Shopify alternatives for small sellers who need less than a full store
Shopify is built to run a store at any size: inventory, shipping, sales channels, thousands of apps. If you sell a handful of products, a lot of that goes unused, and the monthly plan is a fixed cost whether you sell or not. The Shopify alternatives below suit smaller sellers; if you need stock control, fulfilment or several sales channels, Shopify is still the stronger fit.
What Shopify costs, from its pricing page
As of 24 October 2026, Shopify's pricing page lists Basic at $39 a month, or $29 a month on yearly billing; Grow at $105, or $79 yearly; Advanced at $399, or $299 yearly; and Plus from $2,300 a month, all in US dollars. Online card payments on Basic are 2.9% plus 30 cents, and selling through a third-party payment provider adds a 2% fee on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced. New stores get a three-day trial and then $1 a month for three months on most plans.
Why small sellers look at alternatives
Shopify's online store page describes the breadth: orders and inventory, shipping, selling on social channels, marketplaces and point of sale, over 800 themes and more than 16,000 apps. For a growing shop that breadth is the point. For a ceramicist with six pieces, a band with a T-shirt, or a coach with three packages, it's more system than the job needs, and the plan fee is due in quiet months too. The question is how little you can get away with: a simpler shop, a sales page with checkout links, or a marketplace for digital goods.
What to export before you switch
- Products. Shopify's help centre explains how to export products as a CSV from the Products page. The file doesn't include product images, so download your photos separately.
- Customers and orders. Keep the records you need for tax, refunds and repeat customers before you close the store.
- Apps. List each installed app and what it does (reviews, subscriptions, upsells), because each one is a feature you'll need to replace or drop.
- URLs. Note your product and collection addresses so you can redirect them, and note your DNS settings before changing the domain.
Four simpler options
| Option | Good for | Cost and catch |
|---|---|---|
| Big Cartel | Artists and makers with a small shop | Its pricing page lists a free Gold plan, and Platinum at $15 a month on monthly billing with custom domains and shipping labels |
| Gumroad | Digital products, courses and memberships | No monthly fee; its pricing page lists 10% plus 50 cents per sale through your profile or direct links, and 30% for sales through Discover |
| Square Online | Sellers already taking in-person payments with Square; plans are on its plans page | Tied to Square payments, which its availability article lists in eight countries |
| Anticode with payment links | A designed site for a few products or services, with checkout handled by your payment provider | No cart, stock or shipping: every buy button opens the same checkout link |
Where Anticode fits
Anticode suits the seller whose shop is really a website with a few things to buy. You describe the business; the Architect asks up to three questions and shows a plan, and the site can include separate Shop, About, FAQ and Contact pages. Buy and pricing buttons point at a checkout link from Stripe Payment Links, PayPal, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Shopify or Whop, so the provider takes the payment and the card details never touch your site. See payment links.
That list includes Shopify. If you want to keep Shopify's checkout and order handling but not its storefront, you can use a Shopify checkout link on an Anticode page. For product descriptions that change often, CMS collections hold typed entries edited in the dashboard, each with its own page. Contact forms save enquiries, which helps for made-to-order work. Our guide to adding a buy button walks through the setup.
Where Anticode is the wrong replacement
- No cart. There's one payment link per account, so every buy button opens the same checkout; for several products, link to a product list or multi-item checkout at your provider.
- No inventory, shipping or tax. Nothing counts stock, calculates postage or handles tax; your payment provider or you do.
- No sales channels. No marketplace, social or point-of-sale selling.
- No payments on the page. Checkout always happens on your provider's page, through a link.
- No visitor accounts, and English only. Customers can't sign in to order history, and the builder and sites are in English.
When Shopify is the better choice
If you track stock across variants, ship parcels every day, sell through several channels or plan to grow the catalogue, Shopify is designed for exactly that, and the simpler options above will start to hold you back. Its apps and themes cover needs that a small tool won't. Moving makes sense when the plan fee outweighs the features you use. If you're unsure, count last month's orders and the apps you actually opened. For a direct comparison, see Anticode vs Shopify.
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest way to sell a few products online?
It depends on what you sell. Big Cartel has a free plan, Gumroad charges per sale with no monthly fee, and a site with payment links costs only your site plan plus your provider's fees.
Does Shopify's product export include images?
No. Shopify's help centre says product images aren't included in the CSV file, so download them separately before you close a store.
Can I use Shopify's checkout with another website?
Anticode's buy buttons can point at a Shopify checkout link, so the site and the checkout can come from different places.
Sources
- Shopify pricing, checked
- Shopify online store, checked
- Shopify Help: Exporting products, checked
- Big Cartel pricing, checked
- Gumroad pricing, checked
- Square Online plans, checked
- Square Support: International availability, checked