9 Superb Shopify Alternatives for 2024

9 Shopify Alternatives That You Should Check Out

In this highly competitive world of E-commerce, the demand for the shopping cart solutions has risen dramatically in recent years.

There’s no denying that more and more businesses are plunging into the digital waters of E-commerce and online shopping solutions.

The demand for the best shopping cart solutions has multiplied tenfold. Shopify is one of the most popular E-commerce shopping cart solutions that allows you to set up your own online store. In this article we will discuss the benefits of using this popular platform and give you 10 more alternatives to Shopify. This way, you can better know which is the shopping platform to use to get the most out of your online business.

How Shopify Works 
It is a platform where you can upload the products for your store, customize your storefront, monitor orders, and accept credit card payments. In just a few clicks, you can easily set up and run your own E-commerce store.

According to Built With there are currently almost 5 million shopify stores online

Why so many businesses put their full trust in Shopify:
Setting it all up is fast and easy. All you have to do is enter a few details about your business.

Then choose a professional theme from a myriad of theme options.

Set up your payment and shipping options and you’re good to go. Before you know it you will have an online store with the style and professionalism it needs to attract customers.

• Choice or free and paid responsive store layouts.
• A wide selection of paid and free apps the extend the function of your store.
• No maintenance and other software updates since Shopify hosts your store exclusively.
• Catalog import is fast and easy.
• Abandoned carts, they can be automatically recovered.
• Easy-to-use reports.
• Payment gateways for almost every country.

How Much Does Shopify Cost?

Shopify has 3 standard options plus a lightweight option and an enterprise version.

If you want to give it a try, you can sign up for a $1 trial period of 3 months. After the trial period expires, you can choose the pricing plan that suits your needs best.

Monthly Price	Description	Monthly Price	Credit card Rates Online	Credit Card Rates In-Person	Key Features
Basic Plan	For individuals & small businesses	$39 USD/mo	2.9% + 30¢ USD	2.7% + 0¢ USD	Basic reports, Up to 1,000 inventory locations, Up to 77% shipping discount, 2 staff accounts
Shopify Plan	For small businesses	$105 USD/mo	2.6% + 30¢ USD	2.5% + 0¢ USD	Professional reports, Up to 1,000 inventory locations, Up to 88% shipping discount, 5 staff accounts
Advanced Plan	For medium to large businesses	$399 USD/mo	2.4% + 30¢ USD	2.4% + 0¢ USD	Custom report builder, Up to 1,000 inventory locations, Up to 88% shipping discount, 15 staff accounts

Shopify Key Features

Shopify has some great features to make the payment process smooth and secure.

Just a few of the many features available.

• Credit and Debit Card Terminals
• Offline Orders
• Custom Payment Types
• Store Management
• Order History
• Accounting integration
• Daily Reporting
• Store Analytics
• Built in blogging features.

Shopify is generally great, but it’s not the only shopping cart solution out there.

Here’s My list Of 9 Alternatives To Shopify

Okay let’s get to the 9 shopify alternatives.

1. Bigcommerce

Big-Commerce is another forerunner in the e-commerce space. Its key features make it a worthy alternative to Shopify. As an industry leading e-commerce platform Bigcommerce has won many industry awards.

All the necessary tools you need to make and run your online store is also here.

There’s a vast array of customizable templates to help start your own designs and bring style to your brand. Whether it’s physical or digital goods, you can rely on Bigcommerce to bring your products in front of your target market. With its marketing features, you can effectively boost your brand awareness campaign and get the kind of traction you need in no time.

Its top features include product catalog, payment gateway, domain name, secure shopping cart, and an efficient website builder.

Bigcommerce Price Plans

• Standard
  • Price: $39/mo
  • Description: Sell online with your own beautiful online store
• Plus (Most Popular)
  • Price: $105/mo
  • Description: Grow your online business with marketing tools proven to increase conversion
• Pro
  • Price: $399/mo
  • Description: Scale your growing business with a comprehensive set of features
• Enterprise
  • Price: Contact Bigcommerce directly for custom pricing

What makes BigCommerce better than Shopify?

