If you’re seeking to begin an eCommerce business, you perhaps know about Shopify. With 8 lacs active stores across the world, Shopify has emerged as a household name in the eCommerce sector. However, simply because Shopify is a common platform for constructing and inaugurating an online store doesn’t imply it’s the lone one out there. Actually, there are numerous types of eCommerce solutions, each with their individual rare feature set, pricing and specific appeal. So, whether you presently utilize Shopify or are evaluating your entire options before beginning your online store, it’s useful to check out Shopify alternatives.
The following is a compilation of the best Shopify alternatives. From likewise competitors such as BigCommerce to those with more differences, such as Magento, this list will inform you about these platforms and why they may be a proper choice for your business.
List of Contents:
# 1 BigCommerce
If you desire a streamlined, no-frills experience and the versatility of a drag-and-drop editor, Big Commerce may just fit the bill. It is a famous provider presenting a total cycle remedy for your website.
Its themes are outright striking, though there are just 7 free themes across all sectors. Accordingly, be prepared to spend on premium themes if you desire more than the free least.
Sophisticated content-marketing features permit you to improve your item on the web and grow conversion rates. Simultaneously, hundreds of inbuilt features imply that you won’t need to spend almost as much money within the app store as you might with Shopify.
Multi-channel selling is smooth with BigCommerce as you can handle your stores on eBay, Facebook, Amazon, and Pinterest from BigCommerce. Your inventory syncs along with the shops, preventing you from overselling.
Features:
- Functions for most business models
- Unrestricted number of products
- Powerful SEO performance
- Awesome Theme Designs
- Extensive Array Of Features
- Multi-Channel Selling
- Hosted
- Nice speed in the mobile store
# 2 WooCommerce
WordPress fans find only some eCommerce platforms as a perfect fit for WooCommerce. It’s open-source, free and ranks nicely regarding visitor experience. It’s a free package lets you develop a site that can compete easily with costly carts.
WooCommerce allows you to compose a mobile-compliant site with slight tweaking and pay just for the hosting. However, if your budget can accommodate, WooCommerce includes Product Bundles at $49, allowing you to cherry-pick the needed extensions.
WooCommerce Freshdesk ($79) comprises a smart plugin that permits you to embed a ticketing system to offer customer support to your clients straight from your store. In general, the platform presents a huge load of plugins of every size and shape that combine especially well with WordPress.
In contrast to Shopify that relies on monthly subscriptions, WooCommerce offers premium add-ons for a single-time payment or within annual subscriptions.
Features:
- No extra transaction fees
- Simple to set up and use
- Free plans present
- Post buy/1-click upsells present
- Smooth WordPress Integration
# 3 3dcart
Just like BigCommerce, 3dcart’s eCommerce functionality, pricing, and plan options are amazingly similar to Shopify’s. Nevertheless, 3dcart stands apart as among the best Shopify alternatives in the following significant ways.
Features:
Inbuilt Features: The 3dcart’s platform contains more than 200 inbuilt features – offering you a substantial amount of functionality concerning your eCommerce store. Most prominently, the entire 3dcart plans provide one-page checkout, domain registration, gift cards, product and customer reviews, reports and dashboards, saved carts, discounts, coupons, besides others.
Payment Processing: 3dcart permits you to join with more than 100 separate payment processors, without incurring additional integration or transaction fees. Similar to BigCommerce, 3dcart also functions with particular third-party suppliers to present discounted processing charges for qualified merchants. Through these preferred charges, online processing fees begin at 2.9% and can reach a minimum of 2.5%.
Startup Store: 3dcart possesses a Startup Store plan that begins at $19 each month. If you’re seeking the most economical solution, this Startup plan is not just $10 lesser than Shopify’s initial offering, but also provides a huge amount of features, like advanced tools such as social wish lists, upsell and cross-sell, gift wrapping, and limitless product variants.
Store Building: While Shopify offers you the option to employ their drag-and-drop store builder or personalize your site with code, 3dcart calls on you to edit their themes using CSS/HTML code. If you get to edit employing these languages, you’ll be reaching a degree of customization that is not necessarily available with a “WYSIWYG” editor.
# 4 Volusion
Volusion comprises another best Shopify option, with a nice reason. Volusion presents business owners likewise functionality at the same cost as that of Shopify. Surprisingly, however, Volusion is among the first of this type of eCommerce software, having begun in 1999.
Volusion Benefits:
Expertise and features: overall, Volusion presents a powerful feature set, like a lavish content editor, secure checkout, a homepage slideshow, recurring payments, shipping options, customer relationship management (CRM), besides others. Moreover, Volusion has the advantage of twenty years of experience, allowing them to know from rivals and include the latest features as the industry progresses.
Payment processing: Volusion provides payment processing from PayPal, Stripe, and their individual Volusion Payments with the whole of their separate plans. Additionally, in contrast to Shopify, Volusion will not levy you an extra transaction fee for employing a 3rd party payment provider. Further, upon using Volusion payments, you’ll witness very small transaction fees, just 2.15% + $0.30.
