Renting your store, forever?
Shopify is genuinely good software, and if you are on bare Basic with no apps it is cheaper than I am. Where it stops making sense is when the app subscriptions pile up on top of the plan, each one billed by its maker every month, and none of it is ever yours. With me, once the build is paid, you own the store code outright - Shopify never lets you take the platform with you. Card processing is 2.9% + 30¢ either way, so that is not what this is about.
When Shopify is actually better.
I’ll tell you when staying is the right call. I don’t want a switch I can’t make worth your while.
• You do 500+ orders/month and rely on Shopify's app ecosystem heavily (inventory sync, multi-channel, complex fulfillment).
• You sell on Amazon, eBay, AND your own store, and Shopify Channels integrates them.
• Your business depends on enterprise tools like Shopify Flow, Shopify POS, or Shopify Capital.
• You want to scale to $1M+/year and the Shopify Plus tier (from $2,300/mo) is on your roadmap.
If any of those describe you, stay on Shopify. I’m a better fit for the local-business store that does 20-200 orders a month and is tired of renting a platform and its apps.
Card fees are the same either way. The apps are what add up.
Straight math, and I am not going to fudge it. The 2.9% + 30¢ card fee is the bank’s cut and you pay it either way, on Shopify or with me. Nobody escapes that. What actually differs is what sits on top: Shopify Basic is $29 a month billed yearly, or $39 month to month, and app subscriptions stack on top of it: reviews, subscriptions, upsells and page builders each carry their own monthly bill from their maker. My Full Store is $250 a month for store hosting and support, on top of a monthly plan that starts at $95, so $345 a month at the lowest. The cart, inventory, checkout and order alerts are built in rather than rented. If you are on bare Basic with no apps, Shopify is genuinely cheaper and I will tell you that. Shopify figures are from Shopify’s own pricing page, checked October 22, 2026.
| Cost | Shopify Basic | Full Store (SWS) |
|---|---|---|
| Setup / theme dev | $0 to start; a custom theme or setup help costs extra | $5,500 once (full store) |
| Monthly platform | $29 billed yearly ($39 month to month), plus any apps | $345 ($250 store hosting + $95 Hosting plan) |
| Transaction fees | 2.9% + 30¢ per sale | Stripe direct (2.9% + 30¢) - no platform markup |
| Year 2+ platform + apps (card fees excluded, identical both sides) | $348 billed yearly ($468 month to month), plus any apps | $4,140/yr |
| Code ownership | Locked to Shopify | Yours once the build is paid, transferable |
The Full Store includes admin panel, cart, inventory, Stripe checkout, order notifications, and up to 150 products. See my store options for the full breakdown including the Catalog store (display only) and the Buy Now store (Stripe buy-now buttons).
What gets kept, what gets rebuilt.
Shopify exports cleanly. I migrate products, customers, and order history. New checkout runs on Stripe.
Kept
- ✓ Domain (DNS flip, no rebrand)
- ✓ Product catalog (CSV export from Shopify, imported to SWS Store)
- ✓ Customer accounts + email list
- ✓ Order history (archived for your records)
- ✓ SKUs / inventory counts
Rebuilt
- ↻ Storefront UI (custom-coded, mobile-first, no Shopify runtime)
- ↻ Checkout (Stripe direct - same Visa/MC/Apple Pay support, no Shopify markup)
- ↻ Every product set up so Google can read its name and price
- ↻ Order notifications (email + SMS from servers I run)
Left behind
- × Shopify subscription (you cancel it after the 30-day overlap)
- × Shopify apps (the cart, inventory and order alerts are built into the store, so those apps are not needed)
- × Monthly app subscriptions you rent and never own
Features that don’t directly migrate.
Shopify is the most feature-heavy platform on this list. Some stores genuinely shouldn’t leave. Here’s the honest list of what migrates cleanly vs what doesn’t.
Before you switch from Shopify, real talk:
If you’re doing $50K+/year, have 20+ apps installed, run abandoned-cart automations, or rely on Shopify POS for in-person sales - switching may cost you more than you save. My Full Store is excellent for clean catalog stores with straightforward checkout. It’s not a 1:1 Shopify replacement for full-stack operations.
Shopify Apps (your 5-30 installed apps)
Replacement: Most don’t have direct equivalents. I replace common ones (email capture, reviews, upsells) with simpler self-hosted patterns. Niche apps (recharge subscriptions, complex shipping rules, B2B portals) usually require either keeping Shopify or accepting reduced functionality.
Shopify POS (in-person sales)
Replacement: Outside scope. Keep Shopify POS running standalone (it can run without an online store) or switch to Square / Stripe Terminal. The Full Store is online-only.
Shopify Subscriptions (recurring orders)
Replacement: Stripe Subscription products in the Full Store. Migration of existing subscribers requires customer-by-customer reauth in most cases (Shopify doesn’t expose card data). Plan for some churn during cutover.
Shopify Email Marketing
Replacement: Klaviyo (de-facto standard for e-commerce), Mailchimp, or Resend. Customer list exports as CSV. Email templates rebuild needed.
Shopify Shipping Labels / fulfillment
Replacement: ShipStation or Pirate Ship (both work standalone). If you’re fulfilling 50+ orders/day, the Shopify ecosystem is genuinely hard to replicate - be sure before switching.
Shopify Reviews / customer accounts
Replacement: Reviews migrate as static HTML (I pull and embed them). Customer login accounts don’t carry over - the Full Store uses guest checkout + Stripe Customer Portal for self-service order lookup.
If after reading this you’re still curious, get a quote. I’ll ask about your monthly volume + which apps you actually use and give you a real answer - including telling you "stay on Shopify" if that’s the honest call.
Cheaper way in
Don’t want a redesign? You don’t need one.
A Site Transfer rebuilds what you already have on my stack for $400 one-time plus a monthly plan. Same words, same layout, same photos. What changes is the part Google reads.
Want the version I would have built instead? Add it for $350, during the transfer or a year later.
Get the math for your store.
Drop your average monthly Shopify bill + sales volume into the quote form. I’ll send back a real 3-year ROI comparison along with the migration timeline. SEO Onboarding ($400) is waived with every build, switchers included.
Coming from somewhere other than Shopify? There are guides for switching from Wix and leaving an agency contract.
8 measurable promises by day 30.
Lighthouse 90+ or I fix it free, every page set up so Google reads your business details correctly, submitted to Google on launch day, mobile-tappable phone everywhere, contact form delivers through a relay I run and health-check end to end every week, 301 redirects from every old URL, 30-day overlap window, weekly ranking monitoring from launch. Miss a technical promise, I fix it in 7 days or refund 25% of that month’s hosting.
Hosting is month to month. Cancel any month. Your domain stays in your name. Once your build is paid off, your code is yours, with one-click site export in your client portal.