9 Best Shopify Alternatives & Competitors

In my regular evaluation of the best ecommerce platforms, BigCommerce always ranks second to Shopify. The platforms are tied for design, sales tools, and customer service. While Shopify has the edge over BigCommerce when it comes to marketing features and integrations, BigCommerce wins for product and order management.

When to Use BigCommerce over Shopify

I find BigCommerce better suited for high-revenue and growing businesses. Its lack of transaction fees and multi-storefront capabilities set it apart from Shopify.

• When you have an extensive product catalog and need to set up plenty of product variants: Easily set up 250 product options with 600 product variants. Built-in custom order fields like engraving, initials, messaging, and gift-wrapping options, are also provided.
• To save on processing fees: Unlike Shopify, BigCommerce doesn’t charge transaction fees if you use a third-party processor, allowing you to shop for the best payment processing rates. This is especially advantageous for high-revenue companies, or if you need a specialized processor due to your industry.

• BigCommerce offers up to 600 product variants; Shopify offers only up to 100.
• BigCommerce has built-in custom work order fields for store products; you’d need a third-party app installed to enable it on Shopify.
• Digital downloads is a native feature in BigCommerce; Shopify requires a third-party app (it has its own Shopify app but you’d need to install it).
• BigCommerce has no transaction fees when using other payment providers; Shopify charges 0.5% to 2% based on subscription plan.
• BigCommerce provides a real-time shipping calculator in the basic plan; the feature is only available on Shopify’s highest tier.
• BigCommerce has PriceGrabber integrations; Shopify doesn’t.
• Shopify has a free native POS tool for in-person sales; you’d need to integrate and buy one for BigCommerce.
• Shopify doesn’t have annual online sales limits; BigCommerce enforces limits on each plan.

• $39 per month for Standard; up to $50,000 in online revenue limit; 2.59% + 49 cents online payment processing fee; up to 3 storefronts and up to 4 inventory locations, unlimited products and users, 24×7 live phone and chat support.
• $105 per month for Plus; up to $180,000 in online revenue limit; 2.35% + 49 cents online payment processing fee, up to 5 storefronts and up to 5 inventory locations, unlimited products and users, abandoned cart saver, persistent cart saver, customer groups, and stored credit cards.
• $399 per month for Pro; up to $400,000 in online revenue limit; 2.35% + 49 cents online payment processing fee, up to 8 storefronts and up to 8 inventory locations, provides product filtering, up to eight storefronts, custom SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), and Google customer reviews.

*Custom pricing available for enterprise businesses

When it comes to multichannel selling, Square is a top Shopify competitor. While Square and Shopify offer POS solutions, mobile payments, and multichannel selling, Square has a more stable offline mode and mobile hardware reader options.

Moreover, Square Online is free. It’s actually my top pick for the best free ecommerce website builder based on hands-on testing. I was pleasantly surprised by its few limitations.

Square Online is just one of Square’s many small business products. Learn more about Square in our guide.

When to Use Square Online over Shopify

I recommend using Square Online instead of Shopify in these scenarios:

• If you are a small or new business on a budget: Square Online is free with very few limitations.
• If your primary sales revenue is from a physical location (brick-and-mortar store): Square has an excellent POS system (our top pick for best POS system, even). It has great hardware options, built-in payment processing, and provides a way to sell online for free through Square Online.
• If you are a solo entrepreneur offering service-based products: Square Online’s checkout feature lets you accept prepayments and monthly subscriptions. It also has subscription management tools, self-service customer accounts, and a full-featured online booking platform.
• If your business is in food and beverage, appointment-based, or retail: Square has an all-purpose POS and specific business solutions for these. It’s Square’s most significant advantage over Shopify. As your business grows, you can add or remove certain features (like payroll, loyalty programs, and team management)—Shopify doesn’t have this built-in functionality; you’d need a third-party app.

• Square provides more products and solutions for food and beverage and professional service businesses; Shopify doesn’t have this built-in functionality.
• Square offers a free standalone payment solution for mobile, in-store, and online while Shopify has this as a paid option.
• Square Online lets you start selling for free in a matter of minutes; Shopify setup takes more time because of its features.
• Square has a more reliable offline mode, while Shopify is more suited for online selling.
• Both offer online and in-person tools for selling.