• Users can establish an e-commerce shop which bears their own brand better and use the complete features of the system to rake in leads and, eventually, sales.
• It has more responsive theme options (either free and premium) and others which are exclusively designed to cover mobile customers.
• Add your products and services conveniently and customize every item using high-resolution pictures (with zoom).
• Ultimately, you can enhance the checkout of your shop using efficient checkout procedures that BigCommerce offers exclusively.

What makes Shopify better than Bigcommerce?

• Shopify has 24/7 customer support.
• Shopify now offers the “Shop” marketplace.
• It has effective analytics features to highlight actionable insights.
• Shopify Includes free email marketing features.

2. Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop offers a feature-rich website builder tailored for businesses to sell products or services online. This turnkey eCommerce solution includes product and order management, customer marketing tools, and a variety of other features.

Free E-commerce

One of the most significant advantages of Shift4Shop over Shopify is its pricing structure.

Shift4Shop offers a unique plan where businesses processing at least $500 per month through Shift4 can use the platform for free, which includes all enterprise-level features. This can be particularly beneficial for small to medium-sized businesses that have a steady volume of transactions.

This can be a little misleading because at first glance it appears totally free for all users. The reality is the more you sell on the platform the lower the monthly fee. They manage to do this through payment transaction fees.

What makes Shift4Shop better than Shopify?

• Free if you process more than $500 worth of sales per month
• Many advanced built in feature’s
• Over 100 Free themes to choose from
• Free built in SEO features

Why use Shopify instead of Shift4Shop?

• Shopify’s user friendly interface for customizing themes
• Extensive app store with over 4,000 extensions
• Wider userbase and community support online and on social media
• Phone and email support are more compelling with Shopify.

3. PrestaShop

This is another feature-packed platform that enables you to maximize their hosted service or independently host your site.

Their basic platform is FREE of charge, and you just have to pay for the extra features for a fee.
You can either host PrestaShop in the cloud or download & install it on own website host. Thousands of startup and established businesses across the globe use PrestaShop both because of its free basic plan and other extendable features. The platform has more than 300,000 users, and if you need help, these co-members will be more than happy to assist you to flourish this open source solution further.

Its key features include its intuitive interface, robust store builder, designer guide, mobile commerce, and a wide range of customizable e-commerce themes.

What makes PrestaShop better than Shopify?

• PrestaShop allows you to build a store from the ground up.
• Totally customizable opensource software with no restrictions on what you can do
• Option of a hosted and supported version
• It can be integrated with most major business system.

What makes Shopify better than PrestaShop?

• No technical expertise required.
• No need for additional hosting
• You a free SSL certificate to better the levels of your site security.

4. Magento (Now Adobe Commerce)

Magento is another open source e-commerce solution

It has a myriad of potent tools and offers optimum flexibility to help businesses control and configure their online stores better. As you may have expected, the platform is deeply integrated with eBay. Furthermore, the platform is a reputable entity with a proven and tested track record. Merchants from across the world actively use the platform. It’s indeed a great platform to attract visitors, convert visitors to buyers, and drive maximum revenue.

Some of the extra features of Magento, that it takes pride in, are; Minimum advertised price, customer segmentation with targeted offerings, price and promotion permission, an enhanced catalogue, return management authorization, and content management system. It’s a one-stop platform for a smooth e-commerce experience.

Can Magento be a better alternative to Shopify?

• With Magento, you can take better control over every aspect of your store.
• Users can upgrade their online store with Magento’s enterprise-grade functionalities and features.
• Magento has many features built in which shopify requires apps for
• You can better use SEO or Search Engine Optimization to enhance your online presence with the leading search engines.

What makes Shopify better than Magento?

• Shopify is much easier to use for novice store owners.
• No need for additional hosting or security
• No technical knowledge required to get started

5. Jimdo

Jimdo is a highly recommended site builder.

Jimdo targets smaller businesses and the self employed as it’s main customer base.

