As we step into 2025, e-commerce is not just a trend; it’s the future of business. In the ever-expanding online marketplace, choosing the right platform for your e-commerce store can make or break your business. Shopify has long been a leader in this space, and it’s still one of the most powerful tools for building, managing, and scaling online stores. But with so many competitors emerging in the market, is Shopify still the best e-commerce builder in 2025?
Let’s dive deep into Shopify’s features, pros, cons, user experience, pricing, and more to help you decide if it’s the right fit for your business.
Overview of Shopify
Founded in 2006, Shopify is an e-commerce platform that provides everything you need to build, run, and scale an online store. From small businesses just starting to major corporations looking to scale globally, Shopify is trusted by over 2 million businesses worldwide. Its user-friendly interface, scalability, and vast array of features make it a popular choice for entrepreneurs and established businesses alike.
But what truly sets Shopify apart from the competition? In 2025, Shopify is not just an online store builder—it’s a comprehensive e-commerce ecosystem designed to help businesses thrive. With its extensive range of features, integrations, and support, Shopify continues to dominate the market. Whether you’re selling physical products, digital goods, or services, Shopify has something to offer.
In this review, we’ll break down everything you need to know about Shopify, from its core features to pricing and customer support. We’ll also compare it with some of its top competitors to see how it stacks up in today’s market.
Shopify at a Glance
Before diving into the specifics of the platform, here’s a quick overview of Shopify’s main features and what you can expect from the platform:
Core Features
- Ease of Use: Shopify is designed to be intuitive, even for users with no coding experience. The drag-and-drop interface and easy-to-follow setup guide make creating your online store simple and quick.
- Customizable Templates: Shopify offers a wide range of professionally designed themes and templates that you can customize to match your brand’s identity. You can change the look and feel of your store without needing to touch a line of code.
- Scalability: Shopify is suitable for businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re running a small local shop or managing a global enterprise, Shopify scales with your business.
- Mobile Optimization: With the majority of consumers shopping on mobile devices, Shopify ensures that your online store is fully optimized for mobile, providing a smooth and consistent shopping experience across all devices.
- 24/7 Customer Support: Shopify provides excellent customer support through live chat, email, and phone. Plus, there’s an extensive knowledge base and community forums to help you find solutions to any issues you may encounter.
- Integrations and App Store: Shopify has a vast ecosystem of apps and integrations that allow you to enhance your store with additional features such as advanced marketing tools, inventory management, and analytics.
Now that we’ve got an overview of Shopify, let’s break down its strengths, weaknesses, and everything in between.
Shopify Pros, Cons, & Things That Could Be Better
Pros
1. User-Friendly Interface
Shopify has a reputation for being incredibly easy to use. Setting up a store is straightforward, even for beginners. You don’t need to know how to code or have any technical expertise to get started. The interface is clean, intuitive, and simple to navigate. Whether you’re adding products, setting up payment gateways, or customizing your theme, the process is designed to be user-friendly.
2. Scalable for Any Business
One of Shopify’s strongest features is its scalability. The platform is suitable for both small businesses and large enterprises. Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur with a handful of products or a global brand with thousands of SKUs, Shopify can grow with you. The platform is robust enough to handle high traffic, complex inventory management, and multiple sales channels.
3. Extensive Features and Integrations
Shopify comes with a vast array of built-in features and integrations. From inventory tracking and shipping labels to advanced analytics and customer segmentation, Shopify gives you everything you need to run your online store. Additionally, with the Shopify App Store, you can easily extend the platform’s functionality by adding third-party apps for email marketing, accounting, customer support, and more.
4. Mobile Optimization
Shopify offers mobile-responsive themes, ensuring your online store will look great and function perfectly on smartphones and tablets. Since mobile commerce (m-commerce) is rapidly increasing, this feature is essential for staying competitive in the e-commerce space.
5. Payment Integration and Shopify Payments
Shopify makes it easy to accept payments through its own payment gateway, Shopify Payments. This integration allows you to manage transactions within the platform and avoid extra transaction fees that come with third-party payment providers. Shopify Payments supports multiple currencies and offers a seamless checkout experience.
6. 24/7 Customer Support
Shopify offers exceptional customer support that is available 24/7 through live chat, email, and phone. In addition to direct support, Shopify has a vast knowledge base with articles, video tutorials, and forums, allowing you to find solutions to most problems independently.
