Ready to dive into the lucrative world of ecommerce? First, you’re going to need the right platform. Shopify and Launch Cart are two popular “all-in-one” options, promising merchants everything they need to build, launch, and manage an online store.
Shopify is personally my favorite ecommerce platform, and clearly, I’m not alone in thinking it’s excellent – after all, Shopify powers more than 5 million stores globally. Shopify is versatile, scalable, and packed with ever-evolving features.
But Launch Cart boasts that it’s America’s “preferred ecommerce platform”, and it offers built in print-on-demand services.
So – how do these two platforms stack up? Let’s find out.
Shopify vs Launch Cart: TL; DR Verdict
For me, Shopify is definitely the more flexible and scalable ecommerce platform. It integrates with thousands of apps, supports omnichannel selling, and even comes with a few handy AI tools built-in.
Launch Cart is potentially the cheaper option for beginners, and may be a good choice if you want a simple print-on-demand solution already built into your store.
Shopify Pros and Cons
Pros
- Omnichannel selling with an integrated POS system
- Powerful sales, marketing, and AI capabilities
- Flexible store builder with professional themes
- Excellent payment processing capabilities
- Integrations with thousands of apps and tools
- Scalable plans for growing businesses
Cons
- Some plans can be expensive
- Transaction fees are applied when using third-party processers
Launch Cart Pros and Cons
Pros
- Easy to use for beginners
- Built-in print on demand services
- Excellent support and training resources
- New features added regularly
- Native upsell conversion technology
- Unlimited staff accounts on all plans
Cons
- Limited integration options
- Some features have a higher learning curve
Shopify vs Launch Cart: The Core Features
Since they’re both flexible, cloud-based ecommerce platforms, Shopify and Launch Cart have quite a lot in common.
They both offer their own convenient website building tools with drag-and-drop capabilities, and both allow you to sell virtually any kind of product.
Both platforms also have excellent tools for inventory, product, and order management, sales and coupons, cross-selling and upselling, and global shipping.
Here’s a closer look at how the main features of Shopify and Launch Cart compare, side by side.
Website Design Features
Shopify and Launch Cart take a similar approach to store design. Both give companies “themes” they can customize with a drag-and-drop builder.
You can create custom pages and navigation menus on both platforms, add your own colors and logos to your store, and even experiment with custom code.
In my opinion, Shopify has a slightly more versatile range of themes to choose from – although most of them do require you to pay an extra one-time fee.

Shopify also gives you more freedom to add code to your website, and design themes from scratch – whereas with Launch Cart, you’re pretty much limited to using the templates that already exist.
On the plus side, both of these companies ensure all their themes and templates are mobile responsive, and optimized to boost conversion rates.
Plus, I do like the fact that Launch Cart gives you a little more control over the checkout experience than Shopify does.
Ecommerce and Sales Features
Again, there are a lot of similarities between Shopify and Launch Cart from an ecommerce perspective. Both companies allow you to sell anything, from physical products, to dropshipping and POD products, or digital downloads and services.
However, it’s worth noting that you need external apps for dropshipping, print on demand, and selling digital products with Shopify.
Launch Cart has the features you need already built-in, and even has its own print on demand service with access to 300+ ready-to-sell products.

Although that’s a convenient feature – I do prefer the option to experiment with a wider range of print on demand companies (like Printful and Printify), using Shopify’s app store.
Both platforms come with support for selling in global currencies, and creating global shipping rules. You can also set tax and VAT rules with both platforms, and track inventory, orders and products in a centralized location.
Where Launch Cart stands out is with it’s in-built tools for pre-cart, post- check out, and thank you page upsells and offers. Once again, you need external apps to access these features with Shopify, but there are plenty of options available.
Shopify, on the other hand, stands out for its omnichannel selling capabilities. While you can integrate your Launch Cart website with social media, Shopify makes it easier to sell through social media platforms, marketplaces (like Amazon), and even offline with its integrated point of sale software.
Marketing and Business Growth
When it comes to marketing, both Shopify and Launch Cart have strengths and weaknesses.
Both options support email marketing with abandoned cart recovery messages – although I’d probably recommend using an integration for advanced features with Shopify.
Both platforms are relatively SEO-friendly, with responsive themes and free SSL certificates- however Shopify gives you more tools to boost your presence online, such as a built-in blog for content marketing, and access to a host of marketing tool integrations.
Launch Cart does have some unique features built-in, such as a social bio link tools, live selling solutions, reviews app, and promotional bar builder.
You can also access tools that help you collect email addresses with pop-ups. Shopify supports all of these capabilities, but once again it relies heavily on integrations with other external tools.
One big advantage that Shopify does have over Launch Cart from a marketing perspective is that it comes with powerful AI capabilities.
You can use solutions like Shopify Magic to create high-converting ads, product descriptions, and FAQ pages. There are even tools for editing product photos and creating new visuals for your store.
Business Management and Integrations
Shopify and Launch Cart are pretty much neck-and-neck from a business management perspective.
As mentioned above, both support staff accounts and sub-accounts – although Launch Cart gives you unlimited staff accounts on every plan – while Shopify limits your options based on your plan.
Both tools come with built-in inventory, order, and product management capabilities, triggers and automations for workflows, and detailed statistics and reporting capabilities.
I do think Shopify’s reporting tools are more robust – however, giving you access to custom solutions so you can more effectively find ways to boost your sales.
Shopify also wins from an integration perspective. Although Launch Cart says that it integrates with “just about everything”, you need to use an integration engine and APIs to forge connections with your favorite tools – which can be a little tricky.
Shopify integrates with literally thousands of apps, and most of the time, setting up a connection only takes a couple of clicks.

That being said, it’s worth remembering that Launch Cart does have more tools built-in than Shopify for things like print on demand, upselling, and pop-ups.
Shopify vs Launch Cart: Pricing and Fees
I always say that Shopify is my favorite ecommerce platform – but it’s definitely not the cheapest.
Although you can sell through Shopify’s Starter plan for only $5 per month – you don’t get a full store with this plan (you can only sell through social media and messaging tools).
Shopify plans start at $39 per month for the Basic Shopify plan, $105 per month for the Shopify plan, or $399 for the Advanced plan. If you’re ready to launch a new ecommerce store, you can now access Shopify’s plans for just $1 per month for the first three months.
The more you pay, the more features, shipping discounts, and staff accounts you get.
There’s also the Shopify Plus Enterprise plan starting at $2,300 per month – intended for extremely large companies.
Launch Cart’s plans are a little cheaper – there’s actually only one plan available “Basic” – which starts at $27 per month if you pay monthly, or $197 per year.

Obviously, this makes Launch Cart a lot cheaper, and it’s worth noting the plans do come with unlimited staff accounts and integrated features that you’d need to pay extra for with Shopify.
Shopify vs Launch Cart: The Verdict
Launch Cart hasn’t quite knocked Shopify off the top spot for me in terms of go-to ecommerce platforms.
Shopify is still more versatile, scalable, and offers more omnichannel sales options. However, I can definitely see the value of Launch Cart for smaller companies with a limited budget.
Launch Cart comes with fewer integration options, but more built-in features than Shopify – at a glance, and it’s definitely a lot cheaper.
If you’re launching a small business, definitely consider using Launch Cart – but if you’re operating a larger company or want to scale – Shopify is the better choice.