• Free ($0) plan: Payment processing fee is 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction; includes a website builder with SEO tools, sync with Square POS, sell on social, pickup, local delivery, and shipping; includes all the main features of a professional ecommerce site—list unlimited products with variants. The free option requires you to use a yoursite.square.site domain, though, and will display a Square logo on the footer.
• $29 per month for Plus*: Payment processing fee is 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction; includes all Free features, plus website themes, the ability to accept PayPal payments, personalized ordering, expanded site customization, self-serve (QR) ordering, customer accounts, and a free domain for a year.
• $79 per month for Premium*:Payment processing fee is 2.6% + 30 cents per transaction; adds a shipping calculator to charge customers real-time rates from USPS, UPS, FedEx, or DHL.

*Plans are under lump-sum billing.

Ecwid’s biggest advantage over Shopify is that you can use it to easily add a store component to an existing website without having to build an ecommerce store from scratch. Ecwid adapts to the current style of your website, so transitions between site pages are seamless.

I also like that Ecwid provides a shipping calculator and related products section—all on its free plan. Ecwid is the only free ecommerce platform with free shipping calculators for all the major US carriers, Canada Post, Royal Mail, and more.

When to Use Ecwid over Shopify

• If you already have an existing website and would like to easily add an online store: Ecwid has built-in integrations with Squarespace, WordPress, Wix, Weebly, and GoDaddy, making it easy to build your store seamlessly.
• If you are a seller with a limited product inventory and would like to sell on different channels: Ecwid’s forever-free plan is perfect if you have 10 or fewer products to sell. In contrast, Ecwid’s basic plan ($25 per month) lets you sell on Facebook and Instagram and provides you with inventory tracking, marketing tools, and a mobile app.

• Ecwid has a forever-free plan. Shopify doesn’t have one.
• Ecwid has a free embeddable Buy Now button that adapts to a website’s theme; Shopify’s is a paid provision.
• Ecwid is the only ecommerce platform that provides shipping calculators with a free plan; you only unlock this on Shopify’s highest tiers.
• Ecwid comes with unlimited product variants; Shopify has a limit of 300.
• Ecwid has a lower-tier price point ($25 per month) that allows you to sell on multiple channels for up to 100 products; Shopify’s lowest tier is at $39 per month.
• Shopify’s tiers let you sell unlimited products; Ecwid unlocks this at its highest tier ($105 per month).
• Shopify has 24/7 support; Ecwid has limited support.

• Free ($0) plan: Includes 10 products, create your online store or add products to a current site.
• $25 per month for Venture: Up to 100 physical products, sell on Facebook and Instagram, sell digital goods with a 25GB per file limit, mobile app, customized checkout, advanced reports.
• $45 per month for Business: All of Venture plan’s features—except you can now sell up to 2,500 products and sell on marketplaces. Also added are features for selling subscriptions, abandoned cart savers, multi-lingual stores, custom URL slugs, and wholesale prices.
• $105 per month for Unlimited: Includes unlimited products, your own branded mobile shopping app, POS integration, and priority support.

WooCommerce is a great alternative to Shopify for businesses that have WordPress websites. WooCommerce is not that user-friendly for beginners, unlike Shopify, where you can intuitively set up an online store with little technical knowledge. But if you are familiar with WordPress or have a developer to work with, WooCommerce will be an easy setup.

When to Use WooCommerce over Shopify

• If you need WordPress’ content management system (CMS) for your business or have already built your website in WordPress and would like to add an online store functionality: WooCommerce is the best option since it’s a free WordPress ecommerce plugin. It is widely reviewed and recommended by experts and users.
• Businesses that want to develop their own store: WooCommerce is open-source, so the sky’s the limit when it comes to customization, especially if you have the means to hire a website developer.

• WooCommerce has built-in ecommerce features such as product reviews and custom work order tools, unlike Shopify, which needs an app.
• WooCommerce has zero transaction fees regardless of whether you use its in-house payment provider; Shopify charges transaction fees if you use a third-party provider.
• WooCommerce can be added to an existing WordPress site; you cannot do this with Shopify (must be on a different subfolder or subdomain).
• WooCommerce is an open-sourced platform, allowing limitless customization; Shopify’s is closed and limited.
• Shopify comes with free hosting, SSL certificate, and installation. You need to get these separately or do it yourself with WooCommerce.
• Shopify has 24/7 support; WooCommerce only provides a help forum and paid partner support.

WooCommerce is technically free, but there are additional charges for a self-hosted WordPress site (and web hosting), domain name registration, SSL certificate for a secure payment system, and any plugins for additional features you need.

