If you're looking to start an e-commerce business or side hustle, you need a website. A website grants credibility and helps you reach a wider audience. To create your website, you need a platform to help you through the process.
Most people turn to Shopify, but that's hardly your only option. Let's explore some of Shopify's alternatives that are just as great, if not better.
What Is Shopify?
Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows you to set up an online store to display and sell your products. The e-commerce platform is the preferred choice for many online sellers. Shopify helps you lay the foundation of your business as you envision it, and continue building it up as time goes on and it expands.
Shopify is user-friendly, and you don't have to be an expert to begin using it. If you're new to the platform, there are also courses you can find to help you run a successful Shopify store. Shopify offers a free trial period, and then affordable pricing after that ends.
But, Shopify isn't the only platform to help people through that process. There are many other platforms you can turn to, and below you'll find some of our top picks.
1. Squarespace
Squarespace is a well-known website builder that doesn't require any skill or knowledge to use. It offers impressive templates and designs, and its features allow you to customize your site in a professional-looking way.
The platform boasts affordable plans, each offering various perks with different price tags you might find useful. But, it's a fairly frequent event for various YouTubers to get sponsored by Squarespace and offer sign-up promotions.
One major negative to note is that Squarespace only processes payments with PayPal and Stripe. So, although the Squarespace itself won't charge you transaction fees, the other two will. Squarespace's marketing features are also somewhat limited, so it doesn't quite surpass Shopify when it comes to features.
2. BigCommerce
BigCommerce gives you everything you need to create the perfect website for you. It has an abundance of templates and themes you can choose from. It also offers the Akamai image manager at no extra cost, so you can optimize images for both browsers and mobile devices.
One feature missing from Shopify that you'll find in BigCommerce is inventory syncing. As the name lets on, the feature allows you to sync your inventory and streamline omnichannel sales. The inventory syncing feature can help boost your sales, and gives BigCommerce an edge over Shopify.
3. Volusion
Volusion and Shopify are alike in many ways. Both offer a 14-day free trial, similar pricing, and drop shipping. However, Volusion stands out with its more extensive catalog of themes, which you can customize however you want.
The cloud-based shopping cart is excellent for small businesses, who don't have excessive tech skills. The platform has a management system that lets you go through orders, to improve the processing experience. It also grants you access to built-in SEO tools that can help improve your listings.
Depending on the plan you get, you'll have to consider monthly bandwidth limitations, but it's still a good alternative to Shopify.
4. Magento
Magento is an open-source, free platform with an abundance of features, themes, and templates. You have access to thousands of extensions, and can customize every aspect of your e-commerce store. The platform also provides you with a slew of catalog management, SEO, marketing tools, and is designed to withstand heavy traffic.
A key negative to note when it comes to Magento is pricing. Though the software is free for you to download, you incur other costs if you choose to use it. For example, you'll have to pay for web hosting, web development, and anything else you might need to launch and maintain your site.
The Magento system is not for novice users, but rather for ones more experienced with coding. If you don't have any knowledge or skill in the field, it's better to look elsewhere.
5. BigCartel
BigCartel is perfect for you if you have a small business. It doesn't have as many features as Shopify, but don't overlook it. It has all the necessary features, is easy to use, affordable, and offers unlimited bandwidth, and HTML and CSS customization, among other things.
You don't need any coding experience to use it, and it comes integrated with PayPal, Google Analytics, and Facebook. BigCartel won't charge you any additional transaction fees, but PayPal will. Another negative to consider is the lack of phone support or live chat.
BigCartel does offer a free trial, you can test it out before you commit to one of its plans—it offers four, one of which is free. The free plan limits you to five products and one image per product. But if you're a small business starting out, that might be perfect for you.
6. Wix
Wix offers you a simple interface and plenty of templates with customizable themes. It's easy to use and set up, accommodating to both novice and experienced users. Wix also offers a free trial, and then four affordable plans.
The Wix app store boasts over 280 apps, plug-ins, and add-ons that you can embed in on your store. It also offers tutorials if you need them, a drag-and-drop editor, and works with many payment gateways.
Some negatives include how different bandwidth limitations on the plans, so consider this before committing to one. Also, the SEO seems not as good as Shopify's, and the Amazon integration lacks in comparison. It still makes for a solid alternative, though.
7. Shift4Shop
Shift4Shop shares many similarities with Shopify. Both e-commerce platforms offer built-in features that help you build, manage, and grow your online store. Shift4Shop also gives you access to various templates and themes, allowing you to customize everything to your liking. And it's easy to use, not requiring any special skills or knowledge.
Unfortunately, the platform doesn't offer a free trial, but it does have a free, unlimited plan you can choose if you use its Shift4 Payments for your credit card processing. Alongside that, you can use over 160 alternate payment methods on Shift4 Payments.
Like some other platforms, Shift4Shop offers built-in tools that include everything you'd need for your store. You get payments and shipping, marketing, inventory management, and customer relationship software without additional cost to you. It's a platform worth considering.
There's More Out There Than Simply Shopify, Look for It!
Shopify is a well-known and used platform for a reason. It offers many perks, and people seem happy with most of what it gives them. However, it's far from perfect. If you find too many negatives connected to Shopify, such as its plan pricing, transaction fees, or anything else, there are plenty of alternatives you can use instead.
Don't forget that the best Shopify alternative is the one that fits your needs, skills, and budget perfectly. So do your research and make an informed decision on which direction is best to take.