Shopify alternative
Shopify is probably the right choice for you. I would rather write that at the top than make you scroll to the bottom to find it. There remain two or three precise situations where a custom store costs less, and this page exists to tell you whether you are in one.
Shopify wins, and often
This is not false modesty. On most store projects that reach me, I recommend Shopify, and here is why.
- Payments, fraud, compliance, stock management and carriers are solved, tested by hundreds of thousands of stores, and maintained without you. None of that is interesting to rebuild.
- A living catalogue, variants, promotions, multi-warehouse inventory: their admin is better than anything I can deliver on your budget.
- You also sell on marketplaces, on social, or in a physical shop. Multi-channel is their business.
- You do not know your volume yet. A monthly subscription lets you start small and grow, with no setup fee up front.
- You need to be online in two weeks with a two-hundred-item catalogue.
What Google measures
The numbers on Shopify
Public data from the Core Web Vitals Technology Report, HTTP Archive, April 2026. Share of sites passing all three Core Web Vitals, and median page weight.
On this snapshot, Shopify beats Astro on the pass rate. That is not a measurement error and not a detail: a hosted platform imposes its constraints on every site it serves, whereas a custom site inherits the choices of whoever built it. So the question is not which technology is fast, but who decides what slows yours down.
Source : Core Web Vitals Technology Report, HTTP Archive · breakdown of the seven platforms
Where the maths flips
No platform pricing is quoted here on purpose: subscriptions, transaction fees and app prices change regularly and depend on your country and payment provider. Run the numbers with their figures of the day. Written on 4 August 2026.
The three cases where I cost you less
- Your revenue is significant and your margins are thin. The fees taken on every sale then become the heaviest line, and a fixed fee ends up costing less than that cut. This is arithmetic, not opinion: run it with your numbers, and if Shopify wins, stay.
- The way you sell does not look like a normal cart. Quote-based sales, per-customer pricing, subscriptions with your own rules, slot booking, made-to-order configuration: you end up stacking apps that tread on each other.
- Your catalogue is small and stable, a few dozen items, but your image matters enormously. You are then paying for an admin you use a tenth of, on a visual template your competitors also use.
- If you are in none of those three, stay on Shopify. I can still help with what the platform does badly: loading speed, search, or taking over the upkeep of your theme.
When my store makes more sense
Your margins are thin and the per-sale cut weighs more than everything else.
Your selling flow is unusual and apps do not cover it cleanly.
Your catalogue is tight and your brand image is your main asset.
You want the code of your store to belong to you and stay exportable.
You would rather have one person to talk to than a stack of app vendors.
What “custom” actually means
Three sample layouts I designed. None is built on a theme: composition, rhythm and typography are decided page by page, which is exactly the difference with Shopify. Each one opens for real, in your browser.
Already shipped for
Two shops and apps delivered as a freelancer, invoiced directly. Each one has its own case study.
€2,900 then €149/month
Setup covers design and delivery. The monthly fee covers hosting, the domain name, the certificate, backups, security updates and routine edits. No commission, no apps to add.
Frequently asked questions
Honestly, Shopify or custom?
Shopify, in most cases, and I will tell you so on a call rather than sell you something else. Payments, fraud, stock and carriers are solved problems with no upside in rebuilding. Custom earns its keep in three situations: thin margins against the per-sale cut, an unusual selling flow, or a small catalogue where image carries all the value.
You really take no commission?
None, whatever your revenue. You pay the setup then the monthly fee, that is it. Your payment provider’s fees remain, as they do everywhere, and none of that comes to me. It is the argument that flips the maths at serious volume, and does nothing at low volume: which is exactly why I tell you to run the numbers.
Can I get my Shopify store back?
Partly. Your products, customers and orders export as CSV, which is already a lot and better than most platforms. What does not travel: the storefront itself, its settings, your automations, and the data living inside the apps you installed. A migration is still a project, but it starts from a recoverable database.
My Shopify store is slow. Can you help without me leaving the platform?
Yes, and that is often the right move. A lighter theme, unnecessary apps removed, images converted, scripts deferred: a slow Shopify store gains a lot without changing platform. Start with the free audit, it will tell you what costs the most, then optimizations are quoted by batch with the expected gain.
Unsure about
your own case?
30 minutes to compare against your numbers. If Shopify is the right call for you, I will say so, and it will still have been a useful call.