Shopify
The value is the network, the data or the infrastructure. Keep paying.
A hosted store: catalogue, checkout, payments, tax, shipping rates and an app ecosystem, with the infrastructure to survive a launch day traffic spike.
Do not build a store. If you must own the stack, use an open commerce backend. WHY THIS IS THE CLEAREST KEEP-PAYING CASE HERE - Checkout conversion, tax and fraud are each a company's worth of work - A home-made checkout that converts one per cent worse costs more than the plan on any real volume IF YOU GENUINELY NEED TO OWN IT STACK - Medusa or Saleor as the backend, Astro for the storefront, Stripe for payments WHAT TO WRITE YOURSELF - The storefront only: catalogue pages, search, cart - Everything else comes from the backend WHAT TO BUY EVEN THEN - Tax as a service; do not calculate rates yourself - Fraud screening from the payment provider ORDERS - An order is created by the payment webhook, never by the browser returning from checkout - Idempotency keys everywhere, so a retried webhook cannot duplicate an order Include the storefront, the webhook handler and a README on the tax service.
What you lose
- A checkout tested against billions of orders, where a one per cent conversion difference is worth more than the whole subscription
- Tax calculation and filing across jurisdictions, which changes constantly and is not something to own
- Payments, fraud screening and chargeback handling
- An app ecosystem, a theme market and staff who already know the admin
If you would rather not build
- WooCommerce, if WordPress is already there
The escape hatch
open source · no votes, no paid placement
Medusa
$0A headless commerce backend in Node; you bring the storefront.
medusajs/medusafree · open source
Why this verdict
our own opinion · changed only by a person
14/100
Verdict no at 14, one of the lowest on the site. Not because the code is impossible, but because checkout conversion and tax compliance are worth far more than the fee.
History
tracked since 10 Aug 2026 · nothing is ever overwritten
Questions about Shopify
answered from the record above
Is Shopify free?
No — the plan we track is $39 a month. Basic at $39/month billed monthly, $29 annually, plus card processing fees on every order.
Can you replace Shopify by building your own?
KEEP IT. The value is the network, the data or the infrastructure. Keep paying. Replacement score 14 out of 100, build time longer than it saves. Read what you lose before you decide.
How much does Shopify cost?
$39 a month on Basic — $468 a year. Recorded 10 Aug 2026.
What do you lose by replacing Shopify?
A checkout tested against billions of orders, where a one per cent conversion difference is worth more than the whole subscription; Tax calculation and filing across jurisdictions, which changes constantly and is not something to own; Payments, fraud screening and chargeback handling; An app ecosystem, a theme market and staff who already know the admin. If any of those carry weight for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Shopify?
Yes: Medusa, Saleor. The prompt on this page is for when you want it your way instead.
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