to look after hosting, updates and backups.
For most of the Pakistani stores I build, WooCommerce wins on cost and on local payments. The full setup, from cash on delivery to couriers, is in my WooCommerce guide for Pakistan.
How to open a Shopify store in Pakistan
- Sign up on Shopify, set your store currency to rupees and add your business address in Pakistan.
- Apply to a local gateway at the same time, because its approval is usually the slowest step.
- Add cash on delivery as a manual payment method, limited to the cities you deliver to.
- Set shipping rates per city or region, and connect your courier if it has a Shopify app.
- Place a real test order with each payment method before you announce the store.
The short version
Shopify works in Pakistan, but you pay in dollars and give up a share of every card or wallet payment to a fee that stores in Shopify Payments countries do not pay. If that is fine for your margins, it is a quick way to start. If it is not, WooCommerce does the same job without the per order cut.
Not sure which one fits your products and your budget? Tell me what you sell and roughly how many orders you expect, and I will tell you which platform I would pick and what it would cost. The website cost in Pakistan page shows the price bands for a full store.
