In a fast paced world as ours right now, businesses and entrepreneurs are continuously looking for efficient venues to create their online presence as e-commerce continues to flourish.
Shopify is a well-known e-commerce platform that has grown in popularity due to its scalability, strong features, and user-friendly layout.
It might not be the ideal choice for everyone, though. Many people may look into other solutions due to things like desired customisation options, particular business needs, and financial limitations.
To assist you in making an informed choice for your online store, we will examine a number of Shopify alternatives in this post, emphasizing their features, benefits, and best applications.
Understanding Shopify
There's no doubt that Shopify is a capable general-purpose eCommerce platform. There's no need to have a coding background, as it's very user-friendly. It also has an intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface that's ideal for beginners.
Shopify also makes it easy for online stores to change their look themselves with a variety of themes. Many of these optimized and responsive themes are also free. Canada's largest eCommerce company also has a massive app ecosystem.
This means that you're not going to have a hard time finding innovative features for your shop. However, many Shopify merchants have pointed out that the platform may over-rely on their app store, lacking in built-in features that come with the cost of service.
Additionally, Shopify makes use of cutting-edge web hosting and servers. It even oversees cybersecurity, a sector worth $112 billion. You can be less concerned about being hacked because it makes use of state-of-the-art online security.
Additionally, Shopify offers round-the-clock customer and technical assistance, making it simple to get in touch with them. If you need further assistance with design or Shopify SEO, you can also get in touch with outside professionals.
10 Best Alternatives to Shopify
1. WooCommerce
Built on top of WordPress, WooCommerce is a well-known open-source eCommerce platform. Because WordPress powers 43.2% of the internet, it's a great choice for companies looking to take use of eCommerce functionality together with the advantages of a personalized WordPress website.
Product administration, payment processing, shipping, and marketing are just a few of the numerous services that WooCommerce provides.
Additionally, WooCommerce is superior to Shopify if SEO is a top priority and your company's main source of business leads. A more thorough comparison of Shopify and WooCommerce for SEO can be found here.
2. Adobe eCommerce(Formally Magento)
Magento Commerce and Magento Open Source are the two Magento eCommerce platforms that are accessible. The latter is the one that may be downloaded for free.
Magento Open Source is a feature-rich eCommerce platform that is available for free. In fact, it's a great option for mid-sized to bigger businesses. It can handle higher sales volumes and is incredibly adaptable and scalable.
However, coding experience is required to get the most out of Magento Open Source. Because they can afford to hire programmers on staff, larger stores are also the greatest candidates. Therefore, you might wish to work with a developer who has a lot of Magento experience.
Additionally, it's a simpler method of avoiding needless errors and delay. Additionally, there are a ton of helpful Magento 1 and Magento 2 extensions to showcase your online store.
3. Wix
Wix is the Shopify substitute for those who require an intuitive interface because of its creative freedom and straightforward dashboard.
When it comes to inventory management, Wix is far easier than Shopify, so you won't get bogged down with product tags and submenus. If all you want to do is sell some things without having to navigate a maze full of obstacles, that can save you hours of agony.
Also, you may easily add apps from the Wix App Store if you wish to scale up with more product management features. Due to the fact that you won't be paying for unnecessary features, you may control your expenditure and save money.
Wix is among the greatest e-commerce platforms for small businesses because of its much lower pricing plans. Wix has partially fixed its lack of sales-specific features compared to Shopify. For example, Wix has increased dropshipping and multichannel connectivity, enabling sales on Facebook and Instagram.
Additionally, Wix offers a handy AI text generation tool that you can utilize for product descriptions and on your primary website pages. You can choose the kind of paragraph you require, like "About me," "FAQs," or "Service description," to mention a few. It will save you time by creating catchy (but very generic) words to advertise your products.
4. BigCommerce
For expanding, mid-market, and enterprise-level retailers searching for a SaaS eCommerce platform, BigCommerce provides plans.
Retailers who make more than $1 million in sales annually are eligible for the BigCommerce Enterprise Plan, sometimes known as the "VIP" plan. Priority assistance, personalized filtering choices, a staged development environment, and a dedicated account manager are among the features.
Application integrations, payment and inventory management, SEO optimization, and website customization are BigCommerce's four main capabilities for improving website speed.
All things considered, BigCommerce's adaptable API and intuitive features make it the perfect choice for companies wishing to reduce the technological debt associated with on-premise systems.
5. Big Cartel
Established in Utah in 2005, BigCartel has grown to service more than 1.5 million subscribers. Originally concentrating on musicians, it has now reached artists and craftspeople as well. It has grown to the point that, in 2017, it brought in about $10.3 million.
BigCartel offers a free bundle in addition to its already reasonably priced services. However, only companies with five or fewer items are eligible for the free service.
You can upload one photograph per item and advertise it on Facebook and Instagram with the free plan. Additionally, it is user-friendly due to its integration with PayPal. To add some flair to your store, you may select from a few free themes.
