Forget Shopify! These Alternatives Can Save You $500/Mo

When it comes to selling online,

everyone and their mother will tell you

to use Shopify. But here's the truth.

Shopify is not the best e-commerce

platform for everyone. And in fact,

depending on what you sell and how you

run your business, Shopify could

actually be the worst choice that you

make. Now, I've run a 7-figure

e-commerce store for almost two decades

now, and I've used practically every

shopping cart out there with real money

on the line. And what I found is that

Shopify has some serious hidden

drawbacks that no one talks about.

Drawbacks that can your business

if you're not careful. So in this video,

I'm going to walk you through when

Shopify does not make sense. And the

three best alternatives that might

actually save you money, give you more

flexibility, and keep your business

under your control. All right, so first

let's start with when Shopify actually

does not make sense. On the surface,

Shopify looks cheap. Their lowest plan

is $29 a month, which sounds pretty

good. But here's the problem. Shopify is

bare bones out of the box. You're forced

to load up on apps and their app store

has over 12,000 apps. The average price

of each one is about $66 a month. And

the average Shopify store, they are

running 6 to8 apps, which means that

most stores are paying $400 to $500

every single month just in app fees.

Even the students in my class, and they

run lean, tell me that they spend around

$200 a month just on Shopify apps. So

that $29 plan you thought you signed up

for, it quickly turns into hundreds of

dollars every single month. Now, let's

talk about payment processing next.

Shopify has its own in-house gateway

called Shopify Payments. And the catch

is it is only supported in about 22

countries. And if you don't live in one

of those countries, you are forced to

use a third-party processor where

Shopify taxs on an extra 1 to 2%

transaction fee on every single sale.

Now, 1 or 2% might not sound like much,

but if you're doing six or seven figures

in revenue, that is thousands of dollars

out of your pocket every single year

just for the privilege of not living in

the right country. Now, here's a fun

fact. The majority of Shopify's revenue

does not actually come from

subscriptions. It comes from payment

processing. Last year, credit card

processing made up 73.5 of Shopify's

revenue. Subscriptions were only 26.5%.

And that tells you where their

priorities really lie. But here's the

worst part. You don't actually fully

control your store on Shopify. During

the pandemic, I had a good friend who

sold hand sanitizer. He'd been selling

it for years, totally legit. But when

COVID hit, his supplier raised prices.

So naturally, he had to raise prices,

too. Shopify, however, flagged him for

price gouging and shut his entire store

down overnight. He wasn't gouging

anyone. He was just passing on his

increased costs. But that didn't matter.

His store was gone, his income was gone,

and his SEO rankings got destroyed. It

doesn't stop there. Shopify is extremely

sensitive about what you can sell.

anything related to sex, adult products,

firearms, chemicals, even certain

supplements, they can pull your store

down without warning. And when it comes

to copyright or trademark issues, you're

guilty until proven innocent. I've had

friends get their stores taken down from

fake infringement claims filed by

competitors. And Shopify did not

investigate. They just shut the whole

site down, and it took weeks with

lawyers to get it back up while revenue

was lost in the meantime. So yeah,

Shopify makes sense if you want

something quick and easy, but if you

care about costs, flexibility, or

control over your own business, it can

actually be one of the worst platforms

you can choose. So Shopify has all these

downsides. What is the best alternative?

Let's talk about Woo Commerce first. Woo

Commerce is basically WordPress with an

e-commerce plug-in bolted on. And here's

the thing, WordPress powers over 40% of

the entire internet. So, you're building

on the biggest platform out there that

comes with some huge advantages over

Shopify. First off, there's freedom.

With Woo, you can sell literally

anything you want. Adult products,

firearms supplements chemicals stuff

that Shopify would never allow. No one's

going to shut your store down because

they don't like your product category.

And you actually own your own site. You

own your own data, and no platform can

just pull the plug overnight. Second is

cost. The Woo Commerce plug-in itself is

free, and much of the functionality you

need can be added with plugins that are

either free or a one-time purchase. Some

premium plugins do charge annual

renewals for ongoing updates and

support, but even then, the total bill

is usually far less than Shopify. Third

is SEO and content creation. This is

where Woo Commerce blows Shopify out of

the water. Shopify's blog is clunky.

Their URLs aren't SEO friendly, and

you're capped in what you can do.