7. Comprehensive Analytics and Reporting
Shopify provides powerful analytics and reporting tools that give you deep insights into your store’s performance. You can track sales, customer behavior, traffic sources, and much more. These reports are essential for making data-driven decisions to grow your business.
Cons
1. Transaction Fees for Third-Party Payment Gateways
While Shopify Payments is the preferred payment provider for Shopify stores, using third-party payment gateways incurs additional transaction fees. These fees range from 2.0% to 3.0% depending on your plan, which can add up quickly if you process a lot of transactions through third-party providers.
2. Monthly Subscription Fees
Shopify’s subscription plans start at $39 per month for the Basic plan, which is a reasonable price for many small businesses. However, as you scale, you may need to upgrade to higher-tier plans that can cost anywhere from $79 to $299 per month. This pricing can be expensive for some businesses, especially when factoring in app and transaction fees.
3. Additional Costs for Apps and Themes
While Shopify offers a wide range of free themes and apps, many of the most useful and advanced features are locked behind premium apps and themes. Depending on the needs of your store, you may find yourself paying for several apps, which can quickly add up in terms of monthly costs.
4. Limited Customization Without Coding
Although Shopify is relatively easy to use, it can be somewhat limiting when it comes to customization without code. For businesses that need a unique design or highly tailored functionality, you may need to hire a developer to implement those changes. For non-technical users, this can be a challenge.
5. Learning Curve for Advanced Features
While Shopify is beginner-friendly, there is a learning curve for its more advanced features. As your business grows, you may want to use tools like Shopify Flow, advanced reporting, or third-party apps. These features are powerful but require some time to learn and master.
Things That Could Be Better
- Fewer Limitations on Customization: Shopify provides a lot of customization options, but it’s still not as flexible as some open-source platforms like WooCommerce, especially when it comes to complex designs and functionality.
- Simplify the Pricing Structure: Shopify’s pricing can be somewhat confusing, especially when you add up the costs of apps, themes, and transaction fees. A more transparent pricing model would be helpful.
- More Built-In Features: Some features that competitors include in their base plans, like advanced shipping rules, are available in Shopify but require apps or higher-tier plans.
Templates
When it comes to building an online store, the design plays a crucial role in creating a strong first impression. Shopify offers an impressive collection of customizable templates to help you create a visually appealing and user-friendly store quickly. Whether you’re selling clothing, electronics, or digital products, Shopify has something for every niche.
Shopify Templates Let You Build Gorgeous-Looking Stores Fast
Shopify’s template library is one of its greatest strengths. The platform offers over 70 professionally designed themes that cover a wide range of industries, from fashion and beauty to electronics and home goods. Many of these templates are mobile-optimized, ensuring your store will look great on any device. There are both free and premium templates available, with premium themes typically costing between $100 and $200.
The best part? These templates are highly customizable. You can modify the colors, fonts, and layout of your store using the theme editor, even if you have no coding experience. For more advanced customizations, Shopify allows you to access the code and make deeper changes to your site’s design.
Design and Customization
Shopify’s design capabilities are impressive, but there are some limitations. While you can customize the look and feel of your store using the theme editor, certain features require knowledge of HTML, CSS, and Liquid (Shopify’s templating language). If you want a completely unique design or advanced functionality, you may need to hire a developer to implement these changes. However, for most businesses, the existing templates will be more than enough to create a beautiful and functional store.
Features
Shopify is packed with an impressive range of features that cater to businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re just starting or looking to scale, these tools streamline the entire e-commerce process. From product management to advanced analytics and multi-channel selling, Shopify offers everything you need to run a successful online store.
Shopify Has More Features Than I Have Room to Show
Shopify’s vast array of features sets it apart from many competitors. The platform comes equipped with everything you need to run your online store, including product management, order fulfillment, payment processing, and more. Here are just a few of the most important features Shopify offers:
1. Product Management
Shopify makes it easy to manage your products, whether you have a handful of items or thousands. You can add products manually or import them in bulk, organize them into categories, and manage inventory with ease. Shopify also supports various product types, including physical, digital, and service-based products.
2. Inventory Tracking
Shopify tracks inventory in real time, alerting you when stock levels are low. You can set up automatic stock alerts and even integrate with third-party inventory management apps to streamline this process.
3. SEO Tools
Shopify provides built-in tools to optimize your store for search engines. You can customize meta descriptions, page titles, and URLs for each product and collection to improve search engine visibility. Shopify also generates sitemaps automatically, which helps Google index your store.
4. Abandoned Cart Recovery
Shopify offers an abandoned cart recovery feature, which sends automated emails to customers who abandon their shopping carts. This feature can help you recover lost sales and increase your conversion rate.
