Shopify vs Every Platform: All Our Comparisons in One Place

Key Takeaways

• This page indexes our nine Shopify comparisons: five store platforms (WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, Wix, Squarespace) and four marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Not On The High Street), each with the verdict and a link to the full article.
• For most UK stores whose main job is selling products, Shopify is the better store platform. WooCommerce and Magento suit businesses with developers; Wix and Squarespace suit content led sites with a small shop.
• Marketplaces are channels, not rivals. On a £40 order, Shopify Basic's card fee is £1.05 against £4.59 to £10.59 on Etsy, eBay, Amazon and NOTHS, but the marketplace brings the buyer and keeps the customer.
• Shopify's UK prices are £19, £49 and £259 a month billed yearly, and every plan now allows 2,048 variants per product.
• Among our own clients, 45% sell on both Amazon and Shopify and 20% on both eBay and Shopify; those who left WooCommerce, Magento, Wix and Squarespace mostly did so because they had outgrown the platform or were tired of maintaining it.
• Each comparison is checked again against the platform's own pricing and help pages, and this page is updated whenever one of them changes.

Quick Answer

Shopify is the better choice for most UK businesses that sell products online and plan to grow, because it is hosted, secure and predictable to run. Choose WooCommerce or Magento only if you have developers and need full control; choose Wix or Squarespace if the shop is a small part of a content or service site; and treat Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Not On The High Street as sales channels to connect to a Shopify store rather than as alternatives to it. The table below gives each verdict in one line, with a link to the full comparison and its worked figures.

Table of Contents

• Every Comparison at a Glance
• Shopify vs Other Store Platforms
• Shopify vs Marketplaces
• What a £40 Order Costs on Each
• How to Choose
• Moving to Shopify
• Why Matters Perspective
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Final Thoughts
• Related Articles

We have written a full comparison between Shopify and every platform our clients ask about. Each one checks the current UK prices, fees and limits against the platform's own pages and ends with a clear verdict. This page brings them together so you can see the whole picture before reading the one that matters to you.

Every Comparison at a Glance

If you want the wider field in one read, our guide to the best Shopify alternatives covers the five store platforms together.

Shopify vs Other Store Platforms

The five store platforms split into two groups: self hosted software you run yourself, and hosted platforms where the provider runs it. Shopify sits in the second group with BigCommerce, Wix and Squarespace, and the differences inside that group are mostly about commerce depth and price.

Shopify's variant limit rose to 2,048 per product on all plans in October 2025 (Shopify developer changelog), which removed one of the oldest reasons to pick BigCommerce or WooCommerce. Products are still limited to three options, so a store that needs more than three option types still needs an app or a different data model.

Shopify vs Marketplaces

A marketplace is somewhere you rent space beside other sellers. The marketplace owns the customer, sets the rules and takes a cut of each sale; in return it brings shoppers who are already looking. Shopify is your own store, where you own the brand, the customer data and the email list but must bring in the traffic yourself. That is why each of our four marketplace comparisons ends in "both" rather than one or the other.

Shopify Marketplace Connect keeps listings, stock and orders in sync with Amazon and eBay. It cannot make new Etsy connections at present, so Etsy sellers use a third party sync app, and NOTHS is not supported at all.

What a £40 Order Costs on Each

Every marketplace comparison uses the same £40 order so the fees can be read side by side. The figures below are taken from those articles, which show the working and the sources.

The chart is not an argument against marketplaces. A marketplace fee buys a customer you did not have to find, while a Shopify sale needs traffic you paid for or earned. The difference is what happens next: a Shopify customer joins your list and can be sold to again at almost no cost, and a marketplace customer stays with the marketplace.

How to Choose

1. Decide what the website is for. If selling products is its main purpose, start from Shopify. If it is a content, service or portfolio site with a shop attached, read the Wix and Squarespace comparisons.
2. Be honest about developers. WooCommerce and Magento reward businesses with technical staff and punish those without. If nobody on the team can patch a server, pick a hosted platform.
3. Count the fees on your own order value. Use the £40 figures above as a template and swap in your average order. Marketplace fees are a percentage; Shopify's are a percentage plus 25p, which matters on small orders.
4. Check the limits that apply to you. Variants, options, storefronts, B2B, subscriptions and international selling differ by platform and by plan; each comparison lists them.
5. Treat marketplaces as channels. Decide which marketplace earns its fees for your products, connect it to Shopify, and build the brand, the list and repeat purchases on your own store.

