What is Shopify used for?

Shopify is a hosted ecommerce platform for building online stores, selling in person and online, and handling checkout, payments and shipping. It is a good fit for launching an online store quickly, selling both online and in a physical shop, and extending a store with third-party apps.

How much does Shopify cost?

Paid plans for Shopify start at $25 per month, and there is no free plan. A free trial is available.

Is Shopify open source?

No. Shopify is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Shopify include PrestaShop, Magento Open Source and EverShop.

What are some alternatives to Shopify?

Shopify competes with BigCommerce, Wix and Squarespace. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Shopify alternatives.

Shopify: features, pricing and alternatives

About Shopify

Shopify is a hosted commerce platform for building and running online stores. Merchants get a website builder with themes and domains, customer accounts, and an assistant called Sidekick. It is aimed at businesses of all sizes, from solo sellers to large brands.

Selling channels include an online store, point of sale for in-person sales, the Shop app, social platforms and marketplaces, B2B and multi-market selling. The platform also covers checkout, payments and taxes, orders and inventory, shipping, finances and funding, and workflow automation. Marketing tools include email, customer chat, discounts, advertising campaigns and analytics.

Developers can extend the platform through the Shopify App Store and Shopify.dev, which has documentation and a command-line tool. Shopify is a proprietary, subscription-based product that you start for free, with plan details on the vendor's pricing page and a separate enterprise offering.

Key features

Website builder with themes and domains
Online store plus point-of-sale selling
Integrated checkout, payments and taxes
Orders, inventory and shipping management
Email, discounts and analytics tools
App Store and developer tooling

Good fit for

→Launching an online store quickly
→Selling both online and in a physical shop
→Extending a store with third-party apps

Tags: ecommerce; online-store; point-of-sale; checkout; payments; saas; website-builder; shipping

Shopify: questions and answers

What is Shopify used for?: Shopify is a hosted ecommerce platform for building online stores, selling in person and online, and handling checkout, payments and shipping. It is a good fit for launching an online store quickly, selling both online and in a physical shop, and extending a store with third-party apps.
How much does Shopify cost?: Paid plans for Shopify start at $25 per month, and there is no free plan. A free trial is available.
Is Shopify open source?: No. Shopify is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Shopify include PrestaShop, Magento Open Source and EverShop.
What are some alternatives to Shopify?: Shopify competes with BigCommerce, Wix and Squarespace. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Shopify alternatives.