Shopify is currently packed with buzzing merchants looking to start their online businesses. From thrifting, to drop shipping, Shopify makes it seamless for anyone and everyone.
With low entry costs and hassle free servers, Shopify is the platform to sign up for if you’re a beginner. The user interface is simple and the customer support is incomparable.
Plus, the Shopify free trials help you get over the nerves by getting you warmed up to the features and basic functions. You wouldn’t have to spend days on the paid plan just to learn what you already should have known.
Now that Shopify keeps changing their trial durations, do they still have the 21 Day free trial offer? Or are the popup ads here and there just a virus containing clickbait? Read ahead to know all about it and more.
Click Here to Get The Longest Available Shopify Trial (To Date)
How does the Shopify free trial work?
Shopify’s creators have designed the free trial with the purpose that new merchants who wish to start their online business may feel more confident before stepping on the platform.
The Shopify free trial is easy to sign up for.
Regardless of the type or size of the business idea, you can sign up for the free trial. There are no limitations to the free trial either.
Once you go to Shopify’s website, you cannot help but notice the pointers asking you to sign up for the free trial. You would simply have to enter your email address and a few pieces of personal information to get started.
The Free trial starts from the moment you sign up for the trial and not when you set up the store. For 3 days, that indeed is a ticking time bomb.
During the free trial, Shopify opens several features for its new users while keeping a lock on the premium templates and themes. You can have access to everything that is needed to set up a store. You can use themes, add products, and use dashboards and analytics during the free trial.
During the free trial, you can also select a monthly plan without having to pay for it. Doing this unlocks other features and allows one to make sales.
Shopify 21 Day Trial: Examining the History
You’re probably here because somewhere on the internet you have seen an advertisement that says you can still get the Shopify 21-Day free trial.
If that’s the case, you’re smart enough to be checking before clicking into a scam. Be careful of these links, they might just infect your computer with malware.
The 21 Day free trial from Shopify is not available right now. But what if it ever lives and is up for grabs? The answer is more than just a straightforward yes or a no.
People once claimed that they used 21 days of Shopify trial and some of them did. But checking back, Shopify never offered a 21-day free trial. They did offer 14 days, 30 days, 90 days, and even 120 days of the free trial, all of which could be signed up directly through their website.
The 21-day free trial was a mere marketing gimmick used by many third party websites and blogs. How the 21-day trial came about through an extension. Remember the popular 14 days free trial?
Many people who wanted more time to understand the features of Shopify, contacted customer support and asked for an extension. Since Shopify granted them 7 days of the prolonged trial period, the trial duration totaled up to 21 days.
Although neither the 14 days nor the 21 days trial still exist, you can get the longest available free trial from Shopify’s website directly.
Click Here to Get The Longest Available Shopify Trial (To Date)
What’s the Current Offer for 2023?
This time around, Shopify thought of giving their new merchants a lucrative offer along with the free trial, but it wouldn’t be for free.
As of 2023, Shopify offers a 3-day free trial. This came into effect by replacing the 2-week free trial only last year.
Before the thought nudges and taps your brain, I’ll speak your mind. 3 days is too short to test out a platform that has to offer so much. And you’re right.
Shopify does offer 90 days of unlimited access to Shopify at the end of the 3-day free trial. You would only have to pay $1 per month for it. Agree or not, this is as good as free.
What do you get throughout this trial and special offers? Merchants would get the opportunity to use all the functions and features offered in the Basic paid plan.
This would include the liberty to make sales and earn money as well. You would have unlimited access to over 40,0000 themes and the ability to design your store as you wish.
You would set up your payment gateways, and make the best use of Shopify Plus features.
From inventory management, shipping settings, customer feedback, and analytics to the sales funnel and taxes, you get it all during these 93 days.
You can get the offer from Shopify’s landing page directly.
Click Here to Get The Longest Available Shopify Trial (To Date)
Shopify Trial vs. Paid plan
Being on a Shopify trial and being on a paid plan are not worlds apart, but it surely is different.
