Shopify review: Pros and cons in 2024

Eric Rosenberg

BLUEPRINT

Updated 3:09 p.m. UTC April 2, 2024

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Blueprint Rating

Learn More

Via Shopify's website

Pros

All-in-one e-commerce platform.
Manage your website, inventory and payments.
Host a site on your domain.

Cons

Potentially high monthly costs.
Transaction fees apply.
It only works on Shopify hosting.

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Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows you to create your business website with built-in sales, inventory and payment processing. When you use Shopify, your website is built on your .com or other domain with hosting and end-to-end online sales support, from the shopping cart to fulfillment and shipping.

While it’s not perfect for everyone, Shopify offers a compelling package for e-commerce businesses looking to sell on their own website rather than an online marketplace. Shopify could be the right choice if the pricing and features make sense for your business. This Shopify review takes a closer look at the most important details.

Featured website builder offers

Wix

Learn More

Via Wix’s website

Monthly fee

$17

Free domain

For one year

Drag-and-drop builder

Yes

Web.com

Learn More

Via Web.com’s website

Monthly fee

$19.99

Free domain

Only when paying annually

Drag-and-drop builder

Yes

Squarespace

Learn More

Via Squarespace’s website

Monthly fee

$23

Free domain

For one year

Drag-and-drop builder

Yes

Shopify overview

Shopify is a leading e-commerce platform enabling businesses of all sizes to create and manage online stores. It features a user-friendly interface and comprehensive tools catering to various aspects of digital commerce. Shopify provides a scalable solution from small startups to large enterprises, making it a popular choice for entrepreneurs and established businesses.

Key features of Shopify include robust storefront customization capabilities, allowing users to design and customize their websites without extensive technical knowledge. The platform offers a wide range of templates and themes, each adaptable to different branding and color schemes.

Additionally, Shopify’s integrated payment processing simplifies transactions by accepting multiple payment methods, offering a positive customer experience and streamlined backend processes.

Another significant aspect of Shopify is its extensive app marketplace, offering thousands of add-ons for functionality enhancement, including SEO tools and inventory management solutions, helping businesses optimize their operations.

Shopify also excels in providing reliable customer support and resources for learning, ensuring businesses have the support they need to grow and succeed online. Overall, its ease of use, customization potential and comprehensive support make Shopify an excellent choice for businesses venturing into e-commerce.

Shopify pros and cons

Shopify comes with several significant pros and cons for businesses considering the platform:

Pros

Shopify is a comprehensive solution, offering everything from website creation to marketing tools, making it a one-stop shop for e-commerce needs. You can manage your website, inventory and payments in one platform. It streamlines business operations and the platform is user-friendly.

Shopify also allows users to host their e-commerce site on a unique domain, providing a professional and branded online presence. You can choose any available .com, .org, .net or other supported domains.

Cons

However, when using Shopify, you might incur high monthly costs. Depending on the plan and any add-ons you might need, it can become quite expensive, especially for small businesses or startups. In addition to monthly charges, Shopify imposes transaction fees, which can add up and impact your overall profitability.

Shopify also limits users to its own hosting environment, reducing flexibility and control over hosting options and customization.

Shopify pricing and value

	BASIC	SHOPIFY	ADVANCED	PLUS
Monthly fee (paid monthly)	$39	$105	$399	Starting at $2,300 (on a three-year term)
Monthly fee (paid annually)	$29	$79	$299	Need to request a quote
Online card processing fees	2.9% plus $0.30	2.7% plus $0.30	2.5% plus $0.30	Need to request a quote
In-person card processing fees	2.6% plus $0.10	2.5% plus $0.10	2.4% plus $0.10	Need to request a quote

Shopify offers four pricing tiers. As you move up the tiers, monthly pricing increases, but credit card processing fees decrease. You also get more user accounts, shipping options and international sales support as you upgrade.

