Introduction
If you’re planning to begin an eCommerce business, then researching Shopify options should be on the top of your list.
It is not a surprise that Shopify is an ideal platform for setting up an online store quickly. There are numerous reasons to look into alternatives to Shopify.
For example, Shopify doesn’t offer any free plans, and a different paywall blocks many valuable tools and features. Also, don’t forget that Shopify doesn’t have total control over your website (you aren’t the sole owner of your site, in fact).
We’ll simplify the search for Shopify alternatives by sorting through the choices and listing the most popular ones below.
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1. MemberPress
MemberPress Our top choice to create a membership website or online course. It’s a fantastic choice for those who want to provide digital content to your customers, and it allows you to take subscriptions or charge a single cost to download digital content.
MemberPress is simple to set up, and it can be used to safeguard the content you have on your website in a variety of ways.
For instance, it’s simple to safeguard all pages with an identifiable parent page, ensuring only registered users view the pages. MemberPress can also allow you to drop content into the members’ area not to receive all the content in one go.
You can make various payment levels when you plan to sell multiple subscriptions or online items.
MemberPress integrates with various other tools like popular email marketing tools, Live chat software, and more. It also comes with integrated integration with PayPal and Stripe payments.
There’s a slight learning curve when setting up the system because MemberPress is highly robust; however, once you’ve got yourself with the backend, it’s pretty simple.
2. BigCommerce
If you’re looking for a seamless, easy, non-sweat experience as well as the versatility of a drag-and-drop editor, BigCommerce could be the tool you need. It’s a well-known service that offers full-cycle solutions for your e-commerce site.
Its themes are gorgeous, but the theme selection is limited to seven themes for free that cover all sectors. So be prepared to shell out on premium themes if you require more than the free limit.
Advanced features for content marketing enable you to market your product online and improve the conversion rate. Additionally, numerous built-in features mean you don’t have to spend as much on apps as you do with Shopify SEO Services.
Multi-channel selling is made easy by using BigCommerce because you can control your online shops through Amazon, eBay, Facebook, and Pinterest through BigCommerce. The inventory is synced across all the stores, ensuring that you don’t oversell.
On the other hand, when I checked loading times on BigCommerce websites, I discovered several sites that ran extremely slow. One BigCommerce site gave me an error in bandwidth during my testing.
Prices vary between $29.95/mo up to $249.95/mo. However, the cost could be high. The annual volume limitation for sales is a part of every plan, and that’s why if you’re hoping for more than $50k in sales per year, you’ll need to upgrade. BigCommerce will automatically upgrade your plan to a higher-tier one and double your monthly price if you’re over the limit.
3. Wix
Wix is a quick fix by providing all the features you require in a user-friendly interface with affordable plans. Over 100 attractive templates, various applications with highly customizable themes, and an intuitive editor make Wix a top choice for novices and experienced users alike.
Wix offers two options to build your website – ADI is more than an automated assistant that recommends the best configuration for your site based on the answers you provide to the questionnaire.
On the other hand, Wix Editor offers total control by the user as well as personalization and is mostly drag-and-drop, which means you can add any content you want on your site.
Wix app store offers over 280 applications, add-ons, and plugins for embedding live chat, social media coupons, payment gateways, live chat, and other things. You can also insert HTML codes or lightboxes and use different buttons for a price that is affordable and will give Wix an advantage over Shopify.
The $5/month plan includes 500MB of storage, 1GB of bandwidth, and the option for connection to a custom domain. Wix eCommerce plan at $16,50/mo comes with 10GB bandwidth, 20GB storage, a free domain name, and a few additional features, with VIP for $24,50/month (cheaper than Shopify) offers unlimited bandwidth.
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4. Squarespace
If your technical skills or resources are in short supply and you’re planning to keep your catalog of products relatively small, you should consider Squarespace. The platform comes with a robust web-based builder and a wide range of themes and templates.
Using this and some tweaks, it is possible to achieve impressive results and even have an online store that looks like you’d paid a lot for it.
For just $26/month, you can have the essential features – unlimited galleries, pages blogs, bandwidth storage contributors, checkout, free domains, along with SSL security.
You can also add hundred dollars of Google Adwords credit, orders taxes, discounts customer accounts, print labels via ShipStation, and integrate accounting through Xero. For just $40/month, you get auto-recovery of abandoned carts as well as real-time shipping for carrier’s automated discounts, as well as a Gift card (pretty expensive for these vital features).
However, Squarespace is limited to PayPal and Stripe. While it doesn’t charge any additional transaction fees, both processors have to set. The software also loads slightly slower than Shopify, and its load times on mobile devices are the most lagging of all the contenders.
Marketing tools are restricted by MailChimp, Google AdWords, buttons for sharing, and Amazon track affiliates.
5. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a stand-alone part of web-based software. It means that to make use of it, you need to locate a web hosting service, pay for the hosting, and later install WordPress on that host, after which you install WooCommerce on top of this.
In the case of the particular hosting provider, you select them to handle the various steps. There are a few differences. Shopify is more targeted at beginners who don’t need to spend a lot of time making adjustments.
WooCommerce, however, on the other hand, offers unlimited options for customization and total control over your site. In terms of features, WooCommerce offers much of the same features that you’ll get from Shopify. However, certain features are available as an add-on.
WooCommerce is entirely free to set up and manage; however, you’ll have to find an appropriate hosting service and pay separately. Prices start around $5 per month, and extensions can be as expensive as $300 if you require these.
Conclusion
While Shopify could be the right choice for some, it’s not for all users, and it’s okay. Many eCommerce platforms are available to help you establish and expand your online business.
Consider the features of e-commerce that could most impact you for you, whether it’s providing various payment processors, eliminating the cost of transactions and inventory management in real-time, creating dropshipping, or an easy-to-use interface. Then, take the time to analyze and test every platform.
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