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Shopify Introduces Total Cost of Ownership Calculator

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Updated on March 19, 2024

Shopify's Total Cost of Ownership calculator form — I could input business details into Shopify’s TCO calculator to compare ownership costs. Source: Website Builder Guide

Shopify builds Total Cost of Ownership calculator for businesses
Shopify study claims Shopify’s TCO is up to 36% better than its competitors

Shopify, our top-rated ecommerce website builder for 2024, has introduced a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) calculator to help businesses find the best deals.

Following a study commissioned by Shopify, the platform announced it has the best Total Cost of Ownership in commerce. On average, it’s 33% better than its competitors but reaches up to 36% better when compared to WooCommerce. Other platforms involved in the study include BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and Adobe Commerce (Magento).

Total Cost of Ownership is the price it costs to purchase a plan from a platform – in this case, Shopify. This figure includes the costs of operation, meaning it takes into account things like the initial setup fees, as well as additional annual costs you might face for maintenance or third-party apps. Calculating this cost helps businesses make an informed decision when it’s time to select an ecommerce website builder.

Harley Finkelstein, Shopify’s President, had this to say about the new findings:

“We are better value because where our competitors put their complexity onto the backs of their customers, we absorb it for you. Our product is intentionally designed to be easy to use, manage, customize, and deploy.”

In comparison to those examined by the study, Shopify not only has the best TCO overall, but its platform, operating, and implementation costs are all better than its competitors. For some businesses, this can be the difference between choosing a platform or going elsewhere.

Using Shopify’s TCO Calculator

If you’re interested in seeing how Shopify can minimize your expenses and boost your sales, you can try the TCO calculator today. To compare ownership costs, all you need to do is submit your business details, including:

Online revenue – there are set ranges to choose between, such as $1M to $10M
Current platform – you may select one of the platforms from the study or choose the “other” or “no platform” option
Platform costs – this includes areas like infrastructure and platform administration
Operating and support costs – this includes things like apps and payment processing fees
Business URL

Boosting Your Sales

Shopify’s research also claims that its conversion rate is up to 36% better than WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and Adobe Commerce (Magento). This is an area where Shopify excels – its customizable checkout experience and streamlined Shop Pay app make shopping online easy and simple.

But is Shopify really worth the money? From our recent round of in-house research, Shopify doesn’t perform well in our value for money tests. We take a look at Shopify’s pricing plans, the features you get for the price you pay, and whether there’s a free trial or free plan.

Shopify’s premium plans range from $29 to $299 per month (billed annually), which are fairly expensive in comparison to other top website builders, like Wix or Squarespace. Because of this, we recommend Shopify for expanding or large businesses with extensive inventories – it’s an unnecessary splurge for small businesses just getting started.

Considering making the move from another platform to Shopify? We recommend checking out our full Shopify Review to get a detailed look at the website builder and see if it suits your business needs.

Written by:

Emma Ryan Writer

Emma is Lead Writer at Website Builder Guide, having first joined the team in 2022. She manages the website's topical content strategy to help website owners navigate the highs and lows of being online. Emma also specializes in following the development of leading website builders Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify, through hands-on testing and research. Her work and expertise have been featured in Startups.co.uk, Digiday, TechRound, Industry Today, and Digital Information World.