15 Best Shopify Alternatives for 2024 (Paid and Free)
Choosing a suitable Shopify alternative is crucial if you want to sell online without relying on Shopify. From lower prices to more control over your online store, the best Shopify alternatives can help you overcome many of Shopify’s shortcomings.
In this guide, I reviewed and ranked 15 of the best Shopify alternatives in 2023, along with my top 5 recommendations.
Squarespace
Wix Ecommerce
BigCommerce
WooCommerce
Shopify is arguably one of the best ecommerce platforms in the world today, but you might have your reasons for considering some Shopify alternatives.
Maybe you want an ecommerce site builder that is cheaper. Perhaps, you want a platform that is easier to use, or you want a platform that gives you more customization options.
Regardless of your reasons for considering some Shopify competitors, this guide will take you through 15 of the top Shopify alternatives for 2023, complete with a detailed review of each.
Before that, however, let’s look at some of the reasons you might want to choose Shopify for your ecommerce store and some reasons you might want to check out some Shopify alternatives.
Why Choose Shopify for Your Ecommerce Store
There are several reasons why Shopify is considered the best ecommerce platform for selling online. Here are some reasons why you might want to build your ecommerce store using Shopify:
1. Easy to Use
Shopify is a plug-and-play ecommerce platform that takes care of the technical aspects of developing and hosting your ecommerce store. You can build an elegant and professional-looking online store even if you have zero technical knowledge.
To start selling on Shopify, simply sign up on the ecommerce platform, choose from the vast collection of professionally designed themes, add your products and content, and launch your online store.
2. Cross-Channel Selling
Unlike some ecommerce website builder platforms, Shopify doesn’t limit you to selling your products on your Shopify store. You can use Shopify to sell your products on multiple platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Amazon, Wanelo, Houze, Walmart Marketplace, and eBay.
3. In-Built Marketing and SEO Tools
Marketing your online store and optimizing it for search engines is crucial if you want potential customers to find you.
Shopify provides you with a collection of handy search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing tools that make it easy to sell online, including product reviews, discounts and gift cards, on-page SEO optimization, auto-generated sitemap, and $100 in Google Ads credit.
4. Extensive and Diverse App Store
Shopify has an app store with thousands of free and paid apps that you can use to add various functionalities to your Shopify store. You’ll not find such a diverse app ecosystem on many Shopify competitors.
Whether you want to automate your customer service or use heat maps to understand how customers interact with your ecommerce store, you’ll find an app for that on the Shopify app store.
5. Multiple Payment Options
The ability to accept different payment methods is essential to building a successful ecommerce store, especially if you’re targeting customers from all over the world.
Fortunately, Shopify Payments supports over 100 payment options, making things easy for you and your customers. Many Shopify alternatives only support a handful of payment gateways.
Why You Should Try Shopify Alternatives
Despite all its advantages, Shopify is not a one-size-fits-all ecommerce website builder. It has some limitations and disadvantages that might push you towards some Shopify competitors.
Here are some reasons why you might want to consider some Shopify alternatives:
1. High Transaction Fees
Shopify doesn’t charge any additional transaction fees if you use Shopify Payments. Unfortunately, Shopify Payments is not available worldwide.
If you opt for other payment gateways, Shopify will charge you an additional 2% for every transaction. Many Shopify alternatives don’t charge any additional transaction fees.
2. Expensive Subscriptions
Shopify’s basic plan is affordable, starting at just $29 per month. However, the plan is highly limited.
If you want to get the most out of Shopify, you have to upgrade to higher plans, which are a lot more expensive.
What’s more, to build a powerful online shop, you have to pay for premium Shopify templates and get monthly subscriptions for third-party Shopify apps, some of which cost north of $100 per month.
These additional costs can quickly bloat your monthly bill, pushing Shopify out of reach for most small businesses.
3. Limited SEO Features
While Shopify comes with in-built SEO tools, you don’t have much control over these tools. For instance, you cannot change the URL structure or edit your online shop’s robot.txt files.
This is very limiting for people who want ultimate control over their search optimization. If you need such control, you’ll be better off with some Shopify competitors.
4. Limited Multilingual Support
If you sell your products in different countries, you might want to display your ecommerce store in different languages based on a visitor’s location. Unfortunately, Shopify does not natively support multilingual online shops.
Sure, you can make your ecommerce store multilingual using third-party translation apps, but most of them are pretty costly and don’t work perfectly.
