Shopify Variant Limit: From 100 to 2,048 (And the 3 Option Cap)
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Shopify used to limit you to 100 variants on a single product. Since October 2025 that’s gone up to 2,048, but you’re still capped at 3 options (like size, colour and material).
For years Shopify said the 100 variant limit couldn’t be raised for any account or plan. Then they raised it to 2,048 for everyone.
So for most stores, the answer is now just “use variants”. But if you’re hitting the 3 option cap, or you want each colour to be its own page, there are still workarounds.
What changed with the variant limit?
Shopify rolled out 2,048 variants per product to all merchants in October 2025. Creating a product works exactly the same as before, you just keep adding variants.
The option limit didn’t move though, so it’s still a maximum of 3 options per product. And some apps and integrations built around the old 100 limit can still struggle with big products, so test before you go wild.
Just because you can add 2,048 variants doesn’t mean you should. All variants live on one URL, so if people search for a specific one (say a particular colour), that one page has to rank for all of them. If a variant has its own search demand, a separate product may still be the better call.
If 2,048 variants and 3 options still isn’t enough, there are a few ways around it.
Solution 1. Split into different products with internal links
The first solution is to divide your product variants into separate products, this can actually be more user friendly.
If you look at GymShark’s T-Shirt collection, for example, you’ll see multiple Arrival Regular Fit T-Shirts each in a different color.
I’d argue this is more user friendly as this is a more visual friendly purchase, but also because it allows you to select your product from the start - rather than clicking in first and changing colour later.
Opening any of these products will allow a swatch-like selector to change between colours:
Each one of these colours are linked to separate products:
- Gymshark Arrival Regular Fit T-Shirt - White
- Gymshark Arrival Regular Fit T-Shirt - Black
- Gymshark Arrival Regular Fit T-Shirt - Charcoal
Then within each of these products, they’re using variants for selecting the sizes.
I’ve seen many stores using this same approach where separate products are created for each colour, material, and even size.
Generally, it’s easier for a potential customer to see all their options up front, rather than need to click through to each product to compare.
The two complexities with this approach are:
- You’ll need to hire a developer to implement the internal linking between different products - meta fields can be used to connect the products.
- You’ll need to use canonical URLs for SEO.
The latter is my area of expertise, you don’t need to have 6 different pages for a single t-shirt in different colours. It’s unlikely that people are searching for “charcoal arrival t-shirt”.
So presuming there are no searches for each of these individual product pages, you can inform search engines that they’re all part of a single page.
For example, you could have one page setup for /products/gymshark-arrival-regular-fit-t-shirt which we’ll call a “parent” product.
The colour variations would then be our “child” products, with each of them containing a canonical tag that points to the parent product.
That would look like this:
<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.gymshark.com/products/gymshark-arrival-regular-fit-t-shirt">(You can create a custom meta field to store the canonical URL)
Now you’ll have 6 separate products for users, allowing you to get past the 100 variants limit while improving user experience. But from an SEO perspective, it’s only one single page.
Solution 2. Use a product options app
A much easier way to solve this is with a Shopify app. There are many apps that will allow you to add additional product options, not only variants.
Here are 4 of them:
Make sure to consider usability also: is it easier for your customers to select the option directly from the collection page rather than needing to click through to another page first? Especially if it’s a visual option.
The upside of these apps is they allow you to add options in a variety of ways.
A great example is all these options on Sapphire Eyewear:
They even allow you to upload your prescription:
Depending on your product options, this could be a great choice. Just be careful to test this with a staging website to check for conflicts and issues before adding to your website.
Old hack: merging products in your theme
Before the 2,048 limit, some stores merged several products into one page with custom theme code. You almost certainly don’t need this any more. If you’ve still got it running, it’s worth removing so you’re not maintaining code for a limit that’s gone.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many variants can a Shopify product have?
Up to 2,048, on every plan. That went up from 100 in October 2025. You’re still limited to 3 options per product, though. Some older apps and integrations may still cap at 100, so test yours.
How do I get more than 3 options on Shopify?
You can either:
- Use Line Item Properties, however, this will not affect price or inventory levels.
- Use a product options app.
- If you’re on Shopify Plus, use combined listings to group separate products on one page.
Is there a limit to products on Shopify?
No. Shopify allows unlimited products with many stores utilising upwards of 100,000.
Final Thoughts
The 100 variant limit is gone, so for most stores the answer is just “use variants”. You only need a workaround now if you’re hitting the 3 option cap, or you want each colour to be its own page for search and browsing. In those cases I’d still go with separate products or an options app.
Many stores here think about product options in a fairly traditional way, you have the product name, then product options. This makes sense when ordering from a single form or over the phone, but is it the best when purchasing online?
Say, you were purchasing some new curtains.
Would you rather select the style you like, then select the colour and lining afterwards?
Or would you prefer to filter by blackout lining on the collections page, then see a list of all patterns and colours to visually compare right from the collection?
This depends on your store and products, but it’s something worth considering.
Beyond that, you should pay close attention to any SEO issues created by these approaches. I’m definitely biased, but I’d suggest consulting with an SEO during or shortly after implementing this.