By Bogdan Rancea
Shopify vs Elementor: Which option should you be using to build your online presence?
Overall, Shopify is the better choice if you’re looking for a comprehensive ecommerce solution.
It offers a range of features you don’t get from Elementor, from unlimited bandwidth and storage, to powerful sales and business management features.
Elementor, on the other hand, is designed to simplify the process of building an attractive web presence with WordPress.
Here I’ll share my insights from experimenting with both platforms, to help you make the right choice for your business.
Shopify vs Elementor: The Pros and Cons
Shopify Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Comprehensive commerce platform for omnichannel selling
- Easy-to-use website builder with responsive themes
- Excellent reporting and analytics tools
- Great features for inventory and order management
- Built-in marketing tools
- Hosting included with every plan
- Fantastic scalability
Cons:
- Plans and transaction fees can be expensive
- Slight learning curve for some features
Elementor Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Easy drag-and-drop website design
- Built-in widgets and sections
- Comprehensive management dashboard
- Excellent loading speed and security
- Affordable hosting options
- AI tools and image optimization
Cons:
- No ecommerce features
- Lacks built-in marketing solutions
- Only suitable for WordPress
Shopify vs Elementor: Overview and Pricing
| Category | Shopify | Elementor |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Comprehensive ecommerce platform with built-in tools for omnichannel selling. | WordPress plugin for designing and customizing websites with a focus on user-friendly drag-and-drop functionality. |
| Ease of Use | Beginner-friendly website builder with pre-designed responsive themes. | Drag-and-drop interface, ideal for those familiar with WordPress. |
| Ecommerce Features | Advanced ecommerce tools like product management, inventory, POS integration, and omnichannel support. | No built-in ecommerce tools (requires WooCommerce integration for online store functionality). |
| Hosting | Hosting included in all plans, with unlimited bandwidth and storage. | Hosting powered by Google available with hosting plans; 99.9% uptime guarantee and fast loading speeds. |
| Customization | Offers customizable free and premium themes with the ability to create custom pages. | Full design control over WordPress websites using widgets, templates, and pre-designed website kits. |
| Marketing Tools | Built-in email marketing, chat, promotions, SEO tools, and integrations with popular marketing platforms. | No built-in marketing solutions but supports SEO customization and third-party marketing integrations. |
| AI Tools | No specific AI tools for site design or content creation. | AI tools for layout design, code generation, image creation, and copywriting. |
| Analytics | Advanced reporting and analytics tools for tracking sales, marketing, and product performance (depending on plan). | Limited analytics; depends on WordPress plugins or third-party tools for detailed insights. |
| Pricing | Starts at $5/month for basic selling features (e.g., social selling) and $39/month for full ecommerce functionality; extra transaction fees for some plans. | Starts at $2.99/month for hosting or $49/year for the plugin; premium hosting and plugin plans range up to $99.99/month. |
| Integrations | Extensive app marketplace with thousands of integrations for dropshipping, marketing, print-on-demand, and more. | Compatible with WordPress plugins and solutions like WooCommerce, though additional costs may apply for ecommerce functionality. |
| Scalability | Highly scalable with options to upgrade plans and add integrations for growing businesses. | Scalable for WordPress sites but lacks native tools for scaling ecommerce operations. |
| Best For | Businesses focused on selling online and offline, managing operations, and growing their commerce presence. | WordPress users seeking greater customization and attractive design options for their website. |
Understanding Shopify: Definition and Pricing
Shopify is my favorite platform for omnichannel commerce. It’s a powerful solution that includes a straightforward website builder, and countless tools for managing your business.
With Shopify, you get everything you need to sell virtually any kind of product anywhere.
Plus, you’ll have comprehensive solutions for inventory, order, product, and even shipping management.
Shopify offers a range of plans to business owners, tuned to different needs.
The cheapest “Starter” plan for $5 per month simply allows you to sell products through social media channels and messaging apps, and gives you access to a link in bio landing page builder.
The more advanced plans start at $39 per month (with a 3 day free trial, followed by the first month for just $1), with full access to Shopify’s website builder, and more advanced tools for marketing, business operations and more.
Notably, there may be extra fees to pay with Shopify, such as transaction fees (if you use a third-party payment processor), and subscription fees for additional apps and add-ons.
