BetterCommerce vs Shopify — Which Is the better commerce platform in 2024?

BetterCommerce

BetterCommerce positions itself as an commerce platform built for the specific requirements of medium-to-large and enterprise businesses. It caters to businesses that require a high degree of customisation, robust integrations, and the ability to handle complex workflows. 

Shopify

A comprehensive commerce solution designed for entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized businesses. While their core strength lies in empowering individual sellers and startups, they are actively adding features to cater to the needs of larger, enterprise-level businesses.

BetterCommerce

BetterCommerce streamlines B2B transactions with features like approval workflows, line-item quoting (RFQ), user spending limits, and order-based pricing models for flexible structures like volume discounts. It helps businesses strengthen wholesale relationships and optimise B2B sales.

Shopify

Shopify provides basic B2B features but lacks key functionalities for larger businesses, such as approval workflows, line-item quoting (RFQ), user spending limits, and order-based pricing models essential for B2B transactions.

BetterCommerce

BetterCommerce headless architecture decouples the storefront from backend functions, offering flexibility. Its open API allows complete control for coders, while third-party front-end tools enable businesses to modify storefronts with less developer dependence.

Shopify

Shopify's Hydrogen and Oxygen offer a powerful web development framework with a dedicated hosting platform. However, these tools are geared towards developers, and business users may require developer assistance for storefront modifications.    

BetterCommerce

BetterCommerce emphasises extensibility with its open API-first architecture, enabling developers to use various tools and integrate third-party applications without vendor lock-in. This flexibility allows your store to adapt and grow with your business needs.

Shopify

Shopify mainly provides customisation through built-in features and third-party apps, many of which are exclusive or optimised for its platform. This can limit options and create vendor lock-in, making it challenging to switch to another platform.

BetterCommerce

BetterCommerce provides a user-friendly experience with built-in tools for visual checkout adjustments, eliminating the need for coding. Its well-documented API allows for further customisation, while features like guest checkout and multiple payment options enhance speed and security.

Shopify

Shopify provides built-in features and a marketplace of third-party apps for customisation, but many of these are exclusive to its platform, limiting options and risking vendor lock-in. Extending the platform with custom functionality beyond its defined features is also restricted.

BetterCommerce

BetterCommerce architecture ensures efficient handling of high-volume traffic and complex workflows, accommodating your growth without limitations. This eliminates the need for expensive plan upgrades based on transaction volume, unlike platforms where basic plans might restrict your scalability.

Shopify

While Shopify excels for many businesses, its functionality may not efficiently handle the complex needs of companies exceeding $50 million in GMV. Consider a platform designed to scale alongside your growing business.    

BetterCommerce

High availability, very scalable cloud-native infrastructure that works within Azure.

Shopify

Shopify uses Google Cloud for a reliable, scalable infrastructure, but customers cannot manage the underlying systems directly and must rely on Shopify's hosted solution.

BetterCommerce

BetterCommerce believes in helping retailers with their commerce journey. BetterCommerce success lies in retailer success and hence a contract can be broken anytime by giving 30 days’ prior notice.

Shopify

Shopify's closed ecosystem can lead to significant vendor lock-in, as many integrations work only within the platform, making future migration challenging.

BetterCommerce

BetterCommerce provides a user-friendly experience with visual configuration tools for easy checkout adjustments and a well-documented API for further customisation. It enhances the checkout process with guest checkout, various payment options, and a focus on speed and security.

Shopify

Shopify utilises a proprietary checkout system hosted on a separate domain from your main storefront (headless implementation). While this offers security benefits, it can create challenges for cross-domain tracking and integrating analytics tools.

BetterCommerce

While Shopify offers quick launches for simple stores, BetterCommerce efficiently supports complex businesses with its headless architecture and pre-built components, enabling functional storefronts in about 4-6 weeks. Its true strength is in scalability, allowing businesses to customise and adapt their storefronts as their needs evolve without compromising speed.

Shopify

Shopify excels at launching basic online stores quickly due to its predefined features and streamlined deployment process. However, this speed may not translate to complex enterprise needs requiring extensive customisation. For such businesses, a more flexible platform might be necessary.    

BetterCommerce

BetterCommerce provides a clear tiered pricing structure, enabling you to select a plan that fits your business and budget. Each plan includes a comprehensive range of built-in features, such as marketing tools and loyalty programs, reducing development and customisation costs compared to platforms needing extensive coding. Subscription starts from $36k.

Shopify

Shopify presents a strong value with a low total cost of ownership but faces limitations in customisation and scalability. This can result in a lower return on investment for complex businesses, which may need a more flexible platform to support their growth from the beginning.

BetterCommerce

Average Cost starts from £150k

Shopify

Shopify boasts very low ongoing costs, typically around $5,000 per month after an initial setup ranging from $50,000 to $100,000. However, exceeding $800,000 in revenue incurs an additional 0.25% transaction fee.