Shopify

Shopify is a hosted commerce platform for businesses that sell online, in physical locations, through social channels, and on marketplaces. Merchants can create storefronts, manage products, process payments, fulfill orders, and review analytics from a central administration interface.

The platform includes responsive storefront tools, checkout, inventory management, discount codes, abandoned-checkout recovery, fraud analysis, multiple sales channels, and point-of-sale capabilities. Shopify also supports custom storefronts and headless commerce through developer tools and APIs.

Shopify provides an online store editor, customizable themes, product catalogs, collections, customer accounts, checkout, order management, shipping tools, and inventory controls. Its core plans support unlimited products and bandwidth, subject to plan-specific restrictions and policies.

Shopify POS supports in-person selling through iOS and Android applications. Social and marketplace channels can synchronize products and orders with Shopify admin. The Shopify App Store provides third-party extensions for marketing, fulfillment, subscriptions, analytics, customer service, accounting, and other workflows.

Shopify includes AI capabilities such as Sidekick and Shopify Magic in selected workflows. Availability varies by feature, market, plan, and product area. Headless developers can use Hydrogen, Oxygen, Liquid, custom storefronts, and Shopify’s Storefront API.

Shopify’s standard plans include Basic at $29 USD per month when billed yearly, Grow at $79 USD per month when billed yearly, and Advanced at $299 USD per month when billed yearly. Shopify Plus starts at $2,300 USD per month on a three-year term, while one-year pricing starts at $2,500 USD per month.

Subscription prices vary by billing cycle and location. Additional costs can include payment processing, third-party transaction fees, paid apps, premium themes, domains, shipping services, and hardware. Shopify offers a three-day free trial, followed by a promotional offer of three months for $1 per month when available.

Shopify combines storefront management, checkout, payments, inventory, order processing, analytics, marketing tools, and point-of-sale capabilities in one hosted service. Its large app ecosystem and documented APIs support substantial customization.

The main trade-offs are recurring subscription fees, possible transaction fees, paid extensions, and plan-based feature limits. Advanced customization can require Liquid, API development, a headless stack, or specialist implementation support.

Comparable products include BigCommerce for hosted commerce, WooCommerce for WordPress-based stores, Adobe Commerce for highly customizable enterprise commerce, Wix eCommerce for website-led selling, Squarespace Commerce for design-focused stores, and Ecwid for adding commerce to existing websites.

Does Shopify offer a free plan? No permanent free plan is listed for the main Shopify platform. Shopify currently offers a three-day free trial, followed by a promotional $1-per-month period when the offer is available.

What platforms does Shopify support? Shopify is primarily a browser-based cloud service. Shopify POS is available for iOS and Android, and developers can connect external systems through Shopify APIs.

Does Shopify have an API? Yes. Shopify provides GraphQL Admin and Storefront APIs, along with developer tools, webhooks, app extensions, and other APIs. The REST Admin API is classified as legacy for new app development.

What integrations does Shopify support? Shopify supports integrations through its App Store, sales channels, custom apps, APIs, and app extensions. Available integrations include social commerce, marketplaces, payments, shipping, accounting, marketing, customer service, analytics, and fulfillment services.

Is Shopify suitable for physical retail? Yes. Shopify POS supports in-person sales and synchronizes retail activity with the online commerce administration system. Hardware and POS features depend on location, plan, and configuration.