Shopify
Shopify is a hosted e-commerce platform: you open an online store from a theme or an AI-built design, take payments through Shopify's own checkout, and run orders, inventory and shipping from one admin, with in-person sales on the same plan.
It suits founders selling physical products, or digital ones alongside them, who want a store running without managing hosting or code.
After a 3-day free trial, Basic is $39 a month, or $29 a month billed yearly, as checked on 30 October 2026.
Reviewed by the IndieHacked team
- What it does
- Open an online store with hosting, checkout and payments included, then sell from the same admin in person, on social channels and in AI chats.
- Our take
- Founders who want to sell physical products, or digital ones beside them, without running servers or writing code. Start from one of 800+ themes or a store design generated by AI, take payments through Shopify's checkout, and add in-person sales, social channels and AI chats from the same admin as you grow.
- Pricing
- Free trialMid priceA 3-day free trial with no card needed, and most plans then cost $1 a month for the first 3 months before the regular price starts. Basic is $39 a month, or $29 a month billed yearly; Grow $105, or $79 yearly, with 5 staff accounts; Advanced $399, or $299 yearly, with 15, as checked on 30 October 2026. Yearly billing takes 25% off and is charged up front, and plan fees are generally not refunded. Card rates come on top and depend on the country; a sale through another payment provider instead of Shopify Payments adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced. Plus starts at $2,300 a month on a three-year term, and POS Pro for a shop counter adds $89 a month per location. A separate Agentic plan, for brands that sell only in AI chats with no Shopify store, has no monthly fee.
The IndieHacked breakdown
What it does
Shopify hosts an online store for you, with a free SSL certificate and unlimited bandwidth on every plan. You start from a theme or have AI generate a store design, then edit sections in a visual editor, or build fully custom with Liquid, Shopify's APIs or Hydrogen, its framework for headless storefronts. Products, inventory across up to 10 locations on the standard plans, orders, shipping labels, discounts, email campaigns and abandoned-checkout recovery all run from one admin.
Payments go through Shopify Checkout, with Shopify Payments and Shop Pay built in; Shopify Payments is available in certain countries only, and elsewhere you connect another provider. The same admin sells in person through a phone or card reader, on social channels and marketplaces, and in AI chats such as ChatGPT and Gemini through Agentic Storefronts. Digital downloads up to 5GB deliver at checkout. Sidekick, an AI assistant in the admin, comes with every plan, and Shopify's AI Toolkit lets Claude Code, Codex or Cursor build themes and apps and manage the store.
Who it suits
Founders selling physical products who want the store, the checkout and the money in one account. Hosting, security and checkout are Shopify's job, so a first store can take orders without a developer, and the same products sell at a market stall or pop-up through the POS app with no second system.
It also fits a founder who builds with AI. Shopify names Lovable, Replit and v0 among the app builders that can make a storefront and hand it to Shopify for checkout and payments, and its AI Toolkit works in Claude Code, Codex and Cursor. Every plan integrates with thousands of apps from the Shopify App Store.
Not the right fit for
Founders who want to own the store's code and host it themselves, or keep the payment provider they already use without a platform fee. WooCommerce, reviewed here, is free open-source software that runs on your own WordPress host with any payment provider, while a Shopify store on Basic pays 2% on sales through a provider other than Shopify Payments.
Founders selling a few digital downloads who would rather not pay a monthly fee before the first sale. Gumroad, reviewed here, has no monthly fee, takes 10% + $0.50 of each sale through your own links plus card processing, and handles sales tax as the merchant of record.
Also on the shortlist
- WooCommerceE-commerceA free, open-source WordPress plugin on a host you choose, with any payment provider and paid extensions by the year.Free plugin, hosting and paid extensions extra, as checked on 30 October 2026
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