Rather than deal with these challenges, it makes more sense to go for Shopify alternatives that offer native support for multilingual online shops.
Best Shopify Alternatives to Launch Your Online Store
Now that you have some reasons why it might be beneficial to look beyond Shopify when looking for a suitable ecommerce platform, here are my 15 top recommendations for the top Shopify alternatives in 2023.
- Squarespace
- Wix Ecommerce
- BigCommerce
- WooCommerce
- Zyro
- Volusion
- Shift4Shop
- Sellfy
- Nexcess
- LemonStand
- BigCartel
- Magento
- Prestashop
- SIMVOLY
- Selz
1. Squarespace
Easy-to-Use Ecommerce Platform with Sleek Online Store Templates
Squarespace is not a dedicated ecommerce solution. Instead, it is an all-in-one solution that also provides an ecommerce building platform.
Squarespace is one of the best alternatives to Shopify due to its extensive collection of sleek ecommerce templates.
Squarespace is the perfect Shopify substitute for anyone who wants an elegant ecommerce site that looks like it cost a fortune. The best part is that you can have this for as little as $27 per month.
Key Features
Drag and drop builder
Squarespace has an intuitive drag and drop builder that allows you to build the exact kind of online storefront you envision without any coding knowledge.
Unlimited selling options
Want to sell more than physical products? No problem. In addition to physical products, Squarespace allows you to sell downloadable digital products, subscriptions, and even appointment-based services.
Mobile-friendly online stores
All online shops built on Squarespace are mobile-friendly by default, which is essential considering most people access the internet from their mobile devices. Squarespace also has a mobile app that allows you to track your orders, manage inventory, and connect with customers on the go.
Flexible payments and checkout
Squarespace has an integrated system that provides secure checkout, accepts payments, and automatically calculates your taxes. There’s also an abandoned shopping cart recovery tool that helps you boost your conversions.
Integrations
Equip your Squarespace shop to do more by integrating it with third-party apps and tools like Apple Pay, Stripe, UPS, PayPal, Afterpay, FedEx, Shopping Feed, Printful, and FreshBooks.
2. Wix Ecommerce
Robust Ecommerce Platform for Small Businesses That Want Maximum Customization
Like Squarespace, Wix started as an all-rounded website builder before adding an ecommerce plan to its product offering. Today, it is one of the top online store builders in the market.
Being an all-rounded website builder, Wix is an excellent option for entrepreneurs looking to build an ecommerce site that is part of a larger website.
Wix is also a good choice for those who want total control over their online shop. Unlike Shopify, Wix doesn’t limit your ability to customize your ecommerce site.
Key Features
Huge template selection
With over 500 professionally designed templates to choose from, you can be sure that you’ll find a design that works for you. This, coupled with the advanced customization options, allow you to build an online storefront that is truly unique.
Wix ADI
This is a quick and effective tool that uses artificial intelligence to generate an online shop for you in just a couple of minutes. You simply need to answer a few questions about the kind of store you want and the products you want to sell, and Wix ADI will take care of the rest.
Wix Payments
This is Wix’s custom payment processor, which enables you to accept payments from all common debit and credit cards. You can also integrate Wix with 40+ external payment processors, including Square, Stripe, and PayPal.
Dropshipping
Wix has a partnership with Modalyst marketplace, which allows you to list and sell on your online shop without the hassle of inventory management, fulfillment, and shipping. You can also use your Wix online shop to sell print-on-demand products.
Global reach
Wix allows you to translate your store into 90+ languages and provides you with a currency converter, allowing you to sell your products to your foreign customers in their local languages and currencies.
Multichannel selling
Expand your reach and revenue by selling your products on other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and eBay.
3. BigCommerce
Enterprise-Grade For Large Ecommerce Businesses That Want To Scale
BigCommerce is a feature-rich ecommerce website builder designed for big online businesses with extensive inventories and high volume sales.
With BigCommerce, you can scale your business to over $100 million in annual revenue, which explains why it is the platform of choice for big brands like Toyota, Ford, Clarks, and other Fortune 1000 companies.
BigCommerce has two product categories – an enterprise version for large ecommerce businesses and an Essentials package for medium-sized businesses that want to scale.
If you are just starting in the ecommerce space, BigCommerce is not the best solution for you. It is not the easiest to use, it has more features than you need, and it can get quite costly.
