KitCommerce vs Shopify

Open-source Shopify alternative: GoCommerce vs Shopify

Shopify rents you a store. GoCommerce gives you one.

Shopify runs the software and the servers and charges a monthly plan, plus a fee on every order taken through a third-party gateway. GoCommerce and Svelte Commerce are MIT source. Run them yourself and there is no plan, no per-order fee, and every line of the checkout is yours to change — along with the server it runs on. Or start a store hosted on kitcommerce.store, which pays 1% of every successful order.

0.2–2% Shopify’s fee per order on a third-party gateway
Free to run GoCommerce yourself, with no fee per order; 1% of every successful order if kitcommerce.store hosts it
41 countries where Shopify Payments waives that fee

Show prices in

Shopify Plus publishes no prices in Singapore dollars, so its prices are shown in US dollars, as Shopify Plus publishes them.Shopify publishes no prices in UAE dirhams, so its prices are shown in US dollars, as Shopify publishes them. Shopify Plus publishes no prices in UAE dirhams, so its prices are shown in US dollars, as Shopify Plus publishes them.

KitCommerce is an open-source ecommerce platform. Its packages are GoCommerce, the backend and admin, and Svelte Commerce, the storefront — MIT licensed, used together or either one on its own. Run them yourself for free, or start a store hosted on kitcommerce.store for 1% of every successful order, plus 18% GST on the fee. On this page, each claim names the package it is about.

Shopify and GoCommerce, side by side

Each row is checkable: Shopify’s side against its own pricing and help pages, linked at the foot of this page; ours against the GoCommerce and Svelte Commerce pages on this site.

Shopify compared with GoCommerce and Svelte Commerce, checked 26 October 2026
Aspect	Shopify	GoCommerce + Svelte Commerce
What it is	A hosted platform. Shopify runs the software, the servers and the upgrades.	An open-source platform you run, in two MIT packages: a Go backend with its admin compiled in, and a SvelteKit storefront.
Software price	A monthly plan: Basic ₹1,499US$29€24£19A$42CA$37SGD 29US$24, Grow ₹5,599US$89€69£49A$114CA$99SGD 99US$69 or Advanced ₹22,680US$359€289£259A$431CA$389SGD 399US$299 a month billed yearly (₹1,994US$39€32£25A$56CA$49SGD 39US$32, ₹7,447US$105€92£65A$149CA$132SGD 132US$92 or ₹30,164US$399€384£344A$575CA$517SGD 531 month to month); Plus from ₹1,75,000US$2,300€2,100£1,800A$3,700CA$3,400 a month on a one- or three-year term.	Nothing to run it yourself; both packages are MIT licensed. A store hosted on kitcommerce.store pays 1% of every successful order.
Fee on each order	2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus when a third-party gateway takes the payment; waived with Shopify Payments, and not charged on cash on delivery or other manual payments.	None when you run it yourself: your payment gateway’s own fee is the only one. A store hosted on kitcommerce.store pays 1% of every successful order.
Hosting	Included in the plan.	Yours when you run it: one Go binary and one PostgreSQL database, on any server. Or hosted on kitcommerce.store, for 1% of every successful order.
Source code	Closed. You extend it through apps, themes and APIs.	Open. Change anything, checkout included, and ship it under your own name.
Extensions	The Shopify App Store, where each app sets its own price.	54 modules — payments, shipping, messaging, search, feeds, MCP — each compiled in when you import it. No app store.
Payments	Shopify Payments in 41 countries and regions; third-party providers elsewhere, with the fee above.	Razorpay, Stripe, Cashfree, Adyen, Paddle, Hyperswitch and five more as modules; cash on delivery built in.
Storefront	Online Store themes, or Hydrogen for headless.	Svelte Commerce, server-rendered SvelteKit with 79 live demo themes — or any client that speaks HTTP.
Admin	Shopify’s admin, on the web and in its mobile app.	93 admin screens compiled into the GoCommerce binary, on the same API a storefront uses.
Your data	Exportable through CSV and the Admin API; the runtime is Shopify’s.	Rows in your own PostgreSQL, which you can query, back up and move.
Help when it breaks	Shopify’s own support team.	GitHub issues, discussions and Discord. No support contract.
Track record	Millions of merchants.	Svelte Commerce runs arialshop.com and other stores in production. GoCommerce has none yet.

What each side costs

The plan is the smallest part of Shopify’s bill once a store sells, and the software is the smallest part of ours. Here is where the money goes on each side.

