Balance 
Shopify deposits without Shopify Plus
The built-in feature is Plus-only, the mechanism underneath it is not. That is the whole story, and it decides which route you take.
At a glance
What each Shopify plan gets, before the detail.
- Built-in deposits
- Plus only
- Deferred purchase options
- Every plan, through apps
- Saved-card charging
- Every plan, on Shopify Payments or PayPal
- Fulfilment holds
- Every plan
- Checkout
- Shopify's own, on every plan
- Cost of an app
- From free
A deposit app on Basic gives you the same checkout a Plus store gets, because it is the same Shopify mechanism. What Plus adds is a built-in screen for it, not a different capability.
Why it is Plus-only
Shopify built its merchant-facing deposits feature for Plus stores, alongside B2B payment terms. Whether it reaches other plans later is Shopify's call. What every plan already has is deferred purchase options: selling plans with a deposit at checkout, a remaining balance recorded as payment terms, and a saved card on Shopify Payments or PayPal. Apps use that API, which is why a deposit app on Basic gives you the same checkout as a Plus store gets.
Payment terms, payment mandates and fulfilment holds are likewise available to apps on every plan. None of the pieces a deposit needs is gated behind Plus.
Plus gives you the screen. Every plan already has the machinery behind it.
The three routes
An app, a workaround, or an upgrade. Most stores land on the first.
Option one: a deposit app
An app creates the purchase option on your products and runs the collection process afterwards. On Balance Due that means a plan editor, the automatic balance charge, retries with payment links, reminders and receipts, an automatic fulfilment hold and a customer payment page, from free.
- Shopify's native checkout, nothing bolted on
- The balance charged automatically on Shopify Payments or PayPal
- A hold on fulfilment until the order is paid
Option two: the draft-order workaround
Sell a 'deposit' product for the deposit amount, then create a draft order for the balance and send the invoice when the item is ready. It works with no app and no Plus, and it has three costs.
- The card is not saved, so every balance is a chase
- Nothing holds fulfilment automatically
- The sale is split across two orders, so reporting and refunds get messy
Option three: upgrade to Plus
Plus makes sense for other reasons: checkout customisation, B2B, volume. Upgrading only for deposits is the expensive route, and you may still want an app for the follow-up process.
- A built-in deposit screen on selected products
- The balance charged per Shopify's own schedule
- Holds and follow-up still handled in Flow or by hand
Side by side
| Deposit app | Draft-order workaround | Upgrade to Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works on Basic, Shopify, Advanced | Yes | Yes | No, that is the point of upgrading |
| Deposit at native checkout | Yes | No, a separate product | Yes |
| Card saved for the balance | Yes, on Shopify Payments or PayPal | No | Yes |
| Balance charged automatically | Yes | No, invoice by hand | Yes, per Shopify's schedule |
| Fulfilment hold until paid | Automatic | By hand | Manual or Flow |
| Reminders and receipts | Yes | By hand | Shopify notifications |
| One order per sale | Yes | No, two | Yes |
| Cost | From free | Your time | Plus subscription |
Fine for five orders a year is the honest summary of the workaround. Fifty orders a year is where the time it costs outruns the price of an app.
Setting up a deposit app on a non-Plus store
The same steps as on any plan. There is no Plus-specific step to skip.
- Check Settings, Payments: capture must be automatic at checkout or manual, not per fulfilment.
- Install the app and let it check your provider. Shopify Payments and PayPal Express can charge a saved card later; other providers use a payment link for the balance.
- Create a plan with a percentage or fixed deposit and a balance rule, and attach it to products, a collection or a tag.
- Add the app's deposit block to your product template once, under the buy buttons.
- Place a test order with Shopify's Bogus Gateway on a development store and watch the schedule email, the hold and the balance charge.
If you later move to Plus, the app keeps working. Use one or the other per product: a product with Shopify's own deposit option should not also carry an app plan.
What you cannot do on any plan
- Deposits at POS or on draft orders through deferred purchase options; those are online checkout only.
- Charge a saved card on providers that do not support it; you get a payment link instead, with the same reminders and hold.
- Change the order's outstanding amount from outside Shopify; the order is the source of truth.
- Split the balance into instalments through a deposit app; Shopify treats multi-payment schedules as payment-app territory.
None of those is a Plus limitation. They are the same on every plan, built-in feature or app.
What it costs
Balance Due is free for up to 3 orders with an open balance at any one time and from £19.99 a month after that, billed in GBP through Shopify, with no per-order fees. The deposit and the balance are ordinary Shopify payments through your own provider, so your normal processing rates apply and nothing is deducted by the app.
Set against a Plus subscription taken out only for deposits, an app is the cheaper route by a wide margin, and it includes the follow-up process that the built-in feature leaves to you.
Related
Shopify's built-in deposits vs Balance Due
Side by side.
How to take deposits on Shopify
The setup steps.
Pricing
From free.
Partial payments on Shopify
Deposits, pay links and BNPL: which partial payment is which.
Pre-order deposits
Deposit on a product that is not in yet, balance when it lands, dates that slip.
When a balance payment fails
What happens automatically, what to do next, and when to give up.
Questions
Does a deposit app need any Plus-only API?
No. Deferred purchase options, payment terms, payment mandates and fulfilment holds are available to apps on every plan.
Will my checkout look different?
No. The deposit is shown as an amount due now with the balance due later, in Shopify's own checkout.
What does it cost?
Balance Due is free for up to 3 open payment plans and from £19.99 a month after that, with no per-order fees.
Will Shopify bring deposits to every plan?
Possibly. Shopify moved B2B features to all plans in 2026, so it could happen. An app would still handle the collection process on top.
Does the draft-order workaround save the card?
No. A draft order invoice is paid through a link when the customer chooses to pay it. There is nothing to charge automatically and nothing to hold fulfilment against.
Can I use an app and Shopify's built-in deposits together on Plus?
On different products, yes. A product should carry one or the other, not both.
How do I know which flow my store will use?
The app checks your payment provider on install and tells you whether balances will be charged automatically from the saved card or collected by payment link. Nothing is left to find out on the first due date.
What if my provider cannot save a card?
Deposits still work. The balance is collected by a Shopify payment link on the due date, with the same reminders and the same hold on fulfilment.
Ready to set one up?
A first deposit plan takes about ten minutes, and the Free plan covers a real order end to end.