Should you build your own Shopify?
Hosted ecommerce platform for stores, payments, checkout, and operations
You can build a small store, but Shopify's product is hosted checkout, payments, tax/shipping integrations, app marketplace, fraud/risk tooling, and merchant operations.
ENOriginal research content in English. Original prompt preserved in English.
Build me a small self-hosted shop for a handful of products, the honest small
slice of Shopify. Requirements:
- Node + Express + better-sqlite3 on a VPS; products in products.json (slug,
name, price, images, stock count), server-rendered catalog and product pages.
- Cart in a session cookie; checkout hands off entirely to Stripe Checkout
(keys in .env). Never touch card data.
- Stripe webhook records the order, decrements stock, and emails me and the
buyer via Resend (key in .env).
- An /admin page behind basic auth: order list and a mark-shipped button that
emails the buyer with an optional tracking number.
- Flat shipping rates per region in a config file; sold-out products stay
visible but cannot be bought.
- No customer accounts, no telemetry; orders stay in my SQLite file.
- Out of scope: discount engines, multi-currency, POS, and tax automation. Use
Stripe Tax for tax; do not write tax logic.
- README: Stripe webhook setup, a plain warning that I am now the fraud
department, and a note that this is not Shopify, whose trusted checkout,
payment risk handling, and app ecosystem cannot be rebuilt; if volume grows,
move to Shopify or Medusa rather than growing this.The prompt opens pre-filled in your agent. Review it before running. · this prompt is generated from the build plan · improve it via PR
What would building your own look like?
For a tiny shop, build catalog/cart/checkout via Stripe, order emails, and simple admin; do not expect Shopify parity.
What you will need
- payment processor
- tax/shipping logic
- database
- hosting
- emails
- inventory/order admin
They pay because ecommerce failures cost real revenue and trust.
xtrusted checkout
xpayment risk
xapp marketplace
xthemes
xshipping/tax integrations
xPOS
xsupport
xscale
Prefer something ready-made?
BagistoA proper Laravel storefront and admin; the free bit ends where hosting and Laravel operations begin.Open source↗
Magento Open SourceA vast store engine for anyone who thought running WooCommerce did not involve enough infrastructure.Open source↗
OpenCartOld-school PHP commerce that still does the whole job instead of selling you ten add-ons first.Open source↗View all 5 alternatives to Shopify →· Licença, instalação e limitações em cada alternativa.
How much does Shopify cost?
- Monthly billing
- $39/mo$39/mo
- Per year
- $468/yr$468/yr
- Annual billing
- $348/yr26% cheaper than paying monthly
- On a Brazilian card, with 3.5% IOF
- R$204/moR$1,819/yr
Saved to My list. You will see a notice on this site when the price changes.
You complete the purchase on Shopify’s site. Vibe Radar does not handle payments.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per month) | What is included |
|---|---|---|---|
| starter | $5/workspace≈ $5 | - | Simple online store and product links; 0 staff accounts; 5% transaction fee with Shopify Payments. |
| basic | $39/workspace≈ $39 | $29/workspace≈ $29 | Unlimited products; 10 inventory locations; 0 additional staff accounts; 2% fee when using a third-party payment provider. |
| grow | $65/workspace≈ $65 | $49/workspace≈ $49 | Unlimited products; 10 inventory locations; up to 5 staff accounts; 1% third-party-provider fee. |
| advanced | $399/workspace≈ $399 | $299/workspace≈ $299 | Unlimited products; 10 inventory locations; up to 15 staff accounts; 0.6% third-party-provider fee. |
| plus | $2300/workspace≈ $2,300 | - | Starts at $2,300/month; unlimited staff; up to 200 inventory locations, 9 expansion stores and 20 POS Pro locations; 0.2% third-party-provider fee. |
Free tierno free tier; 3-day trial, then a promotional $1/month for 3 months before standard pricing
Billing termsStarter is monthly only; Basic/Grow/Advanced offer monthly + annual; Plus uses 1- or 3-year contracts
Additional costsStarter charges a 5% transaction fee with Shopify Payments; POS Pro is $89/month per location on non-Plus plans; synced marketplace orders above 50/month cost 1% up to $99/month; third-party gateway fees (2%/1%/0.6%/0.2%) are on top of the provider's processing fees; apps, themes and domains can add recurring costs.
verified 2026-10-20 · source ↗
Is it cheaper to build or buy Shopify?
Adjust the numbers: hours to build, your hourly rate, running costs and the subscription price.
Over 24 months, subscribing is cheaper.
Starting hours estimated from the analysis (not realistically solo). Does not price what you give up (support, integrations, security).
Can I rebuild Shopify?
Not really. Shopify’s value is not the code: the moat survives one prompt. See the honest breakdown above.
How much does Shopify cost?
Shopify costs about $39/mo (Basic, checked 10/20/2026), which is $348 per year.
What do I lose by replacing Shopify?
Honestly: trusted checkout; payment risk; app marketplace; themes; shipping/tax integrations; POS; support; scale. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Shopify?
Yes: Bagisto (A proper Laravel storefront and admin; the free bit ends where hosting and Laravel operations begin.) Magento Open Source (A vast store engine for anyone who thought running WooCommerce did not involve enough infrastructure.) OpenCart (Old-school PHP commerce that still does the whole job instead of selling you ten add-ons first.) All 5 curated free alternatives are at https://viberadar.si/shopify/alternatives. The prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.