Last Updated on May 10, 2021 by Jay Clover

E-commerce made a boom in the last decade, especially since the COVID-19 pandemics started. Store owners saw the potential of online shopping and combined it with their local business or went online completely. And, it doesn’t matter if your store is large or tiny and new on the market or if you are a dropshipper, as there’s a place for everyone on the internet. All that is thanks to e-commerce platforms like CommerceHQ and Shopify.

But which one is better? Which one is right for you?

There are many e-commerce platforms available that it’s hard to decide which one to choose for your business. That’s why, in this post, we review the two above-mentioned platforms, which are among the most used by business owners who sell online.

CommerceHQ vs Shopify: Basics

As you already know, these two are e-commerce platforms that allow users to sell online without much hassle. They work perfectly for any type of commerce business, small or big, are easy to use, and come with plenty of impressive features. Most importantly, they have all you need to launch your business successfully and have continuous success.

However, they differ in for which users they work better. Namely, Shopify is a better choice for those who already know something about the digital world whereas CommerceHQ works better for newbies in the field. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t use Shopify if you are new to e-commerce; it’s just more suitable for those with a bit of digital experience.

CommerceHQ vs Shopify: Features

To get a better insight into these two platforms, let’s take a look at their features.

CommerceHQ Features

CommerceHQ comes with plenty of built-in features, thus ensuring that users have all they need to launch and scale their business. Their features include:

• 1-Click Upsells
• Inventory Management
• Checkout Page
• Coupon Codes
• SSL Secure Checkout
• Unlimited File Storage
• Unlimited Products
• Unlimited Staff Accounts
• Related Products
• Visual Store Builder
• Native Apps
• Automated Gift Cards
• Abandoned Cart Recovery
• 99% Uptime
• CVS Export Builder
• Unlimited Bandwidth
• Currency Converter App
• Advanced Reporting
• Upsell Campaign Builder

Shopify Features

Shopify, as a leading e-commerce platform, offers a number of features to the users. However, the exact features depend on the plan chosen. Namely, the basic plan includes:

• Unlimited Products
• Staff Accounts
• Discount Codes
• Customer Support
• Overview Dashboard
• Unlimited Online Storage
• Online Sales Channels
• Manual Order Creation
• Finance Reports
• Fraud Analysis
• Unlimited Bandwidth
• Shopify Point of Sale

As you can see, there aren’t plenty of features like CommerceHQ offers. This is because the basic plan is quite limited, though it offers useful features. Therefore, if you want to get more features, you need to purchase some of the more expensive plans.

If you choose the Shopify plan, in addition to the above-mentioned features, you’ll get the following ones:

• More Staff Accounts
• More Locations to assign inventory to
• Professional Reports
• USPS Priority Mail Cubic Pricing
• International Domains
• International Pricing

And, if you choose the Advanced Shopify plan, you will get all the above, plus:

• Advanced Report Builder
• Third-party Calculated Shipping Rates
• International Pricing per each product

Features Comparison

Now that we’ve briefly looked at their features, it’s time to compare them, so that you can judge which one works better for you in terms of features.

CommerceHQ has an advantage over Shopify in several aspects. Namely, it allows for unlimited staff accounts, whereas Shopify has a limited number based on the plan chosen. Also, all integrations are included in the price paid for the plan so there’s no additional cost, whereas Shopify users have to pay additional for the paid integrations.

In addition, CommerceHQ allows users to easily customize the theme and template of their online store without much hassle, whereas Shopify requires an additional app or a developer for that. Also, it offers more conversion-friendly features to users, included in its pricing plan, which allow them to run an unlimited number of sales and customize them for specific products, whereas with Shopify, users have to do their own research to learn how to do these things. Plus, it doesn’t charge processing fees per transaction as Shopify does. But keep in mind that it limits the number of sales per month. Namely, if you make over 30K/month, your pricing plan will go from Startup ($99/month) to Pro, which costs $299/month.

And, last, CommerceHQ offers a built-in shipping fulfillment service, whereas Shopify doesn’t. This means that you don’t have to outsource your shipping fulfillment process to another company but do it yourself just by using the designated feature.

On the other hand, Shopify outruns CommerceHQ in the customer support as it offers 24/7 support to users, whereas CommerceHQ doesn’t. Also, it offers shipping discounts, labels, and Point of Sale for in-person payments, whereas CommerceHQ has none of that. Moreover, it has an integrated blog where users can share more content related to their business, whereas CommerceHQ is strictly an online shop platform. And, last but not less important, it’s much more customizable, which means that users can deviate from the themes and adjust any part of their store according to their needs.

Are there any similarities???

Of course, there are! Both platforms offer:

• Discount Codes
• Gift Cards
• Unlimited Products
• Inventory Management
• Abandoned Cart Recovery
• Unlimited Bandwidth
• SSL Secure Checkout
• Web Hosting
• Open API
• CSV Import/Export

CommerceHQ vs Shopify: App Store

Being able to customize your store is very important because it gives you the freedom to add or remove any plugins or addons you need or don’t need. This allows you to keep up with your business’ needs and always offer the best to your clients. Some of them are:

• Page Speed + SEO Image Optimizer
• Easy FAQ I Fast & Flexible
• TinyIMG SEO Image Optimizer
• Printful: Print-on-Demand

We must say that there’s a big difference between CommerceHQ and Shopify in this aspect. It’s because Shopify has over 2,500 plugins and addons you can choose from. It’s worth mentioning that some of them are free and some are paid, but they all help users optimize their online store.

