We launched the Shopify Theme Partner Program in 2010 to make it easy and affordable for entrepreneurs to find high quality themes. And it’s working. Every month, hundreds of thousands of merchants visit the Theme Store to set up their stores.
Merchants trust Shopify to offer a range of beautiful, performant themes that keep their storefronts on the bleeding edge of commerce. That’s why we’re rolling out new product improvements this year to support developers committed to quality.
Anti-piracy support
We’re implementing new anti-piracy measures in July so theme developers can protect their intellectual property. Theme license checks will detect theme copies and prompt merchants to resolve potential issues when they upload.
These checks make it clear to merchants when they’re using an unlicensed theme and help developers get paid for their work.
Theme Store discovery improvements
Expect fresh updates to the Shopify Theme Store this year. To start, we’re going to help quality themes stand out in the store and other surfaces, incorporating trust signals like ratings and performance scores into the theme card and listing pages.
We’ll also showcase new themes in more places to help them grow, like the Theme Store homepage and in editorial collections.
Changes to the Partner Program
We’re excited about these new investments in the theme ecosystem and are making changes to the Theme Partner Program to better support these ongoing efforts.
Starting January 1, 2025, a 15% revenue share will be applied to all earnings from your public themes on the Shopify Theme Store.
During the pandemic, we cut Shopify’s revenue share in half from 30% to 15% and added a 0% subsidy for earnings under $1M USD. We’re phasing out this subsidy but leaving the reduced revshare in place.
We believe this change sets the Shopify ecosystem up to be fair and durable for the long-term.
You can expect product updates and additional comms to roll out the rest of the year. We thank you for being a valued part of the Shopify ecosystem and for your continued support—we couldn’t make commerce better for everyone without partners like you.
P.S. It’s not too late to sign up for Editions.dev—June 25 in Toronto. We hope to see many theme developers there.
