You’re probably reading this page because you saw an ad online about Shopify’s 21 day trial. As a budding entrepreneur, you’ve also probably noticed that Shopify is almost a must-have for an e-commerce store. So, of course, you’re interested in knowing more about this trial, what it provides, and if there is any catch to it.
After all, who wouldn’t want a potentially free method to get started on creating that online store they’ve been thinking about? Questions like “does Shopify 21 day free trial exist?” to “can I make sales during the trial period” will all be answered in this article. So buckle up for a wealth of information.
Click here to get the Longest Available Free Shopify Trial Today! (No one else has any trial longer than this btw.)
Is there Really A Shopify 21 Day Free Trial?
To jump right into the question, yes, there definitely is a Shopify 21-day free trial. And the good news is that Shopify has a long history of providing free trials for new users. These trials may last for only a specific period of time, but there’s no need to worry, cause there’ll always be another one around the corner.
You may have seen multiple Shopify advertisements and brand placements online promoting varying numbers of trial days. As mentioned, Shopify provides these free trials regularly, and as such there have been offers for 14 days and 44 days, all the way up to 120 days at one point.
Though, you should note that these long trials don’t happen very often. Unless you’re planning way into the future, you shouldn’t wait around hoping for one of these offers to pop up again. In fact, the 120-day Shopify free trial has not come around since 2018. You’d be better off utilizing the offer they are currently promoting.
How does the Shopify free trial work?
With the free trial, you will be able to access all of Shopify’s features and either try them out or start building your store. The point of the trial is to get users accustomed to Shopify’s system. Without the trial, you would have to pay from the get-go and spend the first month or two learning how to navigate through its features.
The trial gives you the ability to set up the base for your store before you start selling. As such, the way it works is pretty simple.
- You will first have to create an account on Shopify with an email address
- Then select the plan you want to use. You won’t be charged at this point and you don’t even have to enter your credit card details
That’s all it takes and you will have access to all of Shopify’s basic features. Yes, the trial only gives you access to the basic features to set up your store. You can get a feel for the features and use any of the free templates to build your store. But, in order to start selling and using any payment features, you will have to choose a paid plan.
Side note – If the payment methods you select are Bank Transfer and Cash on Delivery only, you can start selling even on a trial account.
During the middle of the trial, you are free to choose between any of the Shopify plans available to you. You won’t be charged for it, so you can use this method to test out some of the different features on each plan.
Once the trial period is over, your account will be suspended but not closed or deleted. You won’t be able to access it until you make the payment for your chosen plan. And the best part is that your store will remain suspended indefinitely. There is no condition where you have to make the first payment within a stipulated period of time. Once you’re ready to fully invest your time and money into the store, you can make the payment and get started immediately from where you left off.
So yes, there is no catch to this Shopify free trial. You won’t have to spend a dime to test out the features or even start building your store. Once the trial is over and you’re not happy about the store you created you can either:
- Leave Shopify altogether and try another service
- Or simply create another Shopify account and use the free trial to build another
History About The Shopify 21 Day Trial
Now, we mentioned earlier that Shopify has had many free trials in past. But, one thing you need to know is that all the offers you see online are not legit or offered by Shopify. Due to its popularity, there are many fake websites that advertise Shopify free trials that don’t exist. When you click on these links, you will either be redirected to the Shopify trial page with a different number of days or you will be taken to a spam site.
The Shopify 21-Day trial has never officially existed and is one such fake advertisement. The only true free trial that has lasted for many years is the 14-day trial. Most of the other numbers you hear are either fake or have certain conditions on them. Here’s a history of these trial periods:
- 14-day trial – The most common and legit Shopify free trial available even today
- 21-day trial – This has never been an option for a free trial. Simply used as marketing propaganda
- 30-day trial – Was available for a short period of time but was replaced by 14 days
- 44-day trial – This has never officially existed but was promoted by outside agents as a refund workaround. Shopify has since updated its policies and does not offer any refunds at present.
- 60-day trial – This was used as a promotional campaign by Shopify with selected partners. Those partners were able to provide their customers with a 60-day free trial, but it was never made public.
- 90-day trial – This offer was provided at a very specific time period – during the early COVID outbreak, to help businesses that were struggling at the time. It was stopped in June 2020 and will likely not come up again.
- 120-day trial – This offer was provided to only a select few people when Shopify initially launched in 2006. It has since sporadically popped up, again for selected groups of people, but has never been made officially public.
As you can see, most of the trial periods advertised online are fake. You would be wise to stay away from websites that are advertising these trials as you don’t know what you’re signing up for. Shopify currently only has the 14-day trial period made public. There are specific conditions required for the 30 and 60-day trial periods but they are not easily accessible to the public.
What Does the Shopify Trial Offer Include?