Understanding Elementor: Definition and Pricing
Elementor is a drag-and-drop website building solution that gives you the freedom to customize your WordPress website.
It’s a plugin that gives you extensive customization options, limiting the need to experiment with code.
The platform also offers access to tools like an image optimizer, and AI solutions to help with site design and content creation.
Pricing for Elementor varies depending on the solution you need. If you want simple WordPress hosting, with a website builder and initial theme, prices start at only $2.99 per month.
For the page builder plugin, the Essential plan starts at $49 per year, while the Advanced plan costs $99 per year.
If you want both static hosting and Elementor’s website builder, you can expect to pay $49.99 per month for the basic “Prime” plan, or $99.99 per month for the Elite plan.
Shopify vs Elementor: The Core Features
Elementor and Shopify are two very different solutions. Shopify is an ecommerce-first platform, with an included website builder.
It focuses on giving you the tools you need to sell online and manage your business effectively.
Elementor, on the other hand, is a WordPress site customization tool, which gives you the power to customize your web presence, but no sales tools.
The Main Features of Shopify:
- Website design: Shopify’s website builder allows you to customize your online presence with a range of flexible free and paid themes, each with their own unique features. You can create as many pages as you want for your site, and even design your own blog.
- Commerce tools: As an omnichannel commerce platform, Shopify gives you the checkout and payment processing solutions you need to sell through your own site. Plus, it integrates with marketplaces, and social media for online selling, and has built in POS software.
- Marketing: You can access integrated email marketing, chat tools, and a range of solutions for hosting promotions and sales with Shopify. The platform is SEO friendly, and also integrates with a variety of popular marketing tools.
- Operations: For managing business operations, Shopify gives companies access to powerful tools for inventory, order, and product management. There are solutions for handling shipping rules and fulfillment, and employee and customer management tools too.
- Reporting and analytics: The types of reports you can create with Shopify vary depending on the plan you choose, but there are plenty of resources for tracking product performance, sales, and even the impact of your marketing campaigns.
- Integrations: Shopify’s comprehensive app marketplace allows companies to connect their store with thousands of tools for everything from dropshipping, to marketing, print on demand, website design, lead generation and more.
The Core Features of Elementor
- Drag and drop website builder: Elementor gives companies a convenient drag-and-drop website builder that allows them to customize every aspect of their website with ease. There are hundreds of widgets and even full website kits to choose from.
- Hosting: With Elementor, you can access built-in hosting powered by Google. The hosting services come with a comprehensive management dashboard and staging environment, excellent loading speeds, and a 99.9% uptime.
- Flexibility: Although Elementor doesn’t offer built-in ecommerce tools, it can integrate with solutions like WooCommerce to help you build the perfect online store. Notably, however, you will still need to pay for transaction fees and other costs
- Image optimizer: Elementor’s image optimizer helps you compress, resize, and reduce the size of images for faster page loading times. You can convert images to WebP formats, and boost your search engine rankings.
- AI tools: Elementor’s range of AI tools make it easier to build comprehensive layouts for your store, enhance site design, and even create copy for your website. You can even generate container layouts, images, and code.
Read more:
When to Use Shopify and When to Use Elementor
When to Use Shopify
Choose Shopify for:
- Exceptional omnichannel commerce tools, ensuring you can sell products and services on a range of channels (and in-store).
- Comprehensive business management solutions for everything from inventory management to tax calculations.
- Fantastic scalability, with the ability to update your plan, and add extensions and integrations to your store from a huge app market.
When to Use Elementor
Choose Elementor for:
- A simple and user-friendly way to design more attractive WordPress websites, without the need for comprehensive code.
- Excellent AI tools to help you design the perfect website and create compelling content.
- Useful tools that help you to optimize your web presence for better search engine rankings.
Shopify vs Elementor: Final Thoughts
Ultimately, Shopify is the far better solution for commerce, giving companies a huge range of built-in tools for processing sales, and managing operations.
It’s also the more scalable and versatile solution overall, giving you the freedom to grow your business over time.
Elementor, on the other hand, is a great solution for those who want to enhance WordPress design and improve SEO rankings, but it lacks more advanced features.
