Best alternatives to Shopify for creative businesses

While Shopify is a household name in ecommerce, a surprising statistic reveals a different reality: WooCommerce now holds the largest market share among the top 1 million ecommerce sites at 23%, surpassing Shopify's 21% as of 2024 (BuiltWith). This shift isn't an accident; it reflects a growing desire among creators and entrepreneurs for more control, lower costs, and platforms that better align with their unique business models.

For many, the search for alternatives to Shopify is about finding the perfect home for their brand—a place that offers the right balance of creative freedom, technical control, and access to customers. Whether you're an artist looking to sell prints, a writer monetizing a blog, or an entrepreneur building a niche apparel brand, the ecommerce landscape is richer and more diverse than ever. This guide will navigate the top contenders, helping you make an informed decision that empowers your creative vision and drives sustainable growth.

Main takeaways

Here’s a quick summary of what you need to know when considering alternatives to Shopify:

• WooCommerce offers unmatched control: As an open-source WordPress plugin, WooCommerce provides complete ownership of your data and tech stack, often leading to significant cost savings on transaction and app fees.

• Marketplaces provide a built-in audience: Platforms like Etsy give you immediate access to millions of active buyers (91.6 million in Q1 2024), making them ideal for artists and crafters seeking discoverability.

• Website builders prioritize design and simplicity: Wix and Squarespace offer intuitive, visually-driven platforms perfect for creators who need a beautiful portfolio site with integrated ecommerce functionality.

• Social commerce is a powerful sales channel: With US sales projected to hit $80 billion in 2025, platforms like TikTok Shop are becoming viable primary storefronts, reducing friction between content and conversion.

• Open-source can lower long-term costs: Merchants migrating from SaaS platforms to open-source solutions like WooCommerce can save an estimated 20-30% on monthly costs.

• Hybrid strategies maximize reach: Combining a branded site (like Squarespace) for brand building with a marketplace (like Etsy) for sales volume is a proven strategy for creative businesses.

• Your platform choice is a strategic decision: The best platform depends on your technical comfort, business goals, and desire for control. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Why creators are looking beyond Shopify

Shopify has built a powerful reputation on its user-friendly, all-in-one platform. It allows anyone to set up a professional-looking online store quickly. However, as creative businesses scale and evolve, their needs often outgrow the very simplicity that once made Shopify attractive. The primary drivers for seeking alternatives fall into three main categories: cost, control, and specific functionality.

The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is a major factor. While Shopify’s base subscription fees seem straightforward, costs can escalate quickly with transaction fees (if you don't use Shopify Payments) and monthly app subscriptions. In fact, expert analysis suggests that creators migrating to open-source platforms like WooCommerce can save an estimated 20-30% on these recurring costs in 2024 (WooCommerce).

Beyond finances, the desire for true ownership is a powerful motivator. An expert insight from WP Engine states, "Ownership of your data and tech stack is the primary driver for choosing open-source over SaaS platforms" (WP Engine). On a platform like Shopify, you are essentially renting your digital space. With an open-source solution, you own the entire asset, giving you the freedom to customize every aspect of the customer experience without restriction. This is a critical consideration for creators who want to launch their own print-on-demand ecommerce business with a unique brand identity.

A deep dive into the top Shopify alternatives

Choosing the right platform is about aligning its strengths with your business goals. Here’s a detailed breakdown of the leading alternatives to Shopify, tailored for creators.

WooCommerce: The open-source powerhouse for full control

Built on top of WordPress, the world's most popular content management system, WooCommerce is a free, open-source ecommerce plugin. It transforms any WordPress site into a powerful, fully customizable online store. This platform is ideal for creators who prioritize flexibility, ownership, and content-driven sales.

The 'content-first' commerce model, projected to grow through 2025, is where WooCommerce truly shines (WordPress.org). Imagine you’re a travel blogger with a dedicated following. With WooCommerce, you can seamlessly integrate a store into your existing blog. You can write a post about your latest trip to Kyoto and, within the same article, sell your photography as custom poster prints produced locally and sustainably with Gelato.

• Best for: Content creators, bloggers, and entrepreneurs who want 100% control and plan to use content marketing as a primary sales driver.

• Pros: No monthly platform fees, complete customization freedom, a massive ecosystem of plugins, and full data ownership.

• Cons: A steeper learning curve, requires you to manage your own hosting and security, and can become complex as you add plugins.