Expect to spend several hundred dollars upfront on these things to get your WordPress store up and running.

If you are an entrepreneur with plans to have more website content than just an online store, Squarespace is a better fit than Shopify. Squarespace is known for its aesthetically pleasing drag-and-drop website templates. Shopify has a variety of themes, but none offer such modern and trendy designs as Squarespace.

Since it’s primarily designed as a website builder first and an ecommerce platform second, expect to encounter selling limitations. However, Squarespace provides an excellent platform for your portfolio and strong SEO tools to help promote your business (and products). If you sell products based on your content, Squarespace is the best choice.

When to Use Squarespace Over Shopify

• To showcase a portfolio of your work and sell physical, digital, and service products. Unlike Shopify, which requires a third-party app to sell digital downloads, you can set this up quickly. Bloggers and influencers that sell their own merchandise are great examples of these sellers.
• If you intend to sell a few products as part of your main website and if brand presentation is a priority, use Squarespace. It has great templates for branding and portfolios.

• Squarespace offers more intuitive drag-and-drop functionality for 180 of its templates that look unique and different from one another; Shopify’s website builder, while I still find it easy to use, is not as nice looking and intuitive.
• Squarespace has better SEO tools, like blogging features and the ability to edit product URLs. Shopify’s SEO tool kit is rudimentary in comparison.
• Squarespace has built-in features for selling physical, digital, and service products; Shopify unlocks this with an app.
• Shopify has more robust marketing features and an extensive app store; Squarespace’s is limited.

• $36 per month for Business: Entry plan supporting ecommerce; sell unlimited products and services, 0% transaction fees on invoice sends, 3% transaction fee on top of card processing fees for product sales.
• $40 per month (Basic Commerce): Gets rid of the extra 3% transaction fee; related products and waitlists; advanced analytics, like a purchase funnel report; sell on Facebook and Instagram
• $72 per month (Advanced Commerce): Adds a USPS shipping calculator, an abandoned cart saver, and a subscription feature.

Like Squarespace, Wix is designed to be a website builder first—it’s our top pick for best website builders—and an ecommerce platform second. However, in the past years Wix has made massive improvements to its ecommerce features with in-depth and robust SEO tools, more payment processing tools, upgraded marketing solutions, and ecommerce-focused reporting.

So, Wix is a good Shopify alternative for those selling few or limited products but want robust marketing tools and know how to work SEO to promote and drive traffic to their store.

When to Use Wix Over Shopify

• Use Wix if you are looking for a quick and easy online store setup with limited technical know-how. It has an intuitive user interface and drag-and-drop builder templates since it is more known as a website builder that provides online selling features. Wix is better for those planning to launch an online store with a few products and who want full creative control over their design.
• Go with Wix if you want to build a community for your shoppers. Wix lets you organize and host events and communicate with site visitors via live chat, host discussion forums, and more. Shoppers can create accounts to participate in discussions, but also view their past orders and create wishlists.

• Wix provides robust product management features with up to six product options and 1,000 variants—better than Shopify’s limit of three product options with 100 variants.
• If you use Wix Payments, Stripe, or PayPal, you can accept recurring payments or subscriptions in Wix. You need an app to enable this feature in Shopify.
• Wix has better blogging tools than Shopify. Shopify lacks built-in analytics features, social bookmarking, and blog search functions.
• While Shopify and Wix come with more or less the same SEO tool kit, Wix has a slight edge over Shopify with its keyword support function.
• Wix also provides built-in online appointment booking tools that Shopify doesn’t.

All the plans featured below have ecommerce features. Free and paid website builder plans are also available at lower tiers.

• $29 per month for Core: Includes 5 collaborators, 50GB storage space, up to 50,000 products, basic site analytics and marketing suite.
• $36 per month for Business: Includes 10 collaborators, 100GB storage space, up to 50,000 products, standard site analytics and marketing suite.
• $159 per month for Business Elite: Includes 15 collaborators, unlimited storage space, up to 50,000 products, advanced site analytics, marketing suite, and developer platform.

Shift4Shop has a wealth of native features only available in Shopify’s highest tiers or as an app in the Shopify App Store. However, there are mixed reviews about the payment gateway, and Shopify still outperforms Shift4Shop regarding performance. Still, if you are looking for a less expensive option than Shopify with almost the same advanced features, Shift4Shop is an excellent alternative.

