Starting an online store can be simplified with the right choice of an e-commerce website builder. While Wix and Squarespace are very popular, we have the well-known PrestaShop vs Shopify debate. Many people know these are built purely for businesses and online stores.
As dedicated solutions, Shopify and PrestaShop offers many sales tools to help you drive more sales and increase earnings. However, Shopify is a premium-only e-commerce-based website builder, while PrestaShop is more of a customizable open-source platform.
During our PrestaShop vs Shopify assessment, we were enamored of some of their features, but also disliked some. While we think Shopify is better than PrestaShop overall, we implore you to read this full comparison and see which option fits your needs better. Let’s dive in.
PrestaShop vs Shopify: Quick Comparison
| PrestaShop 🥈 | Shopify 🥇 | |
| 📋 Our ranking | # | #10 |
| 💲 Starting price | Free ($24/mo for the Hosted version) | $29/mo |
| 🆓 Free domain | No | No |
| ⚙️ Ease of use | Not suited to beginners | Beginner-friendly |
| 📱 Customization | Advanced | Basic |
| 🖼️ Number of themes | 830+ | 180+ |
| 🔖 Transaction fees | 0.5% to 5% + 0.3c | 2.4% + 30c USD to 2.9% to 30c |
| 📧 Email marketing | Via third-party apps | Built-in; 10,000 free emails/mo |
| ☎️ Customer support | 24/7 chat, email, and phone | 24/7 chat, email, and phone |
Shopify vs PrestaShop Ease of Use
We’ll start with the ease of use because there were some major differences in this aspect. While Shopify is extremely simple to set up, PrestaShop will scare away beginners who don’t have a knack for coding and website building.
With Shopify, all you have to do is subscribe, initiate a 3-day trial, and choose how to build your website.
You’ll answer a few questions, explain what you want to sell, and decide if you want to simply add an online store to your existing blog. We explained this in depth in our Shopify review.
At the end, you’ll be able to snatch a template, but you can skip this step and start populating your online store immediately. Adding products is pretty simple, plus, there are bulk uploads, which allows you to add multiple products at a time for your convenience.
In PrestaShop, things begin with downloading its installation files. Before that, though, you have to have a server ready. For this PrestaShop vs Shopify duel, we used Hostinger, but PrestaShop recommends InMotion Hosting, which can pre-install the platform for you. No matter your final decision, these are two of the best PrestaShop hosting options.
If you’d rather use an InMotion Hosting alternative, you’ll have to install PrestaShop manually on the server by unpacking its installation files and running the setup file. This sounds simple, but in practice, you’ll have to go through many hoops to get it just about right.
Once you complete the installation, you’ll be able to manage your Back Office and Front Office. The former is your technical stuff, such as modules, orders, customers, etc, while the latter allows you to discover your store as customers see it.
Winner: Shopify
Ease of use is on Shopify’s side. I mean, Shopify is a foolproof website builder that even beginners can take advantage of. PrestaShop’s steep learning curve won’t forgive you for not diligently honing your computer skills, so it’s far from a beginner-friendly option.
Website Templates and Customization
Shopify was never big on templates, but those that were there were “okay”. PrestaShop is an open-source e-commerce platform, which means its users can “interfere” with it in various ways, most of which lead to improvements. That said, you can already see where we’re going with this.
- Shopify has 180 templates and most are paid.
- PrestaShop has more than 830+ templates; almost all are paid.
No doubt, PrestaShop has better-looking templates and has a huge customization advantage. Shopify was weaker than Wix in this aspect, but both are weaker than PrestaShop, under one stringent condition — coding knowledge. If you’re in that team, congratulations.
Understanding HTML and JavaScript allows you to twist and turn each template, transforming it into a beautiful mess that fits your needs and desires. Shopify has a straightforward, section-based website editor that we’ve seen a million times. That’s a good thing, by the way!
Interestingly, both website builders price their templates differently. We found that PrestaShop’s cheapest template called Playbattle was about $62, while Shopify’s equivalent called Infinity was $100. Also, PrestaShop’s categorization is on a slightly higher level.