Key Features
Unlimited inventory
Built to scale, BigCommerce allows you to list any number of products you want to sell online. It even allows you to upload products in bulk, which shows the platform is well-optimized for high-volume sellers.
Complex inventory management
You can add up to 600 product variants under a single SKU for sellers with a wide variety of products. This is six times more than the variant limit you get on Shopify.
Unlimited user accounts
BigCommerce supports an unlimited number of user accounts, which is very useful for large ecommerce companies with hundreds of staff. In comparison, Shopify gives you a limited number of user accounts.
Multiple payment channels
You can integrate BigCommerce with multiple online processes, including PayPal, Stripe, Amazon Pay, and Braintree. You also can configure your ecommerce site to accept money orders, checks, and bank transfers.
Multichannel selling
BigCommerce allows you to sell your products on Facebook, Amazon, eBay, Instagram, TikTok, Walmart, MercadoLibre, and Wish.
Inbuilt discounts and coupons
Bigcommerce has 70+ inbuilt discounts and coupons, which are great for boosting customer conversions. In contrast, you have to install third-party apps to offer discounts and coupons on Shopify.
WordPress plugin
If you have an existing WordPress site, BigCommerce has a plugin that you can use to turn your website into an ecommerce site.
4. WooCommerce
Best Ecommerce Plugin for WordPress
Unlike the other ecommerce platforms in this guide, WooCommerce is not a website builder or online store builder.
Instead, it is a plugin built to work on top of WordPress. WooCommerce allows you to add a shopping cart on an existing WordPress website, giving it ecommerce capabilities.
Despite being a simple plugin, however, it packs a lot of powerful ecommerce features. It is one of the best alternatives to Shopify for entrepreneurs who want a high level of control and customization over their online shop.
One of the best things about WooCommerce is that it is free to use. However, you’ll still need some money to register your domain, pay for your web hosting account, and purchase premium themes and extra plugins.
Key Features
Unlimited customization
WooCommerce enables you to customize your online shop as you wish. There are absolutely no limitations, from changing the store layout to customizing the edit button.
Countless themes
There are hundreds of free and premium WooCommerce themes. WooCommerce is also compatible with hundreds of WordPress themes.
Sell anything
You can sell all kinds of products and services on your WooCommerce shop, including physical products, subscriptions, digital downloads, appointments, affiliate products, and even content.
Unlimited variations
WooCommerce allows you to add an unlimited number of variations (such as size, color, material, etc.) to a single product and set different stock levels and prices for each variation.
400+ extensions
There are over 400 WooCommerce extensions that you can use to add all kinds of features to your online store. There are extensions for every feature you can imagine, from marketing and accounting to payments and shipping.
Advanced SEO
WooCommerce is built to run on WordPress, which offers some of the most advanced SEO features. You can optimize your online shop as you wish for better search visibility.
5. Zyro
Cheap Shopify Alternative with Multi-Channel Sales
Zyro is yet another website builder that recently added ecommerce functionality to its platform and became one of the top online store builders.
Being a late entrant into the ecommerce space, Zyro comes packed with lots of modern features, including cutting-edge AI integrations.
Zyro is an excellent choice for small stores just starting out due to its ease of use and affordable pricing.
Key Features
User-friendly interface
Zyro has a simple and intuitive drag and drop interface that most beginners will find easy. You can set up your first online shop and start selling in less than 30 minutes.
100+ templates
Choose from 100+ professionally designed ecommerce templates, which can be further edited to achieve the kind of look and feel you want on your ecommerce site. If you want total design freedom, you also have the option of building your ecommerce site from scratch.
AI branding tools
If you’re building your first online shop, you can use Zyro’s AI-powered tools to quickly generate a business name, slogan, and logo for your online shop.
70+ payment options
Offer convenience to your customers by allowing them to make payments using their favorite payment channel. Accept payments from all major credit cards, or integrate your Zyro shop with online payment processors like Stripe, Square, and PayPal.
Multi-channel selling
Zyro enables you to sell on external platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon, allowing you to reach your customers right where they are.
Multi-lingual support
Zyro’s multilingual support allows you to sell worldwide and display your products in the language your foreign customers are most conversant.
6. Volusion
All-Rounded Ecommerce Solution with Powerful Analytics
Founded back in 1999, Volusion is one of the oldest ecommerce platforms and is responsible for over $28 billion in online sales.
