Shopify vs Etsy: Which Is Better for Online Stores?

Etsy has 7.5 million users selling to over 96 million buyers. In 2022, shoppers spent $2.6 billion on the platform. Shopify has an even more impressive figure of $5.6 billion sold globally on Shopify in 2022.

There are pros and cons to selling on either Shopify or Etsy. This is why we do our research to provide you with the information to make the best decision for your growing business. Let’s find out what platform will work best for you.

First, let’s take a look at what Shopify and Etsy offer exactly. How do they differ? What do they excel at? Where do they fall short?

Shopify is an ecommerce platform, designed for people to set up and grow their online stores (check out some successful stores built with Shopify). It has a whole bunch of powerful ecommerce tools and apps to help you do this.

With Shopify, you create your very own ecommerce website. It allows you to upload products, analyze data for marketing, and track customer orders. It’s an easy way to build an online store.

On the other hand, Etsy is a marketplace similar to Amazon, where you can upload your products to the platform and compete with other Etsy users to sell them. You create an account to sell from and have one page where you can add a little store description along with all your products. It promotes itself as “a creative marketplace”, and only sells handmade, vintage, or craft goods.

Author note on Shopify vs Etsy’s differences:

“The major difference between these two is that Etsy has a customer base that you can tap into, but you’ll need to build up good customer ratings to get recommended. While Shopify requires more work up front to build your store and acquire customers, in the long run you can market more to your customers via email campaigns. If you can afford the fees, sometimes people start with Etsy, then integrate their Shopify store to get those customers over to Shopify, before either winding down or dropping Etsy.”

Etsy Pattern

Though Etsy is positioned as a marketplace, it does also have an ecommerce platform — called Etsy Pattern — where you can build a website to sell your products. Interestingly, it has less restrictions on products than the Etsy marketplace, so it could be one to consider if your products don’t fit the usual Etsy niche.

You can try Etsy Pattern for free for 30 days. After that, it costs $15 per month. Because this is separate from the Etsy marketplace, it’s worth noting that you’ll be responsible for generating your own traffic.

Overall, it’s a simple platform — it’s not up to the same standard as Shopify by any means, but it’s a good add-on if you do choose to sell through the Etsy marketplace.

You must already be an Etsy seller to set up Etsy Pattern — in this article, we’ll only be reviewing Etsy as a marketplace, rather than exploring its website builder service.

Further Information

• Best Website Builders: Check out our list of the best website builders on the market, and find one that suits your business best.
• Selling Digital Downloads: See how Shopify and Etsy compare when it comes to selling digital downloads.

The Winner

Both Shopify and Etsy are very easy to use...

It’s too close to call a winner! Shopify requires a little more time and effort to understand, as opposed to the speed of setting up a store with Etsy, but Shopify is very easy to use considering its library of powerful ecommerce tools.

You won’t need to be a tech guru to sell online with Shopify or Etsy. In our latest testing, Shopify got an increase in ease of use score of 13.4% since last year, raising its score to 4 out of 5. This increase is due to it becoming easier to add products and having a great inventory system for those with a lot of products. Users in testing said:

“The products page has a lot of useful settings that you can apply to your inventory.”

Shopify is designed to make building your online store as easy as possible. It even offers some neat AI generative text tools to make product descriptions a breeze.

Ecommerce platforms often struggle with this because of all the powerful tools needed to run an ecommerce business, but Shopify excels at making it a smooth process.

Shopify makes sure to guide its users through set-up with action buttons and a beginner-friendly menu. Plus, once you’ve entered all of your information, Shopify then helps manage your store by syncing your inventory, tracking orders, and more. To put it simply, Shopify gives you everything you need while keeping its interface clean, tidy, and easy to use.

Etsy is less in-depth than Shopify, but just as easy to use. It’s super simple and straightforward, so you can get to grips with the site quickly.

All you need to do is set up an account, answer a few questions, choose your store name, stock your store, take great product photos, and enter your billing details to make sure you get paid! Another important part of standing out on Etsy is writing good product descriptions to make sure potential customers can find what you’re selling.

