Low Pricing (weighted 10%)
Shopify
Shopify Starter $5/ month + 2.9% + 30¢ credit card fees
Unlimited products, no online store, Shopify Buy button, manual order creation, discount codes.
Basic Shopify $29 / month + 2.9% + 30¢ credit card fees
Unlimited products, online store, website and blog, Pinterest Buyable Pins, discount codes.
Shopify $89 / month + 2.6% + 30¢ credit card fees
Unlimited products, online store, Facebook, Pinterest, website and blog, gift cards, professional reports, abandoned cart recovery.
Advanced Shopify $299 / month + 2.4% + 30a¢ credit card fees
Unlimited products, online store, Facebook, Pinterest, website and blog, gift cards, professional reports, abandoned cart recovery, advanced report builder, real-time carrier shipping.
No transaction fees for all plans, 14 day free trial, unlimited storage for all plans, point of sale and retail package included, along with 24/7 support, fraud analysis and manual order creation and discount codes.
Snipcart
$10/month + 2% transaction fee
Unlimited products, custom shopping cart integration, simple inventory management, email support, secure checkout with customizable fields.
$25/month + 2% transaction fee
Unlimited products, custom shopping cart integration, advanced inventory management, email support, secure checkout with customizable fields, discount codes and promotions, digital products support.
$50/month + 1.5% transaction fee
Unlimited products, custom shopping cart integration, advanced inventory management, email and priority support, secure checkout with customizable fields, discount codes and promotions, digital products support, subscription products support, abandoned cart recovery.
$100/month + 1.5% transaction fee
Unlimited products, custom shopping cart integration, advanced inventory management, priority support with dedicated account manager, secure checkout with customizable fields, discount codes and promotions, digital products support, subscription products support, abandoned cart recovery, real-time tax calculations, professional reports.
All plans include:
No setup fees, 30-day free trial, unlimited storage, point of sale and retail package, 24/7 support, fraud analysis.
Design (weighted 10%)
Shopify
Shopify offers 21 free themes and about 116 to buy from its theme store. The themes are some of the best on the market, with clean and modern looks. It doesn't take much to customize them without knowing how to custom code, but if you'd like to get more advanced, CSS/HTML areas are easily accessible. It is a clear winner against Snipcart in the design arena, but the one downside is you don't get access to an FTP client.
Snipcart
Snipcart offers unparalleled flexibility in design, allowing you to integrate a custom shopping cart into any existing website. Unlike platforms with pre-made themes, Snipcart provides complete control over your site's look and feel, making it ideal for those who want to maintain a unique design. With access to CSS and HTML, customization is straightforward and extensive, enabling both basic tweaks and advanced modifications without much hassle.
While Snipcart doesn’t provide pre-designed themes, its open integration approach means you can apply it to any site design you choose, whether created from scratch or using a template from another source. This flexibility makes it a clear winner for developers and designers who prioritize control and customization. The one downside is that Snipcart does not include an FTP client, which might be a limitation for users who prefer direct server access for managing files.
Frontend Features (weighted 10%)
Shopify
To start, it has has mobile responsive layouts. It also provides an elegant checkout system and minimalist shops for customers to move through the process quickly. Depending on your plan, you receive direct Facebook and Pinterest integration, a Shopify Buy button and a simple point of sale, which would be considered a frontend feature if you run a brick and mortar shop.
A website and blog are included, as long as you don't go with the cheapest plan. Along with gift cards, real-time carrier shipping and discount codes, the frontend is reliable, but not too cluttered. Keep in mind that it doesn't have a very comprehensive custom profile, but you can expand on that.
Snipcart
Snipcart provides mobile responsive layouts and an elegant checkout system for a quick, seamless process. Depending on your plan, you get direct Facebook and Pinterest integration, a customizable Buy Button, and a simple point of sale system, which is ideal for brick-and-mortar shops.
While Snipcart does not include a website and blog, it integrates easily with any existing site. Other features include discount codes, real-time carrier shipping, and support for digital products, ensuring a reliable but uncluttered frontend. Custom profile capabilities are not comprehensive, but they can be expanded as needed.
Backend Features (weighted 10%)
Shopify
This is one of the biggest differences between the two platforms, since the Shopify backend is built for both beginners and advanced users. It keeps the customization options to a minimum, but you can open up more advanced features if needed.
The dashboard looks like WordPress, and it's broken down into tabs and links to walk through a step by step process. Some of the settings you can change include taxes, notifications, your checkout, payments and general settings. If you'd like to change site files, they are available through the dashboard, and the product upload area is as simple as it gets. For example, a product page provides areas to include inventory details, gift cards, collections, images and more. Manage SEO, shipping, tags and pricing as well.
Snipcart
Snipcart’s backend is designed to be user-friendly for both beginners and advanced users, striking a balance between simplicity and advanced functionality. Unlike more complex platforms, Snipcart offers an intuitive interface that keeps customization options straightforward, with advanced features accessible when needed.
The dashboard is clean and organized, similar to WordPress, and is broken down into tabs and links to guide you through the setup process. Some settings you can adjust include taxes, notifications, checkout, payments, and general site settings.
For advanced customization, site files are accessible through the dashboard. The product upload area is simple, with fields for inventory details, digital products, collections, images, and more. Each product page provides areas to manage inventory, collections, images, SEO, shipping, tags, and pricing, offering a comprehensive set of tools to efficiently manage your store.
Marketing (weighted 10%)
Shopify
SEO
If you're looking for quality SEO, Shopify has just about everything you need. From title tags to meta descriptions, most of these SEO areas are editable. Image files come with customizable alt tags and file names, and you don't have to worry about the search engines getting contacted with changes, since Shopify does that for you. Prevent duplicate content with canonical URL tags.
