Shopify has virtually become associated with online shopping. For a good purpose. It is one of the most widely used e-commerce platforms, powering over one million enterprises in over 175 countries.
But, just because something is popular does not always imply it is the best choice for you. As you’re certainly aware if you’re looking for Shopify alternatives.
We can assist you whether you are an existing Shopify customer searching for additional options or are just starting to investigate what e-commerce platforms are available. We’ll go over the best Shopify alternatives, including the benefits and drawbacks of each e-commerce system.
What is Shopify?
Before we get into our list of the best Shopify alternatives, it’s important to define Shopify. Shopify is one of the most popular eCommerce platform suppliers in the world. The cloud-based platform is simple to use and packed with features, with alternatives for Shopify businesses of all sizes and backgrounds. To increase your odds of sales, you can convert your existing website to Shopify or add a sales button to your website on another platform.
Shopify allows merchants to receive payments in a variety of currencies and sell almost anything. With a free name for your website, POS solutions for brick-and-mortar stores, and connectivity with social media outlets, the platform even offers multi-channel selling. With Shopify, you receive everything you need to develop a scalable store, from website designs and marketing add-ons to payment processing tools and inventory management.
Shopify Advantages:
- Usability: Shopify is the most user-friendly platform.
- Design: It has a plethora of visually appealing themes.
- Performance: Uptime and speed without stress
- Support: Shopify has a number of approved partners who can assist you.
- Apps: The best app for selling is Shopify, hands down.
- Dropshipping: Integration with Ordoro for dropshipping
- Value: Price plans that scale as you grow.
Why You Should Consider Alternatives to Shopify
Shopify isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, and it can’t suit some specific needs.
If you already pay for a CMS, such as WordPress, you may be annoyed by the additional cost of the second platform. And if you’re an artist, you can end up paying for features you don’t need or want to learn how to utilize.
Fortunately, alternatives cover the holes that giants like Shopify have left unfilled. If you explore some of them, you could discover that an option to Shopify is better for you.
Some of the most typical Shopify concerns are:
- Extra transaction fees – Unless you opt to handle payments directly through Shopify’s in-house service, you should expect to pay up to 2% per transaction.
- Liquid – Shopify’s custom template markup language isn’t the easiest to understand.
- Advanced Features – Only the higher-tier plans offer advanced features like real-time shipping prices and the ability to take gift cards. Many advanced functions are locked behind a fee on the platform. As a result, if you require additional capability, your monthly payment may balloon out of proportion.
- SEO Tools – Like inflexible URL structures and a WordPress plugin that employs iFrames, they do not always transfer to the best potential ranking performance, especially for large sites where Information Architecture is critical. Also, you cannot personalize your checkout page. Yet, a Shopify site can still rank first.
Alternatives to Shopify
#1. BigCommerce
BigCommerce, one of the most well-known Shopify competitors, is a popular e-commerce platform for larger enterprises. When you want a seamless, no-sweat experience and the versatility of a drag-and-drop editor, BigCommerce may be just about the perfect option. It is a well-known supplier that provides a complete solution for your e-commerce website.
Their themes are fantastic, however, there are just seven free themes across all industries. If you want more than the free minimum, you’ll need to pay for premium themes.
Because you can manage your storefronts on Amazon, eBay, Facebook, and Pinterest from BigCommerce, multi-channel selling is simplified. Your inventory is synced across all stores, ensuring that you never oversell.
On the negative, when I personally tested load times on BigCommerce sites, I discovered a handful that was quite slow. During testing, one BigCommerce site gave me a bandwidth problem.
Costs range from $29.95/mo to $249.95/mo, however the expense can be prohibitive. Every plan includes an extra yearly sales volume cap, so if you expect to sell more than $50,000 per year, you must upgrade.
Pros:
- It is applicable to the majority of company models.
- Strong SEO performance
- There is no limit to the amount of products available.
- Fantastic theme designs
- A wide range of features
- There are no additional transaction fees.