Moving to Shopify

If a comparison points you to Shopify and you are on something else today, our Shopify migration checklist covers what to do before, during and after the move, with step by step guides for Magento and WooCommerce, and a transparent guide to what a Shopify migration costs. Our migrations normally take less than two weeks, depending on how many products need moving.

Why Matters Perspective

We wrote these comparisons because the same questions arrive in our inbox every week, and the answers depend on figures that change. Our own client base shows the pattern. 45% of our clients sell on both Amazon and Shopify, and 20% on both eBay and Shopify, and the eBay sellers prefer to grow through their Shopify stores because advertising on eBay keeps getting more expensive. Of the clients who moved to us from Squarespace, 85% did so because their store had outgrown Squarespace's ecommerce tools. Clients who left WooCommerce mostly wanted to escape the daily stress of updates, server security and maintenance; those who left Magento wanted lower running costs, less reliance on developers and better performance; and those who left Wix had simply outgrown it.

We are a Shopify Select partner, so you should expect us to favour Shopify, and we do for most product led businesses. But every comparison names the cases where the other platform wins, because a client on the wrong platform is not a client for long. If you want a second opinion on your own case, our free SEO audit is a good place to start, and our pricing is published.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which platform is Shopify most often compared with?

WooCommerce. It is the most installed ecommerce platform by store count because it runs on WordPress, so the choice between a WordPress plugin and a hosted platform is the one most UK businesses face first. Our WooCommerce vs Shopify comparison covers hosting, maintenance, payment fees and who each platform suits.

Is Shopify better than WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, Wix and Squarespace?

For most UK stores whose main job is selling products, yes, because it removes hosting, patching and card security work and its costs are predictable. WooCommerce and Magento win where you have developers and need full control, BigCommerce where you want several storefronts on one account, and Wix or Squarespace where the site is mainly content, services or a portfolio with a small shop attached.

Should I sell on Amazon, eBay or Etsy instead of Shopify?

Usually alongside it rather than instead. Marketplaces bring shoppers who are already searching, but they charge fees on every sale and restrict marketing to the buyer, so the customer stays theirs. The pattern that works for most established UK brands is Shopify as the home of the catalogue, stock, customers and email list, with marketplaces connected as extra channels.

How much does Shopify cost in the UK?

Shopify's UK pricing page lists Basic at £19 a month, Grow at £49 and Advanced at £259 when billed yearly, or £25, £65 and £344 billed monthly. Plus starts from £1,800 a month. UK online card rates on Shopify Payments are 2% plus 25p on Basic, 1.7% plus 25p on Grow and 1.5% plus 25p on Advanced, and third party gateways add 2%, 1% and 0.6%.

What does a £40 order cost on each platform?

On Shopify Basic the card fee is £1.05. On Amazon a 15% referral fee is £6.00 plus the monthly plan. On eBay a typical clothing order costs about £5.30 before VAT. On Etsy the transaction, processing and regulatory fees come to about £4.59, or £10.59 if a 15% Offsite Ad made the sale. On Not On The High Street a commonly quoted 25% commission is £10 plus VAT. Each full comparison shows the working.

Can Shopify connect to Amazon, eBay and Etsy?

Shopify Marketplace Connect syncs listings, stock and orders with Amazon and eBay. It cannot make new Etsy connections at present, so most sellers use a third party sync app for Etsy, and it does not support Not On The High Street at all.

How do I move to Shopify from another platform?

Follow our migration checklist, which covers redirects, product data, customers, orders and SEO before, during and after the move. We have step by step guides for Magento and WooCommerce, and a transparent guide to what a Shopify migration costs. Our migrations normally take less than two weeks, depending on product count.

Final Thoughts

Nine comparisons come down to two questions: is selling the main job of your website, and do you have the people to run your own software? Answer those and the store platform choice is usually clear. Marketplaces are a separate decision, and for most established brands the answer is to connect the ones that earn their fees to a Shopify store you own.

Bookmark this page. We update each comparison when a platform changes its prices, fees or limits, and the table above changes with them.

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• How Much Does a Shopify Migration Cost?
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• How Much Does It Cost to Build a Shopify Store?