# Shopify alternatives for creators who sell knowledge, not just products > Verdict: stay with Shopify if you sell physical products at volume, from $25 a month on Basic. Pick Vonza if you sell courses, coaching and community and want a store attached to them. Shopify is the right tool for a product catalogue. Vonza is built around courses, community and coaching with a store attached, and includes email, SMS, scheduling, invoicing and a CRM, with Shopify’s prices read from its own page. Shopify is the reference e-commerce platform: a store builder, checkout, shipping and inventory, email campaigns and pay-per-send SMS, staff accounts that grow with the plan, and an app store for almost everything else, from Basic to Plus. [See how migration works](https://vonza.net/free-migrations). ## Shopify vs Vonza at a glance Prices read from shopify.com on 2026-10-21; check the vendor’s page for current pricing. | Pricing | Vonza | Shopify | | --- | --- | --- | | Lowest monthly price | See vonza.com/pricing | $25 (Basic) | | Annual billing | Pay monthly, or save up to 30% with annual billing. | $19/mo | | Transaction fee | In addition to Stripe's standard 2.9% + $0.30 payment processing fee, Vonza charges an additional platform fee per transaction — 20% during your free trial, 1% on any paid plan. | card rates "vary by plan" (not on page); 3rd-party fee "may apply" | | Free trial | Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial. | 3-day trial then $1/mo for 3 months; no free plan | Source: [shopify.com](https://www.shopify.com/pricing), read on 2026-10-21; a copy of the page as read that day is kept so the figures can be checked. Card-processing percentages are not on the pricing page (“vary depending on the plan”). Vonza’s price is its live price on the day you read this page; its billing, fee and trial lines are the pricing page’s own. ## What each platform includes From Shopify’s pricing page as read on 2026-10-21. “Not stated” means the page did not mention it, not that Shopify lacks it; Vonza’s column reflects the products with their own pages on this site. | Capability | Vonza | Shopify | | --- | --- | --- | | Online courses | Yes | Not stated | | Community | Yes | Not stated | | Memberships | Yes | Not stated | | Email marketing | Yes | Yes | | SMS marketing | Yes | Yes | | Website builder | Yes | Yes | | Landing pages | Yes | Not stated | | Sales funnels | Yes | Not stated | | Appointment scheduling | Yes | Not stated | | Invoicing | Yes | Not stated | | CRM | Yes | Not stated | | Online store | Yes | Yes | | Affiliate program | Yes | Not stated | | Free migration | Yes | Not stated | ## Why creators switch from Shopify to Vonza Grounded in what each pricing page lists, not in opinion. - **One platform instead of a stack**: Shopify sells products; courses, community, memberships, scheduling, funnels and a CRM are app-store add-ons rather than tools on its pricing page. Vonza ships them as one product. - **Appointment scheduling included**: Appointment scheduling is not on Shopify’s pricing page. Vonza includes a booking page and calendar sync for coaching and services. - **Invoicing without another tool**: Invoicing is not on Shopify’s pricing page. Vonza lets you invoice clients and take payment from the same account as your store. - **A School plan for institutions**: Vonza’s School plan runs degrees, admissions and transcripts for institutions, something a store platform is not designed for. ## When to stay with Shopify Shopify is the right choice for some creators. Here is when, and what its pricing page leaves out. ### Stay with Shopify if - You sell physical products at volume and need Shopify’s inventory, shipping, POS and payments ecosystem. - You want a low entry price for a pure store: Basic was $25 a month, after a 3-day trial and $1 a month for 3 months, when we read the page. - Your business depends on specific Shopify apps or themes. ### Not listed on Shopify’s pricing page - Online courses - Community - Memberships - Landing pages ## Move from Shopify to Vonza for free Switch to Vonza effortlessly. We’ll migrate your courses, communities, and calendar for free with any Annual Pro or Business plan. Tell support what you are bringing from Shopify and the team handles the move; anything beyond courses, communities and your calendar can be moved for a fee. 1. **Choose Your Plan**: Sign up for an Annual Pro or Business plan to get started. 2. **Request Migration**: Contact Vonza Support and tell us what you want migrated. 3. **We Handle Everything**: Our team manages your migration and keeps you updated. ## What you add when you switch from Shopify Shopify’s pricing page does not mention these. Vonza has a product page for each, so they sit in the same login as your courses and community rather than in another subscription. - Online courses - Community - Memberships - Landing pages Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial. ## Shopify vs Vonza: your questions ### Is Vonza cheaper than Shopify? Not for a store alone. Shopify’s Basic plan was $25 a month billed monthly ($19 a month on annual billing) when we read its pricing page on 2026-10-21, after a 3-day free trial and $1 a month for the first 3 months. Vonza’s Starter plan costs more per month, but it includes courses, community, email, SMS, funnels, scheduling, invoicing and a CRM alongside the store; the live figure is in the table above. ### Does Shopify charge transaction fees? Shopify’s pricing page says card rates “vary depending on the plan” and that third-party transaction fees “may apply” when you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments; it does not print the percentages, so neither do we. Vonza’s fee sentence, taken from our own pricing page, is in the table above. ### Can I migrate from Shopify to Vonza? Shopify is one of the platforms named on our free-migration page. Yes. Switch to Vonza effortlessly. We’ll migrate your courses, communities, and calendar for free with any Annual Pro or Business plan. Ask support once you are on the plan and the team moves your courses, communities and scheduling calendar; anything else can be moved for a fee. Details are on the free migration page. ### Can I sell courses on Shopify? Shopify’s pricing page does not mention courses, communities or memberships; those come through apps. Vonza’s courses, community and memberships are native products with their own pages. ### Does Shopify have email and SMS marketing? Yes: its page lists “Create email campaigns” and “Pay-per-send SMS campaigns”. Vonza includes both, with a monthly SMS credit per plan rather than per-send pricing. ## See for yourself before you leave Shopify Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial. Keep Shopify running while you look around. ## Related pages - [SamCart Alternatives](https://vonza.net/compare/samcart-alternatives): High-converting checkout pages and upsells, with a courses app attached. - [WordPress Alternatives](https://vonza.net/compare/wordpress-alternatives): Managed hosting for the WordPress CMS, from a free tier to WooCommerce. - [Gumroad Alternatives](https://vonza.net/compare/gumroad-alternatives): Sell digital products with no monthly fee and a per-sale cut. - [Compare Vonza](https://vonza.net/compare) - [Vonza pricing](https://vonza.net/pricing) - [Free migration](https://vonza.net/free-migrations)