Shopify Pricing, Features, Reviews & Comparison of Alternatives

Pros
I have an online shop to support my podcast on Tudor history. I originally set up my shop thinking I'd sell some fun leggings using print on demand vendors. And it's grown into a bit of a behemoth. Which is great! Here's the thing - lots of creators use Redbubble and Spreadshirt and other places like that, which is fine, but the difference is that when you do that, they handle the entire sales process. This is fine if you don't want to know your customers, but if you're running an online business, then being able to capture that sales information, and get mailing list sign ups, is crucial . You can still use print on demand vendors, only this time you control the entire sales process. Everything is branded for your business. The tags in the leggings are branded for you. The mailing address is your company. It's all yours. Of course, the downside is that you also have to handle the customer service questions that would normally go to the Zazzle equivalent. But if you are really wanting to build a business around your customers, you want that touch point. And you get to keep all the profits. With all the apps, you can have a store that really expresses who you are, and lets you control the entire sales process.

Cons
I'm not a fan of how much is only included in the more expensive options, and how much is only available through paid apps. Of course it's great to have the options at all, but it's very easy to start to run up high bills. At one point I was paying close to $100/mo for all my various apps! I also still use other marketplaces like Etsy because it's the distinction between selling at a church craft fair and setting up your own shop. At the church craft fair you're pretty much guaranteed some kind of traffic. With setting up on your own you have more control over the feel, and ownership of the shop, but it's up to you to go out and get all the traffic.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
From startup stores to enterprise solutions, Shopify has a structure that any site can use (and excel with). The templates available give each store a 'custom' feel, and the platform-side checkout solution prevents a lot of hiccups and downtime that would be caused by inexperienced developers trying to manipulate that crucial step in the funnel.

Cons
Lately (fall 2019), Shopify has had quite a bit of downtime. Because they host so many stores, it appears their servers can get overwhelmed during heavy seasons, causing slower responses and even causing stores to crash. Since the stores are all somewhat linked, this can cause issues for a large amount of stores, killing sales and harming customer reputation.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10

Pros
I love that we can provide an easy-to-use online store for our customers and seamlessly connect it to everything on the backend. I love the customization that the apps in Shopify provide, and we are utilizing things like shipping & inventory, bundle discounts, upselling, random coupons, email collection, and much more. The number of apps provided makes it easy to find the right one for your store. Our backend support team can easily view and fulfill orders and we can handle customer service right from our site. It's easy to set up and constantly update. I love that Shopify has made running an online store easy for both our management team and customer base.

Cons
Unfortunately since there are so many apps offered, it does take some time to sort through and find the right one for you. Some of them are not as customizable than others, and it can be tough to learn your way around the building platform but luckily Shopify and the app developers have awesome support teams. I'm also not a fan that you can't physically drag and drop widgets on your website like Wix can, and sometimes you need to teach yourself a bit of HTML to edit things (although again, their support team is great for helping with this). However, these are small inconveniences compared to the vast functionality of Shopify.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
A nice, easy, out of the box ecommerce site builder, up and running in a matter of days

Cons
We grew, we needed more. Shopify couldn't/wouldn't improve the basic functions. I think it is at the mercy of its 3rd party app developers as it doesn't want to lose them. Outside of a basic retail site, unless you are going for enterprise version, there is no useful middle ground

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 5/10

Pros
Shopify is the easiest eCommerce platform and offers an excellent combination of ease-of-use and power. I love WooCommerce (have used it for site builds since 2012), but Shopify has become my new go-to for basic eCommerce builds in recent years. If you know what you're doing you can literally get a simple Shopify site up and running in less than 2 hours. The plugin and theme marketplaces on Shopify are phenomenal. They're not as extensive as the WP plugin marketplaces, but the overall quality is better, making up for the quantity gap. There are still a few holes compared to something like WooCommerce, but Shopify will do 95% of what you could imagine doing on an eCommerce site, and do it easier than anyone else. Stability may be the biggest selling point of Shopify. Because you don't control the server, database, or mid-tier code, the hard maintenance is all done by Shopify automatically. Most serious eCommerce businesses make back their subscription just in the maintenance cost savings.

Cons
Shopify is not nearly as flexible as something like WooCommerce or Magento because you don't have access to the server's backend code or the database. This makes it harder (and sometimes even impossible) to build out really sophisticated solutions to difficult data oriented problems. That said, those kinds of problems are rare and most businesses will be able to find alternative solutions. Shopify is going to run you $30/month+. Compared to a lot of the open source options out there this can feel expensive. Apps can drive that price higher very quickly. For most small businesses they're going to find themselves paying $50-$100/month for the features they need to drive their online sales. If you're willing to go without some functionality (or find a free alternative) you can keep that cost in the $30-$50/month range.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 9/10