Anticode vs Shopify: a full commerce platform, or a designed site for a few products
Shopify is a commerce platform: themes, its own checkout, inventory, shipping, taxes and an app store, priced per month plus card rates. Anticode builds designed sites, including a store layout for a small catalogue, where every buy button opens the same payment link from your own provider. If you need carts, stock and fulfilment, use Shopify. For a handful of products, Anticode may be enough, and it can point at Shopify's checkout.
The short answer
Shopify is the better choice for a business whose main job is selling online: a cart with many products, stock levels, shipping rates, tax, discounts, staff accounts and the apps that grow up around those. Anticode is the better choice for a business that sells a few things alongside its main site, such as a studio selling prints, a coach selling packages or a maker taking pre-orders, and wants that site designed and checked without running a store.
What each one is built for
Shopify's online store page says you can generate a store design with AI or start from more than 800 themes and customise it in a visual editor, or build fully custom with Liquid or headless tools. It describes Sidekick, an AI assistant for setting up and running the business, and an app store with more than 16,000 apps. Orders and inventory, shipping, taxes and domains each have their own section of the product.
Anticode's Architect turns a sentence into a plan, and its design engine can lay that out as an online store: product sections, a Shop page, pricing and an FAQ, in one of seven design systems. Buy and pricing buttons open a checkout link from Stripe Payment Links, PayPal, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, Shopify or Whop. There is one payment link per account, so every button opens the same checkout; for several products, point it at a product list or multi-item checkout at your provider. Anticode has no cart, no stock levels, no shipping or tax handling and no order management; your payment provider handles the payment and the receipt.
Side by side
| Anticode | Shopify | |
|---|---|---|
| Design approach | Seven design systems, nineteen design checks and a design gate | 800+ themes or an AI-generated store design, edited visually or in Liquid |
| How you build | Describe it, answer up to three questions, then edit visually or in words | Pick or generate a theme, add products, extend with apps |
| Checkout and payments | Buy buttons open your account's one payment link; no cart | Shopify's own checkout and payments, with card rates per plan |
| Code ownership and export | One HTML file or a Next.js project; push to GitHub | Theme code in Liquid; the store runs on Shopify |
| Hosting and custom domains | anticode.dev address free; own domain on paid plans | Hosted by Shopify, with domains as part of the platform |
| Security checks | Twelve checks on the shipped HTML; failing pages can't be published | Checkout and payments run by Shopify |
| Pricing model | Daily and weekly build allowance, a quote before each build | Monthly plan plus card rates, or a fee on third-party payments |
| Best for | A few products sold from a designed business site | Stores that need carts, inventory, shipping and tax |
What it costs to sell
As of 24 October 2026, Shopify's pricing page, showing US prices in US dollars, lists Basic at $29 a month billed yearly or $39 billed monthly, Grow at $79 or $105, Advanced at $299 or $399, and Plus from $2,300 a month. Online card rates start at 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic and fall on higher plans, and Basic charges a 2% fee when you use a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify's own. New stores get three days free, then $1 a month for three months.
Anticode's plans charge for building, not selling: a daily and a weekly allowance measured by what each build actually cost, with a quote before each build. Anticode takes no cut of sales, but your payment provider charges its own fees on each payment link. Plan prices are on the pricing page.
Using both together
If you already sell on Shopify, you don't have to choose. Shopify's help centre describes checkout links, also called cart permalinks, that you can put on web pages as ordinary links or buttons; each customer who follows one gets a fresh checkout. The article says you can create one from a product page once the Buy Button sales channel is installed. Set that link as your Anticode payment link and the site is designed and hosted by Anticode while Shopify runs the checkout and the order. The payment links page shows where the link goes.
Where Shopify is the better choice
- A real catalogue. Many products and variants, a cart and a checkout built for them.
- Operations. Inventory, shipping, taxes and order management; Anticode has none of these.
- Apps. Reviews, subscriptions, loyalty and marketplaces as add-ons from a very large app store.
- Selling in person too. Shopify lists in-person card rates and a point-of-sale add-on.
- Staff. Grow and Advanced include multiple staff accounts for running the store.
Where Anticode is the better choice
- A site first, a shop second. A portfolio, studio or service site with a few things to buy.
- No monthly store fee for a small range. You pay for the site; payments go through a provider you choose.
- Design held to a system. One font family, one action colour and checks before publishing, rather than a theme you assemble.
- Pages without scripts. Design-engine pages ship no JavaScript, and twelve security checks run on the HTML before it can go live.
Who should pick which
A brand shipping physical products to customers in several countries, with stock to track and staff to manage, should use Shopify. A ceramicist taking commissions, a consultant selling three packages or a band selling a record through a payment link can use Anticode, and if the shop grows, add Shopify behind the buttons later. Selling merch from your website covers the payment-link route step by step.
Anticode's limits
No cart or checkout flow on design-engine stores beyond payment links, no inventory, shipping or tax handling, no customer accounts on published sites and an English-only builder. The Fernwood template's cart runs inside its app sandbox and doesn't take real orders. The Shopify facts above come from its own pages as read on 24 October 2026; prices differ by country, so check the page for yours.
Questions people ask
Can an Anticode site use Shopify's checkout?
Yes. Create a checkout link in Shopify and set it as your Anticode payment link, which every buy button opens. Shopify then handles the payment and the order.
Does Anticode charge a fee on sales?
No. Payments go through your own provider's payment link, and that provider's fees apply.
When should I move from Anticode to Shopify?
When you need a cart for many products, stock tracking, shipping rates or tax handling. Those are outside what Anticode does.
Sources
- Shopify pricing, checked
- Shopify online store, checked
- Shopify Help Center: Cart permalinks, checked