Best Shopify Alternatives on the Market

What Is Shopify and How Does It Work?

Shopify is an eCommerce platform for people who want to start and grow their online business. It allows them to sell their products on social media, online, or in-store, and help sell any kind of goods. Even more, it can give you some ideas for other services and improve your business.

The software is made to appeal the masses and with its attractive design and powerful features, it hits the target. However, it may not be a good fit for you due to some disadvantages, such as:

• This e-trade software is expensive
• It charges a high transaction fee
• Only several countries worldwide support Shopify Payments
• It prohibits the sale of certain products
• Blogging and SEO options are not satisfying
• With this platform, you can only offer three types of choices per product (size, color, material)

Luckily, various platforms offer similar functions (some of them even better ones) and lower pricing. Whatever you’re looking for, new options without limitations or more design free choices,  you’ll definitely be satisfied with Shopify alternatives.

What Are the Best Shopify Alternatives?

If you need the most user-friendly platform, you’ll probably want to try Shopify. If you’re looking for great themes, you’ll again pick the same software. When it comes to apps, there’s no better platform than this one. So, why should you be interested in other options?

If you want some extra money in your pocket at the end of the month (and who doesn’t?) and would like to include more than one language in your shop, or customize your checkout page, think about other eCommerce platforms. Fortunately, there are plenty of variants to satisfy your requirements and be your business’ support:

• BigCommerce
• WooCommerce
• 3dcart
• Magento
• Volusion

One of Shopify’s Greatest and Most Direct Alternatives: WooCommerce

If you’re planning to use the WordPress CMS as the basic platform for hosting your e-shop, WooCommerce might be the right choice for you. The Gratis package allows you to create a functional site, but if you want all the bells and whistles, you should consider buying the advanced functionality. Although this software allows you to edit the source code to customize your website, keep in mind that it’s a WordPress plug-in. So, having a WordPress site is required.

One of the Best Pros: Set WooCommerce Up in 5 Steps

If you would like to monetize your WordPress blog or just want to use WordPress to improve your e-store, this alternative might be your best bet. So, let’s have a glimpse into its pros:

• No transaction fees
• Smooth integration for WordPress
• Post-purchase one-click upsells
• Very easy to set up.

When it comes to setting up your website with WooCommerce, it can be easily done – you just need to follow these five steps:

• Choose hosting
• Install WordPress
• Pick a Theme
• Activate WooCommerce by creating an account at no cost on WooCommerce.com or by downloading the appropriate plugin
• Add functionality with extensions.

WooCommerce Cons

Even though you don’t need to pay a monthly premium, hosting is not free. However, you can get advanced characteristics for a one-time payment only. Besides no hosting included, there are several more cons:

• Tech skills are required
• No official support
• Can be slow.

WooCommerce’s Pricing

As we said before, you’ll need to pay for a domain, web hosting, and themes and plugins, even though WooCommerce is a gratis plugin. Hosting can cost you from $50 to $500, domain around $10 to $15, and themes about $50 to $80.

BigCommerce Is A Good Choice for WordPress Aficionados

Like Shopify, BigCommerce offers the possibility to create your own shop, and after that, customize it. You can also sell your products on a variety of channels and control your e-trade operations from one place.

The Wide Array of Built-In Features Is BigCommerce’s Strength

With tons of built-in-devices and data tools, this option is the best for fast-growing or large businesses. As the only eCommerce builder on the market, which allows you to sell physical, digital, and service-based products without using an app, it offers less expenses and less hassle. You won’t be forced to use this platform’s payment gateway. Instead, you will be able to choose your own without imposing extra fees. Some other useful benefits of using BigCommerce are:

• Lots of shipping options
• Security
• Abandoned cart recovery.

BigCommerce Cons

However, each option has its drawbacks, so it has BigCommerce. Some of these are:

• It’s expensive for high volume stores
• Only 12 gratis themes and over 100 paid themes
• Inconsistent speeds
• There is no one-click post-purchase upsells.

Pricing Models

BigCommerce offers three plans:

• Standard – $29.95 per month
• Plus – $79.95 per month
• Pro – $249.95 per month.

If you choose to pay annually, you can save 10% on any of these plans.

Ecommerce Alternative With More Built-In Features and Better SEO – 3dcart

This cloud-hosted shopping cart platform can boast robust properties paired with flexible prices. It’s especially suitable for growing businesses since it provides unlimited product storage options. For an affordable price, you can get basic SEO tools, personalized products, tracking, drop shipping, coupons, subscriptions, Facebook sync, etc.

