Spreadshop vs Shopify: Which Option Should You Choose?

Shopify is versatile, easy to use, and flexible enough to suit a range of business models. However, it’s definitely not the only option out there. It's my favorite ecommerce platform by far, and the top-rated solution we’ve reviewed here at ecommerce-platforms.com.

For companies interested in the print on demand landscape, for instance, Spreadshop offers a user-friendly and cost-effective way to start selling custom products online.

It might not have the same advanced features as Shopify, but it’s emerged as a popular choice for creators and artists.

After reviewing both platforms, I’d recommend:

Using Shopify if you want a comprehensive commerce solution, with advanced omnichannel sales tools, a robust app ecosystem, and excellent business management tools.
Using Spreadshop if you need a low-cost way to start selling print on demand products, with simple customization options, and a built-in fulfillment network.

Shopify vs Spreadshop: Quick Verdict

Quick Verdict

Spreadshop and Shopify both allow creators and entrepreneurs to sell products online, through a customizable storefront.

However the platforms work in very different ways. Shopify is a complete omnichannel commerce solution, that allows you to sell through your online store, messaging apps, social media, marketplaces, and even in-person (through Shopify POS).

Spreadshop is a solution tailored specifically to the print on demand market. You can either integrate the platform with your existing website, to access sales and fulfillment services, or you can design a simple, custom website, with a unique URL, and payment processing capabilities.

Shopify vs Spreadshop Pros and Cons

	Shopify	Spreadshop
Pros	Excellent, SEO-friendly website builder, with highly customizable themes. Supports selling across marketplaces, social media platforms, and in-store. Huge app market with numerous solutions for print on demand, dropshipping, marketing and more. User-friendly interface, ideal for beginners and smaller business owners. Integrated secure payment processing, with transparent credit card fees.	Allows users to build their own storefront, or integrate features with an existing website. Integrated statistics, analytical tools, and simple inventory management features. Excellent resources for companies, such as training workshops, and guides. Access to a range of value-added services, such as premium design solutions. Comprehensive fulfillment services, with global shipping options.
Cons	Advanced features are limited to more expensive plans.Shopify charges transaction fees to companies using third-party payment processors.	Limited sales, marketing, and promotional tools. Only supports the print-on-demand business model. Fewer product options than alternative POD companies (such as Printful or Printify)

What the Two Platforms Do Best

Spreadshop and Shopify are two very different tools. Although both will allow you to create an online storefront where you can sell a range of items, Spreadshop focuses exclusively on the print on demand landscape, while Shopify supports all kinds of companies.

What Shopify Does Best:

Shopify is the ecommerce solution I recommend to virtually every small business owner. It’s a scalable solution ideal for virtually any business model. You can even run a POD store with Shopify, through integrations with a range of providers.

The biggest benefits of Shopify are:

Flexibility: While Spreadshop limits companies to selling around 200+ print on demand products, Shopify allows companies to sell anything. You can sell customized POD items, products you make yourself, digital downloads, courses, subscriptions and more.
The App Ecosystem: With Shopify, you can constantly expand the functionality of your store with apps and integrations. There are thousands of apps available for marketing, accounting, website design, customer service, and more.
Omnichannel capabilities: Shopify empowers companies to sell products through various channels. As well as selling through a custom store, you can link Shopify to marketplaces and social media channels, and use an integrated POS system for in-person sales.

What Art Spreadshop Does Best:

In my opinion, Spreadshop’s biggest benefits revolve around its simplicity and affordability. Whether you choose to integrate the solution with an existing website, or build a unique storefront, Spreadshop makes it anyone to dive into the world of print on demand. Benefits include:

Comprehensive fulfillment services: Spreadshop can handle the most challenging parts of running a business for you. It handles everything from producing and customizing your products, to packaging them and shipping them to customers worldwide.
Full control: With Spreadshop, companies maintain control over their branding (with custom storefronts and URLs), customer service strategy, and even their product prices. You also won’t have any minimum order requirements to worry about.
Flexible resources: Spreadshop gives companies access to various great resources, from premium design services to promotional and discount codes, and even social media connections to boost conversion rates. Plus there are some excellent analytical tools available.

Spreadshop vs Shopify: Pricing and Fees

In my opinion, Shopify offers great value for money with its monthly pricing plans, but Spreadshop is definitely the more affordable option for budget-conscious business owners.

You can launch your store for free, set your own prices, and optimize your product margins over time.

Spreadshop Pricing and Fees

Spreadshop doesn’t charge anything to beginners who want to launch a store with their platform, or integrate their platform with an existing website.

However, while there are no monthly subscription fees, there may still be other costs to consider.

For instance, you’ll need to pay credit card processing fees on each transaction, and you’ll be responsible for paying the base price for the products your customers order.

The good news is that you can set your own prices, which means you have complete control over your profit margins.

Notably, you may also need to pay extra fees if you want to access advanced services from Spreadshop. For instance, the company’s premium design team will charge you a fee for their support. These fees start at around $49, depending on what you need.

Shopify Pricing and Fees

Unfortunately, there’s no free plan available for Shopify. However, you can get started with the platform for as little as $5 per month if you use the Starter plan.

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Notably, however, this plan only allows you to sell through messaging apps, social media, and existing websites using Shopify’s payment processing tools. It doesn’t include access to Shopify’s full platform.

