Shopify vs Mercado Libre: your own shop or the biggest market
For sellers in Mexico and Brazil: Shopify's plans and card fees against Mercado Libre's 8% to 20.5% commission, who brings the buyers, who owns them, and running both.
7 days for £1, then from £9/month.
- Shopify is software for running your own online shop. Mercado Libre is a marketplace full of shoppers. One gives you a brand and a customer list, the other gives you traffic on day one.
- In Mexico, Shopify’s Basic plan costs USD 14 a month on annual billing, and Shopify Payments charges 3.5% plus MXN 3 per card payment on that plan.
- Mercado Libre Mexico charges no monthly fee. It takes 8% to 20.5% of each sale, depending on category and listing type.
- Mercado Libre reported 89 million unique active buyers in Q2 2026. A Shopify shop has to bring in every visitor itself.
- Most growing sellers end up running both. FLUF Connect lists one inventory to each and ends a listing when the item sells on the other side.
If you sell in Mexico or Brazil, this is one of the first real decisions you make: build a shop of your own on Shopify, or sell where the buyers already are on Mercado Libre. The question is less about features than about who you pay to find customers and who owns them afterwards. The prices and fees below come from Shopify’s Mexican and Brazilian pricing pages and Mercado Libre’s own help pages and filings, checked in October 2026.
Rent a shop, or join a market
A Shopify store sits on your own domain with your own design, and nobody else’s products appear next to yours. You choose how checkout works and you keep every customer’s email. In exchange, Shopify does not send you shoppers. Every visit comes from your ads, your social posts, search engines or customers you already have.
Mercado Libre works the other way round. Your listing appears in a search used by tens of millions of people, next to every competitor selling the same thing, and the platform decides how prominently. Mercado Libre owns the buyer relationship, the checkout and the reviews. You get demand without having to create it, and you pay for that in commission on every sale.
What each one costs
Shopify
Shopify’s Mexico pricing page quotes plans in US dollars: Basic at USD 14 a month, Grow at USD 39 and Advanced at USD 299 on annual billing, with Plus from USD 2,300. Card payments through Shopify Payments cost 3.5% plus MXN 3 on Basic, falling to 3.4% on Grow and 3.3% on Advanced. If you use another payment provider, Shopify adds its own transaction fee: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced.
In Brazil the pricing page is also in dollars: Basic is US$ 25 a month, or US$ 19 a month paid annually, with the same 2%, 1% and 0.6% transaction fees when you use an outside payment provider. Add the cost of apps, a theme if you buy one, and, above all, the advertising that brings visitors.
Mercado Libre
Mercado Libre Mexico’s selling charges page puts the charge at between 8% and 20.5% of the sale, depending on category and listing type. A Clásica listing costs 8% to 17%. Premium costs 11% to 21.5% and gives buyers interest-free instalments. A fixed charge per unit applies to cheaper sales and stops once the total passes $299. Nothing is charged until something sells.
The fair comparison is cost per sale. A shop doing a handful of orders a month pays Shopify’s plan whether or not it sells, so Mercado Libre is cheaper at the start. As sales grow, a fixed plan plus card fees can work out lower than a commission in the high teens, provided your own marketing brings in buyers at a reasonable cost. Model both with the Mercado Libre fee calculator.
Side by side
| Shopify | Mercado Libre | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Your own online shop | A marketplace shared with other sellers |
| Fixed cost | From USD 14 a month in Mexico (annual billing) | None |
| Cost per sale | Card fees, e.g. 3.5% + MXN 3 on Basic in Mexico | 8% to 20.5% in Mexico, by category and listing type |
| Who brings the buyer | You | Mercado Libre, 89 million active buyers in Q2 2026 |
| Who owns the customer | You | Mercado Libre |
| Brand and design | Fully yours | Standard listing pages |
Traffic and control
Mercado Libre’s scale is the reason most Latin American sellers start there. Its second-quarter 2026 results report 89 million unique active buyers, up from 71 million a year earlier. A new seller with a competitive price can make a sale in the first week, which no new Shopify store can promise without paying for ads.
The cost is dependence. Your ranking, your reputation score and the rules on what you may say to buyers are all set by Mercado Libre, and a buyer who loves your product remembers the marketplace, not your shop. A Shopify store is slower to grow, but the customer list, the reviews and the brand you build there stay with you.
Which one to choose
Start with Mercado Libre if you sell products buyers already search for by name, you need sales before you can afford advertising, and you are happy competing on price and delivery.
Start with Shopify if you have your own brand, a social following or a niche that people find through content, and repeat customers matter more to you than the next sale.
Run both once you have stock to spare. Mercado Libre brings volume; your Shopify shop keeps the customers who come back. The hard part is stock: one unit, two shopfronts.
Running both with FLUF Connect
FLUF Connect imports your Shopify catalogue and lists it to Mercado Libre and other marketplaces from one inventory. When an item sells on one side, FLUF takes it down on the other. Connect both from the Channels screen.
| Task | Shopify | Mercado Libre |
|---|---|---|
| Import or list items from one inventory | Yes | Yes |
| End the listing when the item sells on another channel | Yes | Yes |
| Bring orders into FLUF | Yes | No. Mark the item sold in FLUF when it sells on Mercado Libre. |
| Relisting and offer management | No | No |
| Markets | Any Shopify store | 18 Latin American countries |
Crosslisting and inventory sync are on every plan. You can start with 7 days for £1, then from £9/month.
Related guides
- Sell on Shopify
- Sell on Mercado Libre
- Marketplaces you can sell on from Mexico
- Amazon vs Shopify
- eBay vs Shopify
- eBay vs Mercado Libre
- Mercado Libre vs Facebook Marketplace
- Shopify vs Walmart Marketplace
Sources
- Shopify México: Precios
- Shopify Brasil: Preços
- Mercado Libre México: Cargos por vender productos
- Mercado Libre México: Costo fijo por unidad vendida
- MercadoLibre, Inc.: Second quarter 2026 results (SEC filing)
Checked October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Mercado Libre usually gets a new seller to the first sale faster, because buyers are already searching there and there is no monthly fee. Shopify suits a seller with their own brand and a way to bring in visitors, such as social media.
The plans are priced in US dollars: USD 14, 39 or 299 a month for Basic, Grow and Advanced when billed annually. On top of the plan, each card payment on Basic pays 3.5% plus MXN 3 through Shopify Payments.
Between 8% and 20.5% of the sale depending on category: 8% to 17% for a Clásica listing and 11% to 21.5% for Premium, which includes interest-free instalments. Cheaper items also pay a fixed charge per unit.
No. Mercado Libre runs the checkout, the messaging and the reviews, and buyers remember the marketplace. On Shopify the customer list and the brand are yours.
Yes. FLUF Connect imports your Shopify products and lists them to Mercado Libre from the same inventory. When an item sells on one, its listing on the other ends.
No. FLUF ends your other listings when you mark a Mercado Libre sale as sold in FLUF. Shopify orders do come into FLUF.