12 Best Free and Paid Shopify Alternatives to Use Today

Shopify is a popular platform, generating over $5.6 billion in revenue.

While it’s undoubtedly a great platform for selling online, there are multiple options to consider before launching your online store or selling your products.

Each eCommerce platform has its benefits and specific features, so we’ll review the best Shopify alternatives.

Top 12 Best Shopify Alternatives

Here are the 12 best eCommerce platform alternatives to Shopify to consider today.

1. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a popular open-source eCommerce platform built on WordPress. Since 43.2% of the internet runs on WordPress, it’s excellent for businesses wanting to leverage the benefits of a customizable WordPress website while also getting eCommerce features.

WooCommerce also offers many features, including product management, payment processing, shipping, and marketing.

If search engine optimization is a big priority and a primary lead-generating channel for your business, WooCommerce is also better than Shopify. Here’s a more detailed look at WooCommerce vs. Shopify for SEO.

Features and benefits

• Provides easy integration into existing websites, allowing businesses to use the power of WordPress plugins while having eCommerce functionality

• Customizable and free themes, so you can create visually appealing storefronts

• Great product management system that allows the addition and categorization of products

• Flexible shipping options cater to many business models, while diverse payment gateways help in smooth transactions

• Extension library with different tools to customize the platform to meet your specific needs

• Detailed sales reports and analytics in WooCommerce to help you make informed decisions

• Offers SEO tools as plugins that help increase online visibility, and attract potential customers.

WooCommerce’s also has a vast community of developers, resulting in continuous improvements and support

Pricing

The WooCommerce plugin is free. However, you’ll have other costs to set up an online store. Remember, WooCommerce is just an eCommerce plugin—not a complete hosting platform.

Hosting, custom domain, security, themes, and even store development come with add-on costs. For example, the total estimate for a basic website and online store could come up to approximately $110 a year. This amount increases as your website grows.

Working with open-source software often takes time and reveals unexpected costs. We recommend finding a WooCommerce developer on Fiverr’s freelance marketplace to ensure you get exactly what you need without surprise costs.

2. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a cloud-based eCommerce platform known for its scalability and performance. It offers various features for product management, payment processing, shipping, and marketing. BigCommerce is ideal for B2B businesses looking to grow their online sales.

It also has a WordPress integration with full back-end platform enablement from BigCommerce. But you can also choose to host and build your website directly on BigCommerce.

“We made the leap from Shopify to BigCommerce,” says Sudhir Khatwani, Founder of The Money Mongers, a cryptocurrency resource hub. “It's been a game-changer. Pages load faster, and our customers can't stop raving about the smooth shopping experience.”

Features and benefits

• User-friendly interface to effortlessly create and manage online stores

• Offers diverse customizable templates and themes that have visually appealing and responsive storefronts on every device, but only some are free

• Built-in security features and PCI compliance, ensuring safe transactions and customer data protection

• Easy to add, manage, and sell products. You can create product variations, set prices, and add images and descriptions

• Offers a number of marketing features, such as abandoned shopping cart recovery, email marketing, and social media integration

• Search function powered by Elasticsearch that offers refined searching

• Multi-channel selling, for your own eCommerce website, Amazon, and eBay

Pricing

BigCommerce doesn’t have a free plan, but it offers a 15-day free trial without additional transaction fees. Then you can pay annual or monthly fees, depending on your preference.

• Standard Plan: $29/month annually, suitable for growing businesses

• Plus Plan: $79/month annually, enhanced features for scaling sales

• Pro Plan: $299/month annually, advanced tools for high-volume businesses

• Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing, tailored solutions for large businesses

• Custom Pricing: Personalized solutions based on specific needs

3. AdobeCommerce (formerly Magento)

AdobeCommerce (Magento) is a powerful eCommerce platform known for its customization options. It’s a good choice for enterprise online businesses needing a platform to tailor to their specific needs. It’s suitable both for B2B and B2C brands.

Features and benefits

• Uses AI to deliver content and increase productivity with AI-merchandising tools. It also uses artificial intelligence for personalized website searches, product suggestions, and navigation experiences.

• Take care of both your B2C and B2B sites and marketplaces from one interface and create hundreds of eCommerce stores

• Central system enables them to seamlessly sell and manage their business across all channels.

• Helps eCommerce businesses choose a preferred web hosting platform without being tied to a single option

• Supports various payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and Square, or set up your own custom payment method

• Uses a PWA (Progressive Web Application) storefront that can speed up your website and provide a good customer experience

Pricing

Magento Open Source software is free to download, but charges based on themes, hosting, SSL certificate, license, extensions (add-ons), maintenance, and operation. So your paid plan will entirely depend on your requirements.

Magento is a top choice for eCommerce business owners needing to build a web application, thanks to its PWA features. Since building a custom application requires development knowledge of languages and frameworks (such as React and Node.js)—consider hiring freelance web app developers to work on your website.