3dcart Supports More Than 100 Different Payment Gateways Without Transaction Fees

With this hosted solution, installing software or handling server related issues DIY is not required so you can focus on growth. When choosing 3dcart, it can bring you a lot of advantages, such as:

• There are no transaction fees
• High functionality
• Startup store plan is $10/month cheaper than Shopify’s basic plan
• 200+ built-in devices
• 90 free templates
• Over 160 supported payment gateways

3dcart Cons

In order to customize your online shop, you need to have HTML and CSS level of experience. This might be a drawback if you’re not technically skilled. However, check out several more shortcomings before you pick 3dcart for your site:

• Low user-friendliness
• Some of the essential features and add-ons are available in the $79 plan
• Theme designs are limited if you don’t know HTML or CSS.

What Will You Pay for It

If you’re wondering why to choose 3dcart over Shopify, the answer is – the price, mainly. The prices range from $19 to $229 a month. For instance, Shopify’s three different pricing range from $26 to $299 per month. Paying for 3dcart, you can get a range of SEO tools, personalized products, and emails for following up on abandoned carts.

Free and Robust SEO Tools – With Magento, Your Sale Will Thrive

If you’re an established store owner, Magento can satisfy all your needs. Its pricing is similar to WooCoomerce’s, making it one of the most popular eCommerce options across the globe. However, it’s not just because of price and free content management software, but also because of a range of additional features and the possibility of selling your goods through an open-source ecosystem.

Thanks to Its Pros, Magento Is Used By Some of the Largest Retailers in the World

This open-source software is used by Samsung and Nespresso, making it one of the most wanted options among experienced, large retailers. Thanks to a wide variety of properties, it might be hard for a brand new store owner to handle. Besides, it offers the possibility to control and customize your shop without limitations. It’s needless to say how important it is to stand out, among others, thanks to personalization.

Magento Cons

Although known as an excellent alternative for Shopify’s services, Magento has some disadvantages you should be aware of:

• Low user-friendliness
• Costs – Although it’s free to download, additional expenses related to setting up and maintaining your e-shop can be very pricey
• Requires coding and IT skills.

Pricing Model for Magento

Besides hosting (about $7.99/month), keep in mind that you should put aside more money for themes (from $29 to $499 per year), extensions (around $50 per module), and hiring someone who will provide you additional maintenance and support.

Volusion Is Easy To Use and Offers Unlimited Product Options

Do you want to improve your small company and make it grow? Well, Volusion is the most popular among smaller entrepreneurs, and, thanks to its easy-to-use properties, it’s one of the more popular e-trade options. You will love Volusion for one more thing – it offers a wide range of plugins and features that can be integrated within your e-store. If you need a room for expansion and want to sell thousands of products on your store, Volusion is the option for you.

If You Want Great Analytics Tools and to Manage and Update Inventory With Ease, Volusion is Irreplaceable

With Volusion’s superb analytics tools, you can try the search term analysis and see what customers are actually looking for on Google. That’s how you can tailor your site and get found online easily. You can easily import products via CSV file and create custom codes for salespeople that make managing stock both efficient and straightforward.

Volusion Cons

What features are less useful when using the Volusion platform for your website? There are a few of them, so it’s good to know these limiting factors before you start your online sales:

• Minimal coding skills are required
• There’s a monthly bandwidth limit
• Other hosting options have more features
• It doesn’t integrate with Pinterest and PLA’s.

Pricing

Compared to Shopify’s prices, the amounts are almost identical, and range from $29/month to $299/month. The only difference considers the Basic Plan, which is more expensive for $3 at Volusion ($29).

Final Thoughts – Things to Consider When Choosing the Best Shopify Alternatives

Since eCommerce has been increasing in recent years, retailers need to choose the right technology to support their strategy and avoid common mistakes business owners make. What things should you consider when you’re looking for the ideal Shopify alternatives for your business? Here are several essential factors that can help you grow your income:

• Pricing and eCommerce payment options
• Integrations and plugins
• SEO friendliness
• Mobile-friendliness
• Customer service
• Security
• Scalability.

Figuring out what your online store needs, as you grow, and keeping up with technology development is a challenge, but it’s worth it to create steps that work and scale with your growth.