Shopify is a e-commerce tool for Small businesses and Enterprise, offered as paid ($39/mo). Founded in Canada in 2006. Popular alternatives include WooCommerce, Medusa, BigCommerce.
About Shopify
Shopify is the leading hosted e-commerce platform, founded in 2006 in Ottawa, Canada, by Tobias Lütke and his co-founders. Merchants from first-time sellers to global brands use it to run an online store, sell on social channels and take in-person payments with Shopify POS.
The platform covers storefront themes and the online store editor, product, inventory and order management across locations, Shopify Payments and the Shop Pay accelerated checkout, discounts, shipping labels in supported countries, marketing email and analytics. The App Store adds thousands of extensions. Shopify Plus serves large brands with checkout customization, B2B features, multiple stores and headless commerce through Hydrogen. Shopify Magic and the Sidekick assistant add AI help for descriptions and store operations. Pricing combines a monthly plan, from Basic through Grow and Advanced up to Plus, with payment processing fees; using a third-party gateway instead of Shopify Payments adds a transaction surcharge.
Shopify fits most direct-to-consumer brands that want reliability and a huge ecosystem without managing hosting. Costs rise with apps and fees, and customization beyond themes requires Liquid or developer help. WooCommerce offers more control on WordPress, BigCommerce includes more native features, and Medusa is an open-source headless option. In Turkey Shopify Payments is not available, so stores rely on third-party gateways such as iyzico and pay the extra fee, while ikas and Ticimax are strong local alternatives.
Key features of Shopify
- Themes and a drag-and-drop online store editor
- Shopify Payments, Shop Pay and multi-currency with Markets
- Inventory, orders, shipping labels and POS
- App store with 8,000+ apps and Flow automation
- Checkout extensibility, B2B and headless (Plus)
- Shopify Magic AI and Sidekick assistant
Pros and cons
Pros
- Most complete hosted commerce stack
- Reliable checkout with high conversion (Shop Pay)
- Enormous app and theme ecosystem
- Scales from one person to enterprise
Cons
- Transaction fees unless using Shopify Payments (not available everywhere)
- App costs add up quickly
- Theme customization needs Liquid knowledge
- Plus is expensive for mid-size brands
Shopify pricing
Shopify uses a paid model. A 3-day free trial is available.
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39 / mo | $29/mo billed annually; 2.9% + 30¢ online card rate |
| Grow | $105 / mo | $79/mo billed annually; 2.7% + 30¢, 5 staff accounts |
| Advanced | $399 / mo | $299/mo billed annually; 2.5% + 30¢, 15 staff accounts |
| Plus | from $2,300 / mo | Enterprise features, B2B, checkout customization |
How Shopify compares in E-commerce
- Rank by votes
- #2 / 36
- Starting price
- $39
- Free alternatives
- 3
0 votes from members
34% above the category median ($29/mo)
Free or open-source tools in E-commerce
Shopify ranks #2 of 36 e-commerce tools by community votes and is priced above most tools in the category.
Common use cases
- 1DTC brand launching an online store with social selling
- 2Retailer unifying online and POS inventory
- 3Dropshipping or print-on-demand store
- 4Enterprise brand on Plus with custom checkout
Best for
Merchants of any size who want a managed, scalable store and are in a Shopify Payments country.
Not ideal for
Digital-only creators (Gumroad, Payhip) or teams wanting full code control (WooCommerce, Medusa).
Integrations
- Stripe (Shopify Payments)
- PayPal
- Klaviyo
- Mailchimp
- QuickBooks
- Meta
- TikTok
- ShipStation
- Printful
Our take
Shopify is the default for physical-goods stores and worth the fees for reliability and ecosystem. Keep an eye on app subscriptions; they often exceed the plan price.
FAQ
- What is Shopify?
- Shopify is a E-commerce tool: The leading hosted e-commerce platform.
- How much does Shopify cost?
- Shopify uses a Paid model; paid plans start at $39 per month.
- What are the best alternatives to Shopify?
- Community-listed alternatives to Shopify include WooCommerce, Medusa, BigCommerce, Squarespace.
- Does Shopify have a free trial?
- Yes, Shopify offers a 3-day free trial.
- What does Shopify integrate with?
- Shopify integrates with Stripe (Shopify Payments), PayPal, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, Meta and more.
- Which platforms does Shopify support?
- Shopify is available on web, ios, android.
- Who is Shopify for?
- Merchants of any size who want a managed, scalable store and are in a Shopify Payments country.
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