Jimdo has a dynamic feature package which has made it a great choice for many startup entrepreneurs and small-scale businesses.

Be it photo galleries, social media integration, mobile view, contact forms, and professional templates. Jimdo also pays attention to the detail to make itself a worthwhile leader in the vast world of e-commerce. You can use it for free or go for the monthly subscription option to get more advanced features.

Jimdo Pricing Plans

Pricing starts at $18 up to $24/monthly

Is Jimdo a good Shopify Alternative?

• The jimdo pricing is far lower than Shopify
• Easy to use with limited technical features
• Easier addition of images and text and a very user-friendly interface.
• Makes use of SEO to boost rankings on search engine results pages.

What makes Shopify better than Jimdo?

• It has a compelling and superior shopping cart features.
• Shopify offers blogging pages.
• Extensive range of apps to extend the basic store functions
• There are 70 payment gateways to choose from.

6. Volusion

Volusion is an online shopping application that’s made to scale as your business grows.

It has an excellent design wizard and a clean, user-friendly interface. You will find it easy to create an online shop that’s super easy to manage. They have customization features that help you to brand your store according to your business style. Be it marketing or shipping tools, Volusion takes care of it all.

Volusion Pricing Plans

Pricing plans start at $35/mo. up to $299/mo

If you want to move to Volusion, you can readily transfer the data from your old store as long as your previous provider allows exporting data in a .csv file. If you go for their Business plan or above, you’re free to import a large volume of data to your new Volusion shop.

Is Volusion a better alternative for Shopify?

Reasons to Choose Volusion:

• Advanced Reporting and Analytics: Ideal for businesses that rely on detailed data insights for strategy and decision-making.
• Efficient Product Management: Offers robust tools for managing inventory, ideal for stores with complex product lines.
• Built-in Functionalities: Reduces the need to install numerous apps, beneficial for those who prefer an all-in-one solution.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Potentially more cost-effective for businesses that don’t need extensive third-party apps or add-ons.
• Customization Limits: Offers customization options that, while not as extensive as Shopify’s, are sufficient for many retailers.

Reasons to Choose Shopify:

• User-Friendly Interface: Great for beginners and those who prefer an intuitive setup and management experience.
• Extensive Customization Options: Wide range of themes and design tools for creating a unique online storefront.
• Large App Marketplace: Provides access to a vast array of apps for extending functionality in nearly every aspect of eCommerce.
• Strong Multichannel Selling Support: Seamless integration with various sales channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon.
• Shopify Payments Integration: Offers an in-house payment solution, streamlining the payment process.

7. ShopSite

Shopsite is one of the Shopify alternatives that’s a viable option for both individuals and companies that have small inventories.

This shopping cart application is self hosted and must be purchase through a Shopsite reseller. There’s no details on the code used so I assume it’s proprietary and not Opensource.

You can host it anywhere, and it holds an arsenal of useful features, like advanced developer tools, catalog & business management, merchandising, store building, shopping cart, etc. From basic to advanced features, ShopSite is a good choice.

You can go for the free plan, the monthly plan, or the one-time payment option. The monthly plan starts $5.99/mo. up to $59.99/mo.

Shopsite Pricing Plans

Express Plan

• Cost: Free
• Product Limit: 10 Products (0 pages)
• Key Features:
  • Add Order Buttons
  • WordPress Plugin
  • Mobile Friendly Checkout
  • Secure/PCI Certified

Starter Plan

• Cost: $5.99/month
• Product Limit: 15 Products / 5 Pages
• Additional Features to Express:
  • SEO Friendly Pages
  • Mobile Friendly Pages
  • Over 50 Themes
  • Over 25 Payment Methods

Manager Plan

• Cost: Starting at $29.99/month* or $495 one-time
• Product Limit: Unlimited Products and Pages
• Additional Features to Starter:
  • Store Search
  • Real-Time Shipping Rates
  • Database Upload/Download

Pro Plan

• Cost: Starting at $59.99/month* or $1295 one-time
• Additional Features to Manager:
  • Coupons
  • Quantity Pricing
  • Cross Selling
  • Product Reviews
  • Gift Certificates
  • Abandon Cart Emails

What makes ShopSite better than Shopify?