Like Shopify, Volusion is a SaaS (software as a service) ecommerce website builder that takes care of all the technical aspects of running your online shop, leaving you to focus on selling.
Key Features
Volusion Payments
Volusion has its own PCI-certified custom payments system that supports 40+ credit cards, cash, wire transfers, check by email, and PayPal. You can also integrate with other payment processors like Stripe and Amazon Pay. All payment processing happens on-domain without any redirects, and Volusion doesn’t charge any transaction fees.
POS system
For those who sell in person, Volusion has a point of sale system that you can connect to receipt printers, credit card swipers, and barcode scanners. Unfortunately, Volusion doesn’t have a dedicated POS mobile app.
In-built marketing tools
Volusion comes with handy built in features for marketing and promotion, including a customer relationship management (CRM) tool, user reviews, loyalty programs, deal of the day, and abandoned cart recovery tools.
Multi-channel selling
Instead of selling exclusively on your online shop, Volusion allows you to connect your shop to other channels like Facebook, Amazon, eBay, and Google Shopping and use them as storefronts for your ecommerce site. Buyers can buy directly from these channels, but you’ll still manage your sales and inventory on Volusion.
Multiple shipping integrations
Unlike Shopify, which only supports integration with USPS, Volusion integrates with UPS, USPS, and FedEx, with real-time shipping rates displayed automatically on your online store.
Advanced reporting
Volusion gives you access to a comprehensive dashboard from which you can view in-depth analytics and insights about your shop’s performance. You can view your Google Analytics, conversion rates, abandoned cart reports, ROI, and other valuable data through this dashboard.
Volusion Pros
- Easy-to-use store builder
- Volusion doesn’t charge additional transaction fees
- Volution plans are cheaper compared to Shopify
- In-depth store insights and analytics
Volusion Cons
- Low product limit on the lowest plan
- It does not offer a blogging feature, which is essential for content marketing.
- Does not offer support for digital downloads
7. Shift4Shop
Versatile Ecommerce Solution with The Most Powerful Free Plan
Shift4Shop (formerly 3Dcart) is a versatile, hosted ecommerce platform that gives you a combination of robust features and affordable prices.
I love their free plan, which gives you access to many features you’ll not find on other Shopify alternatives. However, the free plan is only available to users in the US.
Many users will also love that Shift4Shop gives you access to some nice extras that don’t come with other Shopify alternatives, including automations, product reviews, a CRM tool, and unlimited products on all plans.
Key Features
Professional ecommerce templates
Shift4Shop gives you access to dozens of free and premium themes that you can use to quickly build a professional-looking, mobile-friendly ecommerce site. All themes come with native integration to Google AMP for product pages, ensuring faster load times on mobile devices.
Multiple selling options
Shift4Shop supports multiple selling options, including physical products, downloadable digital products, print-on-demand products, event tickets, and subscriptions.
Unlimited products
There are no limits to the number of products you can list on your Shift4Shop online store, even if you are on the free plan. Shift4Shop even allows you to upload CSV files for bulk product listing.
Robust SEO features
Shift4Shop is one of the best ecommerce platforms in terms of search engine optimizationShift4Shop offers dynamic meta-tags, custom product URLs, link titles, dynamic sitemap, page speed optimization, and Schema.org rich snippets.
In-house web design service
For a more professional-looking online shop, you can hire Shift4Shop’s in-house team of designers to tailor your ecommerce site’s user experience, user interface, and SSL certificates at an affordable fee.
Automated email marketing
Shift4Shop has an automated email marketing service that automatically sends emails to welcome customers, upsell and cross-sell products to previous customers, alert customers about offers, remind customers about abandoned carts, and so on.
Shift4Shop Pros
- Much cheaper compared to other Shopify alternatives
- Over 70 payment processors supported
- Fast load times
- Sell unlimited products
- In-house web design service
- No additional transaction fees
- Powerful SEO tools that are better than Shopify SEO features
- Free domain on all paid plans
- Powerful free plan
Shift4Shop Cons
- Some themes look a bit dated
- The UX is less intuitive compared to Shopify
- Limited number of users
- The free plan is only available in the US
8. Sellfy
Best Shopify Alternative for Digital and Print-On-Demand Products
Sellfy is an easy-to-use ecommerce builder designed to simplify the process of selling digital products like music, ebooks, video courses, illustrations, and templates, as well as print-on-demand items.