Just like Shopify, Etsy guides users through each step which makes it easy to fill out each stage:

You can see how close you are to having your Etsy store set up, and it even helps you with catered suggestions for your store name if your first choice isn’t available.

Once you’re all finished with the setup process, that’s it. You can start selling! This makes it ideal if you’re a beginner and you want to get your store running quickly.

With Etsy, you don’t have to create a whole website like you do with Shopify, which takes away from some of the workload. Just upload your products and descriptions, set up a store page, then you’re good to go. You could be an online seller within the hour.

Both Shopify and Etsy are super simple to use. Shopify is slightly more technical than Etsy, but considering its number of powerful ecommerce tools, it really is remarkably beginner-friendly. Etsy is quicker and more simple to set up though.

The Winner

Shopify is the best for design flexibility...

Shopify offers greater customization options than Etsy to help you build a stylish and aesthetically pleasing store. While Etsy lets you showcase product lists, Shopify lets you design a store with your brand in mind.

Build Your Store With Shopify

Have you ever been put off an online store because of its horrible web design? You’re not the only one!

With Etsy, the worry about making the right design choices is taken off your plate. However, it does make it harder to stand out from the crowd – you get only one page and it’s more of a product listing page than a website.

Your store page will follow Etsy’s design and layout, all seller pages on Etsy are laid out the same, with your store name, logo, products, and descriptions customizable for your own content.

It’s both an advantage and a disadvantage. You can trust that Etsy uses a clean, clear, and attractive design that shows off your products and provides a great user experience. But, at the same time, Etsy gives you very limited room for customization, so it’s hard to separate your store from the thousands of others.

Etsy isn’t the right choice if you want to create a really strong brand online.

It’s a great service if you’re selling a few items, or just finding your footing. But, if you want to grow your business, you’ll need to build a unique and solid brand which just isn’t possible on Etsy.

Building a brand is possible on Shopify. When creating your store, Shopify gives you over 137 themes to choose from, 12 of which are completely free. These themes form the building blocks of your website. All themes allow you to customize the colors, fonts, and images to make it truly unique.

Our research scores Shopify 4.4 out of 5 for design, the very best on the market. Shopify’s themes cover a whole range of industries, from furniture to clothing and fashion. So, you’re sure to find something to suit your needs.

Author Tip:

“While it might seem like going for a free theme is the best option, we recommend investing in a Shopify template that has the features you need. As well as guiding the design of your website, your theme also comes with tailored features to benefit your chosen industry. For example, a product zoom feature for clothing stores.”

Currently, Shopify has 12 free themes and over 150 paid ones, ranging in price from $150 to $390. All themes are mobile-responsive, professional, and modern. Also you can easily switch themes at any time (you just might need to reformat your content to match).

The themes are there to help you, so it’s always a good idea to pick one that matches the purpose of your store, and has a design that you like. But, you can personalize, edit, and rearrange as much as you want.

With Shopify, you can create a truly distinctive brand for your online store.

The Winner

Shopify has the best sales features of any platform...

For sales features, Shopify has the best, in our ecommerce platform research. It’s great for stores with more complex, or larger inventories. Along with its built-in features, Shopify also has everything from store design to marketing, email, and an extensive app store.

Check Out Shopify's Sales Features

Design and domain names are all very well, but if your site has poor ecommerce tools, you’ll run into trouble fairly quickly — the main aim, after all, is to sell your products.

Etsy has basic, but good ecommerce features, which makes managing your shop straightforward. Helpfully, you can use the ‘Sell on Etsy App’ to stay on top of things when you’re on the go.

You can use your Etsy account to easily buy and print discounted postage, too. This will help you save on shipping costs as well as speeding up the process.

Etsy also has some basic marketing and advertising tools to increase your customer base, get found online, and draw in new followers. An especially useful feature considering it can be hard to stand out within the Etsy marketplace. You can share across social platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, create coupons, or use third-party tools such as Google Shopping to widen your audience reach.

Remember you can only sell handmade goods, vintage products, and craft supplies on Etsy. If you want to sell something that falls outside of these areas, then Etsy probably isn’t the right choice for you.