When to Use Shift4Shop Over Shopify

Use Shift4Shop (formerly 3dcart) if your business is based in the US and you are willing to use its in-house payment provider, Shift4 Payments. It provides a free subscription on its most advanced plan if you meet both conditions.

• Shift4Shop has more built-in advanced sales and marketing features, such as product reviews, CRM, and automation workflows (email, fraud detection, and task management) than Shopify (which you would need an app for).
• Shift4Shop provides a free domain and renews it every year for free; Shopify doesn’t.
• Both platforms have their in-house payment gateways. Shift4Shop doesn’t charge any transaction fees if you choose to go with another provider.
• Real-time shipping rates and gift cards are available in Shift4Shop’s basic tier compared to being unlocked in Shopify’s highest tier.

• End-to-End ($0): Unlimited users and no online sales limit, includes every feature but users must use the Shift4Payments payment gateway, which has a 2.9% plus 30 cents transaction fee on pre-approved credit cards; limited to US merchants, and has a $1,000 minimum monthly sales volume.

Not much is shared about Shift4Shop’s paid tiers on its website. It displayed its paid pricing plans before, but as of this writing, it is not visible on the site anymore. I tried to reach out to their customer support via chat but needed a merchant account number (needed to be a subscriber or customer) to be able to talk to a support agent.

I chose BigCartel mainly because of its free plan. In fact, Big Cartel’s free plan is included in our top picks for the best free ecommerce platforms. You can connect a custom domain, set up a beautiful website using their templates, sell up to five products, and manage orders—all under a free plan.

When to Use Big Cartel Over Shopify

Use Big Cartel if you need the flexibility of branding your store without ads and only have plans to sell occasionally or in limited quantities. Its free plan is robust enough for the artist or entrepreneur who has limited products to sell.

• Unlike with Shopify, you can connect a custom domain even on Big Cartel’s free plan.
• BigCartel has a forever-free plan; Shopify does not.
• Big Cartel doesn’t charge any transaction fees; you only pay credit card processing fees. Shopify charges transaction fees on top of card fees if you do not use its built-in payment gateway, Shopify Payments.
• BigCartel doesn’t have a built-in payment processor and accepts only PayPal and Stripe. Shopify has Shopify Payments as a payment provider and over 100 payment methods.
• BigCartel has product limits—up to 500 on its highest plan. Shopify provides unlimited products even on its basic tier.

• $0 for Gold (free): Includes 5 product listings, 1 image per product, product variant groups
• $15 per month for Platinum: Includes 50 product listings, 5 images per product, product variant groups, discounts, shipment tracking, inventory tracking, bulk editing, use custom domain
• $30 per month for Diamond: Includes 500 product listings, 25 images per product, all features in Platinum plus prioritized support and abandoned cart saver feature

Etsy is the perfect avenue to set up an online store and get instant exposure to a marketplace of 96 million active buyers. Etsy is considered more of a marketplace than an ecommerce platform, but it provides its sellers with an online store.

Etsy provides sellers with the basic functionalities of an online shop. You can set up custom work order fields in your product listings—an advantage for personalization requests. You can also get a store up and running with Etsy in less than an hour.

When to Use Etsy over Shopify

• Use Etsy if you are looking for product exposure and have limited time marketing your products.
• Use Etsy if you sell handmade products and don’t want to spend too much time building your online store.

• Both platforms are beginner-friendly when it comes to store setup. It only takes a little over an hour to get started selling on Etsy.
• Etsy has a free plan and very minimal startup upfront costs. Pay only for product listing fees and transaction charges for each sale. Shopify doesn’t offer a free plan, and upfront costs usually range from $250 to $500.
• While Shopify gives you marketing tools to help promote your store, Etsy’s marketplace provides a large audience if it’s the right market for your products.

• Free ($0): Includes a landing page for your online shop where you can list your products.
• $10 per month for Etsy Plus: Includes a more comprehensive set of tools to customize and promote your Etsy shop—credits for listings, a 50% discount on a custom web address, restock requests, shop customizations, and discounts on custom packaging and promotional material like boxes, business cards, and signage.
• $15 per month for Etsy Pattern: Includes the ability to create a fully customized Etsy website, designed and branded to your liking, but if you create a site from Etsy Pattern, your shop will be excluded in search results from the Etsy marketplace if you subscribe to this plan.

To learn more about Etsy’s fees and calculate your potential fees, read our ultimate guide to Etsy seller fees.