LotsStore vs Shopify

LotsStore and Shopify both put your store on your own domain. LotsStore charges per store, with every feature on every plan and 0% of your sales through your own Stripe or Razorpay account. Shopify charges per plan, adds features as you move up, and adds 2% to 0.6% on each sale if you use a provider other than Shopify Payments.

If you need a big app store, ready-made themes, point of sale or marketplace selling, Shopify is the most complete platform. If you build stores for clients, run a few brands, or want one simple price with nothing taken from your sales, LotsStore is the better fit. Every Shopify fact below comes from Shopify's own pricing and help pages, checked on 23 October 2026.

LotsStore vs Shopify at a glance

Checked on 23 October 2026. List prices in US dollars before tax: monthly price first, then the monthly price when billed yearly.

Where LotsStore is the better choice

Nothing taken from your sales, whichever way you get paid

On Shopify, the fee depends on how you take payments. With Shopify Payments, Shopify adds no transaction fee and charges its own card rate (2.9% + 30¢ online on Basic). If you use another provider, Shopify adds a third-party transaction fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus, on top of that provider's own fee.

LotsStore takes 0% of your sales, with every payment option. Shoppers pay into your own Stripe account (in the countries Stripe supports) or your own Razorpay account (cards, UPI, netbanking and wallets, for businesses registered in India). You can also take UPI to your own UPI ID, or orders on WhatsApp, settled with you directly. Your provider charges its own fee and we add nothing. LotsStore never holds your money.

Here's what that means for a fictional store, Juniper & Clay at juniper.example.com, selling $3,000 a month and keeping the card provider it already uses. On Shopify Basic billed yearly, that's $29 for the plan plus a 2% third-party fee of $60: $89 a month before card fees. On LotsStore Starter billed yearly, it's $10, and the card fee is the same either way. If Juniper & Clay moved to Shopify Payments instead, the 2% would go away and Shopify's own card rate would apply.

One price per store, and several stores in one account

Shopify's plans are priced per store. Its Plus plan includes up to 10 stores at no extra cost, but its help center says expansion stores must be "extensions of the main brand", identical to it in store name and branding. On Plus, apps are billed per store and each store needs its own theme licence.

LotsStore prices by store, and every store sits in one account. Starter covers 1 store for $12 a month, Pro 3 stores for $29 and Business 10 stores for $79. The stores don't have to share a brand: each keeps its own products, orders, customers, team and payment account. For an agency running ten client stores, that's $79 a month in total, or $790 a year. I wrote up how agencies set this up in LotsStore for agencies.

Every feature on every plan

Shopify adds features as you go up: staff accounts start on Grow, card rates drop on each plan, and live third-party shipping rates arrive on Advanced.

On LotsStore, plans differ only by how many stores they cover. Every store gets a fast storefront on your own domain, unlimited products with variants, categories and collections, CSV import and export of products and orders, stock per variant with a low-stock view, discount codes, shipping zones and rates, shopper accounts with wishlists and reviews you approve, and analytics with a visit-to-order funnel. Nothing is held back for a bigger plan, and there are no app bills to add the basics.

A team from the first plan

Shopify's pricing table lists additional staff accounts from Grow: 5 on Grow, 15 on Advanced and unlimited on Plus. On LotsStore, every plan has unlimited teammates, each with one of five roles: owner, admin, manager, staff or viewer. An agency can give a client a role on their own store only, and a brand can let a packer see orders without touching payments, which only owners and admins can change.

You accept each order, and WhatsApp orders are built in

On LotsStore, you accept each order before it goes ahead, then fulfil, ship with any carrier (with a tracking number and link) and refund from the dashboard. Rejecting an order paid online queues its refund. If your customers like to order by chat, WhatsApp orders open a message to you with the order number, items, total and a link to the order. I wrote about it in how to sell on Instagram and WhatsApp without losing orders in DMs.

Nothing deleted if a payment lapses

If a LotsStore store isn't funded, nothing is deleted. The storefront stays readable, new orders pause and the dashboard turns read-only until it's funded again. Orders already placed can still be fulfilled and refunded.

What Shopify offers

Shopify is the most complete store platform for a reason, and it does a lot very well.

