Shopify alternatives: what online stores actually run instead

WooCommerce is the Shopify alternative most companies actually run, followed by Wix, Webflow and Squarespace. Magento and BigCommerce are the dedicated picks for wholesale and larger catalogs, and Salesforce Commerce Cloud is where big fashion brands go.

Key takeaways

• WooCommerce is the most common ecommerce platform in our data, ahead of Shopify itself, with 73,987 companies.
• Wix, Webflow and Squarespace are website builders first, so many of their users run a site with a shop attached rather than a full store.
• Almost every platform here is most common at small companies; Salesforce Commerce Cloud is the only one whose largest size band is 1,001+ employees.
• Industry splits the field more sharply than size: apparel for Shopify, wholesale for Magento, sporting goods for BigCommerce, restaurants for Squarespace.
• VTEX is the regional specialist, with Brazil, Argentina and Colombia among its top countries.
• Pricing models differ more than features do: Shopify and BigCommerce charge a monthly plan plus a fee for outside payment providers, while WooCommerce is free software you host yourself.

What are the main Shopify alternatives?

The main Shopify alternatives are WooCommerce, Wix, Webflow and Squarespace, followed by Magento, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and VTEX. They split into three groups: open-source store software you host yourself, website builders that include a shop, and dedicated commerce platforms built for bigger catalogs, wholesale or enterprise brands.

Shopify is the reference point. It is a hosted platform: you pay a monthly plan, Shopify runs the servers, and apps fill the gaps. It is also growing quickly. In Shopify's second-quarter 2026 results, gross merchandise volume was $115,567 million, up 32% year over year.

The open-source group is WooCommerce, which turns a WordPress site into a store, and Magento, which Adobe also sells as Adobe Commerce. Both trade convenience for control: you pick the host, own the code and pay for extensions one by one.

The website builders are Wix, Squarespace and Webflow. Each started as a way to publish a website without code and added commerce later, so a trace of one of them shows the site platform, not necessarily a live store. The dedicated commerce platforms are BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and VTEX.

Why do merchants look for a Shopify alternative?

Merchants usually look for a Shopify alternative because of fees, control or fit. The monthly plan is rarely the problem; the extra charge for using an outside payment provider, the cost of stacking paid apps, and the limits of a hosted platform are what push a store to compare options as it grows.

Fees come first. On Shopify's pricing page, the Basic plan costs $29 a month billed yearly, and stores that use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments pay an extra 2% on that plan. A store that already has a payments contract it likes feels that charge on every order.

Control is the second reason. Some teams want to own the code, run the store on their own servers, or keep content and checkout on the WordPress site they already have. That is the WooCommerce pitch, and it is why a site builder or a self-hosted platform often wins with companies whose website came first and their store second.

Fit is the third. A restaurant that needs a menu and bookings, a wholesaler with price lists for trade buyers, and a global fashion house with dozens of country sites want different things from a platform. The data below shows each of those buyers clustering on a different tool.

How many companies run Shopify compared with its alternatives?

WooCommerce runs on more companies than any other platform in our data, Shopify included. Wix is close behind Shopify, then Webflow and Squarespace, and the dedicated commerce platforms trail far behind. These are companies with a public trace of each tool, not market share or paying customers, and one company can run more than one platform.

The ranking shows how steeply the counts fall after the top five.

In plain terms, 73,987 companies in our data run WooCommerce, against 58,720 on Shopify.

Across the nine platforms we compare, 258,706 companies run at least one. Small counts don't mean weak tools. Magento, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and VTEX each serve a narrow buyer, and they show up clearly once you look at who runs them. Shopify's own count also reaches well beyond fashion and food sellers: X, Nature, Ring and Wyze Labs, Inc. all carry a trace of it.

Which Shopify alternative should you consider?

The right Shopify alternative depends on what you sell and who you sell to more than on feature lists. WooCommerce suits companies already on WordPress, the website builders suit small businesses whose store is one part of a site, and Magento, BigCommerce or Salesforce Commerce Cloud suit wholesale, larger catalogs and global brands. The table puts every platform side by side.

Share = share of the companies running any of these e-commerce platform tools. Size = most common employee band.

