Article · 10 min
Shopify B2B Without Plus 2026
On April 2, 2026 Shopify extended its B2B features to Basic, Grow, and Advanced plans at no extra cost. That removes the single biggest reason mid-size European wholesalers were paying $2,300+/month for Shopify Plus. Here's what you get for free, what still requires Plus, and when a custom build wins anyway.
NoRentApps
B2B & wholesale
Net 30/603 catalogsno Plus
01
The Announcement: What Actually Changed on April 2, 2026
On April 2, 2026, Shopify quietly rolled out one of the most significant pricing changes in its B2B history. Foundational B2B features — previously locked behind Shopify Plus at $2,300/month minimum — are now available on Basic ($39/mo), Grow ($105/mo), and Advanced ($399/mo) plans at no additional cost.
This is not a marketing tweak. It is a structural shift in how Shopify wants merchants to think about wholesale. For years, any store with B2B operations effectively had two choices: pay for Plus, or stack three to five third-party apps (BSS B2B, Wholesale Helper, Sky Pilot, Lockify, and similar) that cost $300-800/month combined and produced a janky buyer experience. Both paths added cost the merchant did not want to bear.
The new arrangement removes the bottom rung of that decision. A mid-size European wholesaler doing €30,000/month with a small repeat-buyer base — exactly the kind of store that was burning $4,800/year on B2B apps because they could not justify Plus — can now drop those apps and run native B2B on their existing Grow or Advanced plan. That is real money. Multiply it across the thousands of DACH and EU stores in that bracket and Shopify's move starts to look less like a feature unlock and more like a deliberate disruption of the third-party B2B app market.
The catch — and there is one — is that what you get for free is a deliberately limited subset. Plus retains real differentiators that justify its price for stores past a certain scale. Knowing which features fall on which side of the line is the whole game in 2026.
This is not a marketing tweak. It is a structural shift in how Shopify wants merchants to think about wholesale. For years, any store with B2B operations effectively had two choices: pay for Plus, or stack three to five third-party apps (BSS B2B, Wholesale Helper, Sky Pilot, Lockify, and similar) that cost $300-800/month combined and produced a janky buyer experience. Both paths added cost the merchant did not want to bear.
The new arrangement removes the bottom rung of that decision. A mid-size European wholesaler doing €30,000/month with a small repeat-buyer base — exactly the kind of store that was burning $4,800/year on B2B apps because they could not justify Plus — can now drop those apps and run native B2B on their existing Grow or Advanced plan. That is real money. Multiply it across the thousands of DACH and EU stores in that bracket and Shopify's move starts to look less like a feature unlock and more like a deliberate disruption of the third-party B2B app market.
The catch — and there is one — is that what you get for free is a deliberately limited subset. Plus retains real differentiators that justify its price for stores past a certain scale. Knowing which features fall on which side of the line is the whole game in 2026.
02
What You Actually Get on Basic, Grow, and Advanced (For Free)
The free B2B feature set on non-Plus plans covers the operational core of running a wholesale operation. For a store under approximately 500 active wholesale customers, this is usually enough:
Company profiles for wholesale buyers. Each business customer gets a company record with multiple buyer contacts attached. The 'company' is the customer of record, not the individual buyer, which matches how B2B purchasing actually works (one company, multiple people who can place orders).
Up to three custom catalogs with tailored pricing. You can assign different price lists to different buyer segments. Three is the hard cap — if you have more than three distinct pricing tiers, Plus becomes necessary. For most European wholesalers, three is exactly right: standard retail, distributor, and key account.
Volume discounts and quantity rules. Set price breaks at 10, 50, 250 units. Restrict products to minimum order quantities. Force case-pack purchases (sell-in-12s, sell-in-50s). The mechanics are flexible enough for most physical-goods wholesalers.
Vaulted credit cards. Companies can save payment methods at the company level (not just the individual buyer level), so any authorized buyer can place an order without re-entering payment details. Matches how most companies expect to operate.
Payment terms. Net 15, Net 30, Net 60 invoicing — buyer places the order, you ship, they pay later according to terms you set per company. Previously a Plus-only feature, now available on all paid plans. This is the single biggest unlock for European wholesalers because most B2B relationships in the DACH region run on payment terms, not card-on-file.
The free feature set hits the things wholesalers actually need every day. What is missing is the at-scale flexibility — and that is where the line is drawn.
