7 Best Shopify Alternatives & Competitors

Today, we will discuss the seven best Shopify alternatives and competitors.

Shopify is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms. It was founded in 2006, and currently, it powers more than 1 million businesses and is used by over 2 million people.

Many popular brands use this shopping cart software for their online store, including KKW Beauty, Kylie Cosmetics, Red Bull, and Hyatt Hotel Corp, to name a few. 

Shopify Pricing Plans

Shopify offers a 14-day trial period after sign-up. After the trial, you have to join one of the following paid plans: 

1. Basic Shopify Plan: 29 USD per month
2. Shopify Plan: 79 USD per month
3. Advanced Shopify Plan: 299 USD per month

Shopify has a special Lite Plan that is visible when you downgrade from any paid plan. Under this plan, you can sell with Shopify without having a Shopify store. The price is 9 USD per month.

Shopify Features

In the basic plan, you get most of the features: 

• Online store
• 2 staff accounts
• 24/7 support
• Sales channels
• Manual order creation
• Print shipping labels
• Up to 4 locations

• Unlimited products
• Discount codes
• Free SSL certificate
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Shipping discount
• Fraud analysis
• Global selling

The advanced plan has the following additional features:

• 15 staff accounts
• Up to 8 locations
• 0.5% transaction fee for third-party payment processors
• USPS Priority Mail Cubic® pricing

• Advanced report builder
• Third-party calculated shipping rates
• International domains
• International pricing (including pricing per variant)

Read my Shopify review.

Reason to Replace Shopify

Shopify is a great platform, but it has some drawbacks.

A few of them are as follows:

Expensive: The plans are slightly expensive. It doesn’t matter if you make any sales from your store or not, you will have to pay a recurring fee every month.

Limited store themes: Shopify offers very few store themes. Chances are that your store might look similar to other stores. The paid themes are priced at 180 USD per theme, which is quite expensive.

Too many extra costs: Transaction fees, credit card processing fees, shipping charges, costs for third-party apps — all these costs add up, and you are left with a hefty bill at the end of the billing cycle. This makes the platform even more expensive.

Complexity: The platform has a complex interface; there are certain settings that you might find a bit complicated. So if you are a beginner, you might end up getting lost. Many users hire developers to set up a Shopify store for them.

These are some drawbacks of Shopify that can push you to look for an alternative.

Now, here are the 7 best Shopify alternatives. Let’s take a look at them.

7 Best Shopify Alternatives

1. GrooveKart
2. WooCommerce
3. BigCommerce
4. Volusion
5. PinnacleCart
6. Magento
7. Shift4Shop

#1. GrooveKart

GrooveKart has been touted as the cheapest Shopify alternative.

Founded in 2018 by Mike Filsaime, a digital marketing expert and creator of the popular sales funnel platform Kartra and webinar hosting platform webinar jam, it is intended to replace Shopify.

It is a free Shopify alternative.Read GrooveKart vs Shopify.

Key Features

A few key features of GrooveKart are as follows:

Free platform

This is one unique feature that sets GrooveKart apart from the rest of Shopify’s competitors. You pay nothing to use this shopping cart platform.

It comes with all premium features at no cost to you.

Native in-built apps

Along with GrooveKart, you can use the other native apps of the GrooveFunnels platform. You won’t need to integrate with any third-party application.

This, however, is available only in the paid accounts of GrooveFunnels.

Social proof

This feature is not available on all eCommerce platforms. As the term suggests, social proof is like proof that someone is buying your products.

So when someone visits your web store, the social proof will be displayed as a pop-out and contain a message. For example, “XYZ from New York purchased a t-shirt.”

Related products pre and post-checkout

This feature helps in increasing sales. You might have seen this feature.

Take Amazon, for example, where you will see products similar to the one you are searching for being displayed. The price can be different, but the purpose of the related product is similar to the original product.

User friendly

GrooveKart is a user-friendly platform.

From adding products to adding shipping details, all processes are straightforward. You don’t need extra coding skills or technical knowledge to sell with GrooveKart.

Why Should You Choose GrooveKart?

• The platform is free for a lifetime.
• Smallest learning curve.
• No need to pay for third-party integrations.
• An in-built affiliate program does not require separate approval.

Why Should You Not Choose GrooveKart?

• If you are using the platform for free, you cannot use the paid native apps.
• With the free plan you will pay a 2% transaction fee on every sale.
• Lack of in-depth knowledge base and video tutorials.
• The premium account has very few native apps to replace third-party applications.
• Not many integrations.

