The dirty secret of Shopify pricing is that the monthly plan is rarely the biggest cost. A typical $79/month Shopify store also pays 2.6% + $0.30 per transaction, $50-200/month in app subscriptions (recharges, reviews, page builders, upsells), $20+/month for a theme that doesn’t look like every other Shopify store, and 0.5-2% additional transaction fees if you don’t use Shopify Payments. The realistic monthly run cost on a moderately featured Shopify store is closer to $300-500, not $79.

For some businesses, that’s a fair trade for Shopify’s reliability and ecosystem. For others, the alternatives below offer dramatically better economics.

Why Merchants Leave Shopify

Three concerns drive most migrations. The transaction-fee-on-top-of-app-fees structure means margins compress as you scale. The app dependency means even basic features (proper subscriptions, advanced shipping rules, decent SEO) require ongoing subscriptions to third parties. And the platform’s increasing emphasis on Shop Pay and the Shop app effectively routes your customer relationship through Shopify’s brand rather than yours.

For brands wanting more ownership, more cost control, or specific features Shopify doesn’t handle well, the alternatives below cover the major paths.

The 5 Best Shopify Alternatives

1. WooCommerce - Best for Cost Control and Customization

WooCommerce:  ★★★★☆ 4.4/5

WooCommerce is technically free (open source), but realistic costs include hosting ($30-100/month for managed WooCommerce hosting), a premium theme ($50-100 one-time), and select extensions ($0-200/month).

WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, which means it inherits WordPress’s enormous ecosystem. The total cost for a comparable feature set to Shopify’s $79 plan typically runs $50-150/month depending on hosting and extensions. There’s no per-transaction fee from the platform itself - you pay only your payment processor.

Pros

  • Core plugin is free and open-source with no transaction fees, revenue caps, or product limits baked into the software itself
  • 59,000+ WordPress plugins and 1,000+ WooCommerce-specific extensions cover subscriptions, bookings, memberships, product bundles, and multi-vendor marketplaces
  • Full code ownership means you can modify checkout flows, product pages, and email templates at the PHP/HTML level without platform restrictions
  • REST API with full CRUD access enables headless commerce builds where a React or Next.js frontend consumes WooCommerce as the backend
  • WooCommerce Payments (powered by Stripe) offers built-in card processing at 2.9% + $0.30 with no monthly fee and multi-currency support in 135+ currencies

Cons

  • Requires self-managed WordPress hosting ($10-50/month), SSL certificate, backups, and security patches; total cost of ownership often exceeds Shopify Basic at $39/month
  • Performance degrades noticeably beyond 10,000 products and 500+ orders/day without dedicated WooCommerce hosting, object caching, and database optimization
  • Premium extensions for subscriptions ($199/yr), product bundles ($49/yr), and bookings ($249/yr) add up quickly beyond the free core
  • No official phone or live chat support for the free plugin; troubleshooting relies on community forums, documentation, and paid developer help

The trade-off: you’re responsible for hosting, security, and updates. Pick a managed WooCommerce host (Kinsta, WP Engine, Pressable) unless you have technical capacity in-house.

2. BigCommerce - Best for Larger Stores

BigCommerce pricing: Standard $39, Plus $105, Pro $399, Enterprise custom. Critically, no transaction fees on any plan.

BigCommerce is the alternative for stores that want SaaS reliability without Shopify’s transaction fees. The included feature set is broader at every tier - real-time shipping rates, abandoned cart recovery, multi-currency, and customer groups all come standard rather than as paid apps. For stores doing $500K+ annual revenue, the math frequently favors BigCommerce.

The downside: smaller theme and app ecosystem than Shopify, which means edge-case requirements may not have a turnkey solution.

3. Squarespace Commerce - Best for Brand-First Sellers

Squarespace:  ★★★★☆ 4.3/5

Squarespace Commerce: Basic Commerce $33/month, Advanced Commerce $52/month. Lower tiers (Personal, Business) have ecommerce too but with limitations.