Company profiles for wholesale buyers. Each business customer gets a company record with multiple buyer contacts attached. The 'company' is the customer of record, not the individual buyer, which matches how B2B purchasing actually works (one company, multiple people who can place orders).
Up to three custom catalogs with tailored pricing. You can assign different price lists to different buyer segments. Three is the hard cap — if you have more than three distinct pricing tiers, Plus becomes necessary. For most European wholesalers, three is exactly right: standard retail, distributor, and key account.
Volume discounts and quantity rules. Set price breaks at 10, 50, 250 units. Restrict products to minimum order quantities. Force case-pack purchases (sell-in-12s, sell-in-50s). The mechanics are flexible enough for most physical-goods wholesalers.
Vaulted credit cards. Companies can save payment methods at the company level (not just the individual buyer level), so any authorized buyer can place an order without re-entering payment details. Matches how most companies expect to operate.
Payment terms. Net 15, Net 30, Net 60 invoicing — buyer places the order, you ship, they pay later according to terms you set per company. Previously a Plus-only feature, now available on all paid plans. This is the single biggest unlock for European wholesalers because most B2B relationships in the DACH region run on payment terms, not card-on-file.
The free feature set hits the things wholesalers actually need every day. What is missing is the at-scale flexibility — and that is where the line is drawn.
03
What Still Requires Shopify Plus (And When You Actually Need It)
Plus retains five differentiators that matter at scale. None of them are critical for stores under €1M in annual B2B revenue. All of them become operational blockers above that.
Unlimited catalogs. If you have more than three pricing tiers — distributor, sub-distributor, key account, government account, school account, online-marketplace account — you cannot fit them in three catalogs. Plus removes the cap. The threshold where the three-catalog limit starts to hurt is usually around 200-400 active wholesale customers spread across more than three segments.
Direct catalog-to-company assignment. On non-Plus, catalogs are assigned to customer segments via metafields. On Plus, you can directly assign a catalog to a specific company or even a specific location of a multi-location buyer. This matters when you have buyers like "Hofer Vienna warehouse" and "Hofer Linz warehouse" who should see different stock availability.
Partial payments and deposits. Take a 30% deposit on order, balance on delivery. Take a 50% deposit on a custom-build product. Non-Plus B2B only supports full payment or full Net terms — no in-between. For European wholesalers selling custom goods (furniture, equipment, branded merchandise), this is often a deal-breaker.
Sales rep permissions. If you have account managers who place orders on behalf of customers, you need Plus to give them limited-scope permissions ("this rep can place orders for these 12 companies only"). Non-Plus has no concept of sales reps as a separate role.
Per-Market theme customization and EDI integration. Plus added these in 2026 — different storefront themes for different geographic markets within the same store, and direct EDI integration with SPS Commerce and Crstl for buyers who require EDI-based ordering. For DACH stores selling into large retail chains (Metro, Edeka, Lidl), EDI is often non-negotiable.
If none of those five describe your operation, you do not need Plus for B2B in 2026. If two or more describe your operation, the Plus subscription pays for itself in the operational time and tool consolidation it provides. The honest answer for most mid-size European wholesalers is: start on Advanced with native B2B, upgrade to Plus when the three-catalog cap or the missing partial-payment feature genuinely blocks you.
Unlimited catalogs. If you have more than three pricing tiers — distributor, sub-distributor, key account, government account, school account, online-marketplace account — you cannot fit them in three catalogs. Plus removes the cap. The threshold where the three-catalog limit starts to hurt is usually around 200-400 active wholesale customers spread across more than three segments.
Direct catalog-to-company assignment. On non-Plus, catalogs are assigned to customer segments via metafields. On Plus, you can directly assign a catalog to a specific company or even a specific location of a multi-location buyer. This matters when you have buyers like "Hofer Vienna warehouse" and "Hofer Linz warehouse" who should see different stock availability.
Partial payments and deposits. Take a 30% deposit on order, balance on delivery. Take a 50% deposit on a custom-build product. Non-Plus B2B only supports full payment or full Net terms — no in-between. For European wholesalers selling custom goods (furniture, equipment, branded merchandise), this is often a deal-breaker.
Sales rep permissions. If you have account managers who place orders on behalf of customers, you need Plus to give them limited-scope permissions ("this rep can place orders for these 12 companies only"). Non-Plus has no concept of sales reps as a separate role.
Per-Market theme customization and EDI integration. Plus added these in 2026 — different storefront themes for different geographic markets within the same store, and direct EDI integration with SPS Commerce and Crstl for buyers who require EDI-based ordering. For DACH stores selling into large retail chains (Metro, Edeka, Lidl), EDI is often non-negotiable.