- Selling across several channels
- Good speed in the mobile store
- Hosted
Cons:
- Expensive For stores with significant volumes
- A Sharp Learning Curve
- Free Themes: A Few
- Speeds That Vary
- There are no one-click post-purchase upsells.
Use BigCommerce if you want to run a large ecommerce site and SEO is critical to your growth.
#2. Zyro
As far as Shopify competitors go, Zyro is a low-cost solution that provides many of the same features at a fraction of the price. The simplest plan costs less than $5 a month, and the top-tier plan costs $15.90 per month. Even with monthly plan pricing, the Advanced Store plan is less expensive than Shopify Basic.
Similar to Shopify, it provides a drag-and-drop page builder, an app marketplace for additional functionality, and a selection of templates. The app marketplace supports dropshipping, print on demand, marketing options, and more.
Pros:
- AI tools make it simple to create a website, create content, create a logo, and more.
- Affordably priced, with more discounts the longer you register your plan.
- There are no transaction fees.
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Recurring billing with over 70 payment methods
- Built-in blogging with post scheduling capabilities
- Sell internationally online in multiple languages.
- An ecommerce solution that works regardless of your business plan.
Cons:
- Product restrictions
- Multi channel selling and abandoned cart recovery are only available in the Advanced Store plan.
- Slow mobile speeds
#3. Wix
Wix gets right to the point by offering everything you need in an easy-to-use interface with inexpensive pricing. More than 100 useful templates, a diverse set of apps, highly configurable theme choices, and a user-friendly editor make it a go-to solution for both novice and advanced users.
Wix offers two options for setting up your site: ADI, which is more of an automated assistant that suggests a setup based on your responses in its questionnaire, and Manual. Wix Editor, on the other hand, offers for complete user control and customization, and it’s basically drag-and-drop, allowing you to insert any material anywhere on your website.
Wix’s app store has over 280 apps, add-ons, and plugins for embedding social media, live chat, payment gateways, coupons, and other services. You may also insert HTML codes, light boxes, and use different button styles – all at very low prices, giving Wix an advantage over Shopify.
A $5/month package includes 1GB of bandwidth and 500MB of storage, as well as the flexibility to link to a custom domain, making it a popular choice among many online business owners.
Wix eCommerce plan costs $16.50 per month and includes 10GB bandwidth and 20GB storage, a free domain name, and certain add-ons, but VIP costs $24.50 per month (which is cheaper than Shopify) and includes unlimited traffic.
Pros:
- Drag-and-drop editor, a plethora of lessons for self-study
- Features that are plenty
- Unique design, 100+ templates
- Compatible with a variety of third-party payment gateways.
- Wix branding on free plans
Cons:
- Limits on bandwidth and traffic
- Shopify vs. Limited Apps
- SEO
#4. Sellfy
Sellfy is a digital product sales-focused ecommerce platform. It’s ideal for artists selling illustrations, music, or video courses. Similar to Shopify, it is a cloud-based solution with a monthly subscription fee and separate credit card processing fees.
Similar to how Shopify offers the Lite plan with buy buttons, Sellfy offers a basic solution to embed products and buy buttons onto an existing website. There is a 14-day free trial period with no credit card required. Pricing ranges from $29 to $129 per month ($19 to $89 per month on an annual plan).
Pros:
- Simple to use – you may be up and running in five minutes or less.
- Sell digital or physical things.
- Payments and product downloads that are automated save you time.
- Contains all of the tools you’ll need to run your online store.
- There are numerous integration options.
- If you already have a Wix website, this package includes a Wix app to make selling downloads simple.
Cons:
- Only works with two payment processors – PayPal and Stripe
- Minimal design possibilities – you can only alter your colors and logo
- Expensive for the features provided
#5. Shift4Shop
Shift4Shop is a cloud-hosted shopping cart platform with comprehensive functionality and variable pricing. The platform gives an unlimited product storage option, which makes it a highly scalable platform for developing organizations. And security is second to none.
Costs range from $19/mo to $229/mo, and include basic SEO tools, abandoned cart email, coupons, subscriptions, tailored products, drop shipping, tracking, Facebook sync, and a slew of other perks. Please keep in mind that there is no product search functionality.