And, if you’re looking for additional sales tools, and want to upgrade your store to the next level, you can subscribe to Etsy Plus. Which costs an additional $10 a month, that’s on top of the fees you’re paying for the platform. This gives you:

• Customizable options such as banner templates
• Deals on your own web address
• Discounts on marketing materials such as business cards
• Email alerts to send customers once an item is back in stock
• Advertising credits

Because Etsy is a marketplace rather than an ecommerce platform, your inventory isn’t included in your store account – you have to keep track of this yourself.

Overall, Etsy sums it up nicely with its “simple, powerful tools”. They’re not the most impressive ecommerce features out there, but for small-scale selling of homemade and craft products, it’s an appropriate range.

When it comes to ecommerce tools, Shopify definitely beats out the competition. In our research, it’s the best for sales features with a score of 4.7 out of 5. If you want to sell any service, digital, or physical product, you can with Shopify.

You can sell unlimited products on all of Shopify’s plans, and there are no restrictions on what you sell either. You have greater ecommerce freedom with Shopify than Etsy.

Shopify also has an extensive app store, housing over 8,000 apps to add extra functionality to your website. You can add whatever you want, for example, you could add chatbots, automatic dropshipping, and currency converters, among many other tools. This gives you ultimate customization, and a whole load of powerful extras to choose from.

Here’s a list of just some of the features you get across all Shopify plans:

• Fraud analysis
• Brand asset management
• Multichannel selling across different social platforms
• Discount codes
• Free SSL certificate
• Abandoned Cart Recovery
• Gift cards
• Shopify POS (Point of Sale) app

Multichannel selling is extremely important for widening your customer base and giving your customers an easy buying experience. Shopify has all the major social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. You can even sell on marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy through Shopify.

Shopify keeps your site secure with a free SSL. The free SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate means your site is safe for visitors to enter their payment details through, and is an essential feature for any online store.

Abandoned Cart Recovery sends emails to customers who have abandoned their products at checkout, and encourages them to return. This can recover up to 20% of customers!

One of Shopify’s best sales features is its inventory system. Unlike Etsy, Shopify has an extensive inventory, which makes it especially useful for growing stores. You can upload products in bulk, or one at a time, and Shopify provides in-house stock management tools, so it’s easy to track and analyze your sales. You upload the content and Shopify pretty much handles your stock for you — making it quicker to get your products to customers.

It is much more advanced than Etsy for growing businesses. But, you don’t want to pay for tools you won’t use, so choose wisely.

Further Information

• Shopify Review: Read for a more in-depth look at Shopify’s sales tools and features.

Domain and URL Structure

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The Winner

Shopify has better domain options...

Shopify encourages you to set up a custom domain quickly to make sure your online store looks like a professional brand.

Check Out Shopify

Domain names are incredibly important if you’re setting up an online business. Shopify wins the domain round as you have a custom domain with clear structure. Your website address is completely your own, which establishes your brand and looks professional. Etsy doesn’t have the option of a custom domain, making your business harder to identify.

A domain name is the website address people use to find your website. For example, our domain name is www.websitebuilderexpert.com. You pay to have that address, and that means nobody else online can use it. It’s unique to your website, which makes it a powerful part of your brand.

Domains like these, that you choose and pay for yourself, are called custom domains.

Shopify is a clear winner in this category because it encourages you to use a custom domain. Why? Because a custom domain is essential for creating a trustworthy, professional, and recognizable brand for your business.

Shopify even has an automated setup to make it as easy as possible to get a totally personalized name for your online store.

On the other hand, Etsy is very different. Because you’re selling through Etsy’s marketplace, you don’t get your own domain name. Instead, your domain will look something like this: www.etsy.com/shop/your-store-name-here.

You can’t have a custom domain because you’re under the umbrella of Etsy. You can only connect your own domain if you’re using the Etsy Pattern website builder. So, Etsy isn’t ideal if you want to create your own brand space, but it shouldn’t matter too much for individual sellers who want to keep things small and simple.

Further Information

• What is a Domain Name?: Want to learn more about domain names? Read our beginner’s guide for everything you need to know.