If none of those five describe your operation, you do not need Plus for B2B in 2026. If two or more describe your operation, the Plus subscription pays for itself in the operational time and tool consolidation it provides. The honest answer for most mid-size European wholesalers is: start on Advanced with native B2B, upgrade to Plus when the three-catalog cap or the missing partial-payment feature genuinely blocks you.
04
What This Means for the Third-Party B2B App Market
Native B2B on Basic/Grow/Advanced is a direct competitive threat to a specific class of Shopify apps. Apps that primarily provided what Shopify now provides natively — company accounts, wholesale pricing, quantity rules, custom catalogs, basic Net terms — are facing a sudden value crisis.
The apps most exposed: BSS B2B/Wholesale Solution ($49-149/month), Wholesale Helper ($30-80/month), Bold Custom Pricing ($39-100/month), Sky Pilot Wholesale ($25-75/month), SparkLayer ($69-249/month), Wholesale Pricing Discount ($25-50/month). A store running two of these (typical) was paying €100-200/month in B2B app subscriptions. Most of that spend is now redundant.
The apps less exposed: tools that do something Shopify still does not do natively. Pickle and similar B2B-specific commerce platforms with multi-location buyer support, advanced EDI integration apps, custom approval workflow apps. These survive because they provide functionality outside Shopify's native scope.
The pragmatic question for a European wholesaler in 2026: audit your current B2B app stack against the native feature list above. If 70%+ of what your apps do is covered natively, those apps can be removed once you verify the migration works. Realistic ongoing savings for a typical mid-size wholesaler running three B2B apps: €1,200-2,400 per year. That number scales linearly with how many apps you can retire — and unlike most Shopify pricing changes, this one cuts costs rather than adding them.
The apps most exposed: BSS B2B/Wholesale Solution ($49-149/month), Wholesale Helper ($30-80/month), Bold Custom Pricing ($39-100/month), Sky Pilot Wholesale ($25-75/month), SparkLayer ($69-249/month), Wholesale Pricing Discount ($25-50/month). A store running two of these (typical) was paying €100-200/month in B2B app subscriptions. Most of that spend is now redundant.
The apps less exposed: tools that do something Shopify still does not do natively. Pickle and similar B2B-specific commerce platforms with multi-location buyer support, advanced EDI integration apps, custom approval workflow apps. These survive because they provide functionality outside Shopify's native scope.
The pragmatic question for a European wholesaler in 2026: audit your current B2B app stack against the native feature list above. If 70%+ of what your apps do is covered natively, those apps can be removed once you verify the migration works. Realistic ongoing savings for a typical mid-size wholesaler running three B2B apps: €1,200-2,400 per year. That number scales linearly with how many apps you can retire — and unlike most Shopify pricing changes, this one cuts costs rather than adding them.
05
When a Custom Build Still Beats Both Native and SaaS
Shopify making B2B native does not eliminate the case for custom-built wholesale features. It changes when custom makes sense.
Case 1: Multi-tier distributor networks. If you sell to distributors who resell to sub-distributors who sell to end retailers, your pricing structure has more than three tiers. Shopify native caps at three catalogs. Plus has unlimited catalogs but is paying €27,600/year for storage feature you only need partially. A custom catalog system that handles 5-15 tiers natively costs €10,000-20,000 as a one-time build and pays back against Plus in 8-12 months for stores doing €500K+ B2B revenue.
Case 2: Complex pricing logic. Native Shopify B2B (Plus or non-Plus) handles volume discounts well but struggles with conditional pricing: "Customer X gets 20% off Brand A but pays full price on Brand B and gets 30% off if they order both together." Most DACH wholesalers have at least one customer with terms like this. A custom pricing engine handles arbitrary business logic that the SaaS-style native UI cannot express.
Case 3: EU compliance overlays. B2B in Europe has invoicing requirements ("Rechnung" with Pflichtangaben), VAT-OSS subtleties, and the upcoming e-invoicing mandate for B2B transactions. Custom B2B logic that ties pricing, invoicing, and tax compliance into one workflow saves operational time and prevents compliance errors. Native Shopify B2B handles each of those separately and lets you assemble them yourself.