The core plans for Shopify include:

Shopify Basic: $39 per month: All the basic features of the Shopify platform, including its website builder, payment processing tools, and inventory management solutions. This plan supports a single staff account, making it great for solo entrepreneurs.
Shopify: $105 per month: This plan builds on the features of Shopify Basic, with a more advanced reporting system, reduced payment processing and transaction rates, and support for 5 staff accounts.
Shopify Advanced: $399 per month: With this plan, you get all the features of the Shopify plan, support for 15 staff accounts, custom reporting tools, and enhanced customer service via live chat.
Shopify Plus: Starting at $2,300 per month, this enterprise-grade plan combines the features of Advanced Shopify with unlimited accounts, an upgraded checkout system, advanced customization options, and priority support.

Notably, Shopify does also charge transaction fees on top of payment processing fees if you’re not using its integrated “Shopify Payments” solution. These fees range from 0.15% to 2%, depending on the plan you choose.

Spreadshop vs Shopify: The Core Features

Although Shopify and Spreadshop target very different groups of business owners, they do have some overlapping features.

Both companies can offer access to fulfillment solutions. Spreadshop handles fulfillment as standard for all clients, while Shopify offers support via its integrations, and it’s “Shopify Fulfillment Network”.

Both companies also allow users to build custom websites, with flexible and mobile-responsive templates or themes.

Plus, they’ll both give you a free SSL certificate with your store, and the option to choose your own domain name.

However, I think Shopify’s themes are a lot more advanced, and customizable than the options available on Spreadshop.

The good news is you can always simply add Spreadshop to your existing website, if you want to combine more advanced design tools with the company’s POD services.

Some other common features on the two platforms include:

Reporting tools: Although Shopify’s are more advanced
Integrated security and PCI-compliant payment processing
Access to services for help with design and marketing
Inventory and order management tools
Promotion options (such as discount codes)
Support for multiple payment methods
Integrations with social media platforms

The Unique Features of Spreadshop

The most unique thing about Spreadshop is its focus on the print on demand business model. While Shopify enables print-on-demand selling via integrations, Spreadshop gives you direct access to a native fulfillment partner.

Its unique features include:

A library of customizable products: Spreadshop allows you to quickly add custom designs to more than 200 products, and sell them directly through your store. Whenever a customer places an order, they handle the production process for you.
Excellent fulfillment services: Aside from giving you access to a wide range of high-quality private label products, Spreadshop also handles every aspect of the fulfillment process for you, creating your items, and shipping them to customers worldwide.
Free assets: Alongside a free storefront, Spreadshop also gives you access to free marketing guides and resources, as well as graphics you can use in your designs. Even your SSL certificate is included in the package for free.
CMS integrations: If you don’t want to build an entire storefront with Spreadshop, you can simply integrate the POD solution with your existing content management system. This gives you the freedom to use tools like WordPress for site development.

The Unique Features of Shopify

While Shopify supports print on demand companies, its technology empowers companies to launch any kind of business, and sell any type of product.

Compared to Spreadshop, Shopify gives you a more comprehensive range of tools for site development, and business management. Some of the unique features available include:

A more powerful website builder: Shopify’s comprehensive website building tools empower companies to create unique store experiences, with free and premium themes, and adapt them to their business needs and brand.
Marketing solutions: Although Spreadshop integrates with social media channels, Shopify offers more marketing options. You can build your own blog, integrate with Google analytics, use Shopify Inbox for chat, and send marketing emails.
Integrations: Spreadshop only integrates with other CMS solutions. Shopify, on the other hand, integrates with thousands of marketing, accounting, web design, customer service, and fulfillment tools.
Business management: Shopify gives companies a more comprehensive range of business management tools, to Shipping and Fulfillment solutions, to integrated point of sale software, automatic tax calculation tools, and powerful inventory management capabilities.
More selling options: As mentioned above, with Shopify you’re not limited to selling print on demand products. You can sell everything from subscriptions, to courses, digital downloads (via integrations), and physical items.

Read more:

Spreadshop vs Shopify: Ease of Use and Customer Support

If you’re looking for a beginner-friendly platform, both Shopify and Spreadshop are excellent options. However, while I think Shopify is very intuitive and user-friendly, it does take longer to master than Spreadshop. That’s because you’ll have a lot more features to explore with Shopify.

However, it’s worth noting that Shopify does make getting started easy, with tooltips and links to FAQs and guides throughout its interface. It also offers access to cutting-edge tools that simplify certain tasks for business owners.

For instance, you can access Shopify’s AI tools to automatically generate product descriptions and content for your store.

In terms of customer service, Shopify and Spreadshop are very similar. Both offer access to a wide range of self-help resources, such as FAQs, guides, and tutorials.

They both allow you to hire expert for specialist services, and both respond to customer queries via phone, and email. However, Shopify also offers live chat support, something not available from Spreadshop.

Shopify vs Spreadshop: The Verdict

Both Shopify and Spreadshop are user-friendly tools that allow ecommerce vendors to sell products online.

However, Shopify is the more robust and versatile option overall. While Spreadshop makes it easy to get started in the print on demand landscape, Shopify will allow you to sell anything, across a range of channels, boosting your chances of conversions.

Plus, Shopify offers a stronger selection of tools for business leaders, it’s inventory management, analytics, reporting, marketing, and website design tools are all more robust than what you’ll get from Spreadshop.