A cut of every sale
Use any gateway other than Shopify Payments and Shopify adds a platform fee of up to 2% on top of processing. At scale, that compounds
Shopify alternative
The Shopify alternative that takes no cut of your sales
IXXO Cart runs single stores and full multi-vendor marketplaces on one managed platform. Keep 100% of every sale with no transaction fees, and get a marketplace built in instead of bolted on with apps.
2002
Building ecommerce since
1,000+
Clients worldwide
100+
Payment gateways
180+
Shipping carriers
In short
IXXO Cart vs Shopify, the short version
Both platforms host your store and run the checkout. The difference shows up in what a sale costs you, and what happens when you want more than one seller.
Shopify adds a platform fee of up to 2% unless you use Shopify Payments, and a marketplace means stacking apps. IXXO Cart charges no platform fees and includes the marketplace engine, fully managed.
- No transaction fees on any plan
- Multi-vendor marketplace built in
- Correct per-vendor shipping, tax and commissions
- Fully managed hosting and updates
- In-house team to build what you need
Why merchants look elsewhere
Where Shopify starts to cost you
Shopify is a capable platform. These are the reasons store owners and marketplace builders start shopping for an alternative.
App costs that stack
Reviews, subscriptions, feeds and marketplace features often mean paid apps. The monthly bill grows well past the plan price
No native marketplace
Shopify has no built-in vendor accounts, commissions or split payouts. A marketplace means third-party apps and, often, custom development
Locked to one processor
The only way to skip Shopify's platform fee is to use Shopify Payments, which limits your choice of who processes your money
At a glance
IXXO Cart vs Shopify, side by side
Pricing and fees verified in 2026. Shopify plans and fees can change, so confirm the current numbers before you decide.
| Feature | IXXO Cart | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Platform transaction fees | €0 on any plan, any gateway | Up to 2% on non-Shopify Payments gateways |
| Multi-vendor marketplace | Built in: vendors, commissions, payouts | Third-party apps required |
| Per-vendor shipping, tax, commission | Calculated correctly per order | Depends on the app you add |
| Custom development | Any feature or theme, in-house team | Apps, or your own developers |
| Connected ecosystem | IXXO Cart, POS and Hub | Shopify apps and POS |
| Hosting | Fully managed | Fully managed |
| Payment gateways | 100+ | Shopify Payments, or third-party with a fee |
| App and theme ecosystem | Focused set | Very large |
Why teams choose IXXO Cart
Three reasons it wins
Rotate through what actually moves the decision away from Shopify.
Keep 100% of every sale
No platform transaction fees on any plan, for single stores and marketplaces alike
€0Fees
Correct per-vendor maths
Shipping, tax and commissions are calculated accurately per vendor and per order, not bolted on afterwards
Per vendorAccurate
Build anything you need
Our in-house team develops any feature, template or integration you want, and supports you to reach your goals
AnyCustom
A connected ecosystem
Not just a store, the whole operation
IXXO Cart is one part of the IXXO ecosystem. Sell online, sell in person and run the business from connected tools, not four disconnected apps. Shopify has apps and its own POS, but the store, the point of sale and the back office are separate products to stitch together.
IXXO Cart
Your online store and multi-vendor marketplace
IXXO POS
Sell in person and keep stock in sync with your store
IXXO Hub
Run orders, customers and the back office in one place
Connected by design
Products, stock and orders flow across the ecosystem
An honest recommendation
Which platform fits you
Different tools suit different businesses. Here is where each one wins.
Choose IXXO Cart if
- You are building a multi-vendor marketplace
- Transaction fees are eating your margin
- You want per-vendor shipping and tax done right
- You want a team that builds what you need
- You want online, in person and back office connected
Choose Shopify if
- You run a single-brand direct-to-consumer store
- You want the largest app and theme ecosystem
- You rely on many niche third-party integrations
- Shopify Payments covers your markets well
- The transaction fees are acceptable to you
Switching from Shopify
Moving over does not have to be painful
Every annual plan includes personalised setup and migration support, so you are not doing this alone.
- Products, categories, customers and orders transferred
- Storefront, hosting, SSL and email configured for you
- Payment and shipping gateways connected
- A migration specialist to help you go live
Migration plan
From Shopify to IXXO Cart3 of 4
Export products, customers and orders
Import and map to IXXO Cart
Configure storefront and gateways
Go live, fully managed
Common questions
Shopify alternative FAQ
Is IXXO Cart a good alternative to Shopify?
