Shopify Academy

What you get

Shopify Academy (shopifyacademy.com, which is where shopify.com/learn now points) is Shopify's official learning platform. It mixes short courses, videos and learning paths across the whole platform: store setup and the admin, marketing, international selling, shipping and fulfilment, Point of Sale, B2B and checkout customisation. For someone who wants to build stores for clients, that breadth matters, because most client questions are about the admin rather than code.

Courses worth starting with (as of 2026-09)

For developers and freelancers building stores, look for these on the catalogue:

• Shopify Development Fundamentals: a free learning path of four courses covering how the platform fits together.
• Introduction to Shopify Liquid: a short free course (around 30 minutes) on Liquid objects, tags and filters.
• Getting Started with Liquid for Developers and the Liquid Storefronts for Theme Developers path, for theme work.
• Creating an App for Shopify and Integrating with Shopify, free courses if you later want to build apps rather than themes.

For store builders who talk to clients, the merchant courses on shipping, taxes-related settings and international selling are useful background before you configure a real store.

Free vs paid

The courses are free with a Shopify account. Shopify also offers credentials: some learning paths end in an assessment or proctored exam that costs money. At the time of writing the site listed fees such as $149 for a proctored exam and $249 for some advanced assessments, as shown on shopifyacademy.com in 2026-09. Fees change, so check the current price on the course page before you pay, and ask yourself whether a client in your market will actually value the badge. A portfolio of working stores usually says more.

Prerequisites and time

Merchant courses assume nothing. The Liquid and development courses assume HTML and CSS, and they are far more useful if you have a free development store open alongside so you can try each idea immediately. Individual courses run from about 20 minutes to a couple of hours; a full learning path is a few evenings.

How it fits with the docs

Shopify Academy explains concepts in a guided order. The reference material on shopify.dev (the Liquid reference, theme architecture docs and Shopify CLI docs) is where you look things up while building. Use the Academy to get oriented, then live in shopify.dev.

Common questions

Do I need to be a Shopify Partner? No, but a Partner account gives you free development stores to practise in, which makes the courses much more practical.

Will a credential get me clients? It can help you look credible on a profile, but it is not a substitute for finished work you can show.