It is also possible to sell physical products and subscriptions on Sellfy, but the platform works best with digital products.
Aside from being a complete platform for building your online shop, Sellfy also offers a Lite version that allows you to add buy buttons to an existing website.
Due to its strong focus on digital products, Sellfy is an excellent option for bloggers, content creators, and other digital artists.
Key Features
Digital optimization
Sellfy takes care of all the technical headaches of selling digital products, such as file hosting and delivery. You can use Sellfy to sell audio files, eBooks, PSD templates, WordPress templates and plugins, videos streaming, subscriptions, and print-on-demand items.
In-built marketing features
Drive customers to your online store and convert them into buyers with Sellfy’s in-built marketing features, which include email marketing, discount codes, pixel tracking, and upsells. These in-built marketing tools make it easier to sell online.
Embeddable buy button
Sell your products on your Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, SoundCloud, or any other website by simply embedding the Sellfy “Buy Now” button on a page.
Multilingual support
Sellfy makes it easier for your international customers to purchase your products by showing a translated version of your online store based on a visitor’s geographical location.
Generous free plan
Sellfy has a free forever plan that gives you access to features like a fully-customizable storefront, print-on-demand capabilities, and up to 10 physical products. You won’t find such features on many free plans.
Zapier integration
Give your Sellfy shop additional functionalities by integrating it with thousands of third-party tools and apps through Zapier.
Sellfy Pros
- Very easy to use – you can set up your own online store in five minutes or less.
- Intuitive drag and drop builder
- Automated product downloads
- It comes with a Facebook live chat widget
- Unlimited products
- Has a free forever plan
- No additional transaction fees
Sellfy Cons
- Limited customization options – you can only change your logo and color scheme.
- Only supports PayPal and Stripe for payment processing
- Only offers basic SEO features
- Most third-party integrations rely on Zapier
9. Nexcess WooCommerce
Best Ecommerce Platform for Managed WooCommerce, WordPress, And Magento Hosting
Nexcess WooCommerce is the perfect solution for those considering WooCommerce as an alternative to Shopify but don’t have the technical know-how required to get the most out of WooCommerce.
Nexcess WooCommerce is not a dedicated ecommerce builder. Instead, it is a hosted service that combines managed WooCommerce, additional plugins, and premium themes to give you a powerful but lightweight ecommerce software.
Online stores built with Nexcess WooCommerce are highly scalable and have speedy load times, which is a direct result of the lightweight nature of Nexcess.
Key Features
Intuitive design features
Building your own online store with Nexcess WooCommerce is amazingly simple and intuitive. The beautifully designed and highly customizable templates allow you to set up a professional-looking storefront within minutes without coding knowledge.
In-built marketing features
Getting people to purchase your products is easy with Nexcess’ set of in-built marketing tools, which include detailed product pages, customer reviews, and abandoned cart recovery.
Managed service
One of the best things about Nexcess WooCommerce is that it is a managed service. The team at Nexcess handles all the complicated technical stuff like automatic updates, backups, performance optimization, and security monitoring, allowing you to focus on finding customers for your products.
Single-click autoscaling
This handy feature automatically scales your site’s speed and security whenever there is an unexpected upturn in traffic. This prevents your store from lagging or, worse, crashing. Single-click auto-scaling is very useful when running promotions, when your site goes viral, or during seasonal spikes in demand.
Automated builder
Nexcess WooCommerce has a smart, automated builder that generates a professional-looking storefront based on your responses to a few relevant questions.
Integrations
Nexcess supports native integrations that allow you to connect your online shop to your favorite business tools and apps, including Stripe, Mailchimp, HubSpot, and ShipStation.
Nexcess WooCommerce Pros
- Strong search optimization features
- No additional transaction fees
- Easy to use, even for beginners
- Highly customizable templates
- It comes with managed web hosting
Nexcess WooCommerce Cons
- It doesn’t offer email accounts
- Limited bandwidth and storage
- No live chat support
10. LemonStand
Highly Customizable Cloud-Based Ecommerce Platform
LemonStand is a cloud-based ecommerce solution that provides growing ecommerce businesses with a flexible platform on which to build their business.
LemonStand is one of the most customizable Shopify alternatives. This ecommerce website builder gives you all the tools you need to create an online store and then gives you the freedom and flexibility to adjust these tools to suit your needs.