Recurring costs, Shopify against GoCommerce and Svelte Commerce
Cost	Shopify	GoCommerce + Svelte Commerce
Software	₹1,499US$29€24£19A$42CA$37SGD 29US$24 to ₹22,680US$359€289£259A$431CA$389SGD 399US$299 a month, billed yearly, on Basic to Advanced; Plus from ₹1,75,000US$2,300€2,100£1,800A$3,700CA$3,400 a month	Free to run it yourself; 1% of every successful order on a store hosted on kitcommerce.store
Platform fee per order	0.2% to 2% of each sale through a third-party gateway	None when you run it yourself; 1% of every successful order on a store hosted on kitcommerce.store
Payment processing	Your gateway’s rate, or Shopify Payments’ card rate where it is offered	Your gateway’s rate
Apps and themes	Each app’s own subscription; paid themes are a one-time purchase	None to buy — modules and themes are MIT
Hosting	Included	A server and a PostgreSQL database when you run it yourself, from a small VPS upward; or a store hosted on kitcommerce.store, for 1% of every successful order
People	None needed to launch	A developer to deploy, maintain and extend it, when you run it yourself

A worked example, in US dollars: US$10,000 a month in sales through a third-party gateway on Basic pays Shopify US$200 a month in third-party fees — 2% — on top of the plan and the gateway’s own charge. The same sales on GoCommerce you run yourself pay the gateway alone; the server and the developer are the costs that replace that fee. On a store hosted on kitcommerce.store, the same sales pay 1% of every successful order.

Work out Shopify’s fees on your own sales, in your currency, against 1% of every order hosted, plus 18% GST on the fee.

Which one fits

Choose Shopify when

You want a store live this week and there is no developer on the team.
You depend on particular apps from the Shopify App Store.
You would rather pay a monthly fee than own servers, backups and upgrades.
You sell where Shopify Payments is offered, so the per-order fee is waived.

Choose GoCommerce + Svelte Commerce when

Shopify’s 1–2% of revenue on a third-party gateway costs more than a server and a developer’s time, and you would rather run the store yourself.
You want a store hosted for you: kitcommerce.store takes 1% of every successful order.
You want the code — checkout, pricing, order flow — to be yours to change.
You sell in India, where Shopify Payments is not offered, so every plan pays that fee on online payments — cash on delivery and other manual payments are exempt.
You want B2B price lists, several storefronts or marketplace vendors without a higher plan.

What you take on

Run it yourself and you host it: a server, a PostgreSQL database, backups and upgrades are yours, or a developer’s you pay. A store hosted on kitcommerce.store pays 1% of every successful order instead.
No app store. What a module does not cover, somebody writes.
GoCommerce has over 2,000 tests, but no store we know of runs it in production yet.
Svelte Commerce reaches GoCommerce through an early connector, version 0.16.0: catalogue, cart, cash-on-delivery checkout and order lookup work; shopper sign-in, the address book and order history need GoCommerce’s identity module.

Moving from Shopify, or not moving at all

Two paths, and the second needs no migration.

Move the backend: GoCommerce’s import-shopify module brings a whole Shopify catalogue across in one go, matching on Shopify’s own product ids, so running it again updates rather than duplicates. A separate order importer loads your history without sending a single confirmation email or moving stock.

Or keep Shopify and change only the storefront: Svelte Commerce has a Shopify connector — 16 of the 27 services it applies to are wired, cart and checkout among them — so a SvelteKit storefront can front your existing Shopify store.

FAQ

Questions about Shopify and GoCommerce

Is GoCommerce a Shopify replacement?

For a store with a developer, it covers the core: catalogue, carts, checkout, orders, inventory across locations, discounts, customers, B2B price lists and channels, with an admin compiled in. What it does not replace is the part of Shopify you pay not to think about — hosting, upgrades, an app store and a support team.

Is it really free?

The software is. GoCommerce and Svelte Commerce are MIT licensed, with no plan and one edition for everyone, and running them yourself carries no per-order fee. The server, the database and the time of whoever runs them are real costs, and for a small store they can exceed a Shopify plan. A store hosted on kitcommerce.store pays 1% of every successful order instead.

Can I keep Shopify and use Svelte Commerce as the storefront?

Yes. Svelte Commerce has a Shopify connector, with cart, checkout and sign-in wired. It is one of 26 backend connectors, and coverage for each is measured on the backends page rather than claimed.

How do I move my catalogue from Shopify?

With the import-shopify module, which imports a whole Shopify catalogue and matches on Shopify’s own product ids, so a second run updates rather than duplicates. An order importer brings history across without firing events or moving stock.

Is there a hosted version, like Shopify?

Yes. A store hosted on kitcommerce.store pays 1% of every successful order. Running both packages yourself, on your own server or a developer’s, stays free.

Why does Shopify charge a fee on my own payment gateway?

Shopify’s pricing charges a third-party transaction fee — 2%, 1%, 0.6% or 0.2% by plan — whenever a provider other than Shopify Payments takes the payment. Where Shopify Payments is available and used as the only provider, the fee is waived.

More comparisons: Shopify

The same questions, asked of the platforms Shopify is usually weighed against. Every comparison is on one page.

Sources

Shopify’s prices and features were checked on 26 October 2026 against the pages below. Prices change; when one here disagrees with the source, the source is right and this page is out of date. Shopify is a trademark of its owner, named here only to compare; no endorsement or affiliation is implied — see trademarks.

Run it before you decide

The backend + admin quick start runs GoCommerce’s API and admin on your own machine, without a storefront. Load a catalogue and judge it against Shopify yourself.

Backend + admin quick start Explore GoCommerce All comparisons