Print & Publishing · head to head
Shopify vs GIMP
Shopify
Print & Publishing
The most trusted ecommerce platform to start, grow, and scale your business
- From
- $29/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only GIMP has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Shopify using any payment provider other than Shopify Payments adds a transaction fee on top of the card rate, at 2% on Basic falling to 0.2% on Plus; GIMP gPLv3 licence requires derivative works to be open-source and freely distributed
- They diverge on capability: Shopify covers Hosted ecommerce platform, GIMP covers Photo editing.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Shopify and GIMP actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Print & Publishing).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Shopify
- Hosted ecommerce platform
- Payment processing
- Inventory management
- Order tracking
- Marketing automation
- Apps and integrations
- Multi-channel selling
- SSL certificate
Only in GIMP
- Photo editing
- Digital painting
- Image processing
- Batch editing
- Filters
- Color correction
- Layer support
- Script-fu automation
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Shopify
- Running a hosted ecommerce store with payments and fulfilmentnot GIMP
- Selling across online, in person and social channels from one cataloguenot GIMP
GIMP
- Photo editing and retouching with professional colour managementnot Shopify
- Digital art creation with power and flexibility for image transformationnot Shopify
- Icon and UI element design for application developmentnot Shopify
- Batch image processing through Python, C, C++, and Scheme scriptingnot Shopify
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Shopify
- Using any payment provider other than Shopify Payments adds a transaction fee on top of the card rate, at 2% on Basic falling to 0.2% on Plus
- That fee makes the cheapest plan the most expensive place to use an outside processor, which is the opposite of how plans usually work
- Card rates also improve with the plan, from 2.9% on Basic to 2.7% on Advanced
- Amex is charged at a higher rate than other cards on every plan below Plus
- Plus starts at $2,300 a month
- The advertised lower monthly prices require paying a year up front
GIMP
- GPLv3 licence requires derivative works to be open-source and freely distributed
- Community-driven development with no commercial support tier
- No native CMYK support for professional print workflows
- Ecosystem depends on community plugins and scripts for advanced features
Pricing, plan by plan
Shopify
$29/month- Starter$5/month
- Buy Button & Sales Channel
- Abandoned checkout recovery
- Basic reporting
- Basic$29/month
- Online store
- Up to 2 staff accounts
- Basic reports
- Standard$79/month
- Professional reports
- Gift cards
- Up to 15 staff accounts
GIMP
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the GIMP review.
Which should you pick?
Choose GIMP if
- You need photo editing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on GNU/Linux, macOS, Windows.
- You also want digital painting.
Questions people ask
- Is Shopify or GIMP better?
- Neither clearly leads. Shopify starts at $29/month and GIMP at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Shopify or GIMP?
- GIMP has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for Shopify and Free for GIMP.
- Does Shopify or GIMP run on more platforms?
- Shopify runs on Web. GIMP runs on GNU/Linux, macOS, Windows.
- Can I use GIMP for free?
- Yes. GIMP has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Shopify starts at $29/month.
- What is Shopify best used for?
- Shopify is most often used for running a hosted ecommerce store with payments and fulfilment, selling across online, in person and social channels from one catalogue. Of those, running a hosted ecommerce store with payments and fulfilment and selling across online, in person and social channels from one catalogue are not what GIMP is typically brought in for.
- What can Shopify do that GIMP cannot?
- Shopify covers Hosted ecommerce platform, Payment processing, Inventory management, Order tracking. GIMP covers Photo editing, Digital painting, Image processing, Batch editing.