The Winner

It's a Tie...

It depends on your needs. Etsy is cheaper overall, and great if you don’t want to pay any upfront costs. Shopify, on the other hand, is the more expensive option, but you’ll have access to greater features and tools – and it scores well for value for money in our research.

When it comes down to it, pricing is often the thing that draws us to — or puts us off — products. This is especially true if you’re on a tight budget, or looking to make money rather than spend it.

In this case, it’s impossible to determine a winner between the two platforms.

On the one hand, Etsy has very little in the way of plan costs. On its most basic level, the Etsy Standard plan comes with no monthly fees — only the listing fees, transaction costs, and payment processing charges applied to products.

You can upgrade to Etsy Plus to unlock more features for $10 per month, which gives you a wider set of tools to help grow your store, including additional customization options and email alerts.

On the other hand, Shopify has higher upfront costs, but you get what you pay for. Shopify has three price plans, starting you off on a 3-day free trial, then charging $1 per month for the first three months on the Basic plan.

The plan prices range from $29 to $299 per month, and with each upgrade you unlock more features. Shopify also offers a neat Starter plan for $5 per month if you plan to only sell via social media.

But what you’ll be paying for is to have your own website which you will be in charge of, and which will support creating a brand that people will see as its own – rather than Etsy where shoppers will see your store as a part of Etsy. Also with Shopify you’ll be able to sell any products, whereas Etsy is more for niche and vintage products.

In our value for money testing, Shopify scores an average of 3.6 out of 5. In our research, we noted that the plan-to-feature ratio was really great, but the lack of free plan and expensive rates brought the score to 3.6. Let’s take a look at its yearly plans more closely:

A new feature that we love is the Shopify Starter plan for social media sellers, at just $5 per month, it’s an affordable option and allows you to share products on socials like Instagram — so customers can make transactions directly from the social platform.

Then the Basic plan costs $29 per month, and gives you everything you need to set up an online store, sharing your products with even more potential customers across the internet. It offers unlimited products, multichannel selling, discount code creation, and abandoned cart recovery, among other features.

If you upgrade to the Shopify plan, you’ll have everything you need to keep growing your business at $79 per month. Enjoy all the features of the Basic plan, plus professional reports, and cheaper credit card rates.

The most expensive Shopify plan is the $299 per month Advanced plan. This has everything from the first two plans, plus an advanced report builder, even lower credit card rates, and up to 15 staff accounts. This is made for larger businesses that are focused on scaling.

These are Shopify’s main price plans — but, there’s also Shopify Plus which has custom pricing and targets the big businesses of the ecommerce world.

Although Shopify’s plans might seem extreme in comparison to Etsy’s low prices, Shopify is great value for money because of the features and long-term scalability that come with them.

As we’ve already discussed when looking at payment options, Etsy’s prices can also creep up with its transaction fees, and Shopify’s monthly cost can increase with the use of third-party apps. So, the two remain fairly balanced when it comes to pricing overall.

Ultimately, the winner for value really depends on your budget. Etsy wins for individual sellers, or those testing products on the market, and Shopify wins for businesses that have the budget to start scaling and want to create a brand.

Further Information

• Shopify Pricing Review: For an in-depth look at Shopify’s prices, plans, and value for money.
• Leading Online Store Builders: Compare the prices for all the top online store builders.
• How Much Do Websites Cost?: Wondering where to start? Read our two-part guide for a definitive breakdown on budgeting for your website.

The Winner

Shopify has the best payment options...

It’s a close call, but we’d say Shopify offers more cost-effective rates than Etsy, considering the tools you get for selling online. Also Etsy charges a listing fee per product, and a 6.5% transaction fee (plus processing charges), which can add up very quickly!

Check Out Shopify's Fees

On some platforms, transaction fees can be the monster hiding under the bed waiting to jump out and give you a shock at the last moment. Neither Shopify or Etsy charge scary prices like that, but it’s still always a good idea to get an idea of payment options and transaction fees before you sign up to a platform.

