4 Less Expensive Alternatives to Shopify

If you have products to sell and you're thinking about starting an online business to hawk your wares, then there's plenty of solid e-commerce platforms available to help you. Online shopping cart platform Shopify, an Editors' Choice pick in our e-commerce review roundup, is one of the best tools of this kind. This is especially so if you need advanced functionality that will help your website grow as your business expands. And don't forget to use a virtual private network (VPN) to minimize the risk of security breaches by hackers intent on intercepting your customers' online financial transactions.

As far as online shopping cart functionality goes, Shopify (Free Trial at Shopify) offers five plans, starting with a plan for $9 per month. The next step up is its Basic plan, which costs $29 per month. This plan is ideal for mom-and-pop businesses that want to test out the solution before making a larger investment. However, if you've got more than 25 products to sell, then you'll have to upgrade to Shopify's $79 Standard plan. Some small businesses may find this plan a bit too expensive, especially after you factor in Shopify's credit card transaction fees (2.9 percent plus 30 cents for every online transaction).

If you're really invested in e-commerce, then Shopify also offers its Advanced plan for $299 per month. This plan offers all of the bells and whistles e-commerce has to offer—but that's probably not why you've scrolled this far into this article. You're looking to sell online, but you're looking to do it on a budget.

Fortunately, you don't have to settle for Shopify. Although it's the online shopping cart platform we dubbed our Editors' Choice, there are several more affordable alternatives you should consider, especially if price is your main concern, or if your particular web hosting provider happens to support a different platform.

1. 3dcart

One of our highest-rated platforms is 3dcart ($19 Per Month at Shift4Shop) , which offers a plan similar to Shopify's Standard plan at $19.99 per month for 200 products and 4,000 site visits per month. For a similar price to what you'd pay with Shopify, 3dcart offers a $35.99 plan that lets you list 1,000 products and receive up to 8,000 visits per month. If you're just getting started, you can also opt for the Nano plan, which is just $9.99 per month for up to 25 products and 2,000 monthly visitors.

What's especially great about 3dcart is that it doesn't charge transaction fees at any level of service. Even the Nano program is service fee-free. Unfortunately, you will miss out on some of Shopify's robust functionality; for example, Shopify doesn't offer a limit on products the way 3dcart does, so if you're expecting your product selection to skyrocket past 1,000 items, 3dcart might not be the most affordable option at that level.

2. Ecwid

Another highly rated e-commerce tool is Ecwid ($15.00 at Ecwid) , which comes in several affordable plans. First, you can opt for Ecwid's free plan, which lets you list up to 10 products with no restrictions on visitors, bandwidth, or storage. It also doesn't charge transaction fees at any level. If you sell more than 10 products, the Venture plan ($15 per month) allows you to list up to 100 products. Unlike the free plan, Venture lets you use discount coupons, and it integrates with PayPal for offline transactions. If you sell up to 2,500 products, you can opt for the Business plan ($35 per month). With this lofty plan you'll receive one-to-one support for setting up the store, and you can implement live chat support functionality.

One important thing to consider about Ecwid: It doesn't provide you with your own website. You'll have to create a site and add Ecwid to an already-existing destination. Shopify offers a similar plan for $9 per month. Both store-less options limit the additional functionality you'll find on Shopify's premium plans. For example: they don't offer integrated email marketing applications, or abandoned cart notifications. For Ecwid, you'll have to use the application programming interface (API) to set up supplemental third party tools.

3. Volusion

Volusion ($15.00 at Volusion) is a good middle-of-the-pack option that works better for small businesses than it does for enterprises. Volusion offers two plans that compete with Shopify's $29 per month offering: the $15-per-month Mini plan, which only lets you list 100 products, and the Plus plan, which costs $35 per month for up to 1,000 products. None of Volusion's plans require you to pay transaction fees.

Unfortunately, Volusion isn't the easiest software to use, and it's got some add-on fees that raise the price above the advertised $15 per month. For example: There is the monthly PCI service fee, which can range from $1.83 to $3. There is also a one-time $25 fee for removing the "Powered by Volusion" link on your page, and a $10 monthly statement fee in order to see an itemized bill. You also need to pay a one-time $99 fee to install an SSL certificate for accepting credit card payments.

4. Magento

Unless a company is paying you to use its e-commerce platform, you won't find a better price than Magento, which is free. This open-source platform requires you to host your website on your own server, which means you'll have to manage everything, including coding, updates, modifications, and maintenance. The good news is that there are no restrictions on products or users. If you can manage the workload, Magento ($0.00 at Magento) can be as large as you'd like it to be.

Unfortunately, add-ons such as customer service and third-party apps will cost you. Also, Magento isn't plug-and-play so, if you have no technical background or you're not willing to hire someone with a technical background, you'll probably be better off with another one of these systems.