Key Features
Flexible design
LemonStand gives you complete control over your entire user experience, including the ability to customize your checkout process. Advanced users have access to powerful front-end and backend development features that allow you to tweak and customize every aspect of your ecommerce site.
Multiple payment gateways
The 95+ supported payment providers allow you to provide your customers with a high level of convenience. What’s more, LemonStand doesn’t charge any extra transaction fees.
Powerful marketing features
From flexible coupons and catalog level discounts to meta tags for products and categories, Google site maps, customizable email templates, and custom product pages, LemonStand gives you access to a robust set of tools to help put your business in front of buyers.
Comprehensive reporting and analytics
Keeping track of your business performance is a cinch with LemonStand’s comprehensive reporting features, including financial reports, product stats overviews, Google analytics reports, and powerful report filtering.
Content management
LemonStand offers advanced content marketing features that make it easy for you to publish content to promote your products. The CMS even has a blogging module and comes with a WYSIWYG content block editor.
Powerful product management
Managing your product catalog is easy with LemonStand’s robust management features, including advanced product search and filters, unlimited product categories and sub-categories, CSV import and export, and email alerts. LemonStand supports physical products, digital products, services, subscriptions, and bundled products.
LemonStand Pros
- Strong multi-app integration
- No transaction fees
- 100% customizable design
- Built-in CMS
- Personalized customer support
- Full access to backend dev tools for advanced users
- Powerful SEO features
LemonStand Cons
- Requires technical know-how to take advantage of advanced features
- Not a good choice for small online shops
11. BigCartel
Best Shopify Alternative for Artists and Creators
BigCartel is a simple ecommerce builder targeted at artists, creators, and handicraft makers.
BigCartel gives artists all the basic ecommerce features they need to start selling their work, including social selling, unlimited bandwidth, HTML and CSS customization, and inventory tracking, all at a very affordable price.
Most creators will love that BigCartel has a free plan that allows you to sell without spending any money. You don’t even need to provide your credit card to start selling. However, the free plan only limits you to 5 products.
It’s good to note that BigCartel has a maximum limit of 300 products on their highest plan, which makes it suitable for creators who are just getting started. If you intend to sell over 300 products, you’ll be better off with other online store builders.
Key Features
Simple, user-friendly interface
BigCartel is incredibly simple. Setting up an account and building your ecommerce site is quick and easy, while the interface offers intuitive, straightforward navigation. Even total beginners will find BigCartel very easy to use.
Eighteen free themes
Creating a professional-looking online shop is a breeze with BigCartel’s 18 free themes, which can be customized in a WYSIWYG theme editor. BigCartel even allows you to edit theme HTML, but this option is only available on paid plans.
Three payment options
Customers can pay for products through PayPal, Stripe, or Square. BigCartel allows you to customize the checkout experience to match your brand, and they don’t charge any additional transaction fees. The downside, however, is that BigCartel is not PCI compliant, so you’ll be responsible for ensuring compliance.
Social selling
BigCartel allows you to sell your products on Facebook and Instagram, an excellent way to increase your sales. The best part is that this feature is available even on the free plan.
Reporting and analytics
Tracking your shop’s performance is a breeze with BigCartel’s reporting and analytics tools. You can track visitors and sales in real-time, view your revenue for different periods, track your conversion rates, view performance by product and category, and so on.
BigCartel Pros
- Better than Shopify in terms of pricing. The highest plan costs just $19.99 per month.
- Incredibly easy to use
- No additional transaction fees
- Free ecommerce plan available
BigCartel Cons
- Not suitable for large ecommerce businesses
- Limited features
- Limited theme selection
- It doesn’t offer phone or chat support
- It doesn’t offer a product search function
12. Magento
High-End Open-Source Shopify Alternative
Magento is a powerful and highly scalable open-source CMS platform that gives you access to advanced features for building a full-scale ecommerce site.
Due to its highly advanced features, Magento is an excellent choice for medium to large businesses with in-house programmers to tweak and customize the platform to suit their needs. You cannot take full advantage of Magento without advanced technical know-how.
Since it’s built on an open-source ecosystem, Magento is free to download and use. However, you’ll still incur some costs, including web hosting costs and the cost of purchasing premium themes and plugins.
Key Features
Powerful inventory and order management
Magento has a powerful inventory management solution that gives you real-time information about inventory availability, allowing you to serve your customers better and boost your revenue.