WordPress, on the other hand, is the

best blogging platform in the world. If

you want to drive traffic with content,

whether that's blogging, long form

guides, or SEO, Woo Commerce is the best

choice, hands down. Now, there are

downsides. With Shopify, they take care

of everything. The hosting, the

security, the updates. But with Woo

Commerce, you are on your own. You've

got to get good hosting. You've got to

stay on top of plug-in updates. And

sometimes plugins conflict with each

other. And if you're not technical, you

might need a developer on call. And Woo

Commerce can run really slow if you

don't optimize it properly. But here's

the flip side. Woo Commerce can be

insanely cheap to run. My kids actually

run a printon-demand store over at

kidencharge.com and their entire store

cost them just $2.69 a month to keep

online. That is it. Woo can easily be

the cheapest way to run an online store

while still being featurerich and

powerful. And it's not just for

beginners. I have colleagues running

high seven figure stores on Woo Commerce

without any problems. Now that said, let

me just give you a word of warning. Woo

Commerce is not for everyone. You do

need to be techsavvy or at least a good

problem solver. Things are going to

break. Plugins will conflict and you're

going to need to troubleshoot. And if

you're not willing to deal with the

occasional headache, Woo might drive you

nuts. But if you value freedom,

flexibility, and total ownership, it is

one of the best options out there. By

the way, if you're interested in

starting your own profitable online

store, make sure you sign up for my free

6-day e-commerce miniourse below. It's

100% free and I guarantee you'll learn a

lot. Now, let's talk about another

Shopify alternative that almost no one

talks about, and that's Shift for Shop.

Shift for Shop used to be called 3D cart

and it's been around forever, but it

never gets the hype Shopify or Big

Commerce get. And honestly, that's a

shame because it actually gives you way

more for way less if you fit their

criteria. The biggest benefit is that

Shift for Shop can be 100% free. But

there is a catch. You must live in the

United States and you must process at

least $1,000 a month using their payment

gateway, Shift for Payments. If you

don't meet those requirements, it's not

free. But if you do, you basically get

an enterprise level platform without

paying a dime in subscription fees. And

this isn't some watered down plan

either. You get unlimited products,

unlimited staff accounts, a built-in

blog, SEO tools, loyalty programs, gift

registries, daily deals, an affiliate

program, and even free email marketing

baked right in. On Shopify, every single

one of those features would cost you

extra in the form of recurring app fees.

But on Shift For most of that is

included out of the box. Another big

difference is that Shift for Shop does

not nickel and dime you with transaction

fees. Shopify makes most of its money

off of payment processing. And if you're

not in one of the 22 countries where

Shopify payments is supported, they will

hit you with an extra 1 to 2% on every

single order. With Shift for Shop, you

can use whatever processor you want

without penalty. And if you stick with

Shift War payments, your monthly fee is

literally zero as long as you hit that

$1,000 threshold. SEO is another win.

Shopify locks you into their URL

structure, which isn't great for

rankings. Shoreshop lets you customize

URLs however you want. And I've seen

people migrate their stores over and

keep their exact same URLs so they don't

lose any Google rankings at all. Now,

there are downsides. The app ecosystem

is way smaller than Shopify's. If you

want cutting edge AI tools or niche

functionality, odds are that they're not

going to exist. The interface also feels

more dated, and because it's not as

widely used, you will not find nearly as

many developers or tutorials online. But

that said, for the right person, it is

fantastic. My daughter actually runs her

jewelry store on Shift for Shop, and she

loves it. It gives her all the features

she needs. The built-in email marketing

saves her a ton of money, and she

doesn't feel like she's being nickel and

dime the way most Shopify users are. So,

Shift for Shop isn't for everyone. Its

free plan is US only, and you need to be

processing at least $1,000 a month for

it to be free, but it can be one of the

cheapest and most complete Shopify

alternatives out there. All right, so

next, let's talk about Big Commerce. If

there's one platform that really goes

toe-to-toe with Shopify at the higher

end, it is Big Commerce. And in fact, in

a lot of ways, it fixes some of

Shopify's biggest pain points. The first

big difference is that you don't get

nickel and dimed with apps. Big Commerce

comes with a ton of functionality built

right in. Things like advanced

discounting, tiered pricing, buy 1 get

one free offers, repeat customer

discounts, all included out of the box.

On Shopify, you'd be paying for plugins

every single month just to get the same

features. Second is product flexibility.