• Apps for almost anything. The Shopify App Store covers subscriptions, dropshipping, print on demand, product reviews, shipping labels, email marketing and more. Shopify's own Digital Products app (free) delivers downloads, which LotsStore doesn't do.
• Themes. A theme store with free and paid themes, so a store can look finished on day one.
• Payments built in. Shopify Payments works without setting up a separate provider, with online card rates from 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic down to 2.25% + 30¢ on Plus, plus PayPal.
• Shipping. Up to 87% off shipping from Grow, and live third-party shipping rates on Advanced.
• Sell everywhere. Point of sale for in-person sales, social and marketplace channels, B2B catalogs and selling in AI chats.
• For agencies. Shopify partners can build a client transfer store; after the transfer, the client owns the store and pays for it.

Which one should you choose?

• Choose LotsStore if you build stores for clients, run more than one brand, want one simple price per store with every feature included, or want to keep your own Stripe or Razorpay account (or take UPI and WhatsApp orders) with 0% of your sales going to the platform.
• Choose Shopify if you need its app store and themes, digital downloads, point of sale, marketplace selling, live carrier rates or B2B, or if you'd rather use Shopify Payments and not set up a payment provider yourself.

LotsStore plans are on the pricing page, and every option is explained in LotsStore pricing explained. New accounts get 15,000 free credits, valid 90 days, no card: about a month of one store. Pro and Business also include LotsNotes Pro while active. For the full monthly bill on each platform, see how much it costs to run an online store each month, and for other options, Shopify alternatives with no transaction fees.

How to move from Shopify to LotsStore

1. Create your store. Sign up, create a store on a free yourstore.mylots.store address and add your logo, colours, pages and policies. The store's country sets its currency, and it can't be changed later.
2. Export your products from Shopify. In your Shopify admin, go to Products, click Export, choose all products and a CSV file, then click Export products.
3. Import them into LotsStore. Copy the columns into the LotsStore CSV template and import it, or add products one by one with their variants, prices, stock and images.
4. Connect how you get paid. Connect your own Stripe account (guide) or Razorpay account (guide), or turn on UPI and WhatsApp orders.
5. Set shipping and test. Add your shipping zones and rates, place a test order and refund it.
6. Point your domain. Add your own domain, then the one CNAME record LotsStore gives you at your DNS provider. HTTPS is set up for you. Keep the Shopify store open until the new one is live.

You can also do the setup from ChatGPT or Claude. LotsStore works with the AI agent you already use: connect it on the setup page, sign in, and ask in plain words. For example:

Create a store called Juniper & Clay. Add the products in this Shopify export as drafts, with their sizes, colours, prices and stock. Set a flat shipping rate for domestic orders, then list anything that's missing a photo or a price before I publish.

Every change shows up in your dashboard, where you review it and publish.

FAQ

Is LotsStore a Shopify alternative?

Yes. LotsStore gives you an online store on your own domain with products, stock, orders, discounts, shipping zones and a team. You pay per store, every feature is on every plan, and LotsStore takes 0% of your sales, with payments going to your own Stripe or Razorpay account.

Does Shopify charge transaction fees?

Only if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments. Then Shopify adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus, on top of the provider's own fee (checked on 23 October 2026). With Shopify Payments, it charges its own card rate instead. LotsStore takes 0% of your sales with every payment option.

How much does Shopify cost compared with LotsStore?

Shopify Basic is $39 a month or $29 billed yearly, Grow $105 or $79, Advanced $399 or $299, and Plus starts at $2,300 a month (checked on 23 October 2026). LotsStore is $12 a month for 1 store ($10 billed yearly), $29 for 3 stores and $79 for 10 stores.

Can I run several stores on one LotsStore plan?

Yes. Pro covers 3 stores and Business 10 stores, all in one account, and they don't have to share a brand. Each store keeps its own products, orders, customers, team and payment account. On Shopify, Plus includes up to 10 stores that must be extensions of the same brand.

Can I sell digital downloads on LotsStore?

No. LotsStore is built for physical products and doesn't deliver files. If you sell downloads, Shopify's free Digital Products app does it.

Does LotsStore hold my money?

No. Shoppers pay into your own Stripe or Razorpay account, or pay you directly for UPI and WhatsApp orders. LotsStore never holds the money and takes 0% of your sales.

Sources

Checked on 23 October 2026: LotsStore pricing, Connect Stripe, Connect Razorpay, Shopify pricing, Shopify Help: expansion stores, Shopify Help: client transfer stores, Shopify Help: export products, Shopify App Store, Shopify Digital Products, Shopify Theme Store.