Case 4: Operational integration. Most mid-size DACH wholesalers run a WaWi or ERP (JTL, Pixi, plentymarkets, SAP, Sage) that is the source of truth for inventory, pricing, and customer data. Native Shopify B2B does not integrate deeply with these — it expects to BE the source of truth. A custom B2B layer that treats your WaWi as the master and uses Shopify only as the storefront removes the dual-master data problem that plagues most B2B Shopify deployments.
For stores doing under €500K in B2B revenue with simple pricing, the answer is unambiguously: use native B2B on Advanced. For stores doing €500K-€2M with operational complexity, the question is whether Plus or a custom build is cheaper over five years. For stores above €2M with deep WaWi integration, the answer is almost always a custom build — but now the custom build can use Shopify's native B2B as the foundation rather than reimplementing the basics from scratch.
Case 1: Multi-tier distributor networks. If you sell to distributors who resell to sub-distributors who sell to end retailers, your pricing structure has more than three tiers. Shopify native caps at three catalogs. Plus has unlimited catalogs but is paying €27,600/year for storage feature you only need partially. A custom catalog system that handles 5-15 tiers natively costs €10,000-20,000 as a one-time build and pays back against Plus in 8-12 months for stores doing €500K+ B2B revenue.
Case 2: Complex pricing logic. Native Shopify B2B (Plus or non-Plus) handles volume discounts well but struggles with conditional pricing: "Customer X gets 20% off Brand A but pays full price on Brand B and gets 30% off if they order both together." Most DACH wholesalers have at least one customer with terms like this. A custom pricing engine handles arbitrary business logic that the SaaS-style native UI cannot express.
Case 3: EU compliance overlays. B2B in Europe has invoicing requirements ("Rechnung" with Pflichtangaben), VAT-OSS subtleties, and the upcoming e-invoicing mandate for B2B transactions. Custom B2B logic that ties pricing, invoicing, and tax compliance into one workflow saves operational time and prevents compliance errors. Native Shopify B2B handles each of those separately and lets you assemble them yourself.
Case 4: Operational integration. Most mid-size DACH wholesalers run a WaWi or ERP (JTL, Pixi, plentymarkets, SAP, Sage) that is the source of truth for inventory, pricing, and customer data. Native Shopify B2B does not integrate deeply with these — it expects to BE the source of truth. A custom B2B layer that treats your WaWi as the master and uses Shopify only as the storefront removes the dual-master data problem that plagues most B2B Shopify deployments.
For stores doing under €500K in B2B revenue with simple pricing, the answer is unambiguously: use native B2B on Advanced. For stores doing €500K-€2M with operational complexity, the question is whether Plus or a custom build is cheaper over five years. For stores above €2M with deep WaWi integration, the answer is almost always a custom build — but now the custom build can use Shopify's native B2B as the foundation rather than reimplementing the basics from scratch.
06
Migration Checklist: Moving from B2B Apps to Native (8-Week Plan)
If you are running B2B apps today and want to move to native, here is the sequence we recommend. Total elapsed time: about 8 weeks if you do it carefully, 4 weeks if you take risks.
Week 1: Audit and document. List every B2B app currently installed. For each, document what it does: company accounts, wholesale pricing, volume discounts, payment terms, custom checkout, etc. Map each feature to either (a) covered by native B2B, (b) requires Plus, or (c) still needs a third-party app.
Week 2: Enable native B2B in a sandbox. Most Shopify themes need minor adjustments for B2B (separate B2B login, wholesale-only product visibility). Use a development store to test the native flow end-to-end before touching production.
Week 3-4: Migrate customer data. Existing B2B customers in your apps are usually structured as individual customers with custom tags or metafields. Native B2B uses company records. Map the existing structure to company + buyer-on-company. Most apps offer CSV export; Shopify can import companies via CSV.
Week 5: Migrate pricing. Take your three most important wholesale price tiers and recreate them as native catalogs. Catalogs in native B2B are products + price overrides — straightforward but tedious. Plan one day per 200-300 SKUs.
Week 6: Parallel run. Keep your B2B apps active. Send a small subset of trusted wholesale buyers to the native flow. Watch for issues: incorrect pricing, broken catalog assignments, payment-terms not triggering. Fix as you find them.
Week 7: Full cutover. Switch the remaining buyers. Keep the B2B apps installed but disabled for 30 days as a safety net.
Week 8: Uninstall and reconcile. Once you are 30 days into native B2B with no issues, uninstall the legacy apps. Compute the saved subscription cost — that is your ROI baseline.