While Etsy doesn’t charge monthly fees, it does charge listing fees at $0.20 per product, 6.5% transaction fees, and processing fees of $0.25 and 3% – all of which can quickly add up.

That’s a lot of numbers, so what does it mean?

Payment processing fees are applied by the payment provider (such as the credit card company), or the payment gateway sending the transaction. This is really common and comes as standard, although Etsy’s rates are slightly higher than average which does set it at a disadvantage against Shopify.

Etsy’s fees certainly aren’t the cheapest out there. But, they shouldn’t damage your pockets too much if you’re selling on a small scale. Only once you start pulling in the big bucks will you feel the burn of that 6.5% transaction fee. For example, if you sell handcrafted ceramic bowls for $40 each, and you sell 1000 of them, you wouldn’t receive the entire $40,000 — rather you would receive closer to $36,200.

If you’re bringing in dollars already, Shopify might work out as better value for money, depending on the size of your business. While it does cost money with Shopify to buy themes, and it will cost more for the plans, the transaction fees are a decent 2% at most compared to Etsy’s upwards of 6.5%.

Shopify has different payment options to choose from. It has its own in-house payment gateway called Shopify Payments, which doesn’t charge any transaction fees. On Shopify Payments, you only have to pay the card processing fee which starts at 2.4% + 30¢ with the Advanced Shopify plan.

If you don’t want to use Shopify Payments, there are plenty of other payment options, including the expected PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and more.

If you’re using one of these payment options instead of the Shopify Payments gateway, the highest transaction fee is 2%, and the lowest is 0.5%. So comparing that with a transaction fee of over 6% with Etsy, Shopify has much cheaper rates.

The Winner

Shopify's support is available 24/7...

Shopify’s help and support is brilliant. No matter your problem, they’ll have a solution for you, whether that’s in the form of a video guide, or a chat with Shopify’s team.

Get Help With Shopify

What happens if all of your product images disappear at 2am? Do you panic? No need. You can simply contact your very own support team.

Your business never stops, and Shopify knows it. That’s why Shopify has 24/7 support, so you’re covered all day, all night, and all week. Here’s a list of all the different support options you can choose from:

• 24/7 phone
• Social media
• 24/7 live chat
• Forum
• Email
• Video tutorials
• Advanced specialist support (on Plus plans)

With that in mind, our research scores Shopify favorably, with a score of 3.9 out of 5 for help and support — the second best support for ecommerce platforms.

Whether you’re a total phone-phobe, or you love to browse a community forum, Shopify has something to suit everyone. The Shopify Help Center is clear and easy to use, while providing an extensive range of help articles and guides.

One of the best parts of Shopify’s support is when you ask for help in the editor — Shopify takes you straight to the relevant help page in the help center. This saves you time and leaves you headache-free.

Etsy also has a help center. It’s laid out simply, and also has a search function, so you can get straight to the answer if you know what you’re looking for.

Additionally, Etsy has a forum where you can read and join community discussions, ask questions, and follow Etsy announcements. But, you can’t email Etsy’s support staff, or schedule a phone call, if you need further help. In comparison to Shopify, Etsy’s help and support services just don’t compete.

With Shopify you’re covered even if things go wrong at 4am. Etsy does have a good help center and community forum, but it can’t compete with Shopify’s personal and in-depth support.

Further Information

• How to Sell Online: Set up your online store easily by following along with our helpful step-by-step guide and checklist.
• How to Build an Online Store: Read our guide for 11 easy steps to get you started.
• How to Start an Online Boutique : Discover nine simple steps in our article.
• How to Make Money on Instagram: Read for tips on the best ways to sell through this popular social platform.
• How to Sell On Pinterest: Check out our guide for three effective ways to make money on Pinterest.
• How to Start an Online Clothing Store: Find out how to get started by following these 10 steps to success.

The Winner

Etsy makes it easy for customers to find you...

The popularity of Etsy’s marketplace, and the ease at which customers can find your products, gives Etsy the edge in this round. However, you do need to put in some work yourself to make your products stand out!

Explore Etsy Now

Once you’ve spent time uploading stunning product photos and writing detailed descriptions, your store deserves attention. You don’t want your website to be hidden in a dusty corner of the internet.

