Sellfy vs Shopify – Differences That Matter In 2024

This comparison between Sellfy and Shopify will help you to choose the best platform to start selling online.

Sellfy is an eCommerce platform that was primarily designed for selling digital goods. However, it is now sufficiently feature-rich to sell physical products as well. The Sellfy platform is smart and easy to manage and works great for bloggers, creators, and businesses who want to sell digital products, physical goods, and subscriptions to their audiences.

Shopify, on the other hand, is a matured eCommerce platform that lets you sell digital products, physical goods, memberships, and subscriptions. It can also integrate with your retail presence. Thanks to Shopify POS.

Here we will compare Shopify and Sellfy to find out the differences between the two eCommerce platforms.

Shopify vs Sellfy – Getting Started

The onboarding process is smooth and fast with both Sellfy and Shopify. Let us quickly check the steps.

Getting started with Sellfy

Head over to Sellfy.
Click on the button Start Free Trial.
Create an account with your email account, password, and store name.

Getting started with Shopify

Navigate to Shopify.
Click on the button Start Free Trial.
Create an account with your email account, password, and store name.

Verdict: Creating an account in Sellfy or Shopify needs the same amount of time and information. Moreover, both these platforms give you fourteen days to try for free without any need for a credit card. In short, it is a tie between Sellfy and Shopify.

Shopify vs Sellfy – What Can You Sell

Sellfy lets you sell digital products, physical goods, subscriptions, and video streaming. Moreover, Sellfy even has an in-built print-on-demand module. You can sell print-on-demand products to your customers without the need for another third-party application.

Shopify, on the other hand, allows you to sell digital products, physical goods, subscriptions, memberships, and videos. Moreover, you can connect your retail stores using the Shopify POS feature. Shopify does not have any in-built technology to produce print-on-demand products. But, you can integrate with almost any third-party platform like Printful and Printify to do so.

Verdict: Both Sellfy and Shopify will work for you if you plan to sell online. But, if you are a big business having a retail presence as well – Shopify is your way to go. In my opinion, Shopify is a more feature-rich platform here.

Shopify vs Sellfy – Customizing the Storefront

Sellfy offers you a customizable storefront with an efficient checkout system. You can connect your custom domain and run a multilingual store.

You can modify the colors, layout, and logo of your mobile-optimized storefront.

With Sellfy, you can sell using ‘buy now’ buttons for any website to turn your existing pages into a store. You can embed product cards to your website.

You can also sell using shareable links like Coffeelinks. Sellfy also lets you embed your entire store on your website.

Advanced customization can indeed help you to customize your Sellfy store with drag-drop features. But, I did not find any option to have a custom theme.

On the other hand, Shopify gives you a fully customizable hosted storefront. Apart from running a multilingual shop on your own domain, you can customize almost every aspect of your store. You can also use custom themes, free or premium, on your online shop. Moreover, you can find multiple Shopify apps to enhance your store beyond simple look and feel.

Shopify lets you sell everywhere.

You can sell from your online shop. You can use buy buttons on your websites. You can sell on social media, online marketplaces, and even sell in person using Shopify POS.

Verdict: If you are happy with a simple and easy to manage storefront – Sellfy is a great choice. But, if you need full customization of your shop using custom themes – go with Shopify.

Payout Processing

Sellfy stores can accept payments using PayPal and Stripe. The transactions are secured and handled by trusted payment processors. Also, the payouts are instantaneous. You receive the payable amount in your connected account right away.

Shopify, on the other hand, supports a long list of payment gateways. You also get a free 256-bit SSL certificate. It protects all your pages, content, credit card, and transaction information with the same security used by banks. Like Sellfy, Payouts are instantly credited to your account.

Verdict: Both Sellfy and Shopify process payouts instantly. If you are ok with PayPal and Stripe, both Shopify and Sellfy are good choices. But, if you need some other payment processor that caters to a niche or a specific country, you have to go with Shopify.

Shopify vs Sellfy – Promoting Your Store

Sellfy offers you several built-in marketing tools. For example, you can create discount codes for your customers. You can upsell your products during checkout. Sellfy also gives you capable email marketing tools and powerful analytics for your store.

Shopify offers you equally powerful marketing tools to grow your business. You can offer discount coupons and gift cards to your customers. Your customers can also leave product reviews on your store. If you need more capabilities like lost cart recoveries, there are several Shopify apps to help you.

Verdict: The in-built marketing tools are almost similar in both the platforms. You should be good with either Sellfy or Shopify. But, for extensive customization, the Shopify app store has a more powerful ecosystem.