If you’re just getting started, you’ll like Shift4Shop’s varied capabilities and the in-house web design service that will personalize your shop’s UI, UX, and SSL certificates for a fair charge.
Pros:
- More than 70 payment gateways are supported.
- Product listings are limitless.
- The quickest load time
- Nice mobile store speed
- More features than Shopify
- There is no additional transaction cost.
- Web design services provided in-house
Cons:
- Service
- Dated themes
- Shopify provides a superior mobile user experience.
- Upgrade problems
- Negative reviews of support
- Drop shipping is more convenient with Shopify.
#6. WooCommerce
Few ecommerce solutions are as well-suited to WordPress as WooCommerce. It’s a free, open-source platform with a positive visitor experience.
It may be tough to scale, and you may have to purchase enhanced functionality if you want all the bells and whistles. Yet, its free package allows you to create a site that can compete with pricey carts.
With WooCommerce and a little tinkering, you can create a mobile-friendly site while only paying for hosting. If your budget allows for it, WooCommerce offers Product Bundles for $49, and you can pick and choose which extensions you want.
WooCommerce Freshdesk ($79) is a slick plugin that allows you to embed a ticketing system to provide customer support to your customers directly from your store. Overall, the platform provides a massive selection of plugins of all shapes and sizes that work particularly well with WordPress.
Unlike Shopify, which is based on monthly subscriptions, WooCommerce offers premium add-ons for a one-time fee or in annual subscriptions.
However, its weakest point is troubleshooting because WooCommerce will not make it easy for you. If your store experiences a problem, WooCommerce will blame your hosting or a plugin, whereas your hosting provider and plugin developer will most likely blame the theme. This does not happen with Shopify; they simply fix the problem for you without any hodgepodge.
Pros:
- There are no additional transaction fees.
- There are free plans available.
- Simple to set up and use
- WordPress integration is seamless.
- Post-purchase/1-Click upsells are available.
Cons:
- There will be no hosting.
- Requires technical proficiency
- Can be slow
- Theme design and hosting are to blame.
#7. Volusion
The English-bred Volusion is very dependable among the Shopify alternatives that serves over 200,000 enterprises. It’s a cloud-based shopping cart that’s popular among small businesses and solopreneurs with basic computing expertise. You don’t have to bother about hosting or integrating necessary applications with Volusion.
Volusion plans are differentiated by the number of add-ons and plugins that can be linked to your online store. It also outperforms Shopify in terms of additional transaction fees, as it charges none.
A one-page checkout and an incorporated eBay integration are offered as a standalone premium upgrade.
Volusion excels in terms of design because its huge library of templates is available in all of its products.
Volusion plans range from $15 to $135 per month and include a slew of amazing features like the option to produce a “Add to Cart” link, gift certificates, and the ability to set categories and subcategories for items in your shop. Our mobile app allows you to manage your store while on the go.
#8. BigCartel
BigCartel has gained popularity among artists due to its affordability, unlimited bandwidth, inventory tracking, HTML and CSS customization, and essential features.
True, it has fewer features than Shopify, but it’s also cheaper and works well for solopreneurs and small businesses. It integrates with Google Analytics, Facebook, and PayPal, and setting up your shop is simple even if you have no coding experience.
Although BigCartel does not charge any additional transaction fees, PayPal does charge you higher fees on webshop orders. Another disadvantage is that the platform does not provide live chat or phone support, so use the free plan before upgrading to a paid subscription. The latter are priced between $9.99 and $29.99 per month, which is low by modern standards.
Finally, because BigCartel lacks an inventory search function, it is best suited for shops with a small number of products.
Pros:
- There are no additional transaction fees.
- PayPal Integration
- Is there a free plan available for shops with five or fewer products?
- Simple to use
- Wallet-friendly
Cons:
- No phone or chat Support is not available for large corporations.
- Features that are limited
- There is no inventory search function.