GrooveKart Pricing Plans

GrooveKart is a free platform but requires a fee on every transaction. To avoid this fee you can join the paid plan of GrooveFunnels.

GrooveFunnels offers one pricing plan for now: 1,397 USD for lifetime access.

Note that to use GrooveKart, you don’t need to pay for a plan; you can visit www.groovekart.com and open your free account.

To take full advantage of this platform, I recommend you upgrade to a GrooveFunnels paid plan.

The Platinum Lifetime plan requires one payment platform for lifetime access. You can pay 1,397 USD at once, or you can go for five easy monthly installments of 497 USD per month.

Once GrooveFunnels launches its monthly plan, you will have to pay 299 USD per month for the Platinum Plan.

Read my GrooveKart review.

Let’s move to the next Shopify competitior.

#2. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is one of the top choices for eCommerce platforms. Used by more than 3 million companies, it is among the top three shopping cart platforms with Shopify and BigCommerce.

Key Features

A few key features of WooCommerce are as follows:

Free platform

WooCommerce is a free eCommerce platform. Just install it on your WordPress site and you are ready to sell your products.

User friendly

WooCommerce has a simple, user-friendly interface. Even a beginner can work with it easily, with no coding skills. You can set up a store, create a product and start selling in a few simple steps.

Wide range of themes

WooCommerce has its own theme store where you will find thousands of templates and themes to help you build your online store. All themes are high quality and most of them are responsive.

Multiple integrations

WooCommerce has a store where it hosts thousands of extensions. From autoresponders to payment processors to carriers to membership sites — it has multiple integrations for each category.

Full customization

With WooCommerce, you can freely customize the look and feel of your online store. You can change the names, titles, and fonts for your store. With its shopping cart tool CartFlows, you can also customize the shopping cart of your web store. 

Why Should You Choose WooCommerce?

• Free open-source platform.
• Easy to use.
• Houses tons of integrations, including payment processors.
• Separate templates for checkout pages.

Why Should You Not Choose WooCommerce?

• The platform itself is free but you need a business plan to use it.
• Installing too many extensions may lower the performance.
• Many useful templates must be paid for.
• You need knowledge of WordPress for more efficient use.
• Difficult multi-currency implementation

WooCommerce Pricing Plans

WooCommerce itself does not cost you anything. However, you have to pay for the domain and hosting of your WordPress site. Also, to install the plugin, you must be on at least the Business Plan. The Business Plan will cost you 25 USD per month if paid yearly.

1. Personal: 4 USD per month.
2. Premium: 9 USD per month.
3. Business: 25 USD per month.
4. eCommerce: 45 USD per month.

Let’s move to the third Shopify alternative.

#3. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a leading eCommerce platform used by over a million sellers to create their online stores.

It is a hosted platform, which means it runs on its own servers. Since it is a SaaS product, you can access it from anywhere. 

Key Features

A few key features of Bigcommerce are as follows:

Website customization

BigCommerce is a highly customizable platform. You get pre-built templates to quickly build your online store.

The page builder is intuitive, and you can change the look of your website easily.

Persistent cart

Persistent cart features let you improve your customer experiences by saving their shopping cart to their account.

This way, whenever any customer switches to another device, they can find their existing cart.

Application integration

BigCommerce has an application marketplace that hosts many external or third-party applications.

You can integrate any of the applications and improve the functionality of your online store.

SEO optimization

BigCommerce’s built-in SEO tools can help you increase the visibility of your landing pages on the search engine result pages.

Payment management

BigCommerce supports several third-party payment processors, and you can use them at no extra charge.

Why Should You Choose BigCommerce?

• 15 day trial period.
• With the point of sale, you can sell on other platforms, including your own website.
• Many payment processors.
• You get unlimited file storage, bandwidth, staff account and can sell unlimited products.
• You can add up to 600 variants for a product, much higher than many eCommerce platforms.

Why Should You Not Choose BigCommerce?

• Free templates are limited, and the paid ones are expensive.
• You might have to pay transaction fees for third-party payment processors.
• Except for the USA and Canada, you have to set the tax rate.
• Discounted shipping rate is not available in BigCommerce.