You can specify exactly what you want regarding your theme — from kids & toys to art & culture and even some adultery. PrestaShop even lets you explore templates in different languages, such as Spanish, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Turkish, and likely dozens more.
An excellent addition is the user review score, which can also be a filter for your search. This lets you cherry-pick the best website themes for churches, photographers, fitness trainers, and countless other professions.
Winner: PrestaShop
While Shopify’s templates are great usability-wise, they usually lack the polish, customization, and quantity of PrestaShop that wins this round. It has superior categorization and multilingual, lower-priced templates than Shopify. With that said, our preferred option in this category is PrestaShop.
Which is Better for E-commerce: Shopify or PrestaShop?
You’ve come to this Shopify vs PrestaShop comparison for this round — admit it. We’ll make haste and immediately analyze their e-commerce features to discover which one is better overall.
Online Store Management
Managing and populating your online store with products is a child’s play with Shopify. You can add a title, include a description, and even insert photos and videos of each product. Categorizaton is there too, so you can determine the product type to make it easier to find.
As said, Shopify supports bulk product uploads via CSV files, which makes updates simpler. Its advanced inventory management lets you track every aspect of your online store, especially with out-of-stock alerts that will inform you when a product is sold completely.
Not to mention, Shopify includes various quality-of-life features, such as abandoned cart alerts, multi-channel selling, and gift cards, all of which greatly enhance the experience. If you’re looking to build your online shop with PrestaShop, you’ll enjoy every minute of it.
Its inventory management is exceptional, especially with third-party apps that are there. You’ll be able to get out-of-stock notifications and see your sales history, top sellers, and popular items. Adding discounts is also simple, which lets you promote products with lower sales.
One thing we value in Shopify is store translation — it’s one of its best functions realized through the Translate & Adapt app. With a few clicks, you can translate your store into a few languages and adapt it to buyers from all around the world, which is extremely useful.
Shipping Options
Shipping-wise, both provide more than enough options. Shopify Shipping, an in-house solution, works with FedEx, DHL Express, USPS, and UPS. This solution allows you to automatically craft shipping labels, which reduces shipment costs in the long run.
You can customize your shipping, too. It can be weight-based, flat-rate, free, and so on. In some plans, Shopify includes real-time shipping rate tracking, where the buyer would see the shipping fee at the given moment on the checkout page. Speaking of that, here’s the kicker.
Shopify lets you customize and personalize your checkout page to add a breath of fresh air to your online shop! You can do this in PrestaShop with a bit of tech-savviness. For shipping, you don’t need to be a tech lover, because it functions similarly to Shopify.
You have a few popular carriers, such as FedEx, DHL, and UPS. Go to your Dashboard, select Shipping, and click Add New Carriers. Now, you can add your preferred carriers and customize shipping the same way.
Payment Vendors
Neither Shopify nor PrestaShop will leave you stranded, looking for more payment gateways. This especially rings true for Shopify Payments, which integrates seamlessly into your checkout page for easier payments in 11 countries and with low transaction fees from Shopify!
Shopify Payments supports over 100 payment vendors, such as credit/debit cards, PayPal, Stripe, and other digital wallets. There is a small third-party transaction fee depending on the plan, and it ranges from 0.6% to 2%.
Shopify Payments’ fees range from 2.5% + 30c USD to 2.7% + 30c USD for credit cards and 2.4% + 10c USD to 2.6% + 10c USD for in-person sales.
PrestaShop has an in-house PrestaShop Checkout tool. It, as well, blends seamlessly into your checkout page, allowing the buyer to process their payment right then and there. PrestaShop Checkout supports hundreds of vendors and is very flexible overall.
Plus, you can opt for third-party vendors from PrestaShop’s marketplace for added convenience. Keep in mind that, unlike Shopify, PrestaShop’s fees aren’t 0%. They depend on the used payment vendor and usually don’t go above 5% + 0.3c — give or take.
Winner: Shopify
PrestaShop and Shopify are almost neck-and-neck in this round. However, due to the easier setup, store translation, low transaction fees, and many built-in e-commerce features, Shopify is a bit more enjoyable to use for us. Albeit, we’re thoroughly impressed with PrestaShop’s performance, as well.