Etsy will definitely shine a bright spotlight on your store. It’s an extremely popular marketplace, with over 95 million active buyers. People don’t need to be looking for you specifically. They simply search Etsy, find your products, and make a purchase.

The drawback of Etsy is that there’s no way to guarantee those visitors will end up on your online store, buying your products. There are over 97 million products on Etsy — so standing out from the crowd is important!

In contrast, Shopify gives you the tools to promote yourself. Visitors will need to search for your specific store using your store name in Google to get to your site. You’ll have some good SEO tools on the platform, but it’s up to you to learn about how to optimize your website for search engines.

You will also need to promote yourself across social media and build up your brand to attract more customers.

It can seem overwhelming, so, if you’re thinking you don’t know where to start with any of that, don’t worry. Though Shopify doesn’t handle it for you, Shopify does give you everything you need, from SEO apps and guides, to email campaigns, and multichannel selling across Facebook and Instagram.

Although it’s more work overall, you’re in total control of connecting with your customers and creating kick-ass marketing campaigns. You don’t have to sit around and wait for visitors to stumble across you.

Shopify gives you more control, and a more unique presence online, but requires its own marketing and SEO wrangling. Etsy makes it easier to attract customers with its pre-made customer base, there’s no need to attract them as people routinely search Etsy for products to buy.

Further Information

• Best Website Builders for Search Engine Optimization: Our review of the three best website builders for SEO gives a good introduction to SEO, and even mentions Shopify!
• 12 Online Business Ideas: Learn more about how selling via ecommerce websites and online marketplaces can help you generate a serious income.

If you’re still torn between the two after reading this, we have great news. You can have the best of both worlds.

By using the Shopify App Store, you can integrate the Etsy marketplace with your Shopify store. Real-time synchronization makes sure you avoid confusion, or overselling, by syncing your Etsy and Shopify stores whenever you make any changes.

There’s a free trial for a week, but after that, you’ll need to choose between the three paid plans:

• Starter: $25 per month
• Basic: $39 per month
• Standard: $59 per month

Each plan includes custom features, product management, and limited product uploads — the Starter plan allows you to publish up to 100 products on Etsy, whereas the Standard plan allows up to 1000 products.

Overall, the integration is a great option if you have a Shopify store, but also want to diversify your online presence. By integrating with Etsy you can reach a new audience, and make the most of this popular marketplace.

Further Information

• Best Ecommerce Platforms: Compare the best in the market to see what option suits your needs.
• Best Etsy Alternatives: Discover your best options, whether you’re moving on from Etsy, or just starting your online business.
• Best Shopify Alternatives: Compare Shopify’s top competitors to find your perfect builder.

Shopify and Etsy may seem similar at first, but they’re very different selling platforms. This article has looked at the key differences between them, what they excel at, and where they let users down.

Shopify is designed as an all-in-one, in-house solution, and aims to provide everything your business needs to succeed long-term. It has powerful sales tools, scalable plans, and no limits on what you can sell. On the other hand, Etsy is meant for specific products – vintage and handmade goods and crafting supplies – and is a marketplace, meaning it comes with basic features. Still, it’s simple and cheaper than Shopify, making it better for small-scale sellers with niche products.

You Should Use Shopify If…

• You have or expect to run a large business
• You need powerful sales features – Shopify has the best sales tools on the market
• You want to understand your customers with built-in analytics tools
• You’d like to customize your store to shape your brand

You Should Use Etsy If…

• You have a few crafted or vintage items to sell
• You don’t mind having the customization taken care for you and only want a simple storefront
• You prefer to gain customers from the selling platform
• You don’t want monthly payments and don’t mind larger transaction fees

Overall, Shopify is the better selling platform. But, Shopify and Etsy are very different, which makes it hard to recommend one over the other. It’s very dependent on what your business needs. If you’re selling a few homemade items a month, Etsy is the best choice for you.

Why not set up an Etsy account and give it a go, or try Shopify’s 3-day free trial and see what you think? After all, you should always try before you buy.