Tool	Companies	Share	Size	Top industry	Often run with
Shopify	58,720	23%	11–50	Retail	Rebuy, Swym
WooCommerce	73,987	29%	11–50	Retail	Elementor, Rank Math
Wix	50,873	20%	11–50	IT Services	POWR, Sentry
Webflow	34,260	13%	11–50	Software	Intellimize, Embedly
Squarespace	33,277	13%	11–50	Health, Wellness and Fitness	NS1, Adobe Fonts
Magento	6,220	2.4%	11–50	Retail	Klevu, Cardinal Commerce
BigCommerce	2,705	1.0%	11–50	Retail	Searchspring, Shogun
Salesforce Commerce Cloud	1,479	0.6%	1,001+	Retail	UsableNet, Riskified
VTEX	1,316	0.5%	11–50	Retail	Dito, WoowUp

The ratios in the sections below compare each platform's users with the average company. When we say Apparel & Fashion runs 14.3x the average rate for Shopify, it means Shopify's companies are that many times more likely than the average company to be in that industry.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source ecommerce plugin for WordPress, and it is the most widely installed store software we track. The WooCommerce listing on WordPress.org shows 7+ million active installations, and WooCommerce's pricing page describes the core platform as "Free, with no monthly subscription."

The catch is that you pay for hosting and extensions instead, and in our data 8.5% of WooCommerce companies also run Hostinger.

Its companies are mostly small, with 65% of those with a known size at 11–50 employees. Consumer Goods is its one clear skew. Desku Inc and Growisto Inc. appear under both WooCommerce and Magento.

Wix

Wix is a website builder with templates, AI tools and domains, and stores are one use among portfolios, blogs and booking pages. On Wix's plans page, the Core plan is listed at $29.77 a month for a yearly subscription.

Its users lean small, with 73% of those with a known size at 11–50 employees. IT Services is its top industry, and management consultants over-index, which fits a builder used for service businesses more than product catalogs. Public records show Wix at Cootlogix and wiki.gg.

Webflow

Webflow is a visual web platform with content management, hosting and SEO built in, aimed at marketing, design and development teams. It has the most tech-heavy users of any platform here: Software is its top industry and runs 2.5x the average rate.

Where Shopify pulls in apparel and food sellers, Webflow pulls in software and internet firms whose store, if they have one, sits beside a marketing site. That makes it a Shopify alternative mainly for companies selling a small number of products or digital goods. The group includes Anthropic, Wiley and Media.net.

Squarespace

Squarespace is a website builder for publishing sites from templates, and it is the strongest pick for restaurants in our data, at 5.3x the average rate. Non-profits and health, wellness and fitness businesses also over-index, a set of buyers that rarely shows up for Shopify.

It is also the smallest-company platform here, with 75% of its known-size users at 11–50 employees.

Squarespace's pricing page shows a 2% online store transaction fee on its cheapest plan and 0% on the plans above it. Podscribe and Blink Smart Security are two examples.

Magento

Magento is the wholesaler's platform. Adobe offers it as Adobe Commerce, and in our data its users are 9.8x more likely than average to be in Wholesale, with Apparel & Fashion close behind. Retail is its top industry.

Geography sets it apart too. The Netherlands, Germany and France are among Magento's top countries, where Shopify's list has India, Canada and Australia. Magento pairs with Platform.sh for hosting and Klevu for site search, the tools of a team running its own stack. Damart Belgium and Evaluat Digital Limited are in the count.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a hosted ecommerce platform, the closest thing to Shopify in how it is sold, and its sharpest signal is Sporting Goods, overrepresented 22.3x among its users. Wholesale follows, and Australia, Canada and New Zealand are among its top countries.

Its pricing mirrors Shopify's closely. On BigCommerce's pricing page, the Core plan is $29 a month billed annually and caps sales at "Up to $30K TTM GMV" before a move to a higher plan. Its count is small, so read its ratios as concentration rather than volume. AS Colour Europe and Airmax are in it.

Salesforce Commerce Cloud

Salesforce Commerce Cloud is the enterprise outlier, and the only platform here whose most common size band is 1,001+ employees, at 33% of its known-size users. Its users are overwhelmingly fashion brands.

Fashion runs 224.1x the average rate among its users. Ratios that large come from small industry categories, so read them as concentration, not volume. Pricing isn't published: Salesforce's commerce pricing page lists Commerce Cloud B2C Premium as "Contact for pricing." Its users pair it with Riskified and Adyen. Adolfo Domínguez SA and Agatha are among them.

Which Shopify alternative fits a small business, and which fits an enterprise?

Small businesses lean toward Squarespace, Wix, WooCommerce and Shopify itself, which all peak at 11–50 employees. Enterprises lean toward Salesforce Commerce Cloud, the only platform here whose largest band is 1,001+ employees. Between them, Magento and BigCommerce serve mid-sized wholesalers and specialist retailers.

The size chart shows how similar Shopify and its three biggest alternatives look on company size.

Industry splits the field far more sharply than size:

• Apparel and food sellers: Shopify, at 14.3x the average rate for Apparel & Fashion.
• Wholesale: Magento and BigCommerce.
• Sporting goods: BigCommerce.
• Restaurants and non-profits: Squarespace.
• Wellness, consulting and education: Wix.
• Software and internet companies: Webflow.
• Consumer goods: WooCommerce, at 2.0x the average rate.
• Large fashion brands: Salesforce Commerce Cloud, at 12.3x for Apparel & Fashion.