4. Squarespace

Squarespace is one of the best drag-and-drop website builders that also offers an eCommerce platform.

Squarespace is known for its user-friendly, intuitive interface and templates designed to look good on mobile devices.

This is good for businesses looking to create a beautiful and professional online store, particularly when aesthetics are a top priority. For example, interior design companies or design agencies selling online products would benefit from a Squarespace theme.

Features and benefits

• Use product merchandising tools like related products and limited availability labels for cross-selling and to cater to inventory management

• Providess integrated blogging tools and content management system to allow basic content creation and management

• Offers built-in analytics, including product-specific sales data and purchase funnel insights to give a clear picture of revenue and user behavior

• Provides reliable self-hosted platform with security features to ensure website stability and data protection

• Offers domain registration and email hosting

Pricing

It offers a free trial for 14 days.

• Personal Plan: $12/month, basic features for personal websites

• Business Plan: $18/month, advanced features for small businesses

• Basic Online Store: $26/month, essential eCommerce tools

• Advanced Online Store: $40/month, more features for growing online stores

Note: To use Abandoned Checkout triggers, you must be on a Commerce Advanced or Premium plan.

5. PrestaShop

PrestaShop is an open-source eCommerce platform known for its flexibility and scalability.

It’s a good choice for businesses needing a platform that can grow with them. PrestaShop offers many features, including product management, payment processing, and shipping. You can also access the Prestashop Academy for tutorials.

Features and benefits

• Has modular architecture that allows you to customize your store's features and appearance

• Suitable for product management where you can easily add, organize, and manage your products with detailed descriptions, images, and attributes

• Reach a global audience since PrestaShop supports multiple languages and currencies.

• Offers various payment options similar to Shopify payments

• Offers detailed sales reports and analytics to make informed business decisions

• Has a vast marketplace of modules and add-ons to extend functionality as needed

• Regular updates and security features ensure the safety of your store and customer data

Pricing

It’s free, making it cost-effective. But like other tools, you’ll have to buy a hosting package and a domain name. It has partnerships with web hosting providers Ionos and Hostinger.

6. Wix

Wix is a free website builder offering an eCommerce platform. It’s perfect for beginners who love web design and it doesn’t have a big learning curve. It’s good for businesses of all sizes, but it’s especially well-suited for small businesses and startups.

“We found that Wix had an upper hand in usability, affordability, customer support, and SEO features,” says John Pennypacker, VP, Sales & Marketing at Deep Cognition, an AI data entry company. “Shopify might be a worthy contender for larger businesses, but for the smaller retailer starting out, Wix is the clear winner.”

Features and benefits

• Make online stores that work well on mobile devices. You don't need to be a tech expert

• Offers benefits, like selling many products, getting back abandoned carts, using social media for sales, and having 24/7 customer help

• Provides appointment setting, with advanced features available in higher-tier plans

• Put more things on your site and embed videos

• Get reports about your site to know what areas need improvement

• taxes get sorted automatically, saving the finance bandwidth

• You can also start a loyalty plan through Wix

Pricing

Wix has a free plan, but most important features are only available in a paid plan. Accepting online payments, using your own website domain name, removing Wix ads are all features that are only accessible with a paid plan.

• Connect Domain: $4/month, basic features with Wix ads and limited storage

• Combo: $8/month, ideal for personal use with more storage and no ads

• Unlimited: $12/month, enhanced storage and features for entrepreneurs and freelancers

• Pro: $24/month, complete professional solution with VIP support

• VIP: $35/month, priority support and first access to new features

7. Big Cartel

Big Cartel is an eCommerce marketplace made mainly for a special niche like creators, artists, and craftspeople. Big Cartel is also an Etsy competitor.

Big Cartel simplifies creating clean and simple websites.

Features and benefits

• Offers free customizable themes on all plans so you can create an aesthetic-looking store

• Allows you to sell online or in-person through Big Cartel’s point-of-sale features

• Offers a custom domain to build your unique brand

• Tracks inventory and sales through analytics, and get real-time stats andshipments to create a good customer experience

• Provides automated sales tax calculation, saving you time

Pricing

Big Cartel’s free plan allows you to list 5 products. These are the paid plans:

• Gold Plan: Free, for starting out with basic features and 5 products

• 50 product plan: $9.99/month, more products and customization

• 500 product plan: $19.99/month, advanced features for growing stores

8. Ecwid

Ecwid, short for ‘eCommerce widget,’ is a hosted eCommerce solution you can add to any existing website. It’s a good choice for businesses that already have a website and do not want to switch platforms.

Features and benefits

• Has boundless bandwidth, a store builder, and adherence to GDPR regulations

• Offers various sales channels like Facebook, Instagram, and other marketplaces

• Provides advanced eCommerce features like abandoned cart emails, and wholesale pricing groups

• Easily integrates with multiple CMS platforms like WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, and Joomla

• Easy to add, manage, and sell products, create product variations, set prices, and add images and descriptions

• Integrates with various shipping carriers to easily calculate shipping rates and print shipping labels

Pricing

Free plan available. Premium plans unlock features like a store management app, digital product offerings, discount coupons, inventory oversight, and live chat assistance.

