Best Shopify Alternatives in 2026 (Including Building Your Own)

The best Shopify alternative for most small stores is Wix or Squarespace if you want a website builder that also sells, WooCommerce if you want free, open-source software on WordPress and don't mind running hosting, BigCommerce if you want a dedicated commerce platform with zero platform fees on its embedded payment providers, and Adobe Commerce (or Magento Open Source) for large, complex catalogues. If your commerce model doesn't fit a store template at all, building your own with an AI app builder like Greta.sh is a real option, with real extra work. Prices below are as of October 2026.

Shopify is very good at what it does. The reasons people search for Shopify alternatives are usually narrower than "Shopify is bad": a fee that grows with sales, a monthly bill that creeps up with apps, or a business model the platform wasn't built for.

How we compared

We compared each platform on how it charges (subscription, sales-based fees, or software you host yourself), whether there's a free or open-source route, how much of the store you can customise, and how hard it is to leave. Prices and fee policies come from each vendor's own pricing page, help centre or code repository, checked on October 12, 2026, in US dollars with the billing basis each vendor states. Fees change, so confirm before you migrate.

At a glance

Why look for a Shopify alternative?

Start with what Shopify actually charges. On its US pricing page, Basic is $39 a month paid monthly or $29 a month paid yearly, Grow is $105 or $79, Advanced is $399 or $299, and Plus starts at $2,300 a month. New stores get a 3-day free trial, then $1 a month for 3 months on most plans.

Third-party payment fees. If you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify adds a transaction fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. Shopify's help centre adds that on stores created on or after May 12, 2025, orders paid partly with store credit or gift cards are charged third-party transaction fees on that portion too. If you're tied to a specific processor, that fee grows with every sale.

App costs. Shopify's pricing page promotes integrations with thousands of apps. Features many stores add, such as subscriptions or advanced bundles, often come from third-party apps that each developer prices separately from your plan, so the plan price is rarely the whole bill.

Fit. Shopify is built around a standard catalogue, cart and checkout. Rental marketplaces, quote-first B2B, build-to-order products and service bundles can be forced into it, but you end up paying for apps to bend the model.

To be fair to Shopify: it handles hosting, checkout, payments and a huge app ecosystem in one place, and for a conventional store that's hard to beat. Our Greta.sh vs Shopify comparison makes the case for when renting still wins.

The 6 best Shopify alternatives

1. Wix – a website builder that sells

Wix is a drag-and-drop website builder with ecommerce built into its higher plans. Light is $17 a month but doesn't accept payments. Core is $29 a month and adds payments and basic eCommerce with up to 50,000 products. Business is $39 a month with standard eCommerce, and Business Elite is $159 a month with advanced eCommerce. Wix states these are yearly subscription prices, paid in full at purchase. There's a free plan for building the site, but selling starts on Core.

Who it's for: businesses where the website matters as much as the shop, such as a studio selling classes and products. Limits: you're on Wix's editor and hosting, so moving a store off it later means rebuilding.

2. WooCommerce – free, open-source commerce on WordPress

WooCommerce describes itself as the free, open-source ecommerce platform for WordPress, with no platform fees or revenue share. The core is free with no monthly subscription. You pay for hosting (Woo's own pricing page estimates $25 to $350 a month for most stores, scaling with traffic), any paid extensions ($29 to $299 a year each, per Woo), and your payment processor's fees.

Who it's for: stores that want full control of the code and data, or that already run on WordPress. Limits: you own updates, security, backups and performance, or you pay someone to. Cheap at the start, but "free" never means zero.

3. BigCommerce – a dedicated platform with no fee on embedded payments

BigCommerce prices plans by your trailing twelve-month sales. Core is $39 a month ($29 billed annually) for stores up to $30K in annual sales. Growth is $105 a month ($79 annually) up to $100K. Scale is $399 a month ($299 annually) up to $33,333 a month in sales, with a 0.9% rate above that. Performance starts at $1,499 a month, billed annually. Grow past a threshold and you're automatically moved up a plan.

The fee to watch: orders through BigCommerce's listed Embedded Payment Providers carry no extra fee, but orders through any other provider pay an Open Payment Provider Fee of 2.0% on Core, 1.0% on Growth and 0.6% on Scale.

Who it's for: growing stores that want a commerce-only platform and are happy with an approved processor. Limits: sales thresholds can move you up a plan, and using an unlisted processor brings back a sales-based fee.

4. Squarespace – design-led stores with simple pricing

Squarespace is a website builder with an online store built in. Basic is $25 a month, or $19 a month billed annually, and charges a 2% online store transaction fee. Core ($39 monthly, $29 annually), Plus ($65 or $49) and Advanced ($139 or $99) drop that fee to 0%. Card rates through Squarespace Payments start at 2.9% + $0.30 on Basic and Core, falling on Plus and Advanced. There's a 14-day free trial.

