Apps to know your store's real profit: 2026 comparison (Tiendanube, Shopify and Mercado Libre)

Why aren't Tiendanube or Shopify stats enough?

Tiendanube, Shopify and Mercado Libre show you how much you billed. Not how much you made. The gap between those two numbers can be the line between scaling and going under.

Say you billed $2,000,000 this month. After subtracting product costs, Tiendanube fees (up to 2%), Mercado Pago fees (up to 6.29% for immediate payout), the cost of interest-free installments (up to an extra 32.29% on 12 installments, all + VAT), the shipping you absorbed, your Meta Ads spend and salaries, what's left? That's real profit. And for many stores it's much less than what shows up on the sales dashboard.

The problem is that each platform only sees its own numbers. Tiendanube doesn't know how much you spent on Meta Ads. Meta Ads doesn't know how much Mercado Pago charged in fees. Your spreadsheet adds it all up by hand, with errors. Real profit apps solve exactly that.

To understand all the costs hiding inside every sale, read the hidden e-commerce costs that wreck your margin.

Which costs should a real profit app calculate?

Before you choose, understand which costs make the difference. An app that doesn't include all of them gives you an optimistic number, not a real one:

• Product cost (manufacturing or purchase, per SKU)
• Sales platform fee (Tiendanube: 0.7% to 2%; Shopify: varies by plan; Mercado Libre: 11.8% to 17.14% depending on category)
• Payment fee (Mercado Pago Argentina: from 1.49% with a 35-day payout to 6.29% for immediate payout)
• Interest-free installment cost (2 installments: 7.79%; 3 installments: 10.49%; 6 installments: 18.69%; 12 installments: 32.29% — all + VAT on the sale price)
• Shipping (what you pay the courier, not what the customer is charged)
• Ad spend (Meta Ads, Google Ads, Mercado Libre Ads)
• Discounts and coupons
• Returns and cancellations

If the tool you use doesn't include all of those items, it can show you a 25% margin when you're really at 8%, or in the red.

Real profit apps for LATAM compared (2026)

The comparison that matters isn't the monthly price, it's which costs each tool calculates. An app that doesn't include Mercado Pago installments can show you a 30% margin when it's really 10%. The cost of deciding with the wrong number far outweighs the price difference between tools.

You can browse the apps in the Tiendanube app store and the Shopify App Store to compare the options available for your platform.

Why is Escalafy the most complete option for LATAM?

Escalafy is the only platform built for e-commerce in Argentina and LATAM that connects every sales channel and adds up every cost in real time. No spreadsheets, no waiting for the monthly close.

• Connects Tiendanube, Shopify and Mercado Libre in one dashboard
• Automatically calculates the cost of Mercado Pago interest-free installments with updated 2026 rates
• Imports your real Meta Ads and Google Ads spend and shows real ROAS (not Meta's inflated one)
• Calculates cost per SKU and shows which products make money and which lose it
• Forecasts cash flow: when you'll get paid for each sale depending on the payment method chosen
• Shows profitability per ad campaign, not just the store total

Setup takes less than 15 minutes: you connect your platforms via OAuth and data starts flowing in right away. No code, no technical help. From day one you can see the product profitability dashboard running on your real data.

When does Ganancia Real make more sense than Escalafy?

If you sell only on Tiendanube, have a small catalog and don't run significant paid ads, Ganancia Real (from USD 13/month) can cover your basic needs to get started.

As soon as you start spending on Meta Ads, add Mercado Libre or need to see profitability per SKU and per campaign, Ganancia Real falls short. At that point, the cost of not having the real numbers far outweighs the price difference between the two tools.

To decide well, ask yourself: how much does a wrong decision based on partial numbers cost me? If you're in scale mode and your real ROAS is negative without you knowing it, every peso you spend on ads destroys margin. To understand this risk better, read how to know if your store is really profitable.

Do these apps replace your accountant?

No. Real profit apps show operating profitability in real time: how much comes in, how much it costs you to sell it, how much is left. They don't handle taxes, AFIP invoicing or your accounting balance sheet.

The advantage is speed and granularity: instead of waiting for the month-end accounting close, you see whether you made or lost money today, by product, by campaign and by channel. That lets you act, not just report.

If you want to know how to get a complete dashboard for your business, read what a good e-commerce profitability dashboard should show.

Real profit apps FAQ

Does Escalafy work with Mercado Libre?

Yes. Escalafy connects directly to Mercado Libre and calculates the real profit of every Mercado Libre sale, including the category fee, the cost of Mercado Libre Full, the cost of Mercado Libre ads and the interest-free installments offered on the platform.

How long does the initial setup take?

Connecting Tiendanube or Shopify takes less than 5 minutes. Mercado Libre and Meta Ads connect via OAuth with no code. In less than 15 minutes you have your first data. You only need to load each product's cost to see your real margin from day one.

What if my products have very different costs?

Escalafy calculates profitability per SKU. You can see exactly which product makes money and which loses it, even within the same category. That's what lets you make concrete decisions: raise the price of what's underperforming or pull it from the catalog altogether.

Does it work for stores in Mexico, Chile and Colombia?

Yes. Escalafy is built for LATAM. Payment methods, fees and costs are configured for each market. The dashboard works in real time for any country in the region where you operate.

Is there a trial period?

Escalafy offers a 14-day free trial, no credit card required. In that time you can connect your platforms and see your real margin before deciding whether to continue.

Is there a free app to calculate my store's profit?

Yes, and it is the right place to start. Escalafy is free up to 50 orders per month, no card and no time limit: you connect the store, load your costs and see your real profit with the full dashboard. If you sell more than that, paid plans start at USD 19 per month.

The Tiendanube app store has several free profit apps, and it is worth knowing what you are looking at before you trust the number. There is really only one question to ask any of them: where do the costs come from? Most free options read only what the platform already reports — the cost you entered on the product and the fee shown on the order. That leaves out the financing cost of interest-free installments, Meta ad spend, the month's fixed costs and what is left over from Mercado Libre. In an Argentine store, those four things eat most of the margin.

Put another way: a free app that only subtracts product cost gives you gross margin, not profit. It is useful for tidying up your catalog; it is not enough to decide how much to spend on ads tomorrow.