ShopsWired vs Shopify
Both are fully managed commerce platforms. The difference is in what you pay on top of the plan. Shopify adds a fee when you use your own payment provider and leans on apps for many features. ShopsWired charges 0% with any processor, builds more in, and lets you run your own backend code without hosting it.
| Shopify | ShopsWired | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan prices (billed monthly) | Basic $39 · Grow $105 · Advanced $399 · Plus from $2,300 | Starter $29 · Pro $99 · Business $249 · Enterprise $499 |
| Extra fee with your own payment provider | 2% Basic · 1% Grow · 0.6% Advanced · 0.2% Plus | 0% on every plan |
| Staff accounts | Basic: none extra · Grow: 5 · Advanced: 15 | Starter: 2 · Pro: 10 · Business: 20 |
| Subscriptions | Through apps, including Shopify's own free Subscriptions app | Built in on every plan: trials, billing anchors, smart retries, variable amounts |
| B2B / wholesale | B2B catalogs on every plan (up to 3; unlimited on Plus) | Named price levels, quote fallback and tier tax rules on Pro+ |
| Custom backend code | Apps you build and host yourself, plus Shopify Functions for specific logic | ShopScript plugins with hooks, records, routes and jobs, hosted for you (Pro+) |
| Reseller / dropship between stores | Shopify Collective app | Wired network built in (Pro+) |
| Sell your own apps & themes | Shopify App Store and Theme Store | Marketplace, with developers keeping 70% |
| AI assistant can run the store | Sidekick in the admin | Connect Claude or any MCP assistant, scoped per store |
What the extra fee costs at your size
Shopify's third-party gateway fee only applies if you don't use Shopify Payments. If you can't, or prefer another provider, here's the fee on Basic (2%) by revenue. That's on top of processing.
| Monthly revenue | Shopify Basic extra fee / year | ShopsWired / year |
|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $2,400 | $0 |
| $50,000 | $12,000 | $0 |
| $100,000 | $24,000 | $0 |
Why merchants switch from Shopify
A smaller app bill
Subscriptions, wholesale pricing, local pickup, in-person orders and a customer inbox are part of the platform, so there are fewer monthly apps stacked on the plan. The hidden cost of Shopify apps.
Your processor, no penalty
Connect Stripe, Square or another supported provider and pay only their rate. We never add a percentage for your choice.
Custom code without a server
On Shopify, a custom app usually means hosting your own backend. On ShopsWired, your plugin's code runs on the platform, with its own data, jobs and routes.
Where Shopify is the better fit
- Selling in many countries and languages. Shopify Markets handles multiple currencies and translations. Each ShopsWired store sells in one currency, with no built-in translation tools yet.
- A specific app you rely on. The Shopify App Store is far larger. If one app is central to your business, check that ShopsWired has an equivalent, or plan to build it on Pro.
- Point-of-sale hardware. Shopify POS has card readers and a retail app. ShopsWired builds in-person orders from the admin, with no POS hardware.
- A bare root domain. ShopsWired custom domains use a subdomain such as www.example.com. Root domains aren't supported yet.
- One-click migration. There's no automatic Shopify importer. You move your catalog by CSV, or let an AI assistant help.
See if it fits for $1.
Starter or Pro is $1/mo for your first 3 months. That's long enough to rebuild your store and compare.
- Shopify pricing: plan prices, third-party transaction fees, staff accounts and B2B catalogs (checked November 2026)