Intelligent commerce
Magento gives you access to Adobe Sensei AI, an industry-leading AI platform that automates your backend processes and gives you actionable insights that will help you make better business decisions. Adobe Sensei will help you with customer targeting, personalization, site content creation, order fulfillment, catalog updates, and product recommendations.
Customer account management
Maintain an updated and centralized view of your customers from all sales and fulfillment channels using Magento’s in-built CRM feature. Having a holistic view of your customers enables you to meet your customers’ needs and expectations better.
Large extensions marketplace
Being an open-source platform, Magento has a thriving extensions marketplace where you’ll find thousands of extensions that you can use to extend your store’s capabilities.
Powerful reporting
Magento gives you access to in-depth insights and analytics that you can use to make smarter business decisions and improve your customer experience, leading to more sales and revenue.
Magento Pros
- Powerful SEO tools
- No monthly subscription charges
- Compatible with a wide selection of payment gateways
- Offers an API for integration with other web services
- Thousands of extensions available
- No transaction charges
- Unlimited design customization
Magento Cons
- Requires advanced technical knowhow
- You’ll have to pay for web hosting
- Limited customer support
13. Prestashop
Freemium Open Source Platform with Strong Community Support
Prestashop is yet another open-source alternative to Shopify that gives you total control over your ecommerce site. The platform currently powers over 1 million online stores and boasts 1,000+ contributors.
Prestashop comes in two versions. The first one is a self-hosted ecommerce platform that is available as a free downloadable version that you can install on any server.
This version gives you ultimate control, but you need advanced technical know-how since you’ll be responsible for hosting, maintaining security, keeping backups, and so on.
The other version is a hosted ecommerce platform that comes pre-installed on the IONOS framework. On the hosted solution, the technical aspects of hosting, security, and backups are covered by the Prestashop team, who also give you around-the-clock technical support.
Key Features
Unlimited customization
If you have the technical know-how, there’s no limit to the level of customizations you can make on Prestashop. If you can imagine it, you can design it on Prestashop.
Simplified payments
Prestashop supports over 50 different payment processors, including Skrill, PayPal, and Blockonomics Bitcoin Payments, making it easy for you to sell online. Most other Shopify alternatives don’t support Bitcoin payments. There’s also an in-house fraud detection tool that you can add to your Prestashop site for free.
Add-ons marketplace
The Prestashop add-ons marketplace gives you access to over 5,000 free and premium themes, modules, and other add-ons that you can use to add more functionalities and capabilities to your online shop.
Community support
Prestashop has a large community forum where users can ask questions and get answers and support from other users. In addition to the community forum, you can also get tech support from the over 250 Prestashop-accredited agencies.
Prestashop Metrics
This is an advanced analytics tool that provides you with all the essential data and analytics about your ecommerce business.
Prestashop Pros
- Round-the-clock technical support on the hosted version
- Strong community
- Unlimited customization options
- Massive extensions marketplace
- Supports 75+ languages
- It offers an in-house fraud detection tool
Prestashop Cons
- It has a high learning curve, especially on the self-hosted version
- Hosted version only works on the IONOS framework
- Has slower load times compared to Shopify
14. SIMVOLY
All-In-One Solution with Robust Sales Funnel Features
Simvoly is more than an ecommerce website builder. It gives you access to a site builder, a funnel builder, a CRM tool, and an email marketing platform.
Simvoly is an excellent choice for business owners who want to build professional ecommerce sites and connect them to powerful sales funnels without investing in separate funnel builder software.
Key Features
Drag and drop page builder
Building your ecommerce site is a breeze with Simvoly’s smooth drag and drop page builder. The page builder gives you access to over 200 page templates, 200+ custom blocks, and 30+ elements.
Multiple product options
Simvoly will work for you regardless of the type of product you want to sell. Supported products include physical and digital products, services, subscriptions, and memberships.
Multiple payment options
Simvoly is compatible with all common payment processors, including Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Paystack, PayFast, Klarna, MobilPay, PayU, 2Checkout, and Authorize.net.
Email marketing
Use the in-built email marketing tool to automate your marketing and engage more effectively with your customers, leading to more sales and increased conversions.
Funnel builder
An in-built funnel builder makes it easy for you to attract and engage customers throughout the buyers’ journey until they convert into paying customers. The funnels come with in-built analytics, allowing you to see which steps of your funnels are driving conversions and which ones aren’t. The funnels also support AB testing, allowing you to test different variations and see which version drives the most conversions.
