Top Shopify Alternatives & Competitors

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INTRODUCTION

Times has changed….

You no longer need to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to the developers to develop a store for you

…….You wanna start your own  E-commerce Store

Or we could say your own personal Mini-Amazon

Now, you can with as little as a Starbucks cost…..

Normally the first thing that comes to your mind to start is by using Shopify

……Shopify is holding 10% of the global e-commerce platform market share.

Benefits of Using Shopify

There are many Pros of using Shopify but some common benefits of it are like 

It’s so easy to start …..

You can get Started in like literally 10-30 Minutes 

….Their user interface is so easy to navigate

They have one of the best Speed and Security

You do not have to worry about Uptime and security stuff like that

Shopify also allows you to add custom Title tags, meta descriptions for SEO purpose so that you can rank Higher and get more visibility…..

It allows you to build customized landing pages for your marketing purpose.

Cons of Shopify

High monthly cost- Shopify’s basic plan starts from $29 a month, the average plan is at  $79 a month, and advanced Shopify is for $299 a month.

Shopify imposes a transaction fee of between 0.5 percent and 2 percent for every sale. It depends on whether you have a basic, regular, or advanced account.

…..It has Non-Advanced Blogging Platform

13 Top Shopify Alternatives

I would recommend you to give Shopify a test first, But if you’re not sure or you know that they are not a good fit for you

Then continue reading…..

There is no Product on this Earth which satisfies every need of every Person

…..It also might not be the best cart for everyone.

You prefer cheaper or site that’s just better than Shopify 

Don’t worry we got you covered…

If you need a slightly improved e-commerce platform

…..Here is a summary of our Recommended alternatives:

1. LemonStand

LemonStand is a cloud-based platform similar to Shopify. It was originally offered as downloadable software locally.

Comparing  to other available shopping carts, LemonStand has all the features you would want to grow and scale your Business

It allows you to easily design, customize every detail of your website. Create and publish your content and grow your website traffic

They offer unlimited products on all plans 

LemonStand also does not charge a commission for transactions with a Credit card that’s Pretty Cool Right?

They also have a 30 days money back guarantee

It comes loaded with tons of customizable features

They Provide 14 days Free Trial

But the downside of this cart is that it takes somewhat a little technical knowledge and coding experience to customize your site

Pricing

2. BigCommerce

Bigcommerce comes with a wide range of customizable templates, where you can easily design your store by yourself and It is packed full of features

They also provide Free Trial

You can use it to sell either physical or digital goods

It has a simple user interface and easy to use

They have Unlimited storage, products, and bandwidth on all plans and it has good Customer service

They have no transaction fees

Bigcommerce also allows you to add custom Title tags, meta descriptions for SEO purpose

One cool feature of Bigcommerce is that they have very in-depth videos, how-to guides which are built right into your store’s dashboard,

They have a consultant who answers every question for your every problem right off the bat

Pricing is Comparable to Shopify’s.

Pricing

3. Volusion

Volusion is also one shopping cart that is easy-to-use and it is based on the cloud that works well

But you need to know something before setting up your account

When you are creating your account, you’ll be able to choose whether you want to sign up for V1 or V2. Your choice will depend on your business’s needs.

If your business is larger than a tiny startup I would recommend choose V1.  V2 does not provide enough functionality to fit the needs of most store owners and merchants

With Volusion it is  scalable, compatible and works for both small, medium and large businesses

They Provide a 14-Day Free Trial (no credit card required) in that way you can test out the platform whether it is the perfect fit for you with zero risks.

They also provide how-to guides, ebooks, courses, to improve your site and help you out in case you ever faced a problem setting your store up

They provide Unlimited product options and Social media Integration

There are no transactional fees 

It works with more than 30 payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and Amazon.

And also provide a 24/7 phone, chat, and email support

However, they have some downsides too.

Volusion will charge you additional fees

If you pick V1 they have bandwidth overage fees and if you pick V2 they charge transaction fees  

The bandwidth costs at  $ 7 / GB.

Pricing

 

4. Magento

Unlike Shopify, Magento is a downloadable free open-source shopping cart rather than cloud-based, meaning it means you’ll need to find your own hosting.

But as a free, self-hosted software, Magento does not feign much user-friendliness. Set-up and customization process is that simple

It works best for midsize to large vendors.

