First, I should point out that while both Shopify and Snipcart both help to you sell products on the web, they’re very different tools.

Shopify is a fully-functional omnichannel commerce platform, complete with a website builder, payment processing tools, marketing features and more. It’s actually one of the top ecommerce platforms I recommend to most businesses.

Snipcart, on the other hand simply allows you to add a shopping cart to virtually any website. It supports abandoned cart recovery, multiple payment gateways, and multicurrency sales.

Plus, it also offers access to inventory management and shipping tools (like Shopify), but you can’t actually build an online store with this platform.

So, which option do you need?

I created this comparison guide, to help you make the right choice.

Shopify vs Snipcart: Quick Verdict

Ultimately, Shopify is the better option if you’re looking for a comprehensive ecommerce platform that combines payment processing, with an online store builder, marketing tools, and omnichannel selling.

You can even keep costs low and just add a “buy button” to another site with Shopify’s Starter plan, and still get access to most of the features Snipcart offers.

Snipcart is more of an ideal solution if you’re looking for an affordable way to add a flexible shopping cart to any website.

You can access the solution for free, although you will pay 2% fees on all of your transactions, on top of your payment gateway fees.

Shopify Pros and Cons

Pros

• Comprehensive platform for building and promoting an online store.
• Support for omnichannel selling, and selling any kind of product (including subscriptions).
• Built-in point of sale technology.
• User-friendly interface with excellent design tools.
• Huge selection of integrations.
• Affordable payment processing fees.

Cons

• Some features are restricted to more expensive plans.
• Transaction fees can be high when using third-party gateways.

Snipcart Pros and Cons

Pros

• Free plan (although there are transaction fees)
• Easy to use and customizable shopping cart designs.
• Support for selling all kinds of products (physical, digital and subscriptions) in multiple currencies.
• Abandoned cart recovery with custom email templates.
• Shipping and inventory management features included.

Cons

• Limited tools for marketing and promotion.
• No website building capabilities.
• Transaction fees can be quite expensive.

Shopify vs Snipcart: Pricing and Fees

When comparing any two solutions for ecommerce, I usually focus on the pricing first. Since Snipcart and Shopify are two very different tools, their approach to pricing is also quite dissimilar. Let’s take a look at the pricing options for each solution.

Snipcart Pricing and Fees

One of the things that makes Snipcart an appealing option for some smaller companies, is that it doesn’t actually charge any monthly fees.

There’s no cost to create an account with Snipcart. Instead, you simply pay a 2% transaction fee every time you process a payment with the solution.

Notably, however, this only applies if you’re processing more than $1,000 in sales a month. If you earn less than that, you’ll be charged a flat $20 fee each month.

On the surface, this definitely makes Snipcart seem like the cheaper option than Shopify. After all, even with Shopify’s Starter plan, you’ll still pay $5 per month, and 5% transaction fees.

However, it’s worth taking into the account the extra costs you’ll have to pay with Snipcart. For instance, since you can’t just sell on social media, you may need to pay for a subscription to another website builder.

Shopify Pricing and Fees

Shopify offers a range of plans to users searching for different levels of functionality. The plan I consider to be “closest” to what you’ll get from Snipcart is the Starter plan, which costs $5 per month, and incurs 5% transaction fees.

This gives you most of the functionality you’ll get from Snipcart, such as multi-currency payment processing, and the ability to add a “buy button” to your website.

However, you also get the option to sell on social media channels too. Notably, Snipcart does offer a few more features than the Starter plan, such as abandoned cart recovery, real-time shipping estimates, and a fully customizable shopping cart.

While I think Snipcart’s plan might be a better option than Shopify Starter, Shopify’s core plans offer greater value for money overall. These include:

• Shopify Basic: $29-$39 per month: All the features you need to build and run your online store, with a single staff account, shipping discounts, a website builder, marketing tools, inventory management, and more.
• Shopify: $79-$105 per month: The features of Basic, plus 5 staff accounts, reduced payment processing rates, and a better reporting system.
• Shopify Advanced: $299-$399 per month: All the features of Shopify, plus enhanced customer service, custom reporting, and 15 staff accounts.
• Shopify Plus: Starting at $2,300 per month: The features of Advanced Shopify, plus unlimited accounts, advanced customization, and priority support.

Notably, Shopify only charges transaction fees (on top of credit card processing rates), if you’re not using the integrated payment processor, Shopify Payments.