Shopify’s trial offer includes everything from a free domain and hosting to a suite of features that make starting your store easy. You can create a store in minutes, and there are no up-front costs or commitments. You can cancel at any time, and you can even use the trial to see if Shopify is right for your business.
- Domain – You get a free “myshopify.com” domain. This cannot be changed once you have created a store. But, with a paid account, you can add a custom domain.
- You can set up general settings related to your store early on
- You can place test orders and find out how the platform works
- You can test out the Shopify apps and decide which ones you want to use
Click here to get the Longest Available Free Shopify Trial Today! (No one else has any trial longer than this btw.)
What are the Many Features Available In the Shopify Trial
The reason Shopify is so popular is because of how convenient it is to set up an online store. They have included all the tools you would potentially need to run a business, thus making Shopify all you’ll need to run the store. With the free trial, you can test out most of these features. However, there are some features that need to be paid for that cannot be accessed.
Here’s what you can do with the Shopify trial:
1. Store Customization (Complete)
Even with the free trial, you will have full access to all of Shopify’s features. The drag-and-drop editor it uses is easy to learn and if you’ve used anything similar before, you’ll get the hang of it in no time. You can upload your own images and videos which will be stored in your account. Even when the trial ends, these will not be deleted.
The only sections you will not be able to access are the premium templates, themes, and customization features. Though there are tons of free resources available to everyone. For a basic store, you can simply choose a theme, make basic edits based on your specific requirements, and voila! You have a Shopify store.
2. Adding / Importing Different Products
With the trial, you can even populate your store with all the products you have in mind. You have the option of entering your products manually, or you can use Shopify’s partner Oberlo to help automate the process. You can choose the products you want through the Oberlo platform and they will be imported to your store with all the relevant details.
Through Oberlo, you can even add products you find from AliExpress. Gone are the days when you have to spend hours adding products one by one to the store.
3. Analytics and User Data
An e-commerce platform would not be worthwhile without an analytics dashboard. Shopify gives you advanced statistics about how your store is performing, inventory information, and customer data. They offer a ton of useful information which include:
- Which products are the most popular
- Which pages get the most traffic
- What is your customer bounce rate
- How many returning visitors the store gets
4. Create A Blog
Blogs are an important segment of an e-commerce store both from a User and SEO perspective. People coming onto the store would like to get more information, and Google prefers websites that provide useful information. Therefore, an online store without a blog will find it difficult to rank for its relevant keywords.
Shopify has bridged this gap with a built-in blog section that allows you to start uploading content from day 1.
How long is the Shopify free trial?
For those of you who didn’t read through the above text, let’s summarize what was said. The 14-day Shopify free trial is the only legit promotion that Shopify runs. Most of the other trial periods that you may have found online are fake and will not work. Even if you were to click one of those links, you would eventually end up with the 14-day trial.
There may be instances in the future where Shopify will promote a longer trial. But for right now, your only option is 14 days.
How to get the most out of your free trial?
To make the most out of your Shopify free trial this is what we recommend.
For Beginners:
If you have never used Shopify before, then you will have to spend some time learning how to navigate the platform. The best way to do this is to first avail the free trial offer using a throwaway email address. This way you can spend those 14 days trying out the different features and familiarizing yourself with the platform.
Once those 14 days are up, you can delete that account and create a new one with your main email address.
For Everyone Else:
If you are already familiar with Shopify or once you have completed the above steps, here’s how you can make the most of the 14-day trial.
- Spend one or two days populating the store with the necessary content and products. Ideally, you should have all this planned out before you create the account so you can complete it as quickly as possible.
- Secret Tip – Add your credit card details to your account. The general consensus is that with a free trial account, you cannot make any online sales. But, if you add your card details, you can unlock this feature. You will still have 12-13 days remaining on your trial period, and you will only have to make the payment after this period elapses.
- Start promoting your store and try to make some quick sales. This will allow you to cover at least the monthly costs of running the Shopify store.
Final Thoughts
Shopify is a great place to start building your online e-commerce store. When you’re starting out, getting as much help as possible would be a relief, and with Shopify’s free trials, you can have a head start.
Even though 14 days is not much compared to the other offers you’ve heard, there’s still a lot you can do inside those two weeks. And from now on, if you see any other Shopify free trial periods such as 21 days, stay as far away from those as possible since they aren’t really that long!
Click here to get the Longest Available Free Shopify Trial Today! (No one else has any trial longer than this btw.)
Shopify Free Trial FAQs
Below are frequently asked questions regarding Shopify 21 Day Free Trial!
1. When does the Shopify free trial start?
Shopify free trials are almost always available. Simply visit the official Shopify website at any time and click on “Start Free Trial” to begin.
2. How to create a store with Shopify free trial?
You can use Shopify’s in-built themes, templates, and customization features to build your first store.
