Realistic first-90-days startup costs for a new dropshipping store: platform, domain, apps, ads, samples, software.
All calculations run in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server. Last updated: 2026-07-19 · Formula verified against published sources (see below).
Adds up everything it actually costs to launch a Shopify dropshipping store for the first 90 days: monthly recurring costs (Shopify plan + apps), one-time costs (theme, samples, registration, branding), and your initial ad budget. The result is the realistic cash you need to start.
Dropshipping ads that say "start dropshipping with $0" are misleading. While you don't need to buy inventory up front (the supplier holds it), you still need: a Shopify plan, at least one paid app or two, sample orders (to verify product quality before selling), an initial ad budget (testing products costs money before it makes money), and ideally a business registration for legal/tax reasons.
90-day total = one-time costs + (monthly recurring × 3) + initial ad budget
| Cost | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify Basic (3 mo @ $29) | Monthly | $87.00 |
| Apps (reviews, email, upsell) | Monthly | $360.00 |
| Domain (yearly) | One-time | $14.00 |
| Theme (free) | One-time | $0.00 |
| Sample orders (3 suppliers) | One-time | $60.00 |
| Ad budget (3 months) | Ads | $900.00 |
| Business registration (LLC) | One-time | $100.00 |
| Branding + content | One-time | $200.00 |
| 90-day total | $1,721.00 | |
With a $10 contribution per order, you'd need ~37 orders just to recoup the one-time costs ($374 ÷ $10). After that, contribution starts paying down the monthly recurring + ad spend.
How many units you need to sell to cover fixed costs (Shopify plan, apps, ad budget). The line between red and black.
Return on investment for a campaign, product line, or the whole store. Compare ROI across products to decide what to scale.
Project monthly cash flow from sales, costs, ad spend, and payment-processor payout lag. Find the gap before it finds you.
What it actually costs to launch a Shopify dropshipping store in 2026, line by line, with the cheapest viable path highlighted.
Ad costs are up, margins are down, and AI is everywhere. The honest answer with sourced benchmarks and the model that still works.
A bottom-up revenue forecast built from traffic × conversion × AOV. The same model serious dropshippers use, not a vibes-based guess.