So a ten-person bakery, a SaaS company selling merchandise and a wholesaler with trade price lists end up on three different platforms, even though all three are small companies.

Which Shopify alternative do Latin American stores use?

Latin American stores use VTEX more than any other region does. VTEX is a commerce platform with Brazil, Argentina and Colombia among its top countries, and its users are concentrated in retail, which makes it the clearest regional specialist among the Shopify alternatives we track.

In our data, 1,316 companies run VTEX, and 47% of those with a known industry are in Retail. Americanas S/A and Intelbras are examples. VTEX users pair it with regional customer tools such as Dito and WoowUp rather than the app ecosystems common around Shopify.

Is WooCommerce or Wix the better Shopify alternative?

WooCommerce is the better alternative if you already run WordPress or want to own your store's code, and Wix is better if you want a hosted site with a shop and no server to manage. They are the two most common alternatives in our data, but they attract different kinds of companies.

WooCommerce users are product sellers: Retail is their top industry and Consumer Goods over-indexes. Wix users are more often service businesses, with IT Services on top and consultants and educators over-indexing. Both lean small, but Wix leans a little smaller.

The cost models differ too. Wix charges a yearly plan and runs everything for you. WooCommerce costs nothing to install, but WooCommerce's pricing page puts hosting at "$25 – $350/month for most stores," and paid extensions are billed per extension on top.

What do companies run alongside Shopify and its alternatives?

Shopify companies pair with a fragmented set of add-ons, led by Swym, Rebuy and Loox, none of which defines the stack. WooCommerce is far more concentrated: Elementor appears at 36% of its companies, with Rank Math at 15%.

That WooCommerce list tracks the WordPress ecosystem: a page builder, an SEO plugin and a host. The site builders show the tightest pairings of all, such as Sentry and Fastly on Wix sites and Adobe Fonts on Squarespace sites. Those are most likely part of how the platform itself is served, so read them as the platform's footprint, not the store owner's choice.

The smaller dedicated platforms show specific partners at modest rates: Shogun with BigCommerce, Klevu with Magento, and Riskified and Adyen with Salesforce Commerce Cloud. For a buyer, those partners are a hint about the apps and integrations you would need to bring along if you switched.

What should you check before switching from Shopify?

Before switching from Shopify, check total payment costs, the price of the apps you rely on, and how much of the stack you want to run yourself. Those three things decide the real cost far more than the headline monthly plan, and they differ more between platforms than features do.

• Payment fees: compare the card rate and any extra charge for an outside payment provider. Shopify and BigCommerce both charge one on their entry plans; Squarespace charges a store transaction fee on its cheapest plan.
• Apps and extensions: list the apps you pay for today and find the equivalent on the new platform. WooCommerce extensions are billed yearly, one by one.
• Hosting and upkeep: a self-hosted store means updates, security and speed are your job.
• Checkout friction: extra costs scare buyers off. In Baymard Institute's cart abandonment research, read in October 2026, 40% of shoppers who abandoned a cart named extra costs such as shipping, tax and fees as the reason.

Expect a period where both platforms run side by side while products, redirects and customer accounts move over. That is also why some companies carry traces of more than one platform at once.

Is online shopping still growing fast enough to justify a replatform?

Yes. Online sales keep taking a larger share of retail, which is why stores keep revisiting their platform choice. In the U.S. Census Bureau's quarterly e-commerce report, e-commerce made up 17.1% of total retail sales in the second quarter of 2026, and online sales grew 12.2% from a year earlier.

A platform that fit a store doing a few orders a day can feel tight at several hundred. Plan limits like BigCommerce's sales caps and Shopify's plan tiers are built around that growth, so it pays to model next year's order volume, not this year's, before choosing.

What does a store platform detection look like?

Every count in this article rests on a public record like the one below: a trace that ties a company's domain to an ecommerce vendor.

store.example.com CNAME shops.myshopify.com

A record like this proves the company's public footprint points at the vendor, here a store subdomain pointing at Shopify. It does not prove the store is live, how much it sells, or that this is the only platform the company runs. You can check any domain with our lookup.

How we counted

We checked 1,798,382 companies as of October 16, 2026, reading public DNS records, certificate logs and website code. A company counts for a tool only when we find a direct trace of it, such as a DNS record, a verified domain, a script or a custom domain pointing at the vendor. Our research page and methodology have more detail.

These are companies with a public trace, not market share and not paying customers. A company can run several platforms, so shares can overlap. Size and industry shares cover only companies where we know them. Tools used only inside a company leave no trace, so self-hosted setups are undercounted. Vendor prices come from each vendor's own pricing page as of October 2026.