Social Media
Shopify loses by a landslide when it comes to built-in social media tools. Although you can sell products through Facebook and Pinterest, it lacks much support for quick social buttons and things like eBay and Amazon integration. However, this gives you the freedom to get creative and choose your own app for those solutions.
Newsletter
It's not the quickest setup, but email newsletter functionality is available. You basically create a standard page and state that you are collecting email addresses. Integrate with solutions like MailChimp to bring in the emails and to send out messages later. If the built-in newsletter feature is too rudimentary, you can install one of the many email apps.
Built-in promotion options
Tons of promotion tools are offered through the Shopify app store, so that's always an option. However, depending on your plan, you can get built-in access to promotional tools like gift cards and discount codes.
Support of other selling channels
You can also sell through the Google Merchant Center but it takes a bit of experience. Shopify lets you sell on Facebook, but the eBay and Amazon selling areas on Snipcart are not included. However, an app installation can generally solve that.
Snipcart
SEO
Snipcart provides robust SEO capabilities, allowing you to edit title tags, meta descriptions, and other key SEO elements. Customizable alt tags and file names for image files ensure that your product images are search-engine friendly. Snipcart also handles canonical URL tags to prevent duplicate content issues, making sure that search engines recognize the correct version of your pages.
Social Media
While Snipcart excels in many areas, its built-in social media tools are limited. You can integrate Snipcart with Facebook and Pinterest for selling products, but it lacks direct support for quick social buttons and integrations with platforms like eBay and Amazon. This limitation allows you the flexibility to choose and implement third-party apps for these functions.
Newsletter
Setting up an email newsletter with Snipcart involves creating a standard page to collect email addresses. You can integrate Snipcart with popular email marketing solutions like MailChimp to manage your email lists and send out newsletters. Although the built-in newsletter feature is basic, you can enhance its functionality with various email marketing apps.
Built-in promotion options
Snipcart offers built-in promotional tools, including discount codes, to help boost your marketing efforts. While it does not have an extensive app store like Shopify, these built-in features are sufficient for most promotional needs, providing a straightforward way to run marketing campaigns.
Support of other selling channels
Snipcart supports selling through various channels, although it requires some setup. While direct integrations with platforms like eBay and Amazon are not included, you can sell on Facebook and Pinterest. For more complex setups, integrating additional third-party apps can extend your selling capabilities across multiple channels.
Statistics (weighted 10%)
Shopify
The health of your online store is in good hands, since it provides several statistic areas for seeing gross sales based on product titles, variants and referrers.
The payment stats are included as well, with information on what methods and channels people are using to buy from you. Overall, Shopify has more in-depth, complex statistical information, but it may seem a little intimidating for beginners.
Snipcart
Snipcart ensures the health of your online store by offering comprehensive statistical insights. You can view gross sales based on product titles, variants, and referrers, giving you a clear picture of what's driving your revenue. Payment statistics are also included, providing detailed information on the methods and channels customers use to purchase from your store.
While Snipcart offers essential statistical data, it strikes a balance between depth and accessibility. It provides sufficient detail to satisfy advanced users, but its straightforward presentation ensures that beginners won't feel overwhelmed. This approach makes it easy to monitor your store's performance without getting bogged down in overly complex data.
Hosting & Security (weighted 10%)
Shopify
All plans offer hosting, and each of these plans come with domain names and a wonderful CDN for serving up pages in an instant. The hosting is completed through ServerCentral Hosting, which is an enterprise level solution. Not to mention, Shopify is Level 1 PCI Compliant, keeping your customer and company information safe.
Snipcart
Snipcart does not include hosting, allowing you to integrate its shopping cart with any existing website hosted on your preferred platform. This flexibility ensures you can use the hosting service that best meets your needs, whether it's an enterprise-level solution or a simpler, more affordable option.
When it comes to security, Snipcart excels. It is Level 1 PCI DSS compliant, ensuring that all customer and transaction data is handled with the highest level of security. Additionally, Snipcart uses HTTPS for secure communications, safeguarding your customers' information and maintaining trust in your online store. This robust security framework ensures that both customer and company data remain safe.
Extensibility (weighted 10%)
Shopify
The app store has far more options for extending how your store works. It's a little unfair to compare it with Snipcart, since Snipcart doesn't have an app store. Choose from marketing, sales and social media apps, and delve into shipping, inventory and customer service selections. It's much faster and easier to install the apps. Most of them require one or two clicks.
Snipcart
Snipcart’s extensibility is robust, allowing you to enhance your store’s functionality significantly. While it doesn’t have an app store as extensive as Shopify’s, it excels in flexibility and customization. You can integrate various third-party services for marketing, sales, and social media, and there are numerous options for shipping, inventory, and customer service.
Installing extensions and integrations with Snipcart is straightforward and typically requires minimal effort, often just a few clicks. Developers will appreciate the powerful API and webhooks, which provide extensive control over custom integrations and automations, making it easy to tailor Snipcart to your specific needs.
Support (weighted 10%)
Shopify
Shopify is a 24/7 support company, using its blog and knowledge base as the hub for customer learning. It stands out from Snipcart in the support realm since it has a course called Ecommerce University.
The course is filled with eBooks and videos for learning everything about ecommerce. Other than that, you get live chat, email, phone and forum support.
Snipcart
Snipcart provides support through live chat and email, ensuring timely responses to user inquiries.
While Snipcart does not offer phone support, the availability of live chat and email support, combined with a rich array of online resources, makes it easy for users to find solutions to their issues. The platform also fosters a supportive community through forums, where users can share experiences and troubleshoot together.