Right now, Shopify limits you to three

options per product and 100 variants,

but Big Commerce does not have those

restrictions. Let's say you're selling

clothing with lots of sizes, colors, and

styles or customizable products that

would break Shopify's limits. Big

Commerce can handle it all. And then

third is payment processing. Shopify

penalizes you with a 1 to 2% transaction

fee if you use an outside processor. Big

Commerce does not do that. You can use

whoever you want. No extra fee, no lock

in, and that freedom alone can save you

thousands of dollars once you're at

scale. Another big plus is multi-

channelannel selling. Big Commerce lets

you manage your listings on Amazon,

eBay, Google Shopping, Facebook,

Instagram, even Pinterest, all from the

same backend, and your inventory syncs

automatically across channels. Shopify

makes you buy thirdparty apps for that

same functionality. Now, it's not all

perfect. Big Commerce's interface isn't

as slick or as simple as Shopify. And

Shopify wins on polish and ease of use.

And because Big Commerce packs in so

many features, the learning curve is

going to be steeper. Their app store is

also smaller than Shopify's. So if you

want the latest AI powered tools, you

may not find them there. But here's a

big one. Big Commerce charges you based

on revenue and not profit. And that's

fine if you're selling high margin

products. But if you're running a drop

shipping business with thin margins, the

fees can make up a large percentage of

your profit. And that is why Big

Commerce is usually not a good fit for

drop shippers. Now, that said, for

stores with bigger cataloges, for B2B

businesses that need things like

wholesale pricing, or for sellers who

want advanced discounting and multi-

channelannel built right in, BigCommerce

is a really strong alternative to

Shopify. It gives you enterprise level

features without forcing you into a

$2,000 a month Shopify Plus plan. Now,

next, let's talk about Wix, Squarespace,

and some of the other niche players out

there because I get asked about them a

lot. Now, these platforms are fine if

you're running a side hustle, a hobby

shop, or if you just want to sell a

couple of products here and there. Wix

and Squarespace are really website

builders first and e-commerce platform

second. They look beautiful out of the

box. They're super easy to set up and

they come with drag and drop editors

that anyone can use. But the problem is

that they just don't scale. And the real

limitation is the app ecosystem. Shopify

has over 12,000 apps. Woo Commerce has

tens of thousands of plugins and Big

Commerce has a growing marketplace. By

comparison, Wix and Squarespace have

very few integrations. If you want

advanced marketing, AI powered add-ons,

or serious e-commerce features, you're

going to be stuck because those

platforms don't have enough users to

attract developers. For example,

Squarespace doesn't even support Clavio,

which is the industry standard email

marketing provider. If you want to run

serious e-commerce email, Clavio is

non-negotiable, and that alone is a

dealbreaker for me. On top of that, Wix

and Squarespace aren't designed to

handle large cataloges or complex

product configurations. If you're

selling more than a handful of SKs or if

you need custom variants, it gets messy

fast. Now, there are some older or more

niche platforms like Open Cart, Press

Shop America

if you've got a dev team. But honestly,

most of these either feel outdated,

don't have the community support, or are

just too heavy duty for 99% of small

businesses. Magento is fantastic if

you're running a $und00 million store

with devs on staff. But if you're trying

to build a six or a seven figure store,

it is complete overkill. So the bottom

line is this. If you just want a pretty

site to sell a couple of products, Wixer

Squarespace might work. But if your goal

is to build a serious business you can

scale, you will outgrow those platforms

quickly. They're not bad platforms.

They're just not built for entrepreneurs

who build real brands. So here's the

bottom line. Shopify is popular and for

good reason. It's easy, it looks great,

and has a massive app store, but it's

not the best choice for everyone. If you

want freedom and the ability to sell

anything without worrying about being

shut down, Woo Commerce is the way to

go. If you want a platform that's

insanely cheap, but still loaded with

features right out of the box, Shift for

Shop can be a great fit. as long as

you're based in the US and meet the

payment requirements. And if you're

running a bigger catalog or if you need

advanced discounting and multi-

channelannel built right in, BigCommerce

is a strong alternative to Shopify. But

Wix, Squarespace, and the smaller

players, they're just not designed for

entrepreneurs who want to build serious

scalable businesses. They're fine for

hobbies or small side hustles, but you

will outgrow them quickly. At the end of

the day, the right platform depends on

your business model, your budget, and

how much control you want over your

store. And the important thing is to not

just follow the crowd and pick Shopify

because everyone else is doing it. Do

your homework, test drive the

alternatives, and pick the platform that

fits your needs the best. Now that you

understand your platform options, make

sure you watch this video here on all

the different e-commerce business models

you can choose from and their pros and

cons.