Are you choosing the best platform for your online store? Your decision may come down to these two platforms: Webflow vs Shopify eCommerce.
Both platforms offer unique strengths, but which one truly fits your eCommerce business needs?
Let's break down the detailed comparison of Webflow and Shopify. We'll examine their pricing, ease of use, design customization, and eCommerce website features.
Whether you're a seasoned developer or a small business owner, our insights will help you make an informed choice. Read on to discover which platform can elevate your eCommerce game and find out about a new integration that could transform your Webflow store.
Basic Overview of Each Product
To help you decide between Webflow and Shopify for your eCommerce needs, we've outlined the key pros and cons of each platform. This comparison table highlights their strengths and weaknesses, making it easier for you to choose the right one for your online store.
Webflow Pros and Cons
Pros
Excellent Creative Control
The extensive editor and ability to code your own changes give users near-complete creative control.
Great Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Potential
Webflow shines for SEO with adding meta titles and descriptions, image alt text, custom URLs, and XML sitemap integrations to rank higher on Google.
A Wide Range of Stunning Templates
All of Webflow’s templates are beautifully designed.
Outstanding Help Center
Webflow University is one of the best digital help centers, offering tons of articles, courses, and forums to assist you.
Cons
Difficult Editor
Webflow comes with a steep learning curve, and its tools can seem overwhelming at first.
Basic Analytics
Unless you’re using Google Analytics, Webflow’s inbuilt analytics are a bit lackluster.
Shopify Pros and Cons
Pros
Good for Larger Stores
Shopify has an excellent range of eCommerce tools perfect for supporting and scaling big stores.
Huge App Store
Shopify’s app store has over 3,000 apps to help you expand functionality.
Over 100 Payment Options
Your customers will have a wide range of payment options, thanks to Shopify’s support for over 100 different gateways.
24/7 Help and Support
Phone, email, live chat, and social media support ensure you have assistance whenever you need it.
Cons
Big Reliance on Apps
Shopify’s app market is a strength, but it also means many features aren’t inbuilt, requiring extra plugins.
High Transaction Fees
Unless you’re using Shopify Payments, you’ll need to pay a 2% transaction fee on top of other payment gateway costs (even on higher-tiered plans)
More Expensive Than It Looks
The cost of apps and transaction fees can increase your monthly expenses.
Section 1: Shopify
Pricing & Plans
Shopify offers four pricing tiers to accommodate different business needs.
Basic plan
The Basic plan costs $29/month and is ideal for small businesses just starting out. It includes essential features but has limitations, such as no store reports, only 2 staff accounts, and no special shipping discounts through major providers like UPS.
Standard Plan
The Shopify plan, priced at $79/month, adds professional reporting capabilities, lowers transaction fees to 1%, and increases the number of staff accounts to 5. This plan suits growing businesses needing more advanced features.
Advanced Plan
For larger operations, the Advanced plan costs $299/month. It offers even lower transaction fees at 0.5%, and supports up to 15 staff accounts, making it perfect for businesses with higher sales volumes.
Plus Plan
At the top tier, the Plus plan is $2,300/month, designed for enterprise-level businesses needing advanced features and extensive support.
What's Included in Every Plan
Although Shopify does not offer a free plan, they provide a two-week trial period for you to test the platform. Every plan includes over 100 payment gateways, Shopify’s own gateway to eliminate transaction fees (typically 0.5-2.0% per transaction), in-person POS, multi-channel integrations, and gift cards.
Ease of Use For an eCommerce Platform
Shopify is known for its straightforward user experience as an eCommerce platform.
An onboarding checklist guides you through setting up your online store, making the process seamless even for beginners.
Shopify uses two editors, which can sometimes be confusing. The front-end editor allows you to move elements and customize your theme, layout, colors, fonts, and images. The second editor, the Dashboard, controls the back end of your website—what customers don’t see.
In the Dashboard, you can add products, build collections, create discounts, manage inventory, adjust shipping charges and rates, and handle taxes.
This dual-editor system ensures you have all the tools needed to manage both the aesthetic and functional aspects of your store effectively.
Design Customization and Templates
Shopify offers a wide range of store themes, both free and premium, priced from free to $180+. These themes look professional and modern, providing a solid starting point for your online store.
However, they generally do not match the design level of Webflow’s templates.
Theme Options
While Shopify’s themes are visually appealing, customization is more limited compared to Webflow. This limitation means you might need to "shop around" to find a theme that best fits your store's needs.
Ease of Customization
One of the advantages of Shopify is the ease with which you can change themes.
Switching themes is straightforward and can be done with minimal disruption to your store. This flexibility allows you to experiment with different looks until you find the perfect match for your business.
eCommerce Store & Website Features
Products/Inventory
Shopify allows you to sell unlimited products, making it ideal for large stores needing a sophisticated system to handle a high volume of items. Its bulk import features streamline the process of uploading products, and you can tag products based on different categories for easier management. Both Shopify and Webflow support selling digital and physical products, but with Shopify, you’ll need to download an app to handle digital products.
Shipping
Shipping is one of Shopify’s strong suits. The platform simplifies the process by offering discounted shipping rates through major carriers like UPS and DHL. You can print your own shipping labels, calculate shipping costs, manage shipping locations, and adjust prices based on weight or destination. This comprehensive shipping solution helps streamline your logistics.
