Shopify Alternatives 2026: 5 Options, 4 Free
Shopify alternatives: WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Saleor, Medusa and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 22, 2026.
•4 min read•Website Builders & Landing Pages
Verdict:Shopify is a hosted platform with a monthly plan, so leaving it trades a subscription for control and hosting work. WooCommerce is free under GPL-2.0 and suits a store that already runs WordPress; you pay for hosting and extensions and maintain updates and security. PrestaShop is free to download and run on your own hosting under OSL-3.0, with a module marketplace for add-ons. Saleor is open source and self-hostable, with a free Cloud Sandboxes plan, for developers who want a headless commerce API and will build the storefront. Medusa is MIT-licensed commerce software for teams building custom checkout and catalog logic in Node.js. BigCommerce keeps the subscription model: its Core plan is listed from $29 a month billed annually and it has no free plan. The trade-off is the storefront work. Shopify's themes, checkout and app ecosystem are polished, and the open source options hand that work to your team. Compare a developer's time against a few years of Shopify fees before you move, and count the apps you depend on that have no equivalent.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce | Free (Core is free with no monthly subscription; you pay for hosting and extensions) | Web, Self-hosted | Merchants already running WordPress | Docs only |
| PrestaShop | Free (Source code is free to download and install on your own hosting) | Web, Self-hosted | Merchants who want self-hosted store software | Docs only |
| Saleor | Free (Open source version is self-hosted; Cloud Sandboxes plan is labeled Forever Free); paid from $1599 per month (Cloud Select) | Web, Self-hosted | Developers building a custom storefront on an API | Docs only |
| Medusa | Free (MIT-licensed core you host yourself); paid from $29 per month, billed monthly (Medusa Cloud Develop) | Web, Self-hosted | Teams building custom commerce logic in Node.js | Docs only |
| BigCommerce | Paid from $29 per month, billed annually (Core; $39 billed monthly) | Web, Cloud | Merchants comparing hosted platforms on price | Docs only |
| Wix | Free (Free plan at $0, no credit card required (Wix-branded domain and ads not checked)); paid from $17.77 per month, Light plan, yearly subscription paid in full at purchase | Web | Website builder | Docs only |
| Squarespace | Paid from $19 per month (Basic; the page shows $19 and $25 for it without labelling which is annual billing) | Web | Website builder | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- A WordPress site that wants to add a store (WooCommerce is the pick)
- A merchant who wants to self-host the whole store (PrestaShop is the pick)
- A developer building a headless storefront (Saleor is the pick)
- A team switching to a hosted platform with a fixed monthly plan (BigCommerce is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Shopify features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Shopify today: Paid from $29 per month, billed yearly (Basic; $39 billed monthly) (Shopify pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Shopify alternatives
Shopify's headline price is only the start. Basic is $29 a month billed yearly ($39 monthly), Grow $79 ($105), Advanced $299 ($399) and Plus from $2,300. Card rates run from 2.9% + 30 cents online on Basic, and using a third-party payment gateway adds a transaction fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced. Basic includes no additional staff accounts, and Grow includes 5. The trial is 3 days, then $1 a month for 3 months.
WooCommerce
Compared with Shopify: WooCommerce core is GPL-2.0 and free with no monthly subscription; you pay for hosting and extensions. Shopify charges a monthly plan, so you save on platform fees but take on WordPress hosting, updates and security.
Price: Free (Core is free with no monthly subscription; you pay for hosting and extensions) (WooCommerce pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. GPL-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 10.6k GitHub stars · latest release 11.2.1 (Oct 9, 2026) · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Best for: Merchants already running WordPress.
PrestaShop
Compared with Shopify: PrestaShop's source code is free to download and run on your own hosting under OSL-3.0. Shopify is hosted, while PrestaShop gives you the store code, but you handle hosting, updates and the module marketplace yourself.
Price: Free (Source code is free to download and install on your own hosting) (PrestaShop pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. OSL-3.0 (modules AFL-3.0) (open source).
Project activity: 9.2k GitHub stars · latest release 9.2.0 (Sep 30, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Merchants who want self-hosted store software.
Saleor
Compared with Shopify: Saleor is BSD-3-Clause open source commerce software you self-host, and its Cloud Sandboxes plan is free. Against Shopify's hosted storefront it is a headless commerce platform for developers, so you build the front end yourself.
Price: Free (Open source version is self-hosted; Cloud Sandboxes plan is labeled Forever Free); paid from $1599 per month (Cloud Select) (Saleor pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. BSD-3-Clause (open source).
Project activity: 23.5k GitHub stars · latest release 3.23.44 (Oct 20, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Developers building a custom storefront on an API.
Worth knowing: Cloud Volume is $3999 per month; Enterprise pricing is negotiated. Headless, so you build the storefront yourself.
Medusa
Compared with Shopify: Medusa is MIT-licensed commerce software you host yourself, with Enterprise features under a commercial agreement. It is a developer framework rather than a finished store, which suits custom logic but needs engineering for the front end.
Price: Free (MIT-licensed core you host yourself); paid from $29 per month, billed monthly (Medusa Cloud Develop) (Medusa pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. MIT (Enterprise Edition features need a commercial agreement) (open source).
Project activity: 37k GitHub stars · latest release v2.22.1 (Oct 23, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Teams building custom commerce logic in Node.js.
Worth knowing: Cloud tiers: Develop $29, Launch $99, Scale $299 per month. Headless, so you build the storefront yourself.
BigCommerce
Compared with Shopify: BigCommerce is a proprietary hosted platform with a Core plan from $29 a month billed annually and no free plan. It is a similar hosted model to Shopify, so you swap one subscription for another and keep less code control than the open source options.
Price: Paid from $29 per month, billed annually (Core; $39 billed monthly) (BigCommerce pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Cloud. Proprietary.
Best for: Merchants comparing hosted platforms on price.
Worth knowing: 15-day free trial. Card processing starts at 2.89% + $0.29; orders through Open Payment Providers carry a 2.0% fee on Core.
Other popular options (paid)
Wix
Compared with Shopify: Website builder with a free plan and ecommerce on paid tiers: Core is listed at $29.77 a month and Business at $39.77 on yearly billing, with prices that vary by location.
Price: Free (Free plan at $0, no credit card required (Wix-branded domain and ads not checked)); paid from $17.77 per month, Light plan, yearly subscription paid in full at purchase (Wix pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Squarespace
Compared with Shopify: Design-led site and store builder with a 14-day trial and no free plan. Basic is listed at $19 a month and Core at $29, shown against Shopify Basic's $29 on yearly billing.
Price: Paid from $19 per month (Basic; the page shows $19 and $25 for it without labelling which is annual billing) (Squarespace pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Which one to pick
- A WordPress site that wants to add a store: WooCommerce
- A merchant who wants to self-host the whole store: PrestaShop
- A developer building a headless storefront: Saleor
- A team switching to a hosted platform with a fixed monthly plan: BigCommerce
Limits of this review
Docs-only for WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Saleor, Medusa, BigCommerce: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Shopify. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked 2026-10-22: Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Saleor, Medusa, BigCommerce, Wix, Squarespace. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.