Shopifyvs
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Shopify
The most trusted ecommerce platform to start, grow, and scale your business
As of 30 August 2026, Shopify starts at $24/month. Shopify is a cloud-based ecommerce platform that allows entrepreneurs to build and manage their online stores easily. Softwr lists it under Publishing. Shopify is made by Shopify Inc, launched in 2006, available on Web.
Overview
What Shopify does
Shopify is a cloud-based ecommerce platform that allows entrepreneurs to build and manage their online stores easily. It provides everything needed to sell online including hosting, payment processing, inventory management, and marketing tools. Shopify powers over 1 million businesses across more than 175 countries.
What people use it for
- Running a hosted ecommerce store with payments and fulfilment
- Selling across online, in person and social channels from one catalogue
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Shopify
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- ShopifyvsBlurb
Blurb: Visual storytelling through print-on-demand books and wall art
- ShopifyvsLulu
Lulu: Quality book printing at a reasonable price
- ShopifyvsMarq
Marq: Web-based design and publishing for brand templates
Pricing
What Shopify costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Basic
$24 /mo
- For solo entrepreneurs
- $32/month on monthly billing
- 2.9% + AED1.00 transaction fee (standard cards)
Grow
$69 /mo
- For small teams
- $92/month on monthly billing
- 2.8% + AED1.00 transaction fee (standard cards)
Advanced
$299 /mo
- For global reach
- $399/month on monthly billing
- 2.7% + AED1.00 transaction fee (standard cards)
Plus
$2,300 /mo
- For complex businesses
- most competitive transaction rates
Capabilities
Features
Hosted ecommerce platform
Payment processing
Inventory management
Order tracking
Marketing automation
Apps and integrations
Multi-channel selling
SSL certificate
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
How much does Shopify cost?
Shopify's Basic tier is $24/month (or $32/month monthly), Grow is $69/month (or $92/month monthly), Advanced is $299/month (or $399/month monthly), and Plus starts at $2,300/month. Annual subscriptions include 25% discount versus monthly billing.
SourceDoes Shopify offer a free trial?
Yes, Shopify offers 3 days free, then $1/month for 3 months without requiring a credit card.
SourceWhat payment processing fees does Shopify charge?
Transaction rates vary by plan: Basic charges 2.9% + AED1.00 (standard cards), Grow charges 2.8% + AED1.00, Advanced charges 2.7% + AED1.00, and Plus offers the most competitive rates. American Express charges 0.1% higher across all plans.
SourceBehind it
Who makes Shopify
- Company
- Shopify Inc
- Based in
- Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Keep looking
Where to go from Shopify
- Shopify alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Shopify pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Shopify badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Publishing softwareThe full category
- Best Publishing softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Publishing software for
Compare Shopify with
- GIMP
- Marq
- Blurb
- Lulu
- QuarkXPress
- Atticus
- PublishDrive
- Everand
- Draft2Digital
- IngramSpark
- Kindle Direct Publishing
- Storytel
- Wattpad
- Webtoon
- BookBaby
- Goodreads
- QuarkXPress
- Kindle
Other Publishing software
Visual storytelling through print-on-demand books and wall art
From $3.99/unit10 researched notesOne-time-purchase writing and book formatting that runs on Windows and Linux, not just Mac
From $147/one-time11 researched notesEbook distribution aggregator that moved from a royalty-share model to flat-fee subscription pricing, so authors now keep 100% of the store royalty rather than splitting it with the platform
Free plan11 researched notesUnlimited ebook, audiobook, magazine and sheet music subscription, the consumer reading service formerly called Scribd
From $11.99/mo11 researched notesEbook and print distribution aggregator that takes a percentage instead of a fee
Free plan10 researched notesPrint-on-demand and distribution into the wholesale catalogue that bookshops order from
10 researched notesAmazon self-publishing platform that is free to use, earning Amazon a royalty cut instead of a fee, with a hard price band and per-megabyte delivery cost governing the 70% rate
Free plan11 researched notesUnlimited audiobook and ebook subscription, strong in Europe and Latin America, no library card needed
From $14.99/mo11 researched notesUser-generated fiction publishing and reading app, owned by Naver alongside Webtoon
Free plan9 researched notesNaver-owned vertical-scroll digital comics platform with a paid-early-access coin system
Free plan9 researched notesPay-per-book self-publishing service for ebook conversion, print on demand and distribution
11 researched notesAmazon's consumer e-book reading app, distinct from Kindle Direct Publishing, the author-facing service
Free plan9 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Shopify, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Shopify
Shopify alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Shopify pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Shopify
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Shopify badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Publishing software alternatives
Amazon self-publishing platform that is free to use, earning Amazon a royalty cut instead of a fee, with a hard price band and per-megabyte delivery cost governing the 70% rate
Free to publish; Amazon earns a royalty share rather than a fee
Rakuten e-reader hardware, app and ebook store, the reader-facing side of the Kobo ecosystem
Free store and app; hardware sold separately; optional subscription
Audiobook subscription that splits revenue with an independent bookstore of your choice
Per credit per month, credits never expireUnlimited ebook, audiobook, magazine and sheet music subscription, the consumer reading service formerly called Scribd
Per user per month, unlimitedAmazon-owned book cataloguing, review and recommendation app
Free, no subscription or in-app purchases; funded by Amazon as a commerce and data feederPay-per-book self-publishing service for ebook conversion, print on demand and distribution
One-time purchase per projectAmazon's consumer e-book reading app, distinct from Kindle Direct Publishing, the author-facing service
Free app, revenue from book purchases and optional subscription
Rakuten Kobo self-publishing platform paying a 70% royalty with no delivery fee deduction and no upper price cap, a materially different structure from Amazon KDP
Free to publish; Kobo earns a royalty share rather than a fee