• Venture Plan: Free, for starting with basic online selling

• Business Plan: $15/month, expanded features for growing stores

• Unlimited Plan: $35/month, advanced tools for high-volume businesses

• Business-to-Business (B2B) Plan: $99/month, specialized features for wholesale

9. Volusion

Volusion is an eCommerce website builder that’s popular with small business owners because of its simplicity.

Volusion's comprehensive eCommerce solution streamlines selling your products online, offering simplicity and clarity, allowing you to allocate more time to managing your business operations.

Features and benefits

• Offers diverse plugins and features that seamlessly integrate into your online store, offering enhanced functionality

• 1-click checkout for returning customers

• Integrates with third-party apps for selling, such as Amazon, eBay, etc.

• List unlimited products and get instant calculation of shipping and tax rates

• Boasts a user-friendly graphical interface (GUI), but some basic coding proficiency like HTML or CSS is necessary for setup

• Functions are relatively limited and bandwidth limitations can lead to additional costs as your store expands

• Supports various payment processors and has a mobile app

Pricing

Free trial for 14 days, no credit card required.

• Personal Plan: $35/month, for starting a small online store

• Professional Plan: $79/month, more products and features for growing businesses

• Business Plan: $299/month, advanced tools for established online stores

• Custom Pricing: Tailored solutions for high-volume businesses with specific needs

The plans include a free domain, unlimited bandwidth, a web-hosted solution, etc.

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

Pricing

Contact the Shift4Shop sales team for more information on pricing.

11. Weebly

Weebly is an easy-to-use, free Shopify alternative to start your own online shop. Weebly has fewer features compared to Shopify, but even its priciest plan is much cheaper than Shopify's basic plan.

Weebly is owned by Square (not to be confused with Squarespace), and is a more affordable and basic alternative to Square Online. The biggest drawback of a Weebly store: it’s not very scalable, and is less than ideal for high-volume stores.

Features and benefits

• Some plans come with a free domain name, reducing initial costs for your online presence

• Has a library of over 700 responsive templates to create your store.

• Offers a variety of eCommerce features to sell products online, like product management, payment processing, shipping, and marketing

• Access a marketplace of apps and tools to enhance your website's functionality and features

• Has user-friendly interface to quickly set up your website or online store without any development knowledge

• Offers integrated blogging, so you can integrate a blog into your website to share content and engage with your audience

Pricing

Weebly has a free plan, and a few paid tiers with additional features.

• Free plan: Free SSL security and basic eCommerce features

• Personal: $10/month billed annually. You can connect to a custom domain, sell digital goods, and add pop-up notifications

• Professional: $12/month billed annually. You get no ads, advanced site stats, and phone customer support

• Performance: $26/month billed annually. You get more eCommerce features like a paypal integration, item reviews, and even basic email marketing features

12. Sellfy

If you have a passive-income eCommerce business idea like dropshipping or print-on-demand items—Sellfy could bring your idea to reality.

Print-on-demand (POD) items include merchandise like T-shirts, mugs, posters, or digital products. Sellfy is specially designed for POD and digital products, and has an incredibly simple setup.

Features and benefits

• Upgrading to higher pricing plans removes Sellfy branding and gives access to advanced features like cart abandonment management, product upselling, priority support, store design enhancements, and seamless product migration

• Easily sell digital products, such as e-books, courses, and software

• Offers print-on-demand (POD) and the integrated POD feature for selling custom-designed merchandise like T-shirts, posters, and phone cases

• Sell subscription-based content or services to create recurring revenue

• Store is totally customizable

• Connect your custom domain to maintain consistent branding across channels

• Access email marketing features to engage customers and promote products effectively

Pricing

Sellfy has a free 14-day trial. Here are the premium plans:

• Starter Plan: $19/month, for creators and beginners

• Business Plan: $49/month, advanced features for growing brands

• Premium Plan: $99/month, more customization and branding options

Setting up a store on Sellfy is free; however, but only allows you list up to ten products. It also offers a refund in case you don’t like the platform.

In a dynamic landscape of eCommerce solutions, the options beyond Shopify continue to expand. Whether seeking cost-effective beginnings, enhanced customization, or specialized features, these 12 alternatives offer a diverse range of choices.

Hire an eCommerce store expert

Building an online eCommerce store requires multiple skills—designing the store, creating a product catalog, or some coding knowledge, depending on the platform. From WooCommerce's integration with WordPress to BigCommerce's scalability, each platform brings unique advantages.

If you’re worried about the learning curve or the time it takes to build on, consider hiring a freelance eCommerce web developer to hasten this process so you can focus on what matters the most—running your eCommerce business!