For stores where the B2B operation is meaningfully complex — multi-tier pricing, deep WaWi integration, EDI requirements — this migration is also the natural moment to consider whether the right next step is native B2B at all, or a custom B2B layer that uses Shopify's APIs as the substrate. Services like NoRentApps build custom B2B modules for European Shopify stores that combine native B2B capabilities with WaWi integration, multi-tier pricing, and EU-compliant invoicing in a single owned codebase — typically replacing three to five SaaS B2B apps with one custom layer.
Week 1: Audit and document. List every B2B app currently installed. For each, document what it does: company accounts, wholesale pricing, volume discounts, payment terms, custom checkout, etc. Map each feature to either (a) covered by native B2B, (b) requires Plus, or (c) still needs a third-party app.
Week 2: Enable native B2B in a sandbox. Most Shopify themes need minor adjustments for B2B (separate B2B login, wholesale-only product visibility). Use a development store to test the native flow end-to-end before touching production.
Week 3-4: Migrate customer data. Existing B2B customers in your apps are usually structured as individual customers with custom tags or metafields. Native B2B uses company records. Map the existing structure to company + buyer-on-company. Most apps offer CSV export; Shopify can import companies via CSV.
Week 5: Migrate pricing. Take your three most important wholesale price tiers and recreate them as native catalogs. Catalogs in native B2B are products + price overrides — straightforward but tedious. Plan one day per 200-300 SKUs.
Week 6: Parallel run. Keep your B2B apps active. Send a small subset of trusted wholesale buyers to the native flow. Watch for issues: incorrect pricing, broken catalog assignments, payment-terms not triggering. Fix as you find them.
Week 7: Full cutover. Switch the remaining buyers. Keep the B2B apps installed but disabled for 30 days as a safety net.
Week 8: Uninstall and reconcile. Once you are 30 days into native B2B with no issues, uninstall the legacy apps. Compute the saved subscription cost — that is your ROI baseline.
For stores where the B2B operation is meaningfully complex — multi-tier pricing, deep WaWi integration, EDI requirements — this migration is also the natural moment to consider whether the right next step is native B2B at all, or a custom B2B layer that uses Shopify's APIs as the substrate. Services like NoRentApps build custom B2B modules for European Shopify stores that combine native B2B capabilities with WaWi integration, multi-tier pricing, and EU-compliant invoicing in a single owned codebase — typically replacing three to five SaaS B2B apps with one custom layer.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I still need Shopify Plus for B2B in 2026?+
Only if your operation is at scale or has specific complexity. As of April 2, 2026, Basic, Grow, and Advanced plans include company profiles, up to three custom catalogs, volume discounts, vaulted credit cards, and payment terms (Net 15/30/60) at no extra cost. Plus retains unlimited catalogs, direct catalog-to-company assignment, partial payments/deposits, sales rep permissions, and per-Market theme customization. If you have under 500 wholesale customers across three or fewer pricing tiers and don't need partial-payment workflows, you can run B2B on Advanced ($399/month) instead of Plus ($2,300+/month).
Can I replace my B2B apps (BSS, Wholesale Helper, Bold) with native B2B?+
Probably yes, for 60-80% of stores currently using these apps. Apps that mostly provided company accounts, wholesale pricing tiers, volume discounts, and Net payment terms are now duplicating what Shopify does natively. Audit each app's feature list against native B2B capabilities — if 70%+ of what the app does is now native, it can usually be retired. Apps that handle EDI, complex approval workflows, multi-tier distribution networks, or multi-location buyer accounts may still be needed.
What's the catalog cap on non-Plus B2B?+
Three custom catalogs maximum on Basic, Grow, and Advanced plans. Each catalog can contain different prices for the same products and be assigned to different customer segments. If you need more than three pricing tiers — for example, distributor / sub-distributor / key account / government / online marketplace — you either need to consolidate tiers, upgrade to Plus (which has unlimited catalogs), or build a custom catalog system. Most mid-size European wholesalers fit comfortably within three tiers: standard wholesale, distributor, and key account.
When does a custom B2B build make more sense than Plus?+
When you have one or more of: more than five pricing tiers, complex conditional pricing logic, deep WaWi/ERP integration requirements, EU-specific invoicing and tax-compliance needs, or annual B2B revenue above €500K. A custom B2B module typically costs €15,000-30,000 as a one-time build and pays back against Plus in 12-18 months at higher revenue levels. The decision usually isn't "custom or Plus" — it's "start on Advanced with native B2B, upgrade or build custom when complexity outgrows native capabilities."