Shopify B2B Without Shopify Plus: Features, Limits & Alternatives (2026)

Can You Run B2B on Shopify Without Shopify Plus?

Yes. On April 2, 2026, Shopify extended foundational B2B functionality to Basic, Grow, and Advanced plans at no additional cost. These plans now include:

• Company profiles
• Up to three active B2B catalogs
• Volume pricing
• Quantity rules
• Payment terms
• Vaulted credit cards
• ACH payments for eligible U.S. merchants

That means a brand doesn’t automatically need Shopify Plus just because it wants to sell wholesale. But there’s an important distinction between having B2B functionality and having every B2B capability Shopify offers.

Plus still includes additional functionality such as unlimited catalogs for customer-specific pricing, direct catalog assignment to companies and locations, partial payments, and deposits. So the right plan depends on how the B2B operation is actually structured, not on the assumption that "wholesale" and "Plus" are the same decision.

What Shopify Gives You on Non-Plus Plans

Company profiles

B2B buyers can be represented through company profiles, letting a business manage wholesale customers and their purchasing relationships directly inside Shopify.

A company profile can hold multiple contacts, locations, and payment terms under one account, which matters once a wholesale customer is itself a multi-location business rather than a single buyer.

B2B catalogs

Basic, Grow, and Advanced plans support up to three active B2B catalogs, which can be used to give B2B buyers specific product availability and pricing.

Each catalog can carry its own price list and availability, assigned through Shopify Markets, which covers a surprising number of real wholesale setups, since most brands starting out run one general wholesale tier, maybe a VIP or high-volume tier, and perhaps a clearance or overstock tier.

Volume pricing

Shopify’s non-Plus B2B offering includes volume pricing, so merchants can build pricing structures based on purchase quantities. A buyer ordering 50 units can be quoted a different unit price than one ordering 5, configured once per catalog rather than negotiated per order.

Payment terms

Payment terms, net 15, net 30, and similar arrangements, are part of the current B2B offering on non-Plus plans too. For a business with a relatively straightforward wholesale setup, this set of capabilities can cover much of the core B2B selling process on its own.

Vaulted credit cards and ACH payments round out the non-Plus offering, so a buyer can be charged automatically when a net term expires without a manual invoice-and-follow-up cycle.

What Shopify Plus Adds

Shopify Plus still matters once a B2B setup needs capabilities beyond the non-Plus foundation. According to Shopify, Plus adds:

• Unlimited catalogs for customer-specific pricing
• Direct catalog assignment to companies and locations
• Partial payments
• Deposits

The difference isn’t B2B vs. no B2B; it’s foundational B2B (non-Plus) vs. more advanced B2B configuration (Plus). That distinction matters when deciding whether an upgrade is actually necessary or just assumed.

Shopify B2B vs. B2B Catalog Operations

There’s another distinction worth making, separate from plan tier. A B2B checkout lets a wholesale buyer purchase from a store. A B2B catalog operation is everything that happens around the products that buyer is purchasing, which products a dealer can see, which assortment belongs to each partner, wholesale pricing, product specifications and imagery, catalog exports, current availability, and partner-facing presentation.

These are product-data and distribution requirements as much as they’re checkout requirements, and it’s where a catalog platform and a B2B portal complement Shopify rather than compete with its native B2B functionality.

A team can have a fully configured B2B checkout and still be running the catalog side of the business on spreadsheets, because Shopify never claimed to solve that half of the problem in the first place.

Where Apimio Trade Portal Fits

Apimio Trade Portal is built for the partner-facing catalog side of B2B, not the checkout side. Instead of sending a dealer a static spreadsheet or PDF, a brand can provide a branded portal containing only the products relevant to that partner.

Trade Portal pulls its catalog data from Catalog Hub, so the partner-facing catalog stays connected to the underlying product record: Catalog Hub → Trade Portal → B2B partner. The portal can be configured around the products and pricing relevant to each partner, while the product data itself stays managed centrally, a different role from Shopify’s B2B checkout, not a competing one.

Three Common B2B Setups, and Which Plan Actually Fits

A small brand testing wholesale

One general wholesale price tier, a handful of accounts, orders that come through the storefront directly. Shopify’s non-Plus B2B features cover this almost entirely: company profiles for the accounts, one B2B catalog for the tier, volume pricing if quantity breaks matter. There’s rarely a reason to add anything else at this stage, and no reason at all to upgrade to Plus for it.

