Summary: Top 10 Shopify competitors to look out for in 2021
Shopify is the best ecommerce platform in many ways, including dropshipping.
Your business may be up against a lot of other businesses. The sales and marketing features that you desire and the complexity of the store will play a major role in choosing the right one.
These are the top 10 Shopify competitors for SMBs as well as enterprise companies.
- Wix: Sell online with ease
- Squarespace: Create a stunning, elegant storefront
- Big Cartel: Manage an online basic store
- Square Online: Connect offline to online sales
- WooCommerce: Add an Online Store to WordPress
- Zyro: In minutes, create an ecommerce website
- BigCommerce: Manage large product ranges
- Volusion: A glance at the store performance
- Magento: Create a custom Magento store using code
- OpenCart: Free integration of ecommerce functionality
Shopify competitors for small- and medium-sized companies
1. Wix: simple drag-and-drop website builder
Wix is a well-respected website builder that’s user-friendly. This is why it frequently makes the top Shopify competitor lists. The drag-and-drop website creator allows you to create beautiful, custom-designed storefronts in just minutes.
Wix allows you to choose from more than 100 ecommerce templates. You can also manage various aspects of your website, such as order tracking and printing shipping labels through the Wix dashboard. Wix also offers an extensive App Market where you can find tools that will enhance your store’s functionality. There are many useful features available, including flexible payments and loyalty programs.
Wix has its limitations. Wix won’t allow you to add more than 100 pages on your website. It doesn’t support TikTok or other new sales channels, so opening a Wix shop could result in missing potential sales.
Pros:
- Simple drag-and-drop functionality
- Apps for ecommerce that are useful
- New features are regularly added to the site.
Cons:
- No dropshipping support
- Storage restrictions
Price: $17-$35 per month
2. Squarespace offers beautiful templates for online stores
Squarespace focuses on modernizing your store and making it look attractive. This website builder has over 100 templates for online stores. Most of them are minimalistic and elegant, and all are mobile-responsive.
Squarespace offers a wide range of ecommerce tools. Squarespace allows you to sell unlimited digital and physical items, send abandoned cart recovery email, create shipping zones and get automatic tax calculations. The website builder is extremely user-friendly so you should be able set up your online shop in no time.
Squarespace has one drawback: you cannot offer multiple payment options to customers. However, you can only accept payments via Stripe and PayPal. This could negatively impact your customer experience if you are selling internationally.
Pros:
- Stunning, responsive templates
- Unlimited products with every plan
- Native analytics feature
Cons:
- There are limited payment options
- Small app store
Price: $18-$40 per month
3. Big Cartel is an ecommerce solution that allows small and basic shops to sell online
Big Cartel claims it is “built to remain small” and that its platform is best suited for those who are just starting out or looking for basic sales features. Big Cartel merchants have access to standard ecommerce tools such as discount codes and the option to sell on Facebook.
Big Cartel makes it easy to create an online store. There are prompts and reminders that will help you along the way. You will need to know how to code certain elements in this Shopify competitor.
Big Cartel, for example, allows you to add your own images into your online store. You can’t edit images using code. HTML/CSS editing can only be done by users who have a paid subscription. Start with the free plan and you will be able to do without customizing for the foreseeable future.
Pros:
- Onboarding process is user-friendly
- Simple, responsive themes
- Integration of social selling
Cons:
- No image editor
- You can have up to 500 products
Price: $0-$19.99 per month
4. Square Online: Sync offline and online sales
Square Online is easy-to use, intuitive, and packed with sales tools. It makes it simple to launch an ecommerce store. You can sell unlimited products, create gift certificates, send abandoned-cart email, and much more.
Square Online’s greatest strength is the unification of offline and online sales. You can sync inventory and customer data from your physical store with your online store if you have one. Square Online is free for businesses that are just starting to sell digital products.
All that simplicity across channels comes at the cost of customization. You don’t have access to a template library and you only have five design options and 15 color choices. Square Online is simple and easy to use, but it limits your creativity.
Pros:
- Simple and clean dashboard
- Starter plan free
- This is a great way to unify online and offline sales
Cons:
- There are very few customization options
- Limited customer support (select days and hours only)
Price: $0-$72 per month
5. WooCommerce is an ecommerce plugin that allows for unlimited customization
A WordPress website that allows you to create an online store with your own design?
Yes, please.
WooCommerce plugin is a WordPress plugin that allows you to add ecommerce functionality. It supports product variations and allows you to display ratings and reviews. There are many extensions that can be added to your site to expand your business.
WooCommerce is more than just an ecommerce platform. WooCommerce, like the core WordPress platform is highly customizable. To make your pages more engaging and effective, you can add custom widgets such as share buttons. To personalize your WooCommerce storefront, you can customize the theme or create your own theme.
