Shopify vs. Competitors: What Are the Differences?

With countless E-Commerce platforms available, picking the right one can feel overwhelming. Shopify currently dominates the industry, but is it the right fit for your specific needs? We’ve analyzed the data and compared Shopify against its biggest rivals so you can stop guessing and start building with confidence.

Shopify has consistently been ranked as a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce over the last several years because of the key advantages it holds over the competition.

• Superior Checkout

  : The primary advantage of the Shopify platform is its ability to drive higher revenue through a superior checkout experience. Data shows that Shopify’s native checkout converts up to 36% better than competitors like Salesforce or Magento, significantly reducing friction for customers and leading to more conversions.

• Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

  : Shopify offers a lower total cost of ownership, approximately 33% less than comparable solutions, making it ideal for start-ups and emerging brands by avoiding the revenue-sharing models and high maintenance costs associated with other platforms.

Shopify faces competition from a variety of platforms, each targeting different segments of the E-Commerce market. Its most direct rivals BigCommerce, Magento (Adobe Commerce), WooCommerce, and Salesforce Commerce Cloud offer similar enterprise-grade capabilities.

On the other end of the spectrum are simplified website builders like Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly. These, platforms serve as indirect competitors, prioritizing ease of use over complex functionality.

Many enterprises default to Salesforce Commerce Cloud because they already use Salesforce for CRM. But does that make it the best place to sell your products? The data suggests otherwise.

• More Sales, Less Friction

  : Data shows that Shopify’s checkout converts 36% higher than Salesforce’s. That is a massive difference in revenue simply by choosing a platform that removes friction for your customers.

• Escaping the 'Success Tax'

  : The biggest drawback of Salesforce is its pricing model. It charges a percentage of your revenue (often 1-3%), meaning the more you sell, the more you pay. A business making $500k/month could be handing over $15k/month just for the privilege of using the platform. Shopify Plus charges a flat fee, meaning your profit margins actually improve as you scale.

• CRM vs. Commerce Ultimately

  : Salesforce is a CRM company trying to do E-Commerce. Shopify is an E-Commerce company, period. While Salesforce splits its focus, Shopify pours all its resources into commerce innovation, leaving legacy platforms playing catch-up.

Although it doesn't hold the second-largest market share, BigCommerce is arguably Shopify’s most significant rival. Because both are hosted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms, they share a similar foundation: both handle security and SSL certificates, promise 99.99% uptime, and offer mobile-optimized, user-friendly interfaces.

• Pricing & Scalability

  : While their pricing tiers look similar on paper, there is a critical difference. BigCommerce imposes revenue caps on its plans, forcing you to upgrade to more expensive tiers as your sales grow. Shopify, conversely, allows you to generate unlimited revenue on its Basic plan without forcing an upgrade.

• Features vs. Ecosystem

  : The two platforms approach functionality differently. BigCommerce prides itself on having more features built natively into the platform. While this offers power, it can have a steeper learning curve. Shopify takes a leaner approach, relying on an App Store that is six times larger than its competitor's. If you need a specific or obscure function, Shopify is far more likely to have a ready made app for it.

• Flexibility & Access

  : BigCommerce operates on an 'Open SaaS' model, granting users greater access to code including the ability to customize the checkout on lower-tier plans. To achieve similar checkout customization on Shopify, merchants generally need to upgrade to Shopify Plus.

Once a giant of the industry, Magento has struggled since rebranding to Adobe Commerce, seeing its market share among top retailers drop to nearly 1%.

• A Confusing Ecosystem

  : Before you even consider features, you have to navigate Magento's confusing hierarchy. You must choose between the free Open Source version (which you host yourself), the On-Prem version (paid license, self-hosted), or Commerce Cloud (paid license, Adobe-hosted).

• Pricing That Punishes

  : Growth If you choose a commercial version, expect to pay between $22,000 and $190,000 annually. Like BigCommerce, this pricing model forces you to pay more simply because your business earns more.

• The Developer Trap

  : The defining difference between the platforms is developer dependency. Magento stores are infamous for technical debt the long-term cost of maintaining complex, custom-built solutions. Every change requires developer intervention. Shopify, conversely, minimizes technical debt by standardizing the backend, allowing you to implement features easily without a dedicated IT department.

WooCommerce, a plugin for WordPress, occupies a unique position in the market. While it powers a higher volume of stores overall due to its low barrier to entry, Shopify actually holds a larger share of the top 100,000 highest-traffic sites.

• The 'Free' Myth

  : The primary driver of WooCommerce’s popularity is that the core software is free. However, 'free' doesn't mean zero cost. Unlike Shopify, WooCommerce is self-hosted, meaning you must manage and pay for your own hosting and security.
  

• Complexity vs. Convenience

  : While WooCommerce boasts the largest library of plugins, this is often a necessity rather than a benefit. You frequently need to install complex third-party extensions just to replicate functionality that comes standard on Shopify. Furthermore, achieving a professional aesthetic on WooCommerce often requires significant design investment, whereas Shopify’s theme library offers polished, high-end designs out of the box.

The difference between Shopify and platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly comes down to intent. These platforms are 'website builders' first and 'stores' second. They target users looking for the quickest, lowest-maintenance route to getting a page online.

Shopify, however, is a dedicated E-Commerce engine. It bridges the gap between ease of use and enterprise power. While a simple builder might be marginally easier to set up on day one, Shopify provides the marketing ecosystem and POS integrations that growing businesses inevitably need. Choosing Shopify means choosing a platform you won't outgrow in six months.

Your choice of platform dictates where you spend your money: on innovation or maintenance?

BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento force you to spend heavily on developers just to keep the lights on. Wix and Squarespace get you online fast but hold you back when sales take off. Shopify remains the only solution that offers enterprise power without the enterprise headache.

But having the best tool is only half the battle; you also need to know how to use it. While Shopify is intuitive, high-growth brands rarely rely on "out of the box" solutions alone. Partnering with a specialist Shopify Agency helps you push the platform further creating custom themes and functionalities that differentiate your brand and drive real revenue.