BigCommerce Pricing Plans

You get the first 15 days free in the trial. Afterward, you can upgrade to the following paid plans:

1. BigCommerce Standard: 29.95 USD per month
2. BigCommerce Plus: 79.95 USD per month
3. BigCommerce Pro: 299.95 USD per month
4. BigCommerce Enterprise: Custom pricing

If you pay annually, you get a 10% discount for the ‘Plus’ and ‘Pro’ plans. For the Enterprise Plan, you can ask for a custom quote depending on your business requirements.

#4. Volusion

Volusion is among the most widely used eCommerce platforms. This platform is a favorite of small businesses since it has a simple structure. 

Key Features

A few key features of Volusion are as follows:

Fully responsive themes

Volusion offers 7 free and 38 premium themes, and all of them are responsive. You can use any of the themes and customize them as per your needs.

Mobile support

Volusion is available on your mobile device with an exclusive mobile app. With this, you can manage your store from your phone.

Marketing tools

Volusion has an entire set of marketing tools with which you can promote your web store.

You have social media integration, coupons and discount creation tools, a built-in email marketing system, a loyalty points program, etc.

App marketplace

You can get third-party apps to work with your store with this feature.

You can also integrate Volusion with other eCommerce merchants like eBay and Amazon. 

Volusion Pricing Plans

Volusion offers four pricing plans:

1. Personal: 29 USD per month
2. Professional: 79 USD per month
3. Business: 299 USD per month
4. Prime: Custom pricing

For the Personal, Professional and Business plans you get a 10% discount when you pay annually.

For the Prime plan, you will get custom pricing according to the Gross Merchandise Volume, i.e., the total online payments processed through one of the payment methods offered by Volusion.

You get a 14 day trial period after signing up.

Why Should You Choose Volusion?

• It is simple and easy to navigate.
• The limited features allow small businesses to focus more on the core operations rather than dealing with a lot of complex features.
• Great customer support team.
• Volusion charges zero transaction fees.
• The Prime plan has some exclusive features like VIP support and unlimited staff accounts.

Why Should You Not Choose Volusion?

• Some advanced features are missing, so it’s not suitable for large businesses.
• As compared to the features, the plans are overpriced.
• As compared to other eCommerce platforms, customization is limited.
• Mobile support is available only in the 299 USD plan and higher.
• Many additional fees are involved.

#5. PinnacleCart

PinnacleCart is an all-in-one eCommerce platform with which you can grow your business online.

Building a store on this platform helps you convert your visitors to active customers and increase sales.

The advanced features are designed to drive revenue while boosting brand exposure.

Key Features

A few key features of PinnacleCart are as follows:

Host your store

With PinnacleCart, you get a flexible and scalable store. Since this is cloud-based, you can host your store anywhere you want.

List your products everywhere

You can list your store on the most visited sites (like Amazon or Google Shopping). This makes your products available to your customers everywhere they are.

Fully customizable

With PinnacleCart, you can build your web store to meet your business needs and can modify it as needed.

Work with the experts

For high customization, you can ask PinnacleCart to help you out. You can get their expertise in development and marketing to grow your online business.

Security and reliability

PinnacleCart is both PCI and PA-DSS compliant. Additionally, it uses SSL, which ensures a secure checkout, has password encryption, and has administrator IP restrictions.

It is also partnered with FraudLabs and No Fraud, allowing you to eliminate fraudulent orders.

PinnacleCart Pricing Plans

You can join any of the following paid plans:

1. Standard: 79.95 USD per month
2. Advanced: 199.95 USD per month
3. Enterprise: Custom pricing

In the Standard Plan, the sales volume is limited to 250,000 USD (12-month basis).The Enterprise Plan is for established businesses with high requirements.

You will have to contact the PinnacleCart team for custom pricing.

Why Should You Choose PinnacleCart?

• Has many advanced features.
• PinnacleCart doesn’t charge any transaction fees in any of their plans.
• You can sell unlimited products in all plans.
• You can easily migrate your existing eCommerce store to PinnacleCart without an interruption in business (fee charges may apply).

Why Should You Not Choose PinnacleCart?

• If you want to host your online store on your own server, you will have to pay an additional fee.
• Only two third-party payment options are available in the Standard Plan.
• You can only add up to five admin accounts in the standard plan.
• Disk space and bandwidth are limited to only 10 GB and 20 GB, respectively.
• Some features like recurring billing, product filters, order forms, and split shipping are available only in the higher-priced plans.

You get the first 14 days free as a trial period.

#6. Magento

Magento is a leading open-source digital eCommerce platform that helps sellers build their online stores.

