Comparing seven Shopify alternatives starts with your own store: what must you do each day, who maintains the technology and what is the complete cost? Use this guide to select candidates and give each of them the same assignments.
Sources checked on 26 October 2026. Prices and terms can change. The links below lead to the suppliers themselves; the selection criteria are tasks for your own assessment.
Why investigate a Shopify alternative?
Start with a specific reason: a task does not work, the complete bill no longer fits your margin, or you need a different management workflow. If your current platform already handles the task well, switching is not automatically an improvement.
The seven options below represent different approaches to building and managing a store. This is a shortlist, not a ranking or an independent hands-on review of every supplier. Define your requirements first, then use official sources and a trial environment.
1. MicroCart: editor and store management in one package
MicroCart costs €39.95 per store per month or €399.50 per store per year, excluding VAT. All MicroCart apps and B2B are included. You can try the complete package for 14 days without a credit card. MicroCart charges 0% platform transaction fees; payment providers and external services charge their own rates.
Consider MicroCart if you want to build your store and assess design, catalogue and recurring work together. Use the trial for your essential tasks, including identifying any external services you still need.
What should you test in MicroCart?
- Design a page with your own products and photography.
- Work through a product with variants and a test order.
- Check the workflow, market or B2B task that your store must support.
When should it be on your shortlist?
Include MicroCart when the editor and combined store management match your workflow. See building without programming experience for a task list. A fixed subscription is only one part of the complete budget.
2. WooCommerce: a store with WordPress
WooCommerce is a free, open-source base for WordPress stores. Budget separately for hosting, maintenance, payment processing and any extensions. See WooCommerce’s official cost guide.
What should you test in WooCommerce?
Build a working trial with your chosen hosting, theme and required plugins. Test a product update and identify who handles updates, backups and recovery. Ask the maintainer to demonstrate the complete setup, not just an empty theme.
Which costs and responsibilities should you record?
List hosting, licences, maintenance and support alongside payment processing. Agree who investigates conflicts between extensions and what recovery costs. Compare the management work with your available time or service contract.
3. Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce
Distinguish Magento Open Source from the commercial Adobe Commerce offering. They are not interchangeable price labels. Start with Adobe’s Magento Open Source explanation and establish exactly which solution is being proposed.
What should you test with these options?
Describe a genuinely complex process, such as a particular catalogue, existing systems connection or wholesale order flow. Request a demo with those data. A feature list does not prove that your process works without custom development.
Which project costs should you request?
Request an itemised quote for software or subscription, implementation, hosting where applicable, maintenance and further development. Establish responsibility for updates and integrations. Do not treat a general enterprise starting price as a quote for your store.
4. BigCommerce: a hosted commerce platform
BigCommerce offers commerce subscriptions. Review the current plans and terms for the version you are considering. Record the chosen offering before comparing pricing or features with another platform.
What should you test in BigCommerce?
Enter a representative product and test the intended storefront, payment route and external integration. Ask how any order or revenue terms, additional storefronts and connected services are handled in your quote.
What belongs in your comparison?
Record currency, billing term, contract conditions and external service costs. Ask separately about support for your setup. Avoid judging an offering solely by the country where its supplier is based.
5. PrestaShop: open source and commercial offers
The PrestaShop Open Source project is available to download, modify and use. Distinguish it from PrestaShop’s commercial offers. Check which product, modules and services you are comparing.
What should you test in PrestaShop?
Test your catalogue, chosen theme and required modules together. Identify who performs installation, updates and backups. If you are considering a hosted offering, ask which tasks are covered by the agreement.
Which costs should you establish first?
List hosting or subscription, theme, modules and maintenance. Ask what happens when a module stops working after an update. An open-source licence does not automatically make implementation or support free.
6. Squarespace: website and commerce offers
Squarespace offers website and commerce features through different subscriptions. Use the official plan comparison to identify the offering you need. Evaluate the design with your own images and content.
What should you test in Squarespace?
Create a representative collection and product page. Work through payment, delivery and an order change. Also test the content pages your brand needs so that the store and its story are assessed together.
What should you check explicitly?
Check the chosen payment method, any transaction charges, additional services and export options for your subscription. Establish that the required process works before assuming either a limitation or an advantage.
7. Wix: a website builder with commerce plans
Wix offers different website and business subscriptions. Check the official pricing page for the offering that includes the payments and features you need. A general website entry price is not a reliable store budget.
What should you test in Wix?
Build a page with your actual catalogue and test the editor on mobile as well. Work through the order flow and check the external integration your daily work depends on. Ask which changes you can make yourself later.
What should you include in the decision?
Record the subscription, apps, payment processing and any design assistance. Check how you can export content and products. Use a test with your own data instead of generic claims about scalability or SEO.
