Shopify vs Etsy Pattern 2024: Which Solution is Better?

Shopify vs Etsy Pattern: What’s the best option for your business?

The easy answer is Shopify. Although Etsy Pattern is an easy-to-use tool for building your own branded website, it only allows you to sell certain products, and limits your scalability. Shopify is a fully flexible and versatile commerce platform, with much greater functionality.

With Shopify, you get more advanced inventory and order management tools, a more powerful website builder, integrated marketing solutions, and the option to enable omnichannel sales.

You can even sell through Shopify and Etsy at the same time!

Here’s everything you need to know to make the right choice.

Shopify vs Etsy Pattern: The Pros and Cons

Shopify Pros and Cons

Pattern by Etsy Pros and Cons

Shopify vs Etsy Pattern: Overview and Pricing

Understanding Shopify: Pricing and Fees

Shopify is my favorite ecommerce platform, and one of the most popular commerce solutions worldwide. It combines a website builder (with customizable themes) with advanced selling tools, inventory management capabilities, and solutions for marketing and conversion optimization.

Shopify allows companies to sell physical products and digital products or subscriptions (through apps), and supports omnichannel selling. You can connect your store to marketplaces, social media platforms, and even sell in-store with Shopify POS.

Plus it’s packed with tools for AI content generation, customer relationship management, employee management, and even international selling.

While you can use Shopify’s “Starter” plan for $5 per month to sell through a link in bio, messaging apps, and social media, you’ll need one of the core plans to access all of Shopify’s features. These plans range from $39 per month for the Basic plan, to $2,300+ for Shopify Plus.

Notably, Shopify also charges transaction fees if your company doesn’t use Shopify Payments or an approved third-party to process transactions.

Understanding Etsy Pattern: Pricing and Fees

Etsy Pattern is a solution created by Etsy to give creative sellers an alternative to selling exclusively through their popular marketplace. With “Pattern by Etsy”, companies can build a custom website, with their own domain and branding, where they can sell a wide range of products.

The solution integrates with your existing Etsy Storefront, so you can upload product listings and synchronize sales between channels.

However it also allows you to sell a wider range of products that might not be suitable for Etsy’s standard platform.

Plus, unlike Etsy, Etsy Pattern gives you access to a blog, social media sharing tools, SEO features, advanced website analytics, and more.

You can create and use an Etsy Pattern for free for 30 days. After that, you’ll be charged $15 per month for the service. Notably, while you don’t have to pay listing fees with Pattern, you will need to handle domain and payment processing fees.

Shopify vs Etsy Pattern: The Core Features

On the surface, both Etsy Pattern and Shopify are similar solutions that allow users to build websites and sell products online. However, Etsy is a very simple platform, intended for beginners with very basic requirements. Shopify is a more scalable, robust solution.

The Main Features of Shopify:

• Website builder and editor: Shopify allows companies to customize a huge range of beautiful and mobile responsive themes to create the perfect website. The website builder also comes with a built-in CMS for blogging, and SSL certificate.
• Selling tools: With Shopify, companies can sell any product, with an integrated payment processor, and world-leading checkout. You also gain access to tax calculation tools, financial reports, and solutions for tracking orders and purchases. There’s even a POS solution too.
• Analytics: Although the analytical and reporting tools you can access on Shopify will vary depending on your chosen plan, most options come with access to a range of ways to monitor inventory, top-performing products, finances, and more.
• Marketing tools: Shopify integrates with social media channels and Google analytics, allows companies to launch promotions and share gift cards, and has its own email and chat solutions for customer engagement. It’s also SEO-friendly.
• Business Operations: The business operations tools built into Shopify include robust solutions for inventory management, as well as product, order, supplier, fulfillment, customer, and staff management. There are even shipping solutions available.
• Integrations: Shopify’s incredible app market makes it easy to extend the functionality of your store with a range of apps for accounting, reporting, website design, customer service, cross-selling, upselling, and more.

The Core Features of Etsy Pattern

• Website builder: Etsy Pattern’s website builder is much simpler than Shopify’s. However, you still get access to a range of beautiful templates you can customize. Plus, you can connect your own domain, and get a free SSL certificate.
• Sales tools: Etsy processes payments for you securely with Etsy Pattern, and allows you to sell as many products as you want. You can connect listings on your Etsy storefront to your website, and sell a range of items that wouldn’t be suitable for Etsy.
• Marketing tools: The Etsy Pattern website builder is SEO-friendly, and includes a blog function for basic content promotion. You can also boost your reach with email marketing via MailChimp, and an integration with the Facebook Pixel.
• Store management: The Etsy Pattern Shop Manager gives you a centralized environment where you can track orders, access basic reports, and manage day-to-day tasks. This dashboard also syncs sales between your website and Etsy.
• Analytics: Etsy Pattern comes with some basic analytical tools, which can help you to monitor your finances and top-performing products. However, the insights you get won’t be nearly as advanced as those you can access with Shopify.

When to Use Shopify and When to Use Etsy Pattern

When to Use Shopify over Pattern by Etsy

Pick Shopify for a:

• Comprehensive solution for omnichannel selling which allows you to sell any product on a range of different platforms.
• Powerful website builder, with a wider range of themes, more customization options, and integrated SEO capabilities.
• Advanced business management solutions, including robust inventory and order management, fulfillment solutions, and insightful analytics.

When to Use Etsy Pattern over Shopify

Choose Etsy Pattern if you want:

• A way to build on your Etsy presence with a separate website where you can promote your own brand and sell a wider range of products.
• An easy way to sell a limited number of products, and track basic analytics.
• A low cost solution intended for smaller vendors.

Shopify vs Etsy Pattern: Final Thoughts

Overall, Shopify is a far more scalable, robust, and powerful solution for retailers than Etsy Pattern. It gives you the freedom to build an ever-growing online presence, sell through multiple channels, and streamline business processes.

While Etsy Pattern is simple and cost effective, it’s likely to lack the scale that many companies will need if they’re not just selling a handful of products.