It is good for fast-growing businesses because of its flexibility and expandability.

Key Features

A few key features of Magento are as follows:

Order management

Magento lets you sell and fulfill order requirements from anywhere and everywhere. With the order and inventory management feature, you can create a seamless experience for your business, whether it has multiple brands, sites, or stores.

Product recommendations

With the product recommendations feature you can deliver relevant experiences to your customers. Powered by Adobe Sensei, you are provided with a direct way to increase the impact of digital merchandising while reducing the manual work required to uncover meaningful product affinities.

Live search

Magento live search is powered by Adobe Sensei AI, which is combined with real-time data. So when your customers are looking for something, they get personalized results instantly.

Cloud delivery

Magento is a cloud-based platform, and it provides best-in-class services that deliver optimized performance and scalability.

ERP integration

Integrating with the ERP system increases the efficiency of your eCommerce platform. It helps to manage inventory, orders, customer data, and shipping details in real-time.

Why Should You Choose Magento?

• The open-source version is free.
• The free version is easy to use.
• The paid version has a 14 day trial period.
• It is highly flexible and scalable.
• The user community is large, so you can expect quick support from them.

Why Should You Not Choose Magento?

• The commerce version is expensive.
• Basic coding knowledge is required for seamless working with the platform.
• Due to slow loading time, customization is pretty difficult and time-consuming.
• The developers at Magento charge a high fee for customer support.
• Customers need to host their own website.

Magento Pricing Plans

Magento has two versions — the free version called Magento Open Source, and the paid version called Magento 2, also known as Magento Commerce.

1. Magento Open Source: This is the free version, and you can download it for free and use it on your own web server.
2. Magento Commerce: This is the paid version of the same platform. It has more advanced features and more opportunities for customization. The pricing is not listed on the site, and you need to contact customer support to get a quote according to your business needs.

Let’s move to the last Shopify competitor.

#7. Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop (previously known as a 3D cart) is a free eCommerce solution that lets you build a store and grow your business.

It is a feature-rich platform that can help get your store up and running in no time.

Key Features

A few key features of Shift4Shop are as follows:

Website builder

You can create an online presence for your business even if you don’t have any coding skills.

You can present your brand in the best possible way and attract customers.

You can build any type of website with its own online store.

Shopping cart

Shift4Shop has a powerful cart and checkout that presents a seamless experience to its customers.

Mobile eCommerce

You can create a mobile-friendly website to boost your business’s growth and success. With this feature, your store will be available to your customers on the go.

Secure hosting

Shift4Shop offers reliable and scalable eCommerce hosting, Level 1 PCI, and 256 Bit SSL certification. It also has an IP blocking security feature.

Why Should You Choose Shift4Shop?

• No transaction fees on any plans.
• It is a feature-rich shopping cart platform.
• You can let your customers ask or answer questions about a product with the platform’s “Product Q & A” feature.
• Some security features include Kount Fraud Protection, 2-factor authentication, visitor IP blocking, and GDPR Toolkit.
• In-depth knowledge base.

Why Should You Not Choose Shift4Shop?

• It has a limited number of themes.
• Though the initial setup is easy, you might need help with customization.
• Every plan has a set limit of sales revenue.
• The customer support isn’t very reliable.

Shift4Shop Pricing Plans

Shift4Shop offers four regular plans:

1. Basic Store: 29 USD per month
2. Plus Store: 79 USD per month
3. Pro Store: 299 USD per month
4. End-to-End Ecommerce: Free

However, you also have two other plans:

1. Startup Store: 19 USD per month
2. Power Plan Store: 129 USD per month
   
   

You get the first month free after signing up. All plans are on a month-to-month agreement.

The pricing plan for the Startup and Power plan may not be visible on the pricing page, but you can view them after signing up.

The End-to-End Ecommerce plan is free for life but is reserved for US merchants. In this plan, transactions are via Ship4 Payments, and a transaction fee of 2.9%+30c is charged on every sale. 

Conclusion

Not every shopping cart platform has all features, and your requirements can change. This forces you to find a replacement for your current shopping cart tool.

No matter which platform you choose, expect that not all your requirements will be fulfilled. The same goes for Shopify.

You may not find it useful even if it has over a million users. So if you are searching for a Shopify alternative, you can choose any of the Shopify competitors discussed in this blog post.

I hope this article was of help to you.

What Shopify alternative have you selected for your online store? Please share your thoughts through the comments section.