Marketplaces vs. storefronts: Etsy and the power of a built-in audience

For many artists and makers, the biggest challenge isn't creating products—it's finding customers. This is where marketplaces like Etsy offer a compelling advantage. Instead of building an audience from scratch, you can tap into Etsy's pool of approximately 91.6 million active buyers (Q1 2024) who are specifically looking for unique, handcrafted, and creative goods (Etsy).

Using a marketplace is fundamentally different from running your own site. You trade some branding control and pay listing and transaction fees in exchange for massive, built-in traffic. An illustrator in Austin, for example, can instantly start selling their quirky designs without worrying about SEO or digital advertising. With Gelato's Etsy integration, they can easily create personalized mugs for your audience and other products, automating the entire fulfillment process. To explore this option further, you can weigh the pros and cons of selling on Etsy with our detailed guide.

• Best for: Artists, crafters, and sellers of unique or vintage items who want immediate access to a large, targeted customer base.

• Pros: Huge built-in audience, trusted brand name, simple setup, and strong community features.

• Cons: Listing fees, transaction fees, direct competition on the platform, and limited branding capabilities.

Website builders with ecommerce: Wix and Squarespace for simplicity and style

Wix and Squarespace occupy a middle ground between the all-in-one focus of Shopify and the DIY nature of WooCommerce. They started as user-friendly website builders and have since added robust ecommerce capabilities. Their primary strength lies in their award-winning templates and intuitive drag-and-drop editors, making them perfect for visually-driven brands.

These platforms are not just for small sellers. In 2024, Wix users processed over $5.4 billion in Gross Payment Volume, validating it as a scalable option for small to medium-sized businesses (Wix). A proven strategy for many creators is to use a platform like Squarespace for their main portfolio and brand hub while also maintaining an Etsy shop for volume sales. This hybrid approach gives you a professional, branded presence and access to a marketplace audience simultaneously. For a fashion designer, this could mean a beautiful Squarespace lookbook site where they also design high-quality custom hoodies for your store.

• Best for: Photographers, designers, restaurateurs, and any creator who needs a visually stunning website with integrated sales functionality.

• Pros: Best-in-class design templates, extremely easy to use, all-in-one hosting and support.

• Cons: Can be less powerful for managing complex inventories, and transaction fees may apply on lower-tier plans.

The rise of social and headless commerce: The future of selling

Two major trends are reshaping the ecommerce landscape. First, social commerce is exploding. With US sales projected to reach $80 billion in 2025 (eMarketer), platforms like TikTok Shop and Instagram are becoming primary storefronts. Creators are capitalizing on this by selling directly where their audiences are, reducing the friction from discovery to purchase.

Second, for larger businesses, headless commerce is gaining traction. This advanced approach decouples the front-end presentation layer (what the customer sees) from the back-end ecommerce engine. A company might use a powerful platform like BigCommerce to manage products, orders, and promotions while using a modern content management system to create a lightning-fast, unique customer experience. This allows brands to offer unique eco-friendly custom tote bags on their website, mobile app, and even in-store smart screens, all powered by the same back-end.

• Best for: Trend-forward creators (social commerce) and scaling businesses needing ultimate flexibility (headless commerce).

• Pros: Sell directly to your audience on social media; unlimited front-end flexibility with headless.

• Cons: Dependent on social media algorithms; headless commerce requires significant technical expertise and development resources.

Practical tips for choosing and migrating

Switching platforms can feel daunting, but a structured approach makes it manageable.

1. Calculate your true TCO: Before making a decision, calculate the Total Cost of Ownership. Use this formula: TCO = Annual Hosting + Annual Transaction Fees + Annual Premium Plugin/App Costs + Developer Hours. This gives you a much clearer financial picture than base subscription prices alone.

2. Plan your migration: If moving from Shopify to a platform like WooCommerce, the typical workflow involves exporting your product and customer data as a CSV file, cleaning it, and importing it using a dedicated plugin. Crucially, remember to set up 301 redirects from your old URLs to the new ones to preserve your SEO rankings.

3. Address compliance: On self-hosted platforms, you are responsible for managing things like global sales tax. This requires using dedicated plugins like TaxJar or Avalara to ensure you remain compliant as you grow. Knowing how to turn your artwork into products is just the first step; managing the business side is equally important.