Squarespace is the right choice when the storefront’s brand presence matters as much as the cart functionality. Templates are tasteful, the editor is the most accessible to non-developers, and the integrated email marketing, scheduling, and member areas mean you can run a content-plus-commerce business from one platform.

Pros

  • Fluid Engine editor provides true drag-and-drop section-level layout control with pixel-level placement, unlike older grid-locked builders
  • All plans include SSL, CDN hosting, unlimited bandwidth, and one free custom domain for the first year, eliminating separate hosting bills
  • 100+ designer-built templates organized by industry (restaurants, portfolios, weddings, podcasts) with Unsplash stock photo integration
  • Built-in scheduling tool (Acuity Scheduling, acquired by Squarespace) allows appointment booking, class enrollment, and service payments directly on your site
  • E-commerce on Business plan ($33/month) supports unlimited products, donation buttons, digital downloads, and member areas with a 3% transaction fee waived on Commerce plans

Cons

  • No plugin or app marketplace; functionality beyond what Squarespace builds natively requires custom code injection or third-party embed blocks
  • E-commerce on the Personal plan ($16/month) is not available at all; selling anything requires the Business plan at $33/month or Commerce at $36/month
  • Code injection is limited to header/footer HTML and per-page code blocks; there is no FTP access, server-side scripting, or database layer
  • Blog post editor lacks scheduling queues, content calendar views, and multi-author editorial workflows that WordPress provides natively

What it doesn’t do: scale to large catalogs gracefully, support advanced inventory workflows, or handle complex shipping rules. Squarespace’s commerce is best at 100-500 SKUs.

4. Wix - Best for Small Catalogs and Easy Setup

Wix:  ★★★★☆ 4.2/5

Wix Business plans: Light $17/month, Core $29, Business $36, Business Elite $159.

Wix has improved its ecommerce stack substantially in 2024-2025. AI-driven setup, decent product management, and the lowest learning curve in the segment make Wix a credible Shopify alternative for stores under 100 products. The pricing is also genuinely lower than Shopify at comparable feature levels.

Pros

  • Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) generates a complete site with pages, content, and images from answers to 6 questions, ready to edit in under 3 minutes
  • 800+ templates span every niche from yoga studios to law firms, each including placeholder copy, stock images, and pre-wired contact forms
  • Wix App Market offers 500+ add-ons including Wix Bookings, Wix Restaurants, Wix Events, and third-party apps like Mailchimp, QuickBooks, and Tidio chat
  • Free plan publishes a live site on a yourname.wixsite.com subdomain with Wix branding, sufficient for testing a business idea before investing
  • Velo by Wix opens full-stack JavaScript development with server-side code, database collections, HTTP functions, and npm package imports for advanced customization

Cons

  • Templates cannot be switched after publishing; changing your site's overall design requires rebuilding from scratch on a new template
  • Pages built with the Wix Editor load a JavaScript-heavy runtime that scores 15-40 on Google PageSpeed Insights mobile tests for complex sites
  • Free plan displays persistent Wix banner ads and uses a wixsite.com subdomain; removing branding requires the Light plan at $17/month minimum
  • Site content is not portable; there is no code export, and migrating to WordPress, Webflow, or Squarespace means rebuilding manually

Wix’s ceiling is real. Performance on stores beyond ~500 products degrades, and migration off Wix is harder than off most other platforms.

5. Webflow Ecommerce - Best for Design-Forward Stores

Webflow:  ★★★★☆ 4.4/5

Webflow Ecommerce: Standard $42/month, Plus $84, Advanced $235. 2% transaction fees on the Standard plan only.

Webflow is the alternative for brands where design custom-tailoring matters more than out-of-the-box ecommerce features. Designers can build truly bespoke storefronts without code limitations, and the CMS is the best in this segment for content-heavy commerce (lookbooks, editorial-style product pages, brand storytelling).