SEO and Marketing Tools
Shopify and PrestaShop have different philosophies in both SEO and marketing.
While Shopify has a handful of in-house tools, PrestaShop relies on its so-called modules. More about them in just a sec. So, Shopify’s SEO is more than basic. You can edit your alt text, meta descriptions, SEO titles, and so on. Sitemaps are automatically made, too.
In Shopify, we loved the Analytics tab, which displays your sales, average conversion rates, and more associated information. On the marketing side, Shopify enables multi-channel selling and like PrestaShop, allows you to add a blog section to drive in more traffic quickly.
Shopify Email, a built-in email marketing service, allows you to send 10,000 free emails monthly. After that, you’ll spend only $1/mo for every 1,000 emails, which makes Shopify one of the better tools for email marketing. PrestaShop has virtually no SEO/marketing features.
Instead, you’ll have to use its modules to analyze/improve your SEO or run email marketing campaigns. For example, we used PrestaShop Metrics, which combines PrestaShop and Google Analytics to display more SEO information with unlimited historical data.
Most of PrestaShop marketing tools revolve around coupon/discount codes, buying incentives, and pop-ups. There are not many email marketing tools, except for Mailchimp, Omnisend, and a few more.
Winner: Shopify
We’d give Shopify an advantage yet again. It offers plenty of out-of-the-box SEO and marketing tools and doesn’t primarily rely on third-party apps like PrestaShop. The latter mostly relies on premium modules, which, while capable enough, can cost a lot for people on a budget.
Apps and Third-Party Integrations
Whether you opt for PrestaShop or Shopify, you’ll have access to an extensive app store. Shopify has apps, while PrestaShop relies on the so-called modules. During our evaluation, we loved Shopify a bit more, as they were a bit more reliable and well-reviewed.
Shopify’s apps are reviewed by Shopify’s experts, so each application is carefully examined before publishing. This can be seen in the “Staff Picks” section, where you’ll find applications chosen by Shopify. When it comes to their functions, these apps can do many things.
From marketing and SEO to sales, store design, store management, and much more. In total, Shopify has well over 8,000 apps, most of which have a free trial, and some of which come with a free plan. Bear in mind that almost all applications are premium and will cost on top.
PrestaShop has around 3,000 modules. Most are premium, with some of them having free trial and free plans, as well. During our Shopify vs PrestaShop comparison, we found plenty of “official” modules from Google, Mailchimp, PayPal, etc, but there are “unofficial” ones.
They’re made by community developers and not always evaluated by PrestaShop’s team. As a result, some modules might not “fit” your online store properly, which can cause certain issues like slower loading times or disfunctional website/online store features.
Winner: Shopify
Shopify has more apps and third-party integrations than PrestaShop. Moreover, Shopify’s team diligently examines each app before launching it to its App Store, resulting in a huge selection of quality-checked apps that outperforms its rival, both quality and quantity-wise.
PrestaShop vs Shopify Pricing Comparison
E-commerce platforms like these two usually aren’t know for being affordable site builders. However, the more features you have, the more efficient your online sales will be. Conversely, to get more features, you have to spend more, so there’s this never-ending circle.
PrestaShop Pricing
How much will you spend on PrestaShop? There are three plans to choose from:
- Classic, which is free to download
- Hosted, which is $24/mo
- Enterprise, which requires a custom quote
The Classic plan is an option without hosting. You get many PrestaShop features, including PrestaShop Checkout, automated ads on Google networks, marketing automation, etc. However, you have to spend money on web hosting. Here are the best web hosting services you can use.
If you want to save some time, you should go for the premium Hosted plan at $24/mo. It offers 50 GB of storage, auto-installation of your online store, automatic VAT calculation, and email/phone support for 6 days a week. The Enterprise plan is out of many people’s reach.
It’s clear that this plan focuses on scalability and providing mid-sized and large businesses with all the sales tools they need. Besides, there’s a custom quote on it, so you need to get in touch and negotiate the deal.