#9. Squarespace
If tech skills and resources are limited and you intend to keep your product catalog small, try Squarespace. The platform includes a powerful website builder as well as a wide range of templates and themes. With that and a little tweaking, you can achieve pretty impressive results and have an e-store that looks like you spent a fortune on it.
For $26/mo, you get the basics: unlimited pages, galleries, blogs, bandwidth, storage, contributors, checkout, free domain, and SSL security. Add to that a $100 Google Adwords credit, orders, tax, discounts, customer accounts, label printing via ShipStation, and integrated accounting via Xero. For $40 per month, you also get abandoned cart auto recovery, real-time carrier shipping, automatic discounts, and gift cards (pretty expensive for such essential features).
On the other hand, Squarespace only accepts PayPal and Stripe. Both processors impose additional transaction fees, despite the fact that it does not. The suite also loads slightly slower than Shopify, and its mobile load times are the slowest among the other contenders on the list.
Pros:
- Simple to set up
- Ideal for simple stores
- Impressive designs
- There are no additional transaction fees.
Cons:
- Limited assistance
- Lacks features for multiple channels
- Not as many add-ons as with Shopify
#10. Prestashop
Although you have to pay for web hosting and a domain, you could say it’s free. Prestashop does offer a hosted version through partnerships with 1&1, WebHostingHub, TMD, Microsoft Azure, and others.
Prestashop, understandably, does not have as many themes and templates as Shopify, but the usability is as good as you might expect from a free platform. It also has no additional transaction costs, supports 25 languages and numerous currencies, international sales, an unlimited number of goods and attributes, and details on abandoned carts.
It will be difficult to scale as your shop grows, and you only receive one pre-installed theme, but you can also add a third-party theme. The number of free modules is limited, but the premium ones allow you to significantly improve your site. Additionally, if you hire a developer or take the time to read the various manuals and courses available for PrestaShop users, you may construct a respectable online store with a low initial expenditure.
Pros:
- Self-hosted for free (with paid hosting options available)
- There are no additional transaction fees.
- Multilingual, international sales support
- a large number of features (advanced ones are premium)
Cons:
- A selection of free themes and layouts
- Technical abilities are required.
- Shopify does not have as many features.
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What To Look For When Choosing Shopify Alternatives
Shopify is one of the best ecommerce platforms available for businesses. There are numerous built-in features to explore, as well as simple interfaces to make your life easier. However, there are some drawbacks, such as additional transaction fees if you do not use Shopify payments and expensive enterprise plans.
Think carefully about what you require from your platform before looking at Shopify alternatives. Consider the following while choosing from Shopify alternatives:
#1. Optional features:
Make a list of the features that are important to you, such as omnichannel selling, multiple currencies, dropshipping integrations, and so on. This way, you can be certain that you are selecting the best service for your specific requirements.
#2. Customer service:
Even if you have a lot of experience running an ecommerce store, there’s a chance you’ll need assistance from time to time. There are numerous platforms that offer excellent chat, email, and phone support. Review sites like Capterra and G2 can help you determine the quality of service you’ll receive.
#3. Pricing:
While there is more to choosing a great ecommerce platform than pricing, we all have budgets to consider.
#4. Shipping options:
The right logistics features will be critical for any business selling physical products. Make sure your clients can select from a variety of shipping options, including next-day and 2-day delivery where possible. An ecommerce platform that works with a variety of well-known shipping companies is frequently a good choice.
#5. Ease of Use:
Simplicity is essential when building an online store. You must ensure that the solution you select is simple, convenient, and robust. The more complicated the technology, the more time you’ll need to spend learning how to use it. A complex solution may also necessitate additional fees for assistance and maintenance.
Conclusion
As you can see, there is no shortage of Shopify alternatives on the market. Which one should you pick? It is critical that you first define your requirements and then compare them to the features offered by any shopping cart platform. Always select the platform that is appropriate for your specific requirements!
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- Top Shopify Competitors To Consider For Your Online Businesses In 2023
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- HOW TO DROPSHIP ON SHOPIFY: Is Shopify Dropshipping Still Profitable? (+ Free Tips)
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