On the other hand, CommerceHQ has a limited app store, but that doesn’t mean that it has nothing to offer. On the contrary, it offers very useful addons and plugins, such as:

• Zapier
• Reviews
• Quantity Left
• Timer Widget
• Security Badge
• Promotional Bar

What’s important to mention is that they are all part of your subscription plan, hence, there are no additional fees to worry about.

CommerceHQ vs Shopify: Security

When running an e-commerce store, security is one of the essential aspects you should consider. It’s because both, users and customers, must be protected from unwanted events, such as stolen private data and credit card info or any other type of security breach.

You can rest assured that all your data is secured because both platforms are secure. CommerceHQ keeps customers’ credit card data just until their complete their purchase and is encrypted via the PCI DSS. Shopify, also, is certified with Level 1 PCI DSS encryption, which means that all stored data is encrypted with special data encryption tools which protect payment transfers, offer constant security monitoring, and prevent viruses on the servers.

CommerceHQ vs Shopify: Themes

CommerceHQ has its own theme store which includes free and paid themes. Therefore, you can choose which ones you like the most. Also, you can use Twig to create your own theme and customize it to your liking if you are a developer. No matter which option you choose of these two, the drag-and-drop creating tool this platform offers will allow you to easily set up your online store in no time.

On the other hand, Shopify has only 10 free, basic themes as well as numerous impressive paid (premium) themes. If you are just starting out, you can go with the free themes as they are quite varied, ranging from old to modern style. Just like in CommerceHQ, you can develop your theme from scratch if you have the skills because you have access to the code. But, if you are an established business or have a consistent, good, amount of flow per month, you can invest it in a premium theme. All of them are very beautiful, in different styles, and with different features. Their prices vary from $100 to $180 but you can also use third-party platforms that offer premium Shopify-compatible themes for less money.

CommerceHQ vs Shopify: Customer Support

When it comes to this aspect, we can immediately tell you that Shopify is the winner because it offers 3 types of 24/7 customer support: live chat, phone, and email. Plus, they have a well-researched and comprehensive FAQ section that contains answers to all questions users are most interested in. On the other hand, CommerceHQ offers only email support, which is almost always slow with answering customer questions or dealing with problems.

CommerceHQ vs Shopify: Shipping

Shopify also wins in this aspect because it offers flat shipping rates based on price and weight. Users also have the option to add calculated shipping rates if they upgrade their account or use a third-party app.

On the other hand, setting up the shipping rate in CommerceHQ is quite complex. It’s because users have to add shipping zones, as many as they need, and set up different shipping rates for each. Plus, they can add exceptions to each country such as size, weight, or region. These exceptions have a direct impact on the shipping rates.

Pros and Cons of CommerceHQ

Pros:

• Easy to use platform with a drag-and-drop store builder
• User-friendly interface
• Lots of free integrations
• Unlimited staff accounts and storage space
• A good variety of free templates
• Built for conversations
• Free hosting and SSL certificate
• Print-on-Demand integration with Custom Cat
• No processing fees
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Tracking pixel management
• CSV export builder
• Native apps

Cons:

• High monthly cost, with prices starting at $99/month
• Email, ticket-based support
• No blog feature
• Supports only one currency
• No mobile app

Pros and Cons of Shopify

Pros:

• Easy to set up and use
• Plenty of free and paid templates
• High-conversion rate for most templates
• Option to develop your own template
• Impressive 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone, and email
• Great mobile app
• Blog features
• Rich app store
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Social media selling channels
• Multiple currencies
• Affordable starting price
• Many payment getaway integrations
• Automatic taxes based on the country, tax rates for the US and Canada, and VAT rates for the EU
• Built-in email marketing
• Many Shopify dropshipper integrations

Cons:

• Limited staff accounts per plan
• Many themes are premium, hence have to be paid additionally
• Many integrations are paid
• Processing fees
• Transaction fees
• Not many free themes
• Limited product options per plan
• Limited inventory locations per plan
• Professional reports only in the higher plans
• Real-time shipping rates only in the higher plans
• No multi-lingual support

CommerceHQ vs Shopify: Pricing Plans

CommerceHQ

CommerceHQ offers 3 pricing plans:

• Startup – $99/month
• Pro – $299/month
• Enterprise – contact sales for information

Free Trial???

Yes, there is a 14-day free trial period so that you can try out the things CommerceHQ offers.

Shopify

Shopify also offers 3 pricing plans:

• Basic Shopify – $29/month
• Shopify – $79/month
• Advanced Shopify – $299/month

Free Trial???

Yes, there is a 14-day free trial period during which you can enjoy all features this platform offers to users.