Abandoned Cart Recovery
Shopify includes abandoned cart recovery across all plans, helping you capture incomplete orders and boost your sales. This feature automatically sends emails to customers who leave items in their cart, encouraging them to complete their purchase.
Multi-Channel Sales
Shopify excels in multi-channel sales, allowing you to sell across social media and various marketplaces. However, you’ll need to install additional apps to integrate these features into your website fully. This multi-channel capability can significantly expand your reach and increase sales opportunities.
Apps
Shopify’s reliance on its app store is both a strength and a weakness. The platform offers a vast selection of apps to improve functionality, with over 3,000 apps available. While this provides great flexibility, it also means many features are not built-in and require additional investment.
Staff Accounts
Shopify offers fewer staff accounts compared to Webflow, with just 2 accounts on the Basic plan and 5 on the standard plan. This limitation might be a drawback for larger teams needing more administrative access.
Point of Sale (POS)
Shopify provides a robust POS system for brick-and-mortar stores, ensuring synchronized sales both online and offline. This feature is particularly beneficial for businesses operating both in physical locations and online, as it keeps inventory and sales data aligned.
SEO (Search engine optimization)
Shopify offers basic SEO best practice tips, but for more advanced optimization, you’ll need to invest in paid apps like SEO Smart or SEO Manager. While Shopify’s built-in SEO capabilities cover the basics, enhancing your store’s visibility will likely require these additional tools.
Section 2: Webflow
Pricing plans
Webflow offers three eCommerce plans tailored to different business needs.
Standard Plan (Basic)
The Standard plan costs $29/month and supports up to 500 items, with a sales limit of $50,000 per year and a 2% transaction fee. This plan includes essential CMS features.
Plus Plan
The Plus plan, at $74/month, significantly boosts capacity to 5,000 products and 10,000 CMS items, with a sales limit of $200,000 per year and no transaction fees. It also includes advanced business plan features.
Advanced Plan
The Advanced plan costs $212/month and is ideal for large-scale operations. It supports up to 15,000 items and 10,000 CMS items, with 10 staff accounts and all the features of the Plus plan. This plan is perfect for businesses with high sales volumes and complex needs.
Ease of Use as an eCommerce Platform
Webflow is more complex to use than Shopify, combining the functionalities of a website builder and a CMS (content management system).
Its expansive editor and dashboard are ideal for developers and web designers, offering extensive customization options. However, for those without a developer or designer on their team, Webflow can feel overwhelming.
To help counter this complexity, Webflow provides excellent resources through its eCommerce tutorial and Webflow University. These resources offer expert guidance to help users navigate the platform.
While Webflow does require a greater time investment than Shopify, the payoff is significant: you can create beautiful, unique, and highly functional stores that rank well on Google.
Design Customization and Templates
Extremely Stunning Templates
Webflow offers a wide selection of stunning eCommerce templates, ensuring your storefront makes a strong impression. These templates are designed with slick and seamless aesthetics, giving your store a professional look from the start.
Customization Options
Webflow provides extensive customization options, allowing you to tailor your website to your brand’s exact specifications. Whether you choose a free or paid theme, you can mold your website to reflect your unique identity.
Flexibility for Designers
For experienced designers and developers, Webflow offers even greater flexibility. You can start from scratch or import a pixel-perfect design from programs like Figma directly into Webflow. This level of customization ensures your store stands out and meets your specific design requirements.
Webflow's eCommerce & Website Features
Products/Inventory Management
Webflow’s store size depends on the plan you choose, with higher-tier plans accommodating larger product volumes. Inventory management is comprehensive, with real-time updates as you sell products. You can set warnings for low-stock and out-of-stock products, ensuring smooth inventory management.
Shipping Configuration
Webflow allows you to configure manual shipping rates, offering flexibility but requiring more manual input compared to other platforms.
Abandoned Cart Recovery
While Webflow does not offer native abandoned cart recovery features, you can integrate third-party tools like Penni Cart at an affordable cost to help recapture lost sales.
Multi-Channel Sales
Webflow supports multi-channel sales, allowing you to sell across social media platforms. While it requires some coding knowledge, tutorials are available to guide you through the process.
Apps and Integrations
Webflow lacks an app store, but tech-savvy developers can leverage code to add desired features. Additionally, platforms like Zapier can enhance functionality by integrating with other tools and services.
Staff Accounts
Webflow offers generous staff account allowances, starting with 3 accounts on the basic plan and 10 on the mid-tier plan, ensuring efficient collaboration within your team.
Point of Sale (POS)
Webflow does not offer a synchronized POS system.
SEO Capabilities
Webflow excels in SEO as a website builder and CMS. It maintains clean code for search engines and offers features like meta titles and descriptions, image alt text, custom URLs, and XML sitemap integrations to optimize your site’s visibility on search engines like Google.
Conclusion on Webflow vs Shopify eCommerce Platforms
The comparison between Webflow and Shopify for eCommerce reveals distinct advantages and considerations for each platform.
While Shopify offers simplicity, extensive app support, and a robust POS system, Webflow stands out for its design flexibility, SEO capabilities, and generous staff account allowances.
Both platforms present viable options for eCommerce businesses, depending on specific needs and preferences.
Want to enhance your Webflow eCommerce experience? Then consider exploring our new Webflow Cart integration with Penni Cart for complete control and customization.