5. Shipping and Fulfillment
Shopify integrates with major shipping carriers like UPS, USPS, and DHL, making it easy to calculate shipping costs, print labels, and track orders. Shopify also offers its own Fulfillment Network, which handles storage, packing, and shipping for you.
6. Payment Gateways
Shopify supports over 100 payment gateways, including its own Shopify Payments system. Shopify Payments eliminates the need for third-party payment processors and reduces transaction fees.
7. Customer Management
Shopify’s customer management system allows you to segment your customers, track their behavior, and send personalized marketing campaigns. You can also view customer purchase history and create loyalty programs to encourage repeat purchases.
Ease of Use
When it comes to ease of use, Shopify is a standout. Whether you’re a complete beginner or have some experience with e-commerce platforms, Shopify’s intuitive interface makes setting up and managing an online store straightforward. The platform is designed with simplicity in mind, ensuring that users can quickly navigate and utilize its powerful features.
My Experience with Shopify
Getting started with Shopify was incredibly easy. After signing up, I was walked through the process of setting up my store step by step. The interface is user-friendly, and even someone with minimal technical knowledge can get their store up and running quickly.
I was able to choose a template, customize it to fit my brand, and start adding products without much effort. Shopify’s intuitive drag-and-drop system makes it easy to create a professional-looking store without any design experience.
Customizing My Shopify Website
Customizing my store was a breeze. Shopify’s theme editor is simple to use, and I could easily adjust the colors, fonts, and layout to match my brand. For more advanced changes, I could dive into the code if needed, though I didn’t feel the need to do that for most of my customizations.
Save Time with Shopify Magic
Shopify Magic is a new AI-driven feature that automates many time-consuming tasks. For example, it can generate product descriptions, suggest pricing, and even help with marketing copy. This tool is incredibly useful for busy entrepreneurs who need to save time.
Additional Ease of Use Features
Shopify goes beyond the basic e-commerce setup by offering several additional features that make running an online store even easier. These tools streamline day-to-day operations, automate tasks, and save you time, ensuring you can focus on growing your business while Shopify handles the complexities of managing your store.
Shopify Shipping
Shopify’s built-in shipping features make it easy to print shipping labels, track orders, and calculate shipping costs. Shopify partners with major shipping carriers to offer discounted rates, helping you save money on shipping.
Shopify Fulfillment Network
Shopify’s Fulfillment Network is an excellent option for merchants who want to outsource their fulfillment. Shopify handles everything from inventory storage to packing and shipping, allowing you to focus on growing your business.
Shopify Email
Shopify Email is an integrated email marketing tool that allows you to create and send marketing emails directly from your Shopify store. You can segment your customers based on their shopping behavior and send targeted campaigns to boost sales.
Pricing
When it comes to pricing, Shopify offers several plans designed to meet the needs of businesses at various stages of growth. The platform’s pricing is generally competitive, though it may seem on the higher side for smaller businesses just starting out. Below, we break down Shopify’s available plans and associated costs.
It Could Be Cheaper, but It’s Fair
Shopify’s pricing starts at $39 per month for the Basic plan. For businesses that need more advanced features, the Shopify plan costs $79 per month, while the Advanced Shopify plan costs $299 per month. Transaction fees are additional unless you use Shopify Payments.
While Shopify is more expensive than some competitors, the value you get in terms of features, support, and scalability makes it worth the price for many businesses.
Conclusion
Shopify continues to be a top choice for entrepreneurs and businesses in 2025. Its ease of use, scalability, and vast feature set make it an excellent platform for building and growing an online store. While the pricing may be a bit higher than some competitors, the value it offers in terms of functionality and support is unmatched.
If you’re serious about e-commerce and want a platform that can grow with your business, Shopify is still one of the best options available.
FAQ
Is Shopify easy to use for beginners?
Yes! Shopify is known for its user-friendly interface and step-by-step setup process, making it ideal for beginners.
Can I sell on multiple platforms with Shopify?
Yes, Shopify integrates with multiple sales channels, including Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and eBay.
How much does Shopify cost?
Shopify’s plans start at $39 per month, with additional fees for apps, themes, and third-party payment gateways.
Does Shopify provide customer support?
Yes, Shopify offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, email, and phone.
Is Shopify good for mobile stores?
Absolutely! All of Shopify’s themes are mobile-responsive, ensuring your store will look great and function seamlessly on smartphones and tablets.