Guides / Comparisons

Shopify Alternatives: 7 Ecommerce Platforms Compared for 2026

The best Shopify alternatives compared: WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Squarespace, Wix, Square Online and Ecwid. Costs, fees and which kind of store each suits.

Mythex Team · 2026-09-29 · 6 min read

The best Shopify alternatives are WooCommerce if you run WordPress and want full control, BigCommerce for a hosted platform with sales-based plans, Squarespace or Wix if the store is part of a design-led website, Square Online if you already sell in person with Square, and Ecwid for adding a store to a site you already have. Shopify is still the default for many online stores: hosting is included, it has a large app ecosystem, point-of-sale and built-in AI help. Switch because a specific cost or limit is hurting your store, not because another platform is newer.

Prices below are as shown on each vendor's site as of September 2026. Shopify and Wix show prices by region, so we describe their plans (and Squarespace's) without quoting numbers.

What Shopify offers today

Shopify is a hosted ecommerce platform. As of September 2026:

• Plans: Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus, with a yearly-billing discount and a free trial offer. Prices vary by country.
• Hosting: included, with unlimited bandwidth and a free SSL certificate.
• Payments: Shopify Payments where available; an extra transaction fee applies if you use a third-party provider, lower on higher plans.
• Staff: no staff accounts on Basic, up to 5 on Grow, 15 on Advanced, unlimited on Plus.
• Ecosystem: an app store Shopify says has 21,000+ apps, prebuilt themes, Shopify POS for in-person sales, and Sidekick, its AI assistant in the admin.

Why people look for Shopify alternatives

1. Monthly costs add up. Plan fees plus app subscriptions can grow faster than sales.
2. Third-party payment fees. If Shopify Payments isn't available or suitable for you, the extra fee on each sale matters.
3. Control. Some stores want to own the full stack or customise things Shopify doesn't allow.
4. The store is a small part of a website. A content or service business selling a few products may not need a full commerce platform.

Shopify alternatives at a glance

WooCommerce: control and ownership

WooCommerce is the free, open-source ecommerce plugin for WordPress.

• Costs (as of September 2026, WooCommerce's own estimates): core plugin free with no monthly subscription and no revenue share; hosting $25–$350 a month for most stores; extensions $29–$299 a year each; payment processing through WooPayments or your own processor.
• Strengths: WooCommerce says you fully own your site, code and data. The free core includes unlimited products and orders, and its marketplace lists more than 1,000 extensions.
• Limits: you manage hosting, updates, backups and security, or pay someone to.
• Pick it if you already run WordPress or need deep customisation. Our Shopify vs WooCommerce guide goes into detail.

BigCommerce: hosted, with plans based on sales

BigCommerce is a hosted platform that sets plans by your annual online sales.

• Pricing (as of September 2026, in US dollars): Core $39 a month or $29 billed annually, for up to $30K in trailing 12-month sales. Growth $105 or $79 annually, up to $100K. Scale $399 or $299 annually, covering up to $33,333 a month in sales with a 0.9% overage above that. Performance is custom, starting at $1,499 a month billed annually. When you pass a plan's limit, BigCommerce automatically upgrades you. There's a free trial.
• Fees: no platform fee on orders through its embedded payment providers; a fee applies to orders through "open" payment providers.
• Pick it if you want a hosted platform and like the idea of paying by sales volume. Watch the automatic upgrades as you grow.

Squarespace: a beautiful site that also sells

Squarespace is a website builder with commerce built in.

• As of September 2026: Basic, Core and Advanced plans with a 14-day free trial. The Basic plan charges a 2% transaction fee on product sales; Core and Advanced don't. Check the page for prices in your country.
• Pick it if your brand and content matter as much as the catalogue, and you sell a modest range of products. See Squarespace vs Wix.

Wix: all-round website builder with ecommerce

Wix offers Free, Light, Core, Business and Business Elite plans. As of September 2026, Core, Business and Business Elite include accepting payments and ecommerce features. Wix says prices and currency vary by location and that displayed prices are for yearly subscriptions.

• Pick it if you want a flexible site builder where the store is one part of a small-business website. Our Wix alternatives guide covers the site side.

Square Online: for businesses already selling in person

Square Online connects your online store to Square's point-of-sale system.

• Pricing (as of September 2026, US): Square Free at $0, Square Plus at $49 a month per location, and Square Premium at $149 a month per location, plus processing fees on each sale. Plus and Premium add text-message marketing allowances and more features. Square's page lists checkout with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Cash App Pay and Afterpay, and discounts that apply across in-person and online sales.
• Pick it if you run a café, shop or salon already using Square and want online orders in the same system.

Ecwid: add a store to the site you already have

Ecwid, by Lightspeed, lets you add a store to any site or run it on its own.

• Pricing (as of September 2026, in US dollars): Starter $5 a month (up to 10 products). Venture $35 a month or $29 billed annually (100 products, selling on Instagram and Facebook, automated tax calculations). Business $65 or $49 (2,500 products, marketplaces, subscriptions, abandoned-cart recovery, wholesale pricing). Unlimited $149 or $119 (unlimited products, POS integration). Ecwid lists $0 transaction fees on all plans.
• Pick it if you have a website you like and just want to add selling, or you sell a small range of products.

When the "store" is really an app

Some businesses sell in ways that store templates handle awkwardly: made-to-order products with a quote step, rentals with availability, a members-only catalogue, or a marketplace with several sellers. Here a small custom app can be a better fit than stretching a store platform with apps.

Mythex is an AI app builder: describe the app in chat, an agent writes the code and shows a live preview, and you publish it. A product grid, detail pages and a cart are a quick first version, with products in a Postgres database. Checkout needs a payment provider you connect, such as Stripe, because Mythex has no built-in payments; tax, shipping rules and fulfilment are yours to build or integrate. For a standard retail store, the platforms above will get you selling faster. For the custom case, see how to build an online store, how to build a marketplace and the store use case.

How to choose

• WordPress site, want control: WooCommerce.
• Growing hosted store, want sales-based pricing: BigCommerce.
• Brand and content first, modest catalogue: Squarespace or Wix.
• Already selling in person with Square: Square Online.
• Existing website, just add a store: Ecwid.
• Unusual buying flow: a custom build.
• None of these problems: stay on Shopify.

How we compared

We compared the publicly stated features, fees and prices on each vendor's own website and pricing page as of September 2026. We did not do hands-on testing, and we left out anything we couldn't confirm on the vendor's own pages. Where a vendor showed localised prices (Shopify, Wix), we described plans without quoting numbers, and we did the same for Squarespace to be safe. Square Online's prices are from its US page. Mythex facts come from our product documentation. Check each pricing page in your country before you commit.