Salomon Web Services
The question comes up in almost every sales conversation we have with e-commerce or retail businesses: should we use Shopify, or build something custom?
The right answer depends entirely on your situation. Here’s a clear framework for thinking it through.
What Shopify Is (and Isn’t)
Shopify is a hosted e-commerce platform. You pay a monthly fee, and in return you get:
- A proven, reliable e-commerce infrastructure
- Hundreds of themes and a visual builder
- Built-in payment processing (Shopify Payments)
- App store with thousands of add-ons
- Hosting, security, CDN included
What you don’t get:
- Full control over the code and data model
- The ability to build logic that Shopify’s architecture doesn’t support
- A way out without significant migration costs if you grow beyond it
What a Custom Website Gives You
A custom-built website (typically on Next.js, WordPress, Webflow, or a similar framework + custom backend) gives you:
- Complete control over every interaction and feature
- No monthly platform fee (just hosting)
- The ability to build any feature your business needs
- Data ownership — your customer data, your architecture
- No vendor lock-in
What it costs you:
- Significantly more upfront investment
- An ongoing development relationship for updates and features
- More responsibility for security and infrastructure
The Cost Reality
Shopify
| Plan | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|
| Basic | $39/month |
| Shopify | $105/month |
| Advanced | $399/month |
| Plus (enterprise) | $2,300+/month |
Plus transaction fees (0–2% per sale depending on plan and payment method), app costs ($20–$200+/month for common apps like email marketing, reviews, loyalty programs), and theme costs ($200–$400 one-time for a premium theme).
For a real business, expect to spend $200–$800/month just in Shopify + app fees.
Custom Shopify development (themes, apps, complex logic): $3,000–$30,000 depending on scope.
Custom Website
Upfront build cost: $8,000–$80,000 depending on features, design complexity, and who builds it.
Ongoing: hosting ($20–$200/month), maintenance ($300–$1,500/month if you need ongoing dev support), and no per-transaction fees.
Break-even analysis: at scale, custom typically becomes cheaper than Shopify + apps, typically somewhere between $500K–$2M in annual revenue.
When Shopify Wins
You’re launching an e-commerce store from scratch. The time to first sale matters more than anything. Shopify can get you live in days, not months.
You have standard e-commerce needs. Product catalog, shopping cart, payments, email marketing, reviews, abandoned cart. Shopify handles all of this out of the box or via cheap apps.
You don’t have a development team. Shopify was designed to be managed by non-technical people. Adding products, updating copy, running promotions — all of this works without a developer.
Your volume is under $2M/year. Below this level, Shopify’s fees are reasonable and the platform’s capabilities cover your needs.
You want proven reliability. Shopify’s uptime, security patching, and payment processing are battle-tested at massive scale. You don’t have to worry about it.
When Custom Wins
You have business logic that doesn’t fit Shopify’s model. Custom pricing rules, complex bundles, subscription models with unusual terms, B2B ordering, multi-warehouse inventory with custom routing — these hit Shopify’s ceiling fast.
You’re building something that’s partly e-commerce. If you’re selling services, building a client portal, running a marketplace, or combining e-commerce with a SaaS product, Shopify’s architecture fights you.
You need full control over the customer experience. Shopify themes and the Storefront API give you flexibility, but there are ceiling you’ll hit. Custom gives you pixel-perfect, interaction-level control.
You’re at meaningful scale ($2M+/year). Transaction fees on Shopify add up at volume. A $50,000 custom build can pay for itself in 12–18 months in fee savings alone.
Your tech stack needs deep integration. If your product, inventory, CRM, and fulfillment systems all need to talk to each other in complex ways, custom architecture handles this more cleanly than trying to bolt things together through Shopify’s API.
The Hybrid Path
Many businesses use Shopify for the e-commerce layer and custom development for everything else. This is often the practical middle ground:
- Shopify handles product catalog, cart, checkout, and payments
- Custom frontend on Next.js or Remix gives you design freedom (Shopify’s Hydrogen framework supports this)
- Custom backend handles business logic, integrations, and the non-commerce parts of the site
This approach has higher upfront cost than plain Shopify but lower cost and risk than fully custom e-commerce infrastructure.
The Question to Ask First
Before the Shopify vs. custom debate: what problem are you actually solving?
If you need to sell products online quickly and cost-effectively: Shopify. If you need to build a specific business process that happens to involve commerce: custom.
Most businesses get in trouble by starting with “I want to build a custom website” without asking why the custom part is necessary. Custom is a tool, not a goal.
Not sure which direction fits your business? Book a 30-minute call — we build both, and we’ll give you an honest recommendation with no bias.