A growing dealer network

Multiple dealers, each carrying a different slice of the catalog, each expecting current specifications and imagery without emailing to ask. This is where the three-catalog limit on non-Plus plans starts to feel tight, and where a brand often reaches for Trade Portal before reaching for Plus; the catalog-count ceiling is a Shopify B2B limit, not a catalog-distribution problem, and a portal solves the distribution problem regardless of which side of that ceiling the brand sits on.

A multi-tier operation with company-specific pricing

Dozens of accounts, each needing its own negotiated price list and its own catalog assignment rather than a shared tier. This is closer to where Shopify Plus’s unlimited catalogs and direct company/location assignment genuinely earn their keep, and it’s also exactly the setup where a partner-facing catalog layer keeps paying off on top of Plus, since the catalog-distribution problem doesn’t go away just because the checkout got more capable.

When Shopify’s Native B2B Tools May Be Enough

An additional B2B portal isn’t automatically necessary just because a brand sells wholesale. Shopify’s native B2B functionality may already be sufficient when:

• There’s a small number of wholesale catalogs.
• B2B buyers primarily purchase through the Shopify storefront directly.
• The pricing structure fits the available catalog configuration.
• There’s no need for a separate branded partner catalog experience.
• Product information doesn’t need to be distributed through a dedicated dealer portal.

The goal should be adding another layer only when it solves a requirement the current setup doesn’t address, not adding one on principle.

When a B2B Portal Becomes Useful

A separate partner-facing catalog becomes more relevant once a wholesale operation involves more than placing orders through the storefront, for example, wanting each dealer to have a curated assortment, current product information, images, specifications, and pricing without sending updated files every time something changes.

Instead of Catalog → export spreadsheet → edit for dealer → email file → repeat, the workflow becomes Catalog Hub → partner portal → current catalog, reading live data instead of maintaining separate static copies. That’s the specific problem Trade Portal is built around.

Shopify B2B and Apimio Trade Portal Can Work Together

These aren’t competing systems. A common setup looks like: there is no required order to adopt them in; a brand can start with Trade Portal on a Basic plan long before B2B checkout is even a consideration, using it purely to give existing dealers a better version of the PDF price list they already send.

• Apimio Catalog Hub — central product information, attributes, pricing, and catalog data
• Trade Portal — partner-facing catalog and product distribution
• Shopify — D2C and/or B2B commerce experience

Each system focuses on its own role: Shopify provides the ecommerce infrastructure and native B2B selling capabilities, while Apimio manages the product-data layer and provides a partner-facing catalog experience for the brands that need one.

Nothing about that split requires picking Shopify B2B or Trade Portal first; a brand already running Shopify’s native B2B checkout can add Trade Portal on top without migrating anything, since Trade Portal reads from Catalog Hub rather than reaching into Shopify’s B2B configuration at all.

Example

Consider a furniture brand selling directly to consumers on Shopify’s Grow plan while also working with 15 independent retailers. Shopify’s native B2B tools handle the wholesale checkout and payment terms fine. But those retail partners also need to browse the current assortment, see specifications, review imagery, access wholesale pricing, export product information, and see only the products relevant to their specific agreement, none of which is a checkout problem.

Instead of maintaining a separate PDF or spreadsheet for each of the 15 partners, the brand uses Trade Portal for a branded catalog connected to Catalog Hub, while Shopify’s B2B checkout keeps handling the orders that come out of it.

The two are serving different parts of the same workflow, on the same Grow plan, with no Shopify Plus upgrade in the picture. If that brand later signs its 40th dealer and finds three B2B catalogs genuinely aren’t enough to represent its pricing tiers, that’s the moment Plus earns a real look, not before, and not just because wholesale is now involved, and even then the catalog and Trade Portal keep working exactly as they did before the upgrade.

What a Catalog Portal Doesn’t Replace

It’s worth being precise about the boundary here, since “B2B” covers a lot of ground. Company profiles, checkout, payment terms, vaulted cards, and ACH processing all stay inside Shopify; Apimio doesn’t touch the buying transaction itself, and Trade Portal isn’t a payment processor or an order-management system.

What it adds is upstream of that: the product record a dealer sees, the images and specifications attached to it, which subset of the catalog a given partner is scoped to, and whether that information is current the moment a partner opens it.

A brand can upgrade to Plus for the checkout-side capabilities and still need a portal for the catalog-side problem, or stay on a lower plan and solve the catalog-side problem without touching the checkout question at all, the two decisions really are separable.

The Bigger Question: Do You Need Shopify Plus?

There’s no universal answer. If the requirements fit Shopify’s current non-Plus B2B capabilities, moving to Plus solely to start selling wholesale usually isn’t necessary. If the Plus-exclusive capabilities- unlimited catalogs, direct catalog assignment, partial payments, deposits- are genuinely needed, Plus makes sense on its own merits. And if the main problem isn’t checkout at all but how product catalogs get managed and distributed to dealers and other partners, the relevant fix is a catalog-management and portal layer, not a Shopify plan upgrade.

The decision should start with the workflow that’s actually missing, not the assumption that B2B automatically means Shopify Plus. Worth being direct about scope while deciding: Apimio doesn’t replace Shopify’s B2B checkout, payment processing, or company-profile management; Trade Portal is a catalog and distribution layer, not a commerce platform, so the checkout decision and the catalog-distribution decision can be made independently of each other.

A Quick Way to Decide

Before assuming an upgrade is the answer, it helps to separate the checkout question from the catalog question:

• If the gap is missing catalogs, company-level pricing, partial payments, or deposits, that’s a Shopify plan question. Compare it against what Plus actually adds, not against wholesale in general.
• If the gap is dealers emailing for updated specs, images, or availability, that’s a catalog-distribution question, and it shows up on Basic just as often as it shows up on Plus.
• If the gap is wanting each partner to see a different assortment without maintaining a different spreadsheet per partner, that’s also a catalog-distribution question, independent of plan.
• If the gap is genuinely all of the above, the two fixes aren’t mutually exclusive; plenty of Shopify Plus merchants still run a partner portal on top, because Plus solves the checkout ceiling and a portal solves the catalog-distribution one.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can you do B2B on Shopify without Shopify Plus?

Yes. Shopify makes foundational B2B features available on Basic, Grow, and Advanced plans, including company profiles, up to three active B2B catalogs, volume pricing, and payment terms. Apimio Trade Portal works alongside any of these plans if a brand also needs a branded, partner-facing catalog layer.

2. Is Shopify Plus required for wholesale?

No. Shopify Plus isn’t required for all wholesale use cases, non-Plus plans now include foundational B2B functionality, and Plus adds capabilities for more advanced configurations. Apimio’s Catalog Hub and Trade Portal work the same way regardless of which Shopify plan a brand is on.

3. How many B2B catalogs can Shopify non-Plus merchants have?

Basic, Grow, and Advanced support up to three active B2B catalogs; Shopify Plus supports unlimited catalogs. Apimio’s Trade Portal adds partner-specific catalog views on top of whichever plan a brand is on, which isn’t the same limit as Shopify’s own B2B catalog count. A brand nowhere near three catalogs today can still hit the ceiling faster than expected once seasonal or regional pricing tiers get added.

4. What does Shopify Plus add for B2B?

Shopify says Plus adds unlimited catalogs for customer-specific pricing, direct catalog assignment to companies and locations, partial payments, and deposits. Reaching the three-catalog ceiling on non-Plus plans is usually a sign a brand has grown into distinct pricing tiers- general wholesale, VIP, clearance- faster than the plan anticipated, which is worth noticing on its own before deciding whether the fix is more catalogs or a portal.

5. Can I run Shopify B2B without Shopify Plus and still use Apimio?

Yes. Apimio Trade Portal works as a separate B2B catalog and partner-portal layer connected to Catalog Hub, independent of Shopify plan; it gives partners scoped product information, pricing, imagery, and exports whether the underlying store is on Basic, Grow, Advanced, or Plus.

6. What is the difference between Shopify B2B and Apimio Trade Portal?

Shopify’s B2B tools focus on the commerce and buying experience, company profiles, pricing, checkout, and payment terms. Apimio Trade Portal focuses on distributing a brand’s product catalog to B2B partners through branded, partner-specific portals connected to live Catalog Hub data. They solve different parts of the same B2B workflow rather than competing for the same job, which is also why the honest answer to "which one do I need" is usually "it depends which of the two problems is actually costing time right now," not a fixed recommendation either way.

Conclusion: B2B Doesn't Automatically Mean Shopify Plus

Shopify's 2026 B2B updates make it possible for many merchants to start selling wholesale without moving to Shopify Plus. The right choice depends on the B2B capabilities your business actually needs.

For brands that need more than the checkout, particularly a structured way to distribute product information to dealers, retailers, wholesalers, and other partners, a B2B catalog layer can complement Shopify's native tools.

Apimio Trade Portal connects that partner experience to your product data, giving B2B buyers a current, branded catalog without making your team rebuild static files for every partner.

Run B2B on Shopify without rebuilding your catalog

Use Shopify for your commerce workflow and Apimio to manage and distribute the product data behind your B2B channel.

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