• It has a set of built-in features, like coupons, gift certificates, mobile commerce, Facebook stores, etc.
• You can place your order buttons on blog posts, affiliates, newsletters, emails, and many more.
• You can make use of their wordpress plugin to add products to a blog.
• A free option for just 10 products.

What makes Shopify better than ShopSite?

• No technical knowledge is required.
• Great for e-commerce beginners with no store being experience.
• No need to be troubled about maintenance, security and software updates since Shopify does all that for you.

8. OpenCart

OpenCart is a free and open source solution designed using MySQL/PHP code.

There’s no monthly, annual, or one-time payment. It’s totally free. However, they do offer a hosted version which they call Opencart Cloud.

It has a user-friendly and intuitive interface with a vast range of extensions. Indeed, it offers the necessary features for small and medium-sized businesses. These features include free documentation, product reviews and ratings, unlimited manufacturers, categories, products, support, over 20 payment gateways, and more.

You will require some website setup experience and you will need your own web host or server to  install opencart. Alternatively you’ll require the services of a developer or use their Opencard Cloud option and manage the store setup yourself.

Opencart is preferred by many businesses because its custom development options. Making changes to your OpenCart store is relatively straightforward. There are hundreds of modules and extensions available to improve your site. It also has many ready-to-use templates and is also generally SEO-friendly.

What makes OpenCart a Shopify Alternative?

• Although it’s a hosted solution the setup is pretty quick
• The platform has a great site speed (when setup correctly)
• Users can just make use of one admin panel to monitor and manage more than one e-commerce shop.
• There are more than 8 shipping methods here.

What makes Shopify better than OpenCart?

• Shopify is renowned for it’s easy to use store setup and customizer
• No worries about security and maintenance, shopify takes care of it all
• The latest technological features are added to Shopify much quicker

9. WooCommerce / WordPress

The WooCommerce e-commerce tool kit is robust.

It’s designed to convert any WordPress site into a compelling online store. Because of this, it’s made using the best practices of WordPress both at the front end and the back end.

Anyone who is familiar with how WordPress system works will have the same familiarity when using WooCommerce. The learning curve won’t be much of a problem. It is an e-commerce plugin which offers enterprise-grade features and quality. If you want to develop a standalone online shop from scratch and sell products using your current WordPress site or blog, go for WooCommerce.

This is a free solution, but if you want to grab some advanced features, you can subscribe or purchase a wide selection of woocommerce addons to expand the store functions. The addon fees vary depending on which kind of upgrade you require.

What makes WooCommerce a better Shopify alternative?

• Users can freely customize this open source codebase.
• Its powerful and intuitive interface is simple to use.
• WordPress has a much larger userbase and community than Shopify for support.
• It offers maximum flexibility for non developers .

What makes Shopify better than WooCommerce?

• No security or maintenance to worry about
• Sell in multiple countries with different pricing in one store
• Its multilingual capability helps you tap the global market.
• Manage customer accounts, profiles, and groups.

Conclusion

Shopping cart solutions are really important for selling things online today. They make it easy and safe to handle payments and keep track of sales. You can also show off your products better and keep your sales data organized.

Instead of making a whole website from scratch, you can quickly set up an online store with the right e-commerce platform. This saves time and hassle. Plus, you get useful reports about how your online store is doing, which can help you make smart decisions for your business.

These platforms let you use things like SEO (to show up better in search results), discounts, and coupons. They have all the tools you need to help your business grow.

Remember, Shopify isn’t the only option out there. There are other good choices too, depending on what your business needs. Before you pick one, think about what features you really need for your store.

Once you know what you need, you can easily choose whether to use Shopify or another platform. Think about what your business wants to achieve and who your customers are. With a clear plan, you can start building and promoting your online store and reach more customers.