Turn seven options into a shortlist
Choose no more than three candidates for the first trial. Give each the same input: a simple product, a variant product, your images, a delivery address and one required integration. Ask to see both the task completed and the work left over. Keep results beside the complete quote.
1. Complete budget
Separate one-off setup and migration costs from recurring charges. Add subscriptions, maintenance, apps and external services. Calculate payment and order costs for your own quiet and busy scenarios. Use the cost guide to make assumptions explicit.
2. Time and technical support
Decide which changes you want to make yourself and how much time is available. Ask for a demonstration of an ordinary change, such as adding a variant or adjusting a delivery rule. Establish who helps if it does not work.
3. Growth and changing workflows
Choose a concrete next step to test: another market, a wholesale customer or a new integration. Ask about the implications for contracts, management and costs. A forecast is not a reason to pay for untested features today.
4. Customers and the local sales process
Make a checklist for the countries where you actually sell: customer language, payment methods, delivery, tax settings and support. Check conditions with your chosen suppliers. A platform’s language or location does not replace that check.
Compare costs without false precision
Use quotes with the same currency, billing term and tax basis. Record whether a stated amount is an introductory promotion. Rates change; a list of isolated entry prices is not a complete comparison.
MicroCart costs €39.95 per store per month or €399.50 per store per year, excluding VAT. All MicroCart apps and B2B are included. You can try the complete package for 14 days without a credit card. MicroCart charges 0% platform transaction fees; payment providers and external services charge their own rates.
For other candidates, use the primary pricing or product pages linked above. Apply your own order volume and payment mix to those conditions. This compares the same store rather than different sample packages.
Check payments and integrations before choosing
Start with the payment methods your customers need. Ask your provider about availability for your business, processing, payouts and refunds. Record platform charges and payment processing on separate lines.
A practical test order
- Choose a real product and variant from your catalogue.
- Enter a delivery address in a target country and check delivery charges.
- Test the intended payment method using its designated test facility.
- Check the confirmation, stock change and a refund.
SEO and marketing: check the output
Compare the same page’s title, description, readable content, internal links and mobile rendering. When migrating, also check canonicals, language annotations and redirects. Choosing another platform does not itself deliver higher rankings.
What should you check with WordPress and WooCommerce?
Check what the theme and selected extensions actually output. Inspect published HTML, the sitemap and page accessibility after changes. Establish who resolves conflicts or regressions; a plugin’s name is not evidence of quality.
What should you check with hosted platforms?
Test which content and metadata you can edit yourself. Ask how URL changes and redirects are managed. Include an error scenario, such as a removed product. Assess what you can measure and repair in the selected setup.
Support that fits your work
For each candidate, record the channel, language, availability and supplier responsible for integration support. Ask a concrete setup question before choosing. Agree on launch and incident support rather than assuming speed or quality based on nationality.
Plan migration as a separate project
Inventory your current store and test a small export and import before choosing a cutover date. For each component, identify what transfers, what must be rebuilt and what you will check after launch.
Data you want to retain
- Products, variants, images and stock.
- Customer data and order history where permitted and supported.
- Content pages, metadata, current URLs and important links.
Work to check separately
Design, apps, automations, payment settings and delivery need their own tests. Map URLs if addresses change and check redirects after cutover. MicroCart provides a Shopify migration route; check your data and settings before publishing.
Questions for your shortlist
Make two columns: “must work at launch” and “can wait”. A missing essential task remains a blocker despite attractive design or price. Record who resolves open points, at what cost and by when. Choose only when you can support that plan and the successful trials with evidence.
Which alternative suits a beginner?
The candidate that lets you complete essential tasks with clear support and costs. Try the editor with your own product. Review building with MicroCart and test the same assignment with the other candidates.
Can I transfer my existing Shopify store?
Check this for each data type and migration route. A successful product import does not establish that design, orders, integrations and URLs have also transferred. Make a checklist and inspect a trial import before launch.
Which alternative is cheapest?
That requires a budget for your store. Compare subscriptions, payment mix, extensions, maintenance and migration on the same basis. Free software and a paid hosted package have different cost categories; comparing licence prices alone is insufficient.
Can I use the local payment methods I need?
Check the platform and payment provider conditions for your country, account and products. Test the actual method in the selected setup. Include refund or dispute fees where they apply to your store.
Will switching improve my SEO?
You cannot determine that from a platform’s name. Assess published pages, content and technical setup. Establish a baseline before migration and check important URLs after launch. Rankings are not guaranteed to remain or improve.
Choose a workflow you have tested
Turn the shortlist into a decision with three parts: the tasks that work, the complete costs and the work remaining before launch. This guide is published by MicroCart. Use official sources and your own tests to assess every candidate, including MicroCart itself.
Develop the decision with the MicroCart and Shopify comparison or the guide to daily workflow differences.
Further reading
MicroCart · Building a store without programming experience · MicroCart vs Shopify