These fees range from 0.15% (Shopify Plus), to 2% (Shopify Basic), depending on the plan you choose.

Shopify vs Snipcart: The Core Features

Comparing Shopify and Snipcart can be a little tricky because they don’t really have that much in common.

Shopify is a full commerce platform and website builder, while Snipcart is just a flexible online cart solution. Notably, both tools do offer the following capabilities:

• Secure multi-currency transactions
• Real-time shipping estimates (only on some Shopify plans)
• Inventory management
• Custom email templates and abandoned cart emails
• Access to a range of payment gateways
• Custom shipping methods
• Custom invoices (via an integration on Shopify)
• PayPal Express checkout options
• Unlimited support for any kind of product
• Tax rate calculations
• Analytics and reporting dashboards

The Unique Features of Snipcart

Based on my experience with both tools, there’s not a lot you can do with Snipcart that you can’t do with the right Shopify plan.

However, there are some unique factors that set Snipcart apart. For instance, real-time shipping estimates are included on all plans, along with custom shipping methods and unlimited tax rates.

You’ll need a higher-priced Shopify plan to access all of those capabilities.

Additionally, Snipcart offers:

• Abandoned cart recovery and custom email templates on all plans, whereas Shopify only offers basic email solutions, and abandoned cart recovery on some plans.
• Customizable invoices, without the need to access a third-party integration.
• A fully customizable shopping cart – you can only customize the checkout experience on Shopify if you’re using add-ons, or Shopify Plus.
• Unlimited product variants (whereas Shopify limits the variants you can sell).

The Unique Features of Shopify

Shopify is all-around, a much more comprehensive ecommerce solution than Snipcart. Although the experience you get with Snipcart and Shopify Starter is pretty similar, upgrading to any core plan on Shopify will give you access to a range of bonus features such as:

• A comprehensive website builder, with access to a range of free and paid themes you can customize using a simple theme editor.
• Access to a range of marketing tools, such as Google and Facebook pixel integrations, a full blogging solution with SEO features, and Shopify Inbox for chat.
• Integrations with a huge collection of value-added solutions, such as marketing, accounting, website design, and customer service tools.
• Comprehensive business management tools, such as Shopify’s shipping and fulfilment solutions, Shopify POS for in-store selling, order and inventory management and more.
• Omnichannel selling options for social media, marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy, and Shopify POS in-store selling.
• Advanced insights with reporting solutions that track everything from your most popular products, to employee performance.

Shopify vs Snipcart: Ease of Use

When it comes to ease of use, Snipcart might have a slight edge over Shopify for one reason – it’s less feature rich.

Fewer capabilities mean you’ll spend less time setting up and implementing your checkout solution. Although customizing the checkout and leveraging certain features, like custom tax codes, and shipping rules, can be a little time-consuming.

The good news is that Snipcart makes it simple to launch a cart on any website you already use, so there’s no need to build anything from scratch.

Shopify, as a much more comprehensive platform, takes more time to master. You’ll need to create your website and core pages, upload products, create marketing campaigns, set shipping rules, and implement inventory management tools.

Obviously, all of this will take you a lot more time than simply adding a shopping cart to an existing website.

However, I still think Shopify is one of the easiest ecommerce platforms to use. It comes with a streamlined and intuitive user interface, that’s packed with tips and guidance to help you during the initial setup process.

Plus, its tools are extremely straightforward, from AI solutions like Shopify Magic for generating content for your store, to the Shopify theme editor.

The Customer Support

If you’re looking for help mastering one of these tools, I think Shopify offers a better level of customer service overall.

Both companies allow you to reach out to the support team via email, and they offer access to great resources, like FAQs, guides, documentation, and a community forum.

However, Shopify’s resources are far more comprehensive, with screenshots and video guides, as well as the option to hire experts to support you with different tasks.

Plus, though the speed of the support offered by Shopify varies based on your chosen plan, every customer gains access to 24/7 service, via phone, email, and live chat.

Shopify vs Snipcart: The Verdict

Shopify and Snipcart are two very different solutions for ecommerce vendors. Overall, Shopify is the best option if you’re looking for a complete ecommerce platform, with a website builder, marketing tools, omnichannel selling, and payment processing.

Snipcart is really only the right option if you already have a website, and you want to add a customizable shopping cart into the mix.

I’d recommend it as a good alternative to something like Shopify Starter, but if you’re building a store from scratch, Shopify’s core plans are the way to go.