Who it's for: creatives, studios and small brands with modest catalogues who care about how the site looks. Limits: Basic's 2% fee makes Core the realistic store plan, and deeper commerce needs push you to Plus or Advanced.

5. Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source – for complex catalogues

Adobe Commerce is Adobe's enterprise commerce platform, sold as a multi-tenant cloud service, a single-tenant dedicated cloud, or a storefront-and-merchandising layer (Adobe Commerce Optimizer) you pair with another transaction engine. All three are quote-based: the pricing page says "Get pricing" rather than listing numbers. It's built for multi-brand, multi-storefront and B2B operations.

Magento Open Source is the open-source edition you host yourself. Its GitHub repository is licensed under OSL 3.0, so there's no licence fee, but hosting and development are on you.

Who it's for: larger merchants with big catalogues, B2B buyers or many storefronts. Limits: Adobe Commerce is an enterprise purchase with no public price, and Magento Open Source needs real developer time to run well.

6. Greta.sh – build your own commerce app

Greta.sh isn't a store builder. It's an AI app builder: you describe the app in plain English and it builds a full-stack web app with the database, authentication and payments built in, then deploys it in one click. That makes it a genuine option when your commerce model doesn't fit a template, such as a rental booking store, a quote-and-approve B2B portal, or a members-only drop.

Here's what that means in practice. There's no ready-made product catalogue, tax engine, shipping-rate integration or app store waiting for you. You describe and build those pieces (catalogue, cart, inventory, orders, accounts), wire in the tax and shipping services you need, and test the checkout yourself. Our walkthrough on how to build an ecommerce app lists the six pieces every store needs. Pricing: Free is 5 credits a day with no deployment; Starter is $5 a month on the welcome offer (normally $20 a month) and adds deployment and a custom domain; Pro is $20 a month on the welcome offer (normally $50 a month) and adds the Database feature and GitHub version control.

Who it's for: founders with an unusual commerce model who'd rather own the app than bend a template. Limits: more work than any store builder above, and you're responsible for keeping checkout, tax and fulfilment correct.

Shopify competitors compared on fees

Most of the money in this decision sits in fees, not plan prices. Shopify and BigCommerce both charge a percentage when you use a processor outside their preferred setup (Shopify Payments, or BigCommerce's embedded providers). Squarespace charges 2% on its Basic plan whichever processor you use. WooCommerce and Magento Open Source charge no platform fee, but you pay for hosting and upkeep.

The practical test: take last year's sales, the processor you want to keep and the plan you'd need, and work out the yearly total on each platform. Entry plan prices are close. The fees aren't.

How to choose the right Shopify alternative

• You want a beautiful site with a shop attached: Squarespace Core or Wix Core.
• You want open source and control: WooCommerce, or Magento Open Source if you have developers.
• You want a dedicated commerce platform: BigCommerce, ideally with one of its embedded payment providers.
• You run a large, multi-brand or B2B operation: Adobe Commerce.
• Your model doesn't fit a store at all: build it. Run the vendor lock-in checklist on any builder first, and see our guide to building business apps for the wider rent-or-build picture.

Frequently asked questions

What's the best free Shopify alternative?

WooCommerce is the strongest free option: the core plugin is free and open source, with no platform fee or revenue share. You still pay for hosting, any paid extensions and payment processing. Magento Open Source is also open source (OSL 3.0) with no licence fee, but needs more technical skill. Wix has a free plan, but accepting payments starts on its Core plan.

Is there an open-source Shopify alternative?

Yes. WooCommerce (open source, on WordPress) and Magento Open Source (licensed under OSL 3.0, per its GitHub repository) are the two main ones. Both are self-hosted, so you're responsible for hosting, security updates and backups.

What's the cheapest Shopify alternative?

At the entry tier, prices are close: Squarespace Basic is $19 a month billed annually (with a 2% transaction fee), Wix Core and BigCommerce Core are both $29 a month on yearly billing, and Shopify Basic is also $29 a month paid yearly. WooCommerce can cost less if your hosting is cheap. The real difference is fees on your sales, so compare yearly totals rather than plan prices.

Does Shopify charge transaction fees?

Only when you use a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus, as of October 2026. With Shopify Payments you pay card processing rates instead, starting at 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic in the US.

Can I build my own online store instead of using Shopify?

Yes. With an AI app builder like Greta.sh you describe the store and it builds a web app with payments built in. You're then responsible for the catalogue, tax, shipping integrations and checkout testing that Shopify would handle for you, which is why it suits unusual commerce models more than standard retail. Our SaaS sprawl story covers how to decide which tools to rent and which to build.

Rent the standard, build the unusual

If you sell normal products through a normal checkout, rent the platform whose fees fit your processor and volume. If what you sell needs logic no template has, building your own starts to pay back. Either way, do the fee maths before you migrate. See Greta.sh plans if you're leaning towards building.