In-built CRM tool
A customer relationship management tool is one of the built in features that come with Simvoly. This CRM tool allows you to organize and segment your customers and track customer interactions with your business across multiple channels.
Multi-lingual support
For businesses targeting international customers, Simvoly allows you to translate your online shop into 26 different languages, including English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Dutch, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and several others.
Simvoly Pros
- It has a fully-featured funnel builder
- Offers powerful checkout workflows
- Supports white labeling
- It has a simple, intuitive interface
Simvoly Cons
- Limited marketing and analytics features
- Limited inventory management features
15. Selz
Simple Ecommerce Solution for Selling Anywhere
Selz is a simple ecommerce builder designed for small and growing businesses that want an easy way to start selling online.
In addition to helping you build scalable online stores, Selz makes it easy for you to start selling on any online platform without building a dedicated ecommerce site.
Key Features
Sell anywhere
Selz allows you to embed your products and add buy buttons to existing websites, your social media pages, and marketplaces like Google Shopping, enabling you to reach your customers right where they are. Selz also supports in-person selling through point-of-sale systems.
Multiple product options
Sell physical products, downloadable digital products, professional services, and subscriptions, all through one simple dashboard.
In-built marketing tools
Selz makes marketing your business easy and affordable. Through the Selz dashboard, you can run optimized and targeted marketing campaigns on Facebook and Google and optimize your site for search engines. You can also add blogs to your ecommerce site, offer discounts and promotions, and receive real-time insights about your marketing campaigns.
Business insight
An advanced analytics and reporting tool gives you real-time insights about your site visitors and their purchase behavior, allowing you to make more confident decisions. You can choose between quick summaries of your business performance or getting in-depth insights through detailed reports.
Expert services
If you need expert assistance, Selz has a managed Do-It-For-Me service where you hand over the reins to the Selz team of experts, who will help you with things like running advertising campaigns and search engine optimization. You’ll also get ecommerce coaching to help you grow your online business.
Selz Pros
- Easy to use drag and drop store builder
- Has a managed service for those who need expert assistance
- Allows you to sell on any website or social platform
- It comes with an inbuilt CRM
- No extra transaction fees if you use Selz Pay
- Real-time fraud protection
Selz Cons
- Limited theme selection
- You’ll pay extra transaction charges if you use external payment providers
- Limited customization options
FAQs
Some Shopify alternatives that don’t charge transaction fees include:
–Squarespace
–Wix Ecommerce
–WooCommerce
–Prestashop
–BigCartel
–Magento
If you want to sell products banned by Shopify, you can use Shopify alternatives like WooCommerce, Shift4Shop, Wix Ecommerce, BigCommerce, and Magento.
Shopify is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms in the market today. It is an ecommerce website builder platform that makes it easy for anyone to start and grow a successful online store.
Shopify takes care of the technical aspects of setting up an online business, allowing people to build professional ecommerce sites even if they have zero technical knowledge.
If you are not comfortable with Shopify’s prices, you can opt for free Shopify alternatives like WooCommerce, Magento, Shift4Shop, Sellfy, BigCartel, and Prestashop.
Some of the top Shopify alternatives for dropshipping include Wix Ecommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, WooCommerce, Shift4Shop, Volusion, and Squarespace.
These Shopify competitors have native integrations with dropshipping suppliers, making it easy for business owners to find and list dropshipping products on their online stores.
Some of the top Shopify competitors include Squarespace, Wix Ecommerce, Volusion, Shift4Shop, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Zyro.
If Shopify’s expensive plans are a turn off for you, you can go with cheaper Shopify competitors like WooCommerce, Squarespace, Wix Ecommerce, Zyro, Prestashop, BigCartel, and Sellfy.
Choosing the Right Alternative to Shopify
Shopify is one of the best ecommerce solutions in the market today, but there are lots of reliable Shopify competitors if Shopify doesn’t work for you.
The best Shopify alternatives for you depend on what you are looking for in an ecommerce website builder, and what you dislike in Shopify.
For instance, if you find Shopify expensive, you can opt for free alternatives like WooCommerce. Similarly, if you only want to add a buy button to an existing website, you can use a simple alternative like Selz.
If you’re just looking for reliable Shopify alternatives to see what your options are, here are my top five recommendations: