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Shopify is the best ecommerce website builder you can get your hands on in 2024, especially if you’re intent on expanding your business. From social media selling to POS compatibility, our Shopify review explains why the solution is worth it and how its ecommerce features trump the competition.
We’ll also look at how its limitless app library offers ample opportunities for you to refine and scale your store, but equally we know that Shopify won’t be the right fit for every business. That’s why we’re going to going to deep dive into its key features, costs, and look at the competition.
Our testing reveals a relatively steep learning curve for Shopify and lackluster design features, so it’s not the strongest candidate for those building a “normal” website. Its pricey packages and transaction fees for those not using Shopify Payments make it a lot less affordable than leading web builders like Wix and Squarespace, too.
If you’re eyeing it up a potential solution but aren’t fully convinced, know that you can try Shopify free. Alternatively, read on as our review puts the builder under a lens to help you decide if Shopify is worth it for you.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is a multi-purpose ecommerce website builder that helps users build and manage profitable online stores. Shopify offers every feature you’d expect from a high-quality builder, including a dedicated sales dashboard, an inventory management system, and an app market home to over 8000+ integrations.
Businesses can also use Shopify to sell to customers via social media and in person with its POS integration. This makes the ecommerce builder ideal for businesses keen on diversifying their revenue streams, and omnichannel retailers that manage in-person sales.
Pros
- The most ecommerce features across our research
- Vast selection of marketing integrations
- Built-in VR compatibility for showcasing products
Cons
- Monthly fees for POS system
- Scheduling and booking requires add-on
- No tutorials for setup
- Cheapest Plan: $5/month
- Basic Plan: $29/month
- Shopify Plan: $79/month
- Advanced Plan: $299/month
- Transaction fees from 2.9% + 30¢
- 3-day Free Trial
Shopify Quick Fact-File
Before we dive into the details, here are some factors that can help you decide if Shopify’s a good fit for you at a glance.
- Shopify’s plans start at $29 per month, but its average price is much higher than similar ecommerce builders
- Shopify offers the best sales features of any other ecommerce builder we tested, making it a competitive choice for online stores
- Shopify’s design features and template selection lag behind most other website builders, which is why we gave it a design score of 3.2/5 compared to Wix’s impressive 4.1/5
- Shopify offers 24/7 customer support via email and live chatbot for customers on all of its plans
- Shopify interface is a little clunkier and not as intuitive as its rivals Wix and Squarespace, making it less ideal for beginners
Read on if you’d like to learn more about our best-performing ecommerce builder. Or, take our website builder quiz to receive recommendations based on your specific criteria.
| Plan | Price paid annually The price per month you'll pay if you choose to be billed annually | Price paid monthly The price per month you'll pay if you choose to be billed monthly | Transaction fee if not using Shopify Payments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | |
| Starter | Basic | Shopify | Advanced | Plus |
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| $2,300/month |
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| N/A |
| 5% | 2% | 1% | 0.5% | Bespoke |
Shopify offers five different packages for businesses: Starter, Basic, Shopify, Advanced, and Plus.
Unlike the rest of Shopify’s plans, its cheapest tier, Starter, plan isn’t a fully-fledged web builder. Instead, it supports merchants with pre-existing sites to sell across channels like social media and messaging apps.
This makes Shopify’s Basic plan the provider’s cheapest web-building tier, at $29 per month. While this starting price is reasonable, it lacks basic hardware support, has stringent user account limits, and offers fewer features than comparable entry-level plans by competitors Wix and Squarespace. Its online transaction rate of 2.9% bumps up the price of the tier too, especially for businesses with high turnovers.
While Shopify Plus is reserved for enterprise-level businesses, the provider’s Shopify, and Advanced plan are great options for small businesses wanting to take advantage of Shopify’s powerful sales toolkit. Yet, with a price tag of $79 per month and $299 per month respectively, they’re both a lot pricier than similar plans from competitors, which is why our research team capped Shopify’s overall value score at 2.4/5.
Learn more about the platform’s cost in our Shopify website builder pricing guide.
Does Shopify have a Free Plan?
No, Shopify doesn’t offer a free plan. However, for users wanting to test out the service before committing, Shopify does offer a limited 3-day free trial. While it’s a downgrade from its previous length of 14 days, it’s still enough to get a taste of the software.
Looking for a complimentary solution? Check out our guide to the best free website builders here.
Shopify Review: Key Features
Shopify’s feature suite is exhaustive. Here’s a round-up of its key capabilities, and how they weigh up against the competition.
Design
Shopify may not be as design-focused as other builders like Squarespace, but the platform packs in every tool you need to build a unique, polished ecommerce site.
