What should my Shopify free shipping threshold be?

Find your average order value

Your threshold starts from one number: what a typical order is worth today. Shopify reports it in Analytics (Shopify's sales report help page, checked November 9, 2026).

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Analytics and click Reports.
2. In the Category filter, click Sales.
3. Open the Average order value over time report.
4. Set the date range to a normal stretch, for example the last 90 days without a big sale, and use Group by to view it by month.

Shopify calculates AOV as gross sales minus discounts, divided by orders. Shipping is not part of that number, so it already matches what a free shipping minimum counts: product prices.

Shopify's own AOV guide adds a warning worth following: "If the mean is much higher than the median, inspect your largest orders before using AOV to set a free shipping threshold" (Shopify blog, average order value, read November 9, 2026). A few large wholesale orders can make your AOV look higher than what most shoppers spend.

Why a threshold below your AOV gives shipping away

Picture a store whose AOV is $120 that sets free shipping at $100. Most of its orders were already over $100. Those shoppers get free shipping on carts they were going to buy anyway, so the store pays their shipping and sells nothing extra.

A threshold works only when it asks for more than a shopper planned to spend. A shopper with $120 in the cart and a $150 line in front of them has a reason to add one more item. A shopper already past the line has no reason to add anything.

Set it about one add-on item above your AOV

Use your price ladder, the prices of the items shoppers add to an order, to pick the gap:

• List the items that often join a cart: accessories, refills, a second color, a smaller product.
• Note their usual price range.
• Set the threshold at your AOV plus about one of those items, then round to a clean number.

Example (not a benchmark): a store with a $120 AOV sells add-ons at $25 to $40. $120 plus one add-on lands at $145 to $160, so it tests free shipping at $150. If its add-ons cost $10, a $150 line would ask for three extra items, and $130 to $135 would fit better.

Keep the gap reachable. Shopify's AOV guide notes that "A higher free shipping threshold could increase AOV but reduce the number of customers who complete a purchase."

Check the money too. Each extra order you win by the threshold has to earn back the shipping you now pay for. Shopify's free shipping guide shows the math: take the gap between the threshold and your AOV, multiply it by your gross margin, and compare the result with your average shipping cost (Shopify blog, free shipping, read November 9, 2026).

What Shopify's own guides say

Both of Shopify's guides put the line above a typical order:

• The AOV guide says: "With an AOV of $20, you could test free shipping on orders of $25 or more to encourage shoppers to add another item."
• It also says to "Start from your median order value", for example testing free shipping at $45 to $50 when the median is $35, while watching conversion rate and profit per order. "Keep it only if both hold."
• The free shipping guide says: "A minimum purchase threshold gives customers an incentive to increase their cart value to avoid shipping costs." Its worked example takes a $40 AOV and proposes a $45 minimum.
• It also warns: "Free shipping thresholds can also increase the share of orders for which the business pays delivery costs."

Test it and watch three numbers

Treat your first threshold as a test, not a final answer. Run it for a few weeks, then compare with the weeks before:

• AOV. It should rise toward the threshold. If it doesn't move, the line may be too far away or the add-ons are not visible.
• Conversion rate. The share of visits that become orders. A clear drop means the line asks for too much.
• Cart abandonment. In Shopify Analytics, the share of shoppers who reach checkout and leave. If abandonment climbs, lower the line toward your AOV.

Change one thing at a time, so you know which change moved the numbers. Shopify's free shipping guide suggests comparing free shipping types on "conversion, average order value, and profit margin".

Set it up natively in Shopify

Shopify gives you two ways to make shipping free over an amount. Both are included with Shopify, and neither needs an app.

Option 1: a free shipping discount with a minimum purchase amount (Shopify's free shipping help page, checked November 9, 2026). Use this for a sale or a code you can switch off.

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Discounts, click Create discount, and in the Select discount type menu click Free shipping.
2. Under Method, select Automatic discount and enter a title, for example Free shipping over $150. For a code instead, select Discount code.
3. Under Countries, leave All countries selected or choose countries.
4. Under Minimum purchase requirements (called Minimum requirements on a code), select Minimum purchase amount and enter 150.
5. Set Combinations and Active dates, then click Save.

Option 2: a free shipping rate based on order amount (Shopify's shipping rates help page, checked November 9, 2026). Use this for a standing policy shown as a free rate at checkout.

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings and click Shipping and delivery.
2. In the Shipping profiles section, click the profile, then click Add shipping option in the zone.
3. Enter a name, for example Free shipping, and from the Rate type menu select Order amount.
4. Enter 150 as the Minimum, leave the Maximum empty, and leave the Price empty or enter 0.
5. Click Done, then Save. Keep a paid rate for orders under $150, so smaller carts still have a way to check out.

The minimum counts product prices only, never taxes. With a discount, Shopify says "Products are counted towards a minimum purchase amount at their discounted price", when the discounts can be combined.

Combine it with a % off sale

A free shipping discount and a percentage sale can apply to the same order. Shopify lists order discounts with free shipping discounts as a combination every merchant can use (Shopify's discount combinations help page, checked November 9, 2026). Both discounts must allow it: "Multiple discounts are applied to an order only when the setting on each discount allows the combination."

1. In the free shipping discount, under Combinations, check the class of your sale (product discounts or order discounts).
2. In the sale discount, under Combinations, check Shipping discounts.
3. Test a cart just above the threshold. A product discount lowers the price the minimum counts, so a cart at $160 before a 20% product sale counts as $128 and misses a $150 line.

Decide whether sale shoppers should still reach free shipping. If not, that is fine; if yes, test the line against sale prices. Shopify applies product discounts first, then order discounts, and shipping discounts last.

Free shipping over an amount with Discount Genie

For a plain "free shipping over $150", use Shopify's own settings above; you don't need an app. Shopify's free shipping discount has no product field, so it can't make the line depend on what is in the cart. Discount Genie fits that case, for example free shipping over $150 only when the cart holds an item from your Ceramics collection.

Discount Genie is a Shopify discount app by Shopstack. Its Shipping discount takes a Cart qualifier for the subtotal and a product or collection filter, and by Discount Genie's plan configuration both are on the basic free plan, which covers up to 3 basic discounts.

1. Create a Shipping discount (create your first discount) and set it to 100% off, as in free shipping on specific products.
2. Under Target products from shipping profile, pick the products or collection.
3. Under Cart qualifiers, add a subtotal rule with your threshold, for example greater than 150.
4. Set Combinations, save, and test a cart above and below the line.

Discount Genie doesn't show a "spend $X more for free shipping" progress bar.

Shopify vs Discount Genie for a free shipping threshold

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