Reviews and Usability: Similar to numerous Shopify alternatives on your list, Volusion is also popular for its simplicity of use and optimistic reviews. Their luscious content editor and drag-and-drop builder of Volusion makes it presentable for all types of business owners seeking a user-friendly and customizable solution.
Bearing all this in mind, business managers who are especially interested in accepting online payments may wish to regard Volusion as an option to Shopify. The lesser processing rate for utilizing Volusion Payments renders it a lucrative option.
# 5 Square Online Store
If you’re seeking a comprehensive eCommerce solution, but aren’t too certain you require all Shopify has to present, you might opt for Square Online Store. Though maybe more popular for their POS systems, Square’s current update to their eCommerce presentations places their platform among the list of best Shopify alternatives.
Benefits Of Square Online Store:
Free plan: This is the initial platform among the catalog of Shopify alternatives that presents an eCommerce plan at no monthly charges. The Square Online Store primarily permits you to build a free eCommerce store and contains features like shopping cart functionality, capacity to receive payments via Square, unrestricted products, inventory management, SEO, besides others – and you simply pay the transaction charges of 2.9% + $0.30.
Square integration: As you may visualize, as this platform is a portion of the broader Square offerings, a big part of the appeal is its straight incorporation with Square POS. If you use Square’s point of sale for your retail, restaurant, or service business, you can quickly join your POS system to your Square Online Store to increase your sales channels. Employing Square for online and in-person transactions implies you can handle your entire business activities in one place.
Simplicity: if you’re just beginning an eCommerce business and aren’t certain whether you require few of the enhanced features of platforms such as BigCommerce and Shopify, you’ll praise the ease of Square Online Store. This platform lets you design and personalizes your online store, catalog your products, and meet orders without the problem of sorting through different advanced capabilities that could quickly bewilder an eCommerce starter.
# 6 PrestaShop
Though in the form of an open-source platform, PrestaShop inherently differs from Shopify, few reasons, however, render it a Shopify alternative worth regarding for little business owners.
Benefits Of PrestaShop:
Inbuilt features: Although PrestaShop provides you the capacity to edit their code in any manner you deem fit to personalize the software for your particular business, from the outset, this platform has a remarkable amount of features inbuilt. PrestaShop features capabilities such as internal search engine, inventory tracking, single-page checkout, payment processing integration, abandoned cart emails, tax configuration, customer database building, besides more.
Global reach: As a business based in Europe, PrestaShop presents specific features to those seeking to sell globally. PrestaShop allows you to display your store in various currencies and languages, apart from adapting for international shipping and taxes.
Customization: Among the advantages of an open-source platform is its specific customization choices. After you’ve downloaded PrestaShop, you can edit the code to design and personalize your online store and its functionality as you need. Besides, you can use any of the already designed modules within the PrestaShop marketplace. The marketplace includes 10,000 modules, services, and themes – both paid and free – that can be installed in a single click. Further, though PrestaShop personalization does not need technical knowledge, clients find it to be among the more user-compatible open-source solutions.
Support: Although Client support is frequently a quite normal feature of hosted eCommerce platforms, it is generally not presented for open-source solutions, since the software can be downloaded for free. PrestaShop, nevertheless, presents a range of various support plans that you can buy for particular aid with your online store – like help to begin, technical aid, and also assistance for developing your business.
# 7 Magento
Amongst the most renowned open-source eCommerce solutions, Magento is employed by large brands across the world, and, actually, has advanced their offerings to a wholly hosted solution, making them even more challenging as a Shopify alternative. Nevertheless, as Magento is yet regarded by many as open-source software – and this feature renders their platform especially unique.
Benefits Of Magento:
Features: Like PrestaShop, Magento offers substantial inbuilt functionality, particularly for an open-source solution. Magento presents integrated checkout, shipping, and payments – involving international shipping and payment options. Magento can even adapt currencies and transactions over countries. Further, Magento contains immediate purchase, site search, and the capacity to integrate with any of the numerous extensions within the marketplace.
Scalability: Scalability comprises a unique feature of Magento. Magento can suit small businesses as well as larger ones and expand fast. Magento presents enterprise services, along with solutions for B2B, omnichannel commerce, and global expansion. If you’re prepared to carry your eCommerce business to the following level, Magento can aid to support you.
Customization: Once more, among the biggest points of appeal to a platform such as Magento is the customization capacities. As you can access Magento’s source code, you (or a developer) can modify, edit, and add to any portion of the software as required. Magento will make your eCommerce business shine in the competition.
If you like a Shopify alternative with more personalization options and huge scalability, Magento may be an alternative to consider.
Conclusion
To sum up, there are numerous Shopify alternatives in the market. Nevertheless, if you desire to transfer from Shopify to a different platform, or if you’re just regarding different options when you begin your eCommerce business, these 7 alternatives may ideally fit your needs.
Finally, though, you’re the sole one who can determine which eCommerce solution is proper for your business. If you’re still uncertain about any of the Shopify alternatives meeting your demands, it’s recommended to sign up for free plans or free trials so that you can check out the software for yourself before reaching a final decision.