Shopify theme example. Source: shopify.com
Shopify offers 12 free and 129 premium slick, mobile-responsible themes. All themes are fully customizable and come in a variety of colors and styles. However, its design flexibility is still lagging behind builders like Squarespace, which offers a granular level of customization with its fluid editor.
See how both ecommerce builders weigh up head to head in our Shopify vs Squarespace comparison.
Sales features
Achieving a top-tier score of 4.8/5 for its sales features, Shopify is a platform that was designed to sell. The platform supports over 100 payment gateways – including PayPal, Amazon, and Apple Pay – letting customers pay in whichever way suits them. Thanks to the platform’s multi-channel integration, vendors can maximize their revenue streams through other channels like Amazon, Facebook, and Instagram.
The ecommerce builder also offers its own payment processor, Shopify Payments, with lower transaction fees, and localized pricing for overseas buyers.
POS compatibility
For those selling in-store and in-person, Shopify also has the edge over its competition thanks to its seamless integration with its point-of-sale (POS) system, Shopify POS. This integrated ecommerce POS platform gives business owners a complete overview of their processes by storing inventory, sales, and customer data in one centralized dashboard.
SEO
Shopify offers a decent selection of options to optimize your site, including meta descriptions, title tag customization, and an automated XML Sitemap. However, with Shopify lacking some basic capabilities Wix and Squarespace offer – like keyword support and URL structure optimization – its SEO toolkit isn’t as strong as its competition.
Support
Shopify offers 24/7 phone and live chat support, making it easy for users to resolve issues without long wait times. The platform also offers support via social media and email and tons of useful video and GIF tutorials, earning it a decent customer support score of 3.9/5 in our research.
These support tools make the builder more suitable for website-building beginners and those who have just switched to the platform that may have been deterred by its relatively high learning curve.
How Does Shopify Compare to Other Providers?
Shopify is the best ecommerce website builder we researched – but that doesn’t mean there aren’t worthy contenders out here. Square Online is another quality ecommerce builder with seamless POS integrations. Square’s affordable monthly plans and a generous free option – a perk that Shopify lacks – make it especially appealing to businesses with smaller budgets.
If you aren’t building an online store, Wix should be on your radar. The platform is packed with unbeatable web-building features and has a shallow learning curve for beginners, while Squarespace offers the best design features of any builder we researched.
See how Shopify fairs against its competition below:
| Test Score Our score is based on independent assessments of ease of use, features, ecommerce functionality and value for money | Starting Price | Priciest Ecommerce Plan (per month) | Digital Product Sales | Service Sales | Sales Features Based on our research: number and quality of sales features | Value for Money Based on our research: feature offering vs average price plan price | Ease of Use Based on our research: customer and user testimonials | Try Click to check for deals, discounts and tiers of plans | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEST OVERALL  |  |  |  |  |  | |||||
| Shopify | Wix | Square Online | BigCommerce | |||||||
| 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 3.3 | |||||
| $35 per month | Free | |||||||||
| $79/month | $299/month | $299 per month | $19.99 per month | |||||||
| App required | | | | | | |||||
| | App required | | | App required | | |||||
| 4.8 | 4.3 | 3.2 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 2.4 | |||||
| 2.3 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 3.2 | |||||
| 4.3 | 3.9 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 3.7 | |||||
| See Deals | Claim 10% off | See Deals | See Deals | See Deals | See Deals |
Our Methodology
Picking the best website builder matters, that’s why our research team has poured hundreds of hours into researching and testing the best options on the market.
After collecting thousands of data points and user-testing the builders firsthand, we awarded each builder a score out of five in the following categories: web building features, design, value for money, support, customer satisfaction, and ease of use – as well as an overall score.
We use these scores to compare the builders side-by-side, and so businesses can identify which option will suit their needs the best. There’s so much more that goes into our research and testing, though. You can visit our research page to learn more.
Final Thoughts – Is Shopify worth it?
Shopify is the best ecommerce builder we’ve tested, so yes, it’s definitely worth it – especially for growing ecommerce businesses. Its top-tier sales capabilities and seemingly limitless integrations offer bountiful opportunities to online stores looking to sell big.
However, to access many of these features – including advanced analytics and gift card options – you’ll have to opt for one of Shopify’s pricier packages. Smaller businesses may also be deterred by Shopify’s transaction fees too, which are much steeper on cheaper tiers.
If you’re not willing to fork out or can make do without sales features, we’d recommend using Wix instead, as the builder offers better value and more competent design and web-building capabilities.
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