Having said that, the free plan only functions well for stores that offer a small number of products and has restricted functionality. Additionally, there is no chat or phone help, nor is there an inventory search feature.
6. PrestaShop
The open-source eCommerce platform PrestaShop is renowned for its scalability and adaptability.
For companies that require a platform that can expand with them, it's an excellent option. Among the various functions that PrestaShop provides are shipping, payment processing, and product administration. For tutorials, you may also visit the Prestashop Academy.
It is cost-effective because it is free. However, much like other tools, you will need to purchase a domain name and a hosting package. It has alliances with Hostinger and Ionos, two web hosting companies.
7. Volusion
Use Volusion's store editor to alter the appearance and feel of your website. Features like bulk processing and manual order creation facilitate order administration.
Additionally available to businesses are third-party gateways, abandoned cart reports, traffic growth consultancy, priority support, and more.
Although Volusion is competitive at both the top and bottom tiers, they lack several features that rivals offer in the medium tiers. One of the main obstacles that many people have while using Volusion over alternative platforms is pricing.
A number of fees, such as transaction, bandwidth, and link removal fees, quickly mount up. It's preferable to look at other options that don't include a third party interfering with your business for $269 every month.
8. SquareSpace
One of the best Shopify substitutes for imaginative and frugal consumers is Squarespace, which offers the most polished layouts we've ever seen together with reasonably priced options.
With monthly pricing levels ranging from £23 to £35 and the flexibility to sell digital and service-based products, Squarespace is really the most cost-effective platform we examined (except from Square's free tier). It also offers multi-channel integration through Instagram. This is just one of the numerous factors that make Squarespace the top subscription sales platform in our opinion.
We adore the new animation elements that were added in June of this year for both images and text highlights, such a line that appears beneath a word or two. With the help of these unique design components, you can draw viewers in with delicate yet striking scrolling action.
However, if you intend to grow your business rapidly, you could find that Squarespace is not as suitable as Shopify. To strengthen your e-commerce and banking skills, we would advise using BigCommerce instead or adding third-party services to your Squarespace store, such Zapier, which links your apps to automate your repetitive chores.
9. Ecwid
Ecwid, which stands for "eCommerce widget," is a hosted eCommerce solution that can be integrated into any website that already exists. For companies who already have a website and don't want to transfer platforms, it's a smart option.
Pricing
- There is a free plan available. Features including a store management app, digital product offerings, discount coupons, inventory control, and live chat support are made available with premium services.
- Venture Plan: Free, for beginning with simple internet sales
- $15/month business plan with extra features for expanding stores
- $35/month for an unlimited plan with sophisticated tools for enterprises with significant volume
- $99/month for a business-to-business (B2B) plan with features tailored for wholesale
10. Shift4Shop
Shift4Shop, formerly known as 3dcart, is a cloud-based eCommerce platform known for its affordability and ease of use. It’s ideal for businesses on a budget or do not have a lot of technical expertise.
Features and benefits
- Move around the platform easily
- Has a special tool (CRM) to help you manage your customers, so you don't need another tool
- Provides everything you need to do well in dropshipping, plus you can find good products from different sellers, connect to different online marketplaces, and send emails automatically
- Has 100+ themes, AI-driven fraud protection, andunlimited product listing in the paid plans
- Offers free tutorials to help you learn how to start and grow your business
Quick Recap
As a quick recqp, we will nqme the ten best shopify alternatives once again for you to know which of the comes first and which to consider better. They are;
- WooCommerce
- AdobeCommerce (formerly Magento)
- Wix
- BigCommerce
- Big Cartel
- PrestaShop
- Volusion
- Squarespace
- Ecwid
- Shift4Shop
Based on participant testing and our own independent research, we have presented you with the top Shopify substitutes. Although you may already be aware of which option is best for you, let's briefly review our previous conversation.
Our top 5 best Shopify alternatives are:
- WooCommerce – best for WordPress users.
- Wix – best for small businesses.
- BigCommerce – best for medium-to-large businesses.
- Square – best free Shopify alternative.
- Squarespace – best for creating a beautiful website.
We discovered that WooCommerce and BigCommerce require greater technical know-how, so if you're not interested in intricate web setups, neither is the best option and you should consider going for a different one.
However, we discovered that Square, Squarespace, and Wix are far more user-friendly for beginners. Those with very minimal technical skills can easily use these tools. Therefore, you would do best with one of those three if you want to create your website using a click-and-drag interface.
Final Thoughts On Alternatives to Shopify
Depending on the platform, building an online eCommerce site takes a variety of talents, such as product catalog creation, website design, and some coding.
Each platform offers distinct benefits, ranging from BigCommerce's scalability to WooCommerce's connection with WordPress.
A freelance eCommerce web developer can speed up this process if you're concerned about the learning curve or the time required to build on it, allowing you to concentrate on what really matters—managing your eCommerce company!