Pricing And Fees

You must have noticed that there is no free plan in either Sellfy or Shopify. Both platforms give you a fourteen-day period to try for free. You must upgrade to one of the paid plans if you want to continue using Sellfy or Shopify after your trial period ends.

Sellfy Pricing

Sellfy has three pricing plans.

Starter Plan

The Sellfy starter plan starts at $19 per month.
You can add unlimited products.
You can connect your own domain.
Your store can have up to $10k in sales in a year.

Business Plan

The Sellfy Business plan charges you $39 per month.
You get everything in the Starter plan.
You get access to features like Product upselling.
Sellfy will offer you a free migration of your store.
Your store can have up to $50K in sales in a year.

Premium Plan

The Sellfy Premium plan is priced at $89 per month.
You get all the Business plan features.
You get access to priority support and higher email credit.
Your store can have up to $200K in sales in a year.

It is important to note that Sellfy will not charge you any transaction fee in any of its three plans, which is good. Moreover, you get a 34% discount if you opt for the annual payment.

Shopify Plans

Shopify also has three different plans to choose from.

Basic Shopify

The Basic plan comes at a monthly price of $29.
You can have up to 2 staff accounts.
You pay a 2% transaction fee to Shopify.

Shopify Plan

The Shopify plan comes at a monthly price of $79.
You can have up to 5 staff accounts.
You have access to all the Basic Shopify features.
You also have access to professional reports.
You pay a 1% transaction fee to Shopify.

Advanced Shopify Plan

The Advanced Shopify plan comes at a monthly price of $299.
You can have up to 15 staff accounts.
You have access to all the Shopify features.
You also have access to the Advanced report builder and Third-Party calculated shipping rates.
You pay a .5% transaction fee to Shopify.

Verdict: It is a no-brainer that Sellfy has a more pocket-friendly pricing plan. Transaction fees over and above the monthly Shopify subscription price may not be friendly to your pocket. If all other features impress you, Sellfy should be your choice if you focus on the pricing.

Shopify vs Sellfy – Themes and Apps

The Shopify ecosystem is more matured than Sellfy. You get thousands of apps to address any business need you can think of. If you want to start dropshipping you have an app for Spocket. You can use the Printful or the Printify app for all your Print-on-demand needs.

You can use any of the different Shopify themes to customize your store. Moreover, there are excellent Shopify developers who can build quality apps for your Shopify store based on your custom requirement.

Sellfy, on the other hand, lets you connect with other software using Zapier integrations. Of course, this is a pocket-friendly approach as you will not have to pay the usually recurring charges for Shopify apps.

Verdict: If you are comfortable using Zapier for your integration needs, go with Sellfy. But, if you find installing apps to be the more intuitive approach, the Shopify ecosystem will simply impress you.

Key Differences Between Sellfy and Shopify

Let us summarize the differences between Sellfy and Shopify here.

Feature	Sellfy	Shopify
Onboarding	Easy	Easy
Sell digital products	Yes	Yes
Sell physical goods	Yes	Yes
Sell memberships	Yes	Yes
Sell from retail store	Yes	No
Customization	Limited	Unlimited
Extension, Integrations	Zapier	Shopify Apps
Payment Gateways	PayPal, Stripe	Many
Payout Processing	Immediate	Immediate
Transaction Fees	NIL	Yes
	Visit Sellfy	Visit Shopify

You may choose Sellfy if:

You need a hosted storefront that is simple, powerful, and easy to manage.
You do not have any retail outlet.
You do not need major customizations.
You are comfortable in using Zapier for integrations.
You do not like paying fees per transaction.

You may choose Shopify if:

You need a very powerful, robust, and complete eCommerce platform.
You need a highly customizable and extensible store builder.
You have a physical retail presence.
You need payment gateways other than PayPal and Stripe with a focus on local audience or niche.
You are comfortable paying any extra fees for additional features that you may use.

Shopify vs Sellfy – Wrapping Up

In this comparison between Sellfy and Shopify, we discussed the major features that differentiate them.

Both Sellfy and Shopify are powerful eCommerce platforms that let you sell online from hosted storefronts. But they are not similar.

In my opinion, Sellfy should be your option if you need a simple online shop for selling products. The in-built print-on-demand tools, along with the zero transaction fee are simply an efficient and pocket-friendly solution.

Shopify is more suitable for power sellers. While the base price remains the same in both Shopify and Sellfy, the extra recurring charges towards additional apps along with the per-transaction fee can be expensive for others.

But Shopify pricing is very much justified for the number of features and capabilities you get.

To summarize: Choose Shopify if you need the most customizable, extensible, and complete eCommerce platform for your business. Use Sellfy if you are looking for a simple eCommerce platform having significant in-built capabilities with zero transaction fees.