On January 1, 2027, Shopify replaces its Select, Plus and Premier partner tiers with Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond, and every tier comes down to two numbers: how many stores a partner has launched or transferred, and how much those stores have sold. Shopify announced the change on November 4, 2026.
If you're choosing a Shopify developer or agency, that changes what the badge on their site means. Here's what each tier takes, what it leaves out and what to ask instead. We have a stake in this, so you should know where we stand: we're a Plus partner today, and Shopify's partner dashboard shows us moving to Gold on January 1.
What each new tier takes
A partner has to reach both numbers for a tier:
- Silver: 1 store and $25K in sales, measured over 1 year.
- Gold: 5 stores and $5M in sales, measured over 4 years.
- Platinum: 20 stores and $50M in sales, measured over 4 years.
- Diamond: 25 stores and $500M in sales, measured over 4 years.
Those are the stores a partner launched or transferred to a merchant, and Shopify's partner documentation calls them attributed shops. It calls their sales attributed GMV, which is net of refunds and covers every channel, including point of sale and B2B.
Every partner starts at Registered, which only means they joined the program. From January 1, Silver is the first level with a tier badge and a listing in Shopify's Partner Directory.
Why "Plus Partner" is going away
Shopify says the name "often led merchants to think it was tied to our Shopify Plus plan." The new rules make the split plain: "Shops count equally on every Shopify plan," so a tier tells you nothing about a partner's experience with Plus.
If you're on Plus or moving to it, ask which Plus stores the partner has worked on and what they did there.
What a tier tells you
A tier measures volume, and volume means something. A Gold partner launched or transferred at least five stores, and those stores sold at least $5M in the four-year window.
Higher tiers also get more from Shopify. Co-marketing funds start at Gold, and Platinum and Diamond partners get closer support, from regular business reviews up to Shopify working as an extension of their team.
Silver is a low bar on purpose. Shopify says "too many partners are doing strong, consistent work in our ecosystem without qualifying for a tier," so one store and $25K now qualifies. That's good for newer partners, but a Silver badge doesn't tell you much more than that.
What a tier doesn't tell you
- Work on stores they didn't launch or transfer. Shopify says "collaborator access or a referral submission on its own doesn't count." Collaborator access is how a partner usually gets into a store that already exists, so years of redesign, speed, accessibility or support work on someone else's launch can earn no credit. That goes for us too.
- How good the work is. A tier counts sales, and those depend on the brand as much as the build. It doesn't measure accessibility, speed or whether the code is easy to maintain.
- Whether a partner fits a store your size. Diamond takes only five more stores than Platinum, but ten times the sales. Shopify says it's for partners "supporting some of the world's largest merchants." A higher tier can simply mean larger clients.
- How recent the work is. Gold and above look back four years, so a tier can rest on stores launched a few years ago.
Is Gold lower than Plus?
You can't compare them directly. Shopify says a partner's January 1 tier is "based on the updated requirements, rather than a direct swap from your current tier," so a partner can go up, go down or stay the same.
By position, Gold is the second of four tiers above Registered, and so is Plus today, between Select and Premier.
The name to watch is Platinum. It's the top tier today and the second highest from January 1, with its own new requirements, so a partner who is Platinum now won't necessarily stay Platinum.
What you'll see, and when
- Until January 1: current tiers stay in place, so a partner calling itself a Plus partner is still accurate. A partner already announcing Gold, Silver or Diamond is going by the tier Shopify's dashboard projects for January 1, not one it holds yet.
- November 9: Shopify relaunches the Partner Directory. It shows each partner's current tier, and profiles are built largely from their Shopify work.
- January 1, 2027: the new tiers take effect, the directory updates to show them, and partners can download their new badges.
- After that: tiers update daily instead of quarterly. A partner keeps a tier for at least six months. Then Shopify reviews it, and a partner who no longer qualifies moves to the tier they do.
Partner websites will lag behind. If a site still says Plus Partner in February, it may only mean nobody has updated the page, so check the directory.
What to ask a partner instead
- Which stores like mine have you worked on, and what did you do on them?
- Who will do the work, and will I talk to them directly?
- Can I talk to a client you still work with?
- What happens after launch, and who fixes things when they break?
Questions about the new tiers
When do Shopify's new partner tiers start?
On January 1, 2027. Current tiers and their benefits stay the same until then.
What happens to Shopify Plus partners?
The Plus tier retires on January 1, 2027. Each Plus partner moves to whichever new tier their stores and sales qualify them for, so not every Plus partner lands in the same place.
Does a Shopify Plus store need a certain partner tier?
No. Tiers aren't tied to the plan, and stores count the same on every plan. Ask about a partner's Plus work directly.
Where can I check a partner's tier?
In Shopify's Partner Directory. From November 9 it shows each partner's current tier, and from January 1 it shows the new one, for partners at Silver and above.
Can a partner lose a tier?
Yes. A tier holds for at least six months, then Shopify reviews it. Older stores and sales drop off as the measurement period moves forward, so a partner has to keep launching stores, or see the ones in the window keep selling, to stay where they are.
Braun Design Co is a boutique Shopify partner in Austin: Plus tier today, Gold from January 1. Custom themes, migrations, and ongoing store maintenance and support for brands that already sell.
If you're comparing partners and want to know whether we're the right fit, book a 30-minute call.