PrestaShop’s Hosted plan also has a 14-day trial, which is handy when you just want to test it.
How Much Is Shopify?
Shopify’s pricing structure is much more stramlined. Each plan has sa 3-day trial, plus, when you start, you’ll be charged only $1/mo for the first 3 months. After that, the Basic plan, which is usually all you need, is $29/mo, with web hosting, POS Lite, and localized global selling.
The Grow plan at $79/mo is much more expensive, but with lower transaction fees and 5 additional staff accounts. The Advanced plan starts at $299/mo with even lower fees, more staff accounts, and enhanced support. Shopify’s Plus plan at $2,300/mo is the priciest.
It’s for extremely large online shops with plenty of money to invest.
Unlike some Shopify alternatives, this website builder doesn’t have a free domain, so factor in this cost. While Shopify seems very pricey, in practice, the Basic plan is enough for the majority of people, as it already provides MANY sales/marketing/SEO tools to begin with.
The other plans are usually for teams and fast-scaling businesses with growing needs.
Not to mention, Shopify has alternative solutions, like Starter at $5/mo or Retail at $89/mo. The former is pretty cheap and allows you to sell via social media or an online store. The latter is made for in-person sales with some loyalty and inventory management features.
To sum it up, Shopify’s plans differ in fees, staff accounts, shipping discounts, checkout capacity, and localized selling. Everything else is pretty much the same, with minor differences.
Winner: Shopify
Shopify’s pricing structure looks more expensive, but it’s also flexible and streamlined. At $29/mo, you get more sales tools and features than in PrestaShop’s Hosted plan at $24/mo. Shopify’s higher-tier plans are exponentially more expensive, but the Basic plan is enough to handle most of your needs.
Don’t forget Shopify’s 3-day trial and first 3 months for $1/mo, which ensures you can use it nearly for free for a quite a long period. This makes Shopify a better value for money.
Which One Has Better Customer Support?
Shopify has some of the best support teams we encountered. 24/7 chat support is in all plans, and honestly, it’s enough, because it’s so responsive and helpful, it’s unbelievable. However, you do get email and phone support as the (unnecessary) icing on the cake.
In higher-tier plans, Shopify offers enhanced and priority support — we can only imagine how these two are! Apart from that, the company has an in-depth knowledge base, FAQs, and social media channels where you can get in touch swiftly. Then, there’s the community!
Oh yeah. This one is humongous. It allows you to connect with other sellers and share experiences and knowledge for everyone’s benefit. On PrestaShop’s side, customer support is okay, but not extraordinary. Its Online Assistance is available through phone, chat, and email.
It sounds plentiful, but in practice, PrestaShop is a lot slower to respond. Its phone support is there Monday through Saturday from 9 AM to 10 PM, but not everyone can call it, especially not users outside certain countries. On-site support compensates somewhat for its flaws.
PrestaShop’s support actually has “offers” that are charged additionally. For example, technical emergencies can be solved in 24 hours for $300 — the same goes for store migrations.
Winner: Shopify
Shopify has way better customer support in all plans, and more importantly, doesn’t charge you for some of its support services. PrestaShop’s support is subpar to begin with, plus, its support offers cost at least $300, based on the offer and your subscription plan.
Conclusion: Choose Shopify Over PrestaShop in 2026
Now that we’re at the very end, it’s time to sum up our PrestaShop vs Shopify comparison for 2026. The official score says that Shopify takes the crown. But even if we put the score aside and focus on the experience, we’d again go with Shopify over PrestaShop for a few reasons.
🥇 Shopify is made for both small businesses and large online shops, letting you launch your online store in a day. It has more than enough templates, more built-in sales tools, and free email marketing to help you along the way. With ample third-party apps, Shopify can be beefed up to suit even the world’s most demanding stores.
🥈 PrestaShop is great, but falls short of perfection. Apart from manageable fees and extreme customization as an open-source platform, it ended up behind Shopify in almost all rounds. From SEO and marketing to customer support, ease of use, third-party apps, and value for money.
With everything said, our ideal choice for launching and managing our online store would be Shopify.