You can get so much more on a paid plan, in comparison to a Shopify trial. For the subscription you pay for monthly plans, Shopify allows you to fully engross your business: From creation to promotion, you get all the tools and functions necessary.
During the trial, you get everything in bits. There are restrictions and limitations as you would expect. Hence it is wisest to use a free trial for learning only.
Here are a few of the key differences between a Shopify Trial and a Shopify monthly Paid Plan.
Custom Domain:
One of the key differences that immediately strikes a customer is your domain. During the trial, you only get a myshopify.com domain. Although it is free, the trial restricts you from owning your store name completely. In a paid plan, you will have your custom domain, with no logo or sign from Shopify.
Different motives:
The purpose of signing up for a Shopify trial is not the same as signing up for a monthly paid plan. You use the trial version only to learn more about the platform you are about to use. Moreover, you can make sales on a paid plan but cannot do so during a trial unless you have selected a monthly plan.
You get familiarized with the features and you get to do all that for free. In comparison, if you start with a paid plan, you would have to pay to get started and learn. That’s a prominent reason to start with a free trial and then move to a paid plan.
Themes and templates:
Shopify’s free trial does allow its users to access themes but paid plans have premium templates and features that make a major difference.
Once on a paid plan, you would get your hands on templates that make your store look professional. In-built tools like SEO and advanced promotion on paid plans can take your sales up higher in no time.
Advanced features:
In a free trial, you get to use the basic features and not the advanced ones. Abandoned cart checkouts, advanced shipping, payment, and tax features are open on paid plans. In a paid plan you would have access to important features like inventory management, product information management, customer relationship, and custom automation.
What’s included in Shopify Free Trial?
If you are planning to start your 3-day free trial, here are some of the features you would get to enjoy. Remember this does not include what you get during the 90 days extended period but only the 3 days of free trial:
- myshopify.com domain: Although you don’t get a custom domain without being on a paid plan, you do get a free Shopify domain.
- Store setup: During your free trial, you will have complete access to all the features that Shopify has made free for trial users. These themes allow you to design your basic demo store fully. You would only have to drag and drop each template you wish you use on your store. However, if you wish to access the premium templates or segments, you would need a paid plan.
- Add products: Shopify free trial allows users to add and import products. Additionally, the platform allows people to use Shpoify’s partner sites to add products. You can certainly add them manually as well. Through other sites like Oberlo, eBay, or Aliexpress, one can add products to their own store. With products, you can also add your pictures, videos, and descriptions. And it’s important to do so to boost your sales.
- Data and Metrics: Although a little restricted compared to what you might get in a paid plan, Shopify still included enough analytics for its free trial users. The Analytics dashboard is free to access for you when you are on trial. This would allow you to understand traffic and customer bounce rate.
- SEO and blogging: You can also use Shopify’s blogging to promote your store online. You would have access to a few SEO tools that you can utilize for marketing your products through other social media channels. This integrated blog allows you to reach out to more audiences.
What Happens After the Free Trial?
There’s always this one curious question from most users even before they sign up for a free trial, “what happens after the free trial?”. And I certainly understand the panic pertaining to it.
A lot of effort goes into setting up and designing a store. If you’re seriously trying out the features and like what you have planned, you would want to keep it.
After your free trial ends, your account will be paused and suspended but not deleted. Your account, along with all the progress and data will be held until you have moved to a paid plan.
Shopify does not delete the data and your store immediately. They would hold it up for about a month and wait for your response. During that time, you can reactivate your paused account, by simply selecting a monthly plan.
If you have already selected a paid plan during your trial, you will be billed the subscription fee at the end of the trial.
Having a paid plan selected during your free trial allows you to access more features and make sales. But more so, it gives you the freedom to deactivate or pause your account any time you want.
If you’re not signed up for a monthly account, you wouldn’t have to worry about canceling your trial as it would be automatic. There are beaming benefits of being on a paid plan after your free trial has ended.
Can you sell during Shopify’s free trial?
You can sell during your Shopify free trial if you have selected a monthly plan. You would have to enter your billing details when you select a paid plan. Don’t worry, this does not mean you will have to pay for the subscription-free immediately.