For most small businesses, the Basic tier includes everything you need to create and run an online store. Upgrading could be financially prudent if your sales volume increases to a point where the lower payment processing fees outweigh the added monthly cost. High-volume sellers requiring additional shipping and international sales features may also find value in upgrading.

Shopify also offers two alternative solutions for niche use cases. Shopify Starter costs $5 per month and includes event and social media sales but has no website features. Retail costs $89 per month and includes in-store sales features, but it lacks full e-commerce functionality.

Website editor features

Shopify’s website builder is designed to offer an easy and comprehensive solution for creating attractive, secure and feature-rich websites. It emphasizes the ease of building an e-commerce store, where users can customize their site using customizable themes. The Shopify app store includes over 8,000 add-ons to support your online sales and website development.

Shopify offers a free three-day trial, then one month of services for $1, allowing users to experiment with design using free stock photos and themes. Shopify is accessible to those without coding skills, thanks to its drag-and-drop functionality, while still providing HTML and CSS customization options. It caters to small and large businesses, offering free SEO tools, stock photos and themes.

Blogging features

Shopify’s blogging feature is a key tool for online store owners, allowing them to add custom blogs to their websites. These blogs can serve multiple purposes, including:

Enhancing search engine optimization (SEO).
Engaging current customers.
Converting visitors into new customers.

The platform provides robust options for tailoring the SEO aspects of each blog post. Store owners can edit the search engine listings for their blogs using descriptive titles and meta descriptions filled with relevant keywords. This feature is crucial for improving online visibility and drawing more traffic.

E-commerce features

Shopify offers a platform for businesses to sell products across various online and in-person channels. It provides seamless integration with multiple marketplaces and social media platforms.

Additionally, Shopify introduces innovative tools like Shop and Linkpop, enhancing the online shopping experience and broadening customer engagement opportunities. These features help businesses of all sizes find new customers and manage their sales efficiently.

Shopify’s integrated point-of-sale (POS) system bridges the gap between online and in-store experiences for brick-and-mortar retail. It offers flexible shopping options and returns, all managed through a unified back office.

Shopify’s POS system includes analytics and reporting tools, providing valuable insights into in-store and online sales trends. This unified approach to sales, both online and offline, positions Shopify as a versatile and comprehensive solution for businesses aiming to scale and expand.

Marketing features

Shopify’s marketing features offer a range of tools to enhance your business’s reach and engagement with customers:

Integrated marketing: Shopify combines content marketing, SEO, targeted ads and social media strategies to help you effectively identify and reach your ideal customers.
Customer engagement: Utilize Shopify’s email marketing, real-time chat through Shopify Inbox and lead capture forms to connect with customers and build lasting relationships.
Customer segmentation: Streamline your marketing efforts with automated messaging flows and customer segmentation, grouping customers based on specific criteria for more personalized engagement.
Data-driven insights: Use Shopify’s comprehensive marketing dashboard reports to track campaign performance and make informed, strategic business decisions.

Security features

Shopify handles the majority of store security needs, including platform security against hacking and PCI compliance. Of course, following online security best practices is crucial, such as using unique passwords on every website and two-factor authentication.

PCI compliance, short for the Payment Card Industry, can be cumbersome for small businesses. But Shopify’s payment system takes care of that by default. That includes coverage for the six main PCI requirements:

Maintain a secure network.
Protect cardholder data.
Maintain a vulnerability management program.
Implement strong access control measures.
Regularly monitor and test networks.
Maintain an information security policy.

Customer credit card numbers never need to be on your business computers. Instead, everything takes place on the Shopify platform, where Shopify maintains strict security standards.

Ease of use

Shopify offers excellent ease of use, particularly compared to self-hosted solutions, making it an ideal platform for beginners and experienced merchants. The user-friendly interface simplifies setting up and managing an online store, requiring minimal technical expertise. Features like drag-and-drop store builders, design templates and product management allow users to launch and customize their stores quickly.

