Updated
Shopify is a subscription service for running an online store. Hosting, a custom domain and an SSL certificate are part of every plan.[1]
A versatile e-commerce platform enabling users to create online stores and sell products. It offers customizable themes, apps for extended functionality, and Shopify POS for in-person sales. The platform includes inventory management, secure payments, and marketing tools.
Shopify belongs toEcommercecategory.
30websites
use it — 1.2% of the 2,555 websites we scanned in the last 12 months
#2of 21
tools in its category seen in our scans (we recognize 804)
3public pages
on UptimeCard — open any of them to see how that site is doing
In short: a good fit if you want one company to run hosting and checkout. Watch the extra fee when you use another payment provider.[1]
1.08% of all websites we track run Shopify
Should you use Shopify?
The 10-second version, from the vendor’s own pages and what we see in our scans
Shopify fits if…
- You want one company to run the hosting, certificate and checkout for you[1]Hosting and an SSL certificate come with every plan.
- You sell in person as well as online[1]The plan pages list online, in-person and chat selling together.
- You are happy to use Shopify's own card processing[1]Its card rate starts at 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic and falls on higher plans.
Look elsewhere if…
- You want no platform fee at all[2]WooCommerce itself is free; you pay for hosting and extensions instead.
- You want to keep your own payment provider without an extra fee on top[1][2]Shopify charges one; WooCommerce says it does not.
- You need to compare real-world speed firstWe have measured speed on too few Shopify sites to say anything yet.
Shopify next to its closest alternatives
Alternatives that do the same job. Prices and rules come from each vendor's own page; website counts are ours.
| Shopify |  WooCommerce |  BigCommerce |  Squarespace | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay | ||||
| Cheapest paid plan | $29/mobilled yearly ($39 if paid monthly)[1] | Freeno monthly subscription[2] | $29/mobilled annually ($39 if paid monthly)[3] | from $19/molowest of the two prices listed for Basic[4] |
| Free trial | 3 daysthen $1 a month for 3 months[1] | Not neededfree to download and use[2] | Yesfree trial offered[3] | 14 daysfree[4] |
| Extra fee if you use another payment provider | 2% / 1% / 0.6%Basic / Grow / Advanced[1] | None✓only the provider's own fee[2] | 2% / 1% / 0.6%Core / Growth / Scale; none with its built-in providers[3] | 2% / 0%Basic / Core and up[4] |
| What you get | ||||
| Hosting | Includedunlimited web hosting[1] | You choose$25–$350 a month for most stores[2] | Not stated on its pricing page | Includedfully-managed cloud hosting[4] |
| What we see in our scans | ||||
| Websites running it | 301.2% of 2,555 scanned sites | 210.8% of 2,555 scanned sites | 2too few to compare | 50.2% of 2,555 scanned sites |
All prices are in US dollars, as listed for the United States. A check mark marks the lowest extra payment fee. Speed and security rows appear once at least 5 public sites per tool have been measured.
Choose Shopify if…
Choose WooCommerce if…
Choose BigCommerce if…
Products and plans
What Shopify sells besides the online store, in its own words
Shopify
This pageBuilds and runs an online store with an editor and ready-made themes[8]
from $29 / month
Shopify POS
Sells in person at the counter and keeps in-store and online orders in sync[9]
Shopify Payments
Shopify’s own way to take payments, built into the store[10]
Shopify Plus
The plan for larger businesses that connect their own core systems[12]
Plans of Shopify· The three main plans, billed yearly, in US dollars as listed for the United States[1]
Basic
$29/ month
For solo entrepreneurs
- Card rate from 2.9% + 30¢
- Outside payment provider: 2% extra
- $39 if paid monthly
Grow
$89/ month
For small teams
- Card rate from 2.7% + 30¢
- Outside payment provider: 1% extra
- Up to 5 staff accounts
Advanced
$359/ month
For global reach
- Card rate from 2.5% + 30¢
- Outside payment provider: 0.6% extra
- Up to 15 staff accounts
One more plan exists, Plus, from $2,300 a month, for complex businesses with unlimited staff accounts. It is not shown here.[1]
What you would pay at different sales levels
If you use an outside payment provider, the extra fee matters more than the plan price as sales grow
| Example monthly sales | Basic | Grow | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|
| $2,000 | $69 | $109 | $371 |
| $10,000 | $229 | $189 | $419 |
| $100,000 | $2,029 | $1,089 | $959 |
Monthly cost = plan price (billed yearly) + the extra fee on sales made through an outside payment provider. Card rates and staff accounts are not counted. Sales figures are examples, not forecasts.[1]
$6,000of sales a month
When does Grow pay for itself? With an outside payment provider, moving from Basic to Grow saves more in fees than it costs once you sell more than this each month.[1]($89 − $29) ÷ (2% − 1%). Going on to Advanced only pays off above $67,500 a month.