When you are on a free trial without a paid plan on board, your store is locked with a storefront password. This means that your checkout would not be accessible to anyone looking to buy from your store.
Tips for Making the Most of Your Shopify Trial
Although the 21-day trial is not in effect anymore, you can surely make the most out of your 3-day free trial. If that’s too short for a testing duration, you can always add the 90 days offer to make it a total of 93 days.
To utilize your Shopify trial to the fullest, you would want to focus on building your store. The trial is designed to give new merchants an idea of how their store would look like. If you can get acquainted with designing and customizing your store, you’ve made good use of the trial.
Other than that, you do want to learn how to add products and modify the presentation of items in your store. You don’t want to waste time on your paid plan (when you upgrade to one) in figuring out how to segment products. Experiment with the kind of images and descriptions that best suit your store’s brand identity.
You should also dissect and take in what you can from the Shopify dashboard and analytics. These pages would help you understand what your traffic looks like and which social media is right for promotion.
Another smart tip that nobody else might give you is that you would want to give your credit card information when you’re in your free trial. Not only does it unlock many features for you, but this also allows you to receive orders, payments, and make sales.
Click Here to Get The Longest Available Shopify Trial (To Date)
How do I get an extended free trial on Shopify?
Back in the day, people would avail of lengthenings after their free trials. That’s how the otherwise nonexistent 21-day trial came into dialogue.
You can still contact Shopify’s customer support and ask them for an extension. For that, you would need to write an email and send it to support@shopify.com. You would have given them reasons why you need an extension.
After reviewing your store and investigating, Shopify could extend your free trial. However, with the special offer on the website now, it is unlikely that Shopify would extend your 3-day free trial. They would surely expect you to move on to the 90-day trial for $1 each month.
Click Here to Get The Longest Available Shopify Trial (To Date)
How to sign up for a free Shopify trial & Activate it
Shopify makes it child’s play for anyone to get started with the free trial. Here is what you need to do to sign up for Shopify free trial.
- Open Shopify’s pricing landing page
- Next, you can either use the middle portion of the page to enter your email address and start your free trial or you could use the link at the top of the page and click on Sign up now.
- On the next page, you would be asked to enter a few pieces of information about your product type, revenue, business niche, etc. You can skip this part if you are in a hurry.
- Next, enter details about your personal information.
- Then click on Enter my Store.
Now, you would need to activate the free trial. Here’s how you can do it:
- Once you click on Enter My Store, your Shopify demo store is ready to be set up. Before that, you would want to select a plan.
- Shopify currently offers 3 priced plans to choose from. You will be allowed to choose from Basic, Shopify, and Shopify Advance.
- You will then be asked to enter your credit card information to complete the free trial with a paid plan.
FAQs
Do I need a credit card to start the Shopify trial?
To start your Shopify trial, you would not require any credit card. After your trial expires and you want to choose a paid plan, your credit card details will be needed.
Can I switch plans during the Shopify trial?
You can switch to a paid plan any time you want during the Shopify trial. You would simply have to select a monthly plan. From then on, it would be up to you to continue with the trial or jump onto the plan directly. Canceling, pausing, or deactivating is voluntary once you are on a paid plan.
Will my store be live during the Shopify trial?
Your shop will be live as soon as you enter your store by signing up for the trial. You would be able to reach out to customers during the trial. However, you would only be able to make sales once you select a paid plan.
Is there a cost associated with the current Shopify trial
The 3 days trial is free of cost. The extension associated with the free trial will cost you $1 per month for 3 months if you take it up. However, if you select a plan during your 3-day paid plan and make sales during that time, there will be transactional costs incurred.
Final Thoughts
The 21-day free trial never existed on Shopify’s website. It was a marketing campaign and was only claimed by those to go 7 days of extension after their 14 days trial.
Although the Shopify 21 day trial is not available right now, you can avail of the longest trial offered by Shopify right now.
The special and limited-time offer allows merchants to experience a paid plan in full. But instead of paying the entire subscription fee, you’ll only have to pay $3 for 90 days.
Click Here to Get The Longest Available Shopify Trial (To Date)