However, Magento is not the simplest software to use but the only way you need to spend your money is on paying for your hosting, security, and any add-ons in case you need anything extra

Currently, Magento comes in two versions:

• Magento Open Source (basic level the software is free for you to use)
• Magento Commerce (paid tier available for enterprise users)

Magento is used on 20% of all e-commerce sites online.

They provide great Marketing and conversion tools which include you can create your own custom coupon codes, product bundles, and your site newsletter management. 

They provide Integration with PayPal and Authorize.net

That makes things easy, It also displays tax and shipping calculations.

Overall Magneto is a powerful option. There are literally thousands of apps to choose from in case you need any extra.

However, I would recommend taking a look at the other platforms for non-technical people

5.WooCommerce

WooCommerce is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms worldwide. 

It is an open-source, completely customizable eCommerce WordPress shopping cart plugin that is free to install and can be used with any WordPress account. 

They also provide detailed and well-explained video tutorials that will help you with any problem you face and difficulties in setting up your store. 

 WooCommerce integrates with a number of payment gateways and doesn’t charge any additional card transaction fees.

Some of them are Paypal, Stripe, Amazon Pay, PayFast, Authorize.net, etc

They have a number of extensions and add-ons to extend your WooCommerce’s basic functionality, However, most of them are not free. 

WooCommerce allows you to keep your data independent of any third-party software platform.

Some cool features of WooCommerce –

• It is Mobile Friendly Design.
• You can either Sell Digital or Physical Products
• Geo-Location Support
• Inventory Management
• Shipping Options
• Search Engine Optimization
• You have the option to Create your own Custom Coupons & Discounts
• Checkout Options
• Enable Product Reviews
• Analytics

Overall WooCommerce is a good Plugin and best solution

If you’re willing to go through the technical issues of setting up your store, WooCommerce could be the right option for you. There are tons of guides and forums to learn on how to set up.

Just Google it, You will get Millions of results 

6. Big Cartel

This platform is easy to use, literally, you can get your store up and running within a matter of minutes.

It is best suited for startups and Easy to use

The monthly cost is Cheap,

Free plan is also available for 5-product

It is best suited for creative people, designer, painter, jewelry maker, woodworker, et who has created a unique product and now wants to sell it online.

Its features and templates are  rather limited in some way, However Big Cartel is an affordable shopping cart that includes all the essentials to set up your shop online,

They provide Unlimited bandwidth
It also has Inventory tracking at all paid levels
You can integrate with PayPal, Google Analytics, and Facebook
They do not have the option to create your own Discount Code

Big Cartel stores come with an SSL encryption for your login page and admin.which makes your transaction secure

Big Cartel is the perfect platform for small merchants

Pricing

7. Pinnacle Cart

PinnacleCart has been rated “Top Store Builder” by PC Magazine

It is fairly good, which is pretty much in line with other e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Volusion, WooCommerce, etc.

It is a feature-rich SaaS solution that’s been around since 2004. Pinnacle Cart comes loaded with features and still boasts incredible usability. And it costs only slightly more than Shopify.

PinnacleCart they offer a Free 14-Day Trial (with no credit card ) so you can try out their platform without any risk

It provides a good mix of advanced and basic impressive features set out of the box

It also has Well-designed UI and it is Scalable

You can create your own custom Coupons, Discounts, Gift Cards and More, they also provide your store Blog on Request.

You can even have full access to your HTML/CSS upon request We can provide PHP access upon request in case you wanna modify your website code.

Pinnacle Cart, however, does not charge any transaction fees which is another Bonus for you.

You can enable a one-page checkout and list an unlimited number of product attributes.

Some downside of Pinnacle Cart is that it has Limited customer support and Moderate learning curve

And Pricing is based on your site traffic and storage, so that means as your site gets bigger by getting more traffic, you eventually have to move up the pay scale.

It has the robust multi-lingual capability which makes PinnacleCart a good choice for you if you wanna sell to other different countries

PinnacleCart is an excellent option for both Startups merchants and Large Sellers.

 Pricing

8. 3dcart

3dcart is a powerful and feature-rich platform which lets you build your own e-commerce store 

They provide a 15 day Trial and you can check out their site without any risk whatsoever

It has a wide range of pricing options, it is perfect for merchants who are looking for an affordable, fully-hosted selling solution.

and It has loads of features right out of the box