If you’re comfortable browsing the web, you can likely use Shopify as a seller. While you don’t need to know how to code a website, you’ll need basic computer skills and web knowledge to create a Shopify store.

Customer support

Shopify offers customer support through three main channels:

Self-help resources: The primary Shopify help offering comes through the Shopify Help Center, an extensive article directory on Shopify features. The Help Center and embedded chat support bot can answer most common questions quickly.
Support forum: Shopify Community is an online forum connecting Shopify users. You can ask questions and browse previous questions and answers.
Customer support representatives: Customer support contact is only available to logged-in users.

Shopify vs. top competitors

	STARTING MONTHLY PRICE	STARTING TRANSACTION COST	HOSTING INCLUDED
Shopify	$39	2.6% plus $0.10	Yes
Wix	$17	2.6% plus $0.00	Yes
WordPress.com	Free	Third-party integrations with PayPal or Stripe	Yes
WordPress.org	Free (Third-party hosting required)	N/A	No

Shopify vs. Wix

Wix is a website hosting platform that works for nearly any kind of website. While Shopify is focused exclusively on e-commerce, Wix is more general, offering help for almost any business need. Wix supports online stores, portfolios, blogs, service businesses, restaurants and event sales.

Wix features a drag-and-drop website builder, which gives you more flexibility than the Shopify web editor and makes it easy to build a website. If you start with a template, you can edit to your needs, similar to Shopify. Wix has its own payment processing platform but also allows you to integrate with others.

Wix is a reasonably good choice for e-commerce businesses, but with less focus on e-commerce, Shopify is better if you’re looking exclusively for e-commerce features.

Shopify vs. WordPress.com

WordPress.com is a hosted website solution from the company that created WordPress, the most popular content management system (CMS) worldwide. WordPress.com runs about 10 times as many websites as Shopify (including WordPress.com and WordPress.org). While it started as a blogging platform, WordPress has grown through the years with supported plugins to feature a wide range of e-commerce features.

With the $40 per month Creator plan, for example, WordPress sites can add the features of WooCommerce, an e-commerce plugin for WordPress that’s also owned and developed by the company that makes WordPress. While not as flexible as self-hosted WordPress.org, it’s incredibly flexible, thanks to a vast directory of themes and plugins.

Shopify vs WordPress.org

WordPress.org is the self-hosted version of WordPress, where you install the software on your own web server or website hosting space. WordPress requires more technical knowledge to set up and add e-commerce features, but it’s the most flexible platform on this list.

You can use any of over 11,000 supported themes or install any of about 60,000 plugins for additional features. Additionally, anyone with knowledge of computer coding can create custom themes or plugins.

WordPress.org listings contain more than 900 plugins in the e-commerce category. Some are extremely well-designed and supported, while others may be clunky and difficult to use. Top e-commerce plugins include WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads and many other shopping cart and payment plugins.

With self-hosted WordPress, you’re mostly on your own for support outside of a help section and community forum. However, some hosting companies offer WordPress support. Many e-commerce and other plugins are free, but some require a purchase or subscription. With paid themes and plugins, you will likely get additional support for those features.

Methodology

We extensively research the key competitors within an industry to determine the best products and services for your business. Our experts identify the factors that matter most to business owners, including pricing, features and customer support, to ensure that our recommendations offer well-rounded products that will meet the needs of various small businesses.

We collect extensive data to narrow our best list to reputable, easy-to-use products with stand-out features at a reasonable price point. And we look at user reviews to ensure that business owners like you are satisfied with our top picks’ services. We use the same rubric to assess companies within a particular space so you can confidently follow our blueprint to the best website builders.

The best website builders have positive user reviews on customer review sites. Website builders should provide customers with fast and reliable support. Using a combination of phone support, live chat and knowledge bases, customers should be able to quickly resolve issues 24/7.