Pros

  • Visual Designer maps directly to CSS properties (flexbox, grid, position, overflow) so designers learn real web layout concepts while dragging elements
  • Interactions 2.0 builds scroll-triggered animations, hover states, page load sequences, and Lottie playback without writing a single line of JavaScript
  • CMS collections support dynamic content like blog posts, case studies, team members, and product listings with filterable, sortable reference fields
  • Exported code is clean, semantic HTML and CSS with no proprietary framework or runtime dependency; you can host it anywhere
  • Client billing feature on Agency plans lets designers host and bill client sites directly through Webflow at white-labeled rates

Cons

  • Visual Designer requires understanding of the CSS box model, flexbox, and positioning; users without web design fundamentals will struggle in the first 2-4 weeks
  • E-commerce supports up to 10,000 products but lacks subscription billing, digital downloads at scale, and multi-currency checkout that Shopify handles natively
  • Site plans are priced per project ($18-$49/month each), so an agency with 20 client sites pays $360-$980/month in hosting alone
  • Logic (beta) automation tool handles basic form submissions and CMS triggers but cannot match Zapier's 7,000+ app connections for complex workflows

What’s weak: native ecommerce features (subscriptions, complex inventory, advanced shipping) lag Shopify and require workarounds. Best for stores under 1,000 SKUs that prioritize aesthetics.

Who Should Choose Which

Choose WooCommerce if you want maximum cost control, deep customization, and don’t mind owning hosting. Best for content-plus-commerce sites and technically capable teams.

Choose BigCommerce if you’re scaling past $500K annual revenue and want SaaS reliability without Shopify’s transaction fees.

Choose Squarespace if brand and storefront aesthetics matter most and your catalog is small to medium.

Choose Wix if you’re starting fresh with a small catalog and want the easiest possible setup.

Choose Webflow if you want design freedom and your business model emphasizes brand storytelling over pure transaction volume.

Annual Cost for a $250K/year Store

  • Shopify Basic + apps: ~$3,500 (plan + apps + transaction fees)
  • WooCommerce (managed hosting + extensions): ~$1,800
  • BigCommerce Plus: $1,260 (no transaction fees)
  • Squarespace Advanced Commerce: $624
  • Wix Business: $432
  • Webflow Ecommerce Plus: $1,008

Squarespace and Wix win on absolute cost. WooCommerce and BigCommerce win on scaling economics.

Frequently Asked Questions

How hard is it to migrate from Shopify?

Manageable but meaningful. WooCommerce and BigCommerce both have official Shopify migration tools or partners that handle products, orders, and customers. Squarespace and Wix can import products via CSV. URL redirects, SEO preservation, and email subscriber migration require manual work. Plan a month for a 500-product store migration.

Which has the best SEO?

WooCommerce, by a clear margin, because it inherits WordPress’s SEO ecosystem (Yoast, Rank Math, schema plugins). BigCommerce has solid built-in SEO. Webflow’s SEO is good and improving. Shopify’s SEO is fine but constrained by URL structure (/products/ paths can’t be customized). Squarespace and Wix are mid-pack.

What about international and multi-currency?

BigCommerce and WooCommerce handle multi-currency and multi-language best. Shopify’s “Markets” feature is good but expensive. Squarespace, Wix, and Webflow are weakest here.

Can these handle subscriptions?

Shopify and BigCommerce both have multiple subscription apps. WooCommerce Subscriptions ($199/year) is the most flexible. Squarespace, Wix, and Webflow have basic subscription support that may not handle complex use cases.

The Verdict

For most merchants leaving Shopify, WooCommerce delivers the best long-term economics and customization. The trade-off is operational responsibility, which managed hosting solves for most teams. BigCommerce wins for scaling stores. Squarespace and Wix win for small, brand-first shops. Webflow wins for design-driven stores.

For a deeper head-to-head with the most-asked alternative, see Shopify vs WooCommerce and Shopify vs Squarespace.