There are three ways to limit price: price rules, price limits by product, and cumulative price rules. All three limit the purchase amount, but they differ in what they evaluate and what they are suited for.
If you want to apply the same condition together to multiple products within a single order, use price rules.
If you want to set different conditions in detail for each product or variant within a single order, use price limits by product.
If you want a per-customer limit on the total purchased across orders, use cumulative price rules.
If you want to limit by the cart subtotal or the grand total, use price rules.
If you want many different price limits combined into a single checkout rule overall when enabled, use price limits by product.
The first difference to check is whether the limit is evaluated within a single order or against the total purchased across orders.
Method | What is evaluated |
|---|---|
Price rules | A single order (the cart) |
Price limits by product | A single order (the cart) |
Cumulative price rules | The total purchased across orders |
Note: Due to a Shopify limit, you can enable up to a total of 25 checkout rules per store, including checkout rules enabled by other apps. Each enabled price rule and each enabled cumulative price rule counts as 1, and price limits by product counts as 1 overall when enabled.
Both are evaluated within a single order. Compare the setup target, how totals are calculated, application to new products, and checkout rule consumption, and choose the method that fits your needs.
What you want to do | Which feature fits |
|---|---|
Set the same minimum and maximum price for eligible products | Price rule |
Limit by combining different products | Price rule |
Limit by the cart subtotal or grand total | Price rule |
Set different prices for each product or variant | Price limits by product |
Limit by combining eligible variants within the same product | Either feature works |
Comparison | Price rule | Price limits by product |
|---|---|---|
Specifying eligible products | All / Collection / Products and variants / Product tag | Per product or variant |
Automatic application to new products | When matching the condition for All / Collection / Product tag | Requires individual configuration |
Automatically apply the same value to matching products | Yes | No |
Combining different products | Yes | No |
Combining the entire cart | Yes | No |
Price type | 4 types | Product subtotal / Product total |
When a pricing plan becomes required | Before creating a rule | When enabling the feature |
Product message | Requires the app embed | Requires the app embed |
Limit at checkout | Does not require the app embed | Does not require the app embed |
Tip: Price limits by product uses one checkout rule. If you have no other checkout rules enabled, you can use the remaining 24 for other rules.
Cumulative price rules are evaluated against the total purchased across orders. They differ from the two single-order methods in the following ways.
Comparison item | Price rules / limits by product | Cumulative price rules |
|---|---|---|
What is evaluated | A single order (the cart) | The total purchased across orders |
Identifying the customer | Not required | Required |
Limits you can set | Minimum and maximum amount | Maximum amount only |
When it is evaluated | When the cart is updated or at checkout | The total is evaluated at checkout |
Amounts you can base it on | 4 types for price rules, 2 for price limits by product | Item total before or after product discounts |
Changing the eligible items | Can be changed at any time | Cannot be changed once tracking has started |
Plans | Light plan and Full plan | Full plan |
A cumulative price rule evaluates the total only when the customer can be identified. For a customer who is not logged in, purchases are counted when the email they enter at checkout matches their customer record.