Website builders should include prebuilt, industry-specific templates and drag-and-drop tools to make building your website quick and easy. All templates should be mobile-optimized to ensure they appear correctly on desktop and mobile devices. E-commerce functionality should be offered to allow businesses to sell physical and digital goods and services online. Website builders should provide ample storage and bandwidth to customers along with free SSL certificates, domain names and backup/restoration services. Additional security features should be built into the website to keep customers’ data safe and private. And all of these basic features should be affordable compared to competitors.

All website builders should expand on this basic feature set with built-in SEO and email marketing tools. Integrations should allow you to connect social media platforms and dropshipping services. And e-commerce tools should allow you to sell subscriptions and online courses, book online appointments and accept recurring payments. Additionally, blogging features and the option to add custom code should be available on all websites.

Featured website builder offers

Wix

Learn More

Via Wix’s website

Monthly fee

$17

Free domain

For one year

Drag-and-drop builder

Yes

Web.com

Learn More

Via Web.com’s website

Monthly fee

$19.99

Free domain

Only when paying annually

Drag-and-drop builder

Yes

Squarespace

Learn More

Via Squarespace’s website

Monthly fee

$23

Free domain

For one year

Drag-and-drop builder

Yes

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Shopify operates as an all-in-one e-commerce platform, offering businesses a suite of tools to create, manage and scale their online stores. Key features include:

Customizable website designs.
Integrated payment processing.
Inventory management.
Marketing and SEO tools.
Comprehensive analytics designed to streamline the online retail experience.

Shopify’s first three plans — Basic, Shopify and Advanced — cost $39 to $399 per month when paid monthly. If you want to pay annually, it would be $29 to $299 per month. Shopify also has the Plus plan, which is typically for bigger or more complicated businesses. This plan starts at $2,300 per month when paid every three years.

In-person transaction fees range from 2.4% plus $0.10 to 2.6% plus $0.10 per transaction. Online transaction fees range from 2.5% plus $0.30 to 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. With the Plus plan, you will need to get a quote to see your transaction fees.

Shopify offers a three-day free trial. After that trial, you can purchase your first month of services for $1.

To start selling on Shopify as a beginner, first set up your store by selecting a theme, adding products and configuring basic settings like payment and shipping. Then, utilize Shopify’s marketing and SEO tools to attract customers to your store and take advantage of its user-friendly interface to manage sales and inventory efficiently.

Shopify payment processing pricing starts at 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction for online sales. The cost per transaction goes down as you upgrade to higher tiers. Shopify also offers fulfillment services for an added fee.

Shopify offers a free tax solution for the first $100,000 of annual sales. Fees are 0.35% for standard sellers or 0.25% for users of the more expensive Shopify Plus for additional sales. The maximum fee for Shopify tax is $0.99 per transaction or $5,000 per year.

Businesses handle their own shipping by default, but you can upgrade to a paid fulfillment service called Shopify Fulfillment Network. With Shopify’s fulfillment solution, storage, shipments and returns are all included.

Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.

Eric Rosenberg

BLUEPRINT

Eric Rosenberg is a financial writer, speaker, and consultant based in Ventura, California. He is an expert in topics including banking, credit cards, investing, cryptocurrency, insurance, real estate, and business finance. He has professional experience as a bank manager and nearly a decade in corporate finance and accounting. His work has appeared in many online publications, including Business Insider, Nerdwallet, Investopedia, and U.S. News & World Report.

Sierra Campbell

BLUEPRINT

Sierra Campbell is a small business editor for USA Today Blueprint. She specializes in writing, editing and fact-checking content centered around helping businesses. She has worked as a digital content and show producer for several local TV stations, an editor for U.S. News & World Report and a freelance writer and editor for many companies. Sierra prides herself in delivering accurate and up-to-date information to readers. Her expertise includes credit card processing companies, e-commerce platforms, payroll software, accounting software and virtual private networks (VPNs). She also owns Editing by Sierra, where she offers editing services to writers of all backgrounds, including self-published and traditionally published authors.