WooCommerce can make store creation more difficult because you have to setup hosting and install WordPress. WooCommerce may be a difficult platform to learn if you are new to ecommerce.
Pros:
- Different themes and plugins
- Integrate WordPress easily
- Active developer community
Cons:
- No built-in hosting
- Website maintenance is the responsibility of the user
Price: $0 per month + web hosting cost
6. Zyro: Create a functional store in minutes
Zyro may not be as well-known than other Shopify competitors but it is still worth looking into. The website builder from Lithuania offers many ecommerce features, including multilingual setup and abandoned cart recovery.
You can create an online shop with Zyro by using one of the templates. Zyro has only a few ecommerce themes. However, the available ones are modern and elegant. They are easy to use and you can have a fully functional store in minutes. Zyro integrates with Amazon, Facebook and Instagram shops to help increase your sales channels.
But what about Zyro’s flaws? The downside to Zyro is the inability to change your chosen template. If you decide that a template is not right for you and start to customize it, you will have to create a new website to use a different style. Zyro’s drag and drop elements allow you to add five types of content. There’s nothing else.
Pros:
- Simple to use site builder
- Artificial intelligence tool to assist with content
- No cost logo or slogan maker
Cons:
- No template swapping
- Complex domain setup
Price: $9.90-$14.90 per month
Shopify competitors for large/enterprise businesses
7. BigCommerce is designed to handle large sales volumes
BigCommerce was designed for large online retailers that deal with thousands of products. You can manage large product ranges with a great suite of features, including bulk editing and product categorization. To save time and accelerate the release of newer products, you can apply product variant changes to multiple items.
BigCommerce provides many ecommerce tools that will help you increase your sales. These include multiple payment options, abandoned cart emails, and the ability for customers to be sorted into different groups so that you can sell to them in particular ways.
BigCommerce is not suitable for all retailers, despite its many features. BigCommerce is not suitable for retailers who sell products via both online and offline channels.
Pros:
- Amazing product management features
- Multiple sales channels
- Various templates
Cons:
- No integrated POS
- Limitations on online sales per year
Prices:$29.99 – $299.95 per Month; Custom Pricing for Enterprise Plans
8. Volusion: Great analytics and data tools
Volusion can be used to build a website for data enthusiasts. Although it is not easy for newbies, this ecommerce platform has a lot of potential. Advanced tools like abandoned cart recovery or personalized invoices will allow you to increase sales. You have many branding options to make your website stand out.
Volusion excels in analytics. A large reporting section provides all the information you need about customer behavior and buying preferences. You can share a variety of reports with your stakeholders and get useful insights into stock levels. Volusion will show you how your business operates and what you can do to improve it.
Volusion is great for deep insights but it is not the most intuitive product. You will need to learn how to customize your website. Also, you may miss some key features like a blog for content-marketing.
Pros:
- Amazing analytics tools
- Mobile app
Cons:
- Blog feature not available
- SSL is not free
Prices: $29-$299/month; Custom Pricing for Prime Plan
9. Magento: Create a custom storefront with code
Magneto provides flexible and open-source website design features for businesses. The ecommerce platform, now part of Adobe Commerce Cloud, supports unlimited product uploads, high security and fast loading times to provide an exceptional user experience.
Magento is a great solution for larger businesses that need to scale up their business. Magento’s business intelligence tools help you identify the top-selling products and order management and inventory tracking will keep you on top.
Magento is not designed for beginners. For exceptional customization, open-source solutions will require knowledge of coding. If you are not on the Enterprise plan, you won’t have access to a support team. You can see for a detailed comparison between Magento and Shopify to decide if it’s right for you.
Pros:
- Platform that can be customized to your exact specifications
- Excellent community
- International selling support
Cons:
- Not recommended for beginners
- Use it sparingly
Pricing: Customized yearly pricing based upon sales volume
10. OpenCart: lightweight ecommerce application
OpenCart is an open-source ecommerce platform that can be as flexible as you want. An intuitive administrator dashboard gives you quick insight into your sales metrics. You can also increase sales by listing as many products on your store as you wish and linking your website to third-party channels like eBay and social media.
OpenCart allows international sales, and offers multiple currency options and languages. International orders can be fulfilled by many shipping companies that you can also partner with. OpenCart provides convenience features such as guest checkouts and membership accounts to keep customers coming back.
OpenCart is not always the best platform to manage an online store. OpenCart doesn’t have many key functions. You will need to go to the OpenCart Marketplace and search for the appropriate plug-in. This is not a convenient way to manage orders or fulfill fulfillment.
Pros:
- Software that is flexible
- Low running costs
- Commerce international
Cons:
- No built-in hosting
- Integrations are required for most features
Price: $0/month, plus web hosting costs
