TikTok Shop vs Shopify: which keeps more?
Discovery you rent per sale against a store you rent per month — and why the cheaper fee depends entirely on who brings the buyer.
Who wins at each price?
| Price | TikTok Shop keeps | Shopify keeps | Winner |
|---|
Canonical profile: product cost 35% of price, inbound $1.20, packaging $0.30, self-shipping $4.80 where relevant, ads 10% of price, returns 5%, 300 units/month, TikTok affiliate 10%. Change the real inputs on each platform's own calculator page.
Shopify wins the fee table; TikTok wins the discovery
At the canonical profile Shopify keeps more at every price — by about $0.79 at $10 and about $32.37 at $250 — because TikTok's 10% affiliate cut outweighs its low 6% referral rate, while Shopify's subscription amortizes to $0.13 a sale at 300 units. With affiliate off, TikTok's bare 6% plus $0.30-style costs would beat Shopify's card fees — so, as with every TikTok comparison, the affiliate switch is the decision, not the headline rate.
The honest way to choose
Use TikTok Shop when discovery is the product: new, visual, impulse-priced goods where creators do the selling. Use Shopify when you already own demand — repeat buyers, an audience, a brand — and want to keep the margin instead of paying creators for it. Many sellers run both: TikTok as the top of the funnel, Shopify as the place repeat buyers land.