How Shopify sites are built
Closest partners. The number says how many times more often the tool runs on Shopify sites than on an average website. Hover a partner for its share of sites.
Shop Pay85×
Judge.me85×
American Express85×
Google Pay76×
Apple Pay75×
Mastercard75×
Venmo73×
Visa66×
Klaviyo64×Stacks we see most. Tools that tend to run together with Shopify on the same websites. The percentage is the share of all 30 Shopify sites that run the whole stack.
Shopify + Apple Pay + Google Pay + American Express + Mastercard
Shopify + Apple Pay + PayPal + Google Pay + Visa
Shopify + PayPal + American Express + Mastercard + Visa
Shopify + Apple Pay + PayPal + Sentry + Venmo
Usually installed alongside
The bigger the bubble, the more of the 30 Shopify sites also run the tool. Colour shows what the tool does. Hover or tap a bubble for details.
Google Analytics80%
Facebook Pixel63%
Microsoft Clarity43%
Cart Functionality80%Apple Pay50%PayPal43%Google Pay27%
Google Tag Manager50%Judge.me30%
Microsoft Advertising27%
Taboola17%Klaviyo20%Similar tools in its category
Ecommerce: 804 tools known, 21 seen in our scans
Websites using Shopify
30 websites use Shopify: 1.2% of the 2,555 websites we scanned in the last 12 months. A selection is shown below.
| Website | Industry | Hosted | Load time · size | Scores ⓘ | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Heliumhelium.com | Tech | CanadaCloudflare, Inc. | 5.3 s · 1.9 MB | P61A83B100S100 | |
 Ecobeeecobee.com | Technology and Software | CanadaGoogle LLC | – | – | |
 Earth Breezeearthbreeze.com | Eco-friendly Products | CanadaCloudflare, Inc. | – | – |
Scores are out of 100: P Performance · A Accessibility · B Best practices · S SEO. Green 80+, yellow 65–79, orange 50–64, red below 50. The dot shows whether our last scan found the site failing (red) or not (green); Red, amber or blue: an active incident on the site's status page (outage, degraded, maintenance) or a failing scan; amber also means a certificate ending within 30 days. Hover the dot for details.
Who is behind Shopify
From its own pages and public records, with sources
Questions about Shopify
- Is there a free trial?
- Yes. Shopify starts with a free 3-day trial and needs no credit card. After the trial, most plans start at $1 a month for the first 3 months, then switch to standard monthly pricing.[1]
- Is hosting included?
- Yes. The plan pages list unlimited web hosting, a custom domain name and a free SSL certificate.[1]
- Can I use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments?
- Yes, but third-party transaction fees may apply. The rate depends on your plan: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus.[1]
- What is POS Pro?
- An add-on for more advanced point-of-sale features, such as staff roles and permissions, exchanges, and flexible customer pickup and delivery options.[1]
- Can I cancel a Plus subscription?
- If you choose a 1- or 3-year Plus subscription, you can cancel when your term commitment expires.[1]
- How many websites use Shopify?
- We found Shopify on 30 of the 2,555 websites we scanned in the last 12 months (1.2%). 3 of them have a public status page.
- What is Shopify often used with?
- Among the websites we scan, Shopify is often found alongside Google Analytics (80% of its sites), Facebook Pixel (63.3% of its sites), Apple Pay (50% of its sites).
- What are the alternatives to Shopify?
- Other online-store platforms we recognize include Cart Functionality, Amazon Webstore, WooCommerce, Webflow Ecommerce.
Is your website built with Shopify?
UptimeCard checks it around the clock, tells you the minute it stops answering, and gives your visitors a status page.