IXXO Cart is a strong Shopify alternative if you want to keep 100% of your sales or run a multi-vendor marketplace. It charges no platform transaction fees on any plan and includes a marketplace engine with vendor dashboards, commissions and split payouts, so you avoid the app stack a marketplace needs on Shopify.
Does IXXO Cart charge transaction fees like Shopify?
No. IXXO Cart takes no percentage of your sales on any plan or any gateway. Shopify adds a platform transaction fee of up to 2% on every sale unless you use Shopify Payments. Your payment provider still charges its own processing fee in both cases, but IXXO Cart never adds a platform cut on top.
Can I build a multi-vendor marketplace on IXXO Cart?
Yes. IXXO Cart Multi-Vendor is a marketplace platform, not an add-on. Vendors get their own dashboards, you set commissions, and shipping, tax and payouts are calculated correctly per vendor on every order. On Shopify a marketplace means stacking third-party apps.
Is IXXO Cart hosted, or do I manage it?
IXXO Cart is fully managed SaaS: hosting, SSL, security, backups and updates are handled for you, like Shopify. Large enterprises that need total control can also self-host or license the source code, but managed cloud is the default.
When is Shopify the better choice?
Shopify is a strong pick for a single-brand direct-to-consumer store that wants the largest app and theme ecosystem and does not mind its transaction fees. If you sell as one brand and rely on many niche third-party apps, Shopify's marketplace of apps is hard to match.
Total cost of ownership
The real cost of Shopify over a year
The plan price is only the headline number. Shopify Basic is $39 a month, Grow is $105 and Advanced is $399, with a discount for annual billing. What you actually pay depends on how you take payments and how many apps you end up needing. These figures were verified in 2026, so confirm the current numbers before you decide.
Consider a store turning over $20,000 a month that wants to use PayPal or a local gateway rather than Shopify Payments. On the Basic plan, Shopify adds a platform fee of up to 2% on every order, which is around $400 a month, close to $4,800 a year, and that sits on top of the fee your payment provider already charges. The surcharge shrinks on higher plans, but the only way to remove it entirely is to switch to Shopify Payments, which is not offered in every country.
Then come the apps. Reviews, subscriptions, product feeds, advanced shipping rules and, for anything resembling a marketplace, a vendor app, are usually paid monthly. The real bill lands well above the plan price.
What IXXO Cart costs instead
IXXO Cart charges one price and takes no platform cut on any plan or any gateway, so the money you keep does not depend on which processor you choose.
- IXXO Cart Solo from EUR 9.90 a month for a single store
- IXXO Cart Multi-Vendor from EUR 99.90 a month with managed hosting included
- No platform transaction fee on any gateway or any plan
- Marketplace features included rather than added as paid apps
Where the walls are
Where Shopify runs out of room
Shopify earns its reputation. It is genuinely easy to launch, reliable at high volume, backed by the largest app and theme ecosystem in commerce, and Shopify POS is a capable way to sell in person. For a single brand selling direct to consumers, a lot of businesses never hit its limits.
The walls appear as you grow into something more ambitious. The platform fee on non-Shopify Payments gateways compounds with volume, so success makes the fee hurt more, not less. There is no native concept of a vendor, which means a marketplace has to be assembled from third-party apps that can conflict with each other and with your theme. Core workflows such as vendor onboarding, product approval, order routing and payouts live inside those apps rather than the platform, so you inherit their limits and their roadmaps.
The escape from the fee is to standardise on Shopify Payments, which trades one problem for another by narrowing who processes your money and where you can operate. None of this makes Shopify a poor product. It makes it a single-store engine that resists being pushed beyond a single store.
True multi-vendor
How IXXO Cart runs a marketplace Shopify cannot
The hard part of a marketplace is a single order that contains items from several sellers. That one cart has to split cleanly, and every rule underneath it changes per vendor. Shipping has to be worked out for each seller separately, because they ship from different places with different carriers. Tax follows each vendor's own situation. Commission can differ by vendor and even by product. When the buyer pays, the money has to divide and reach each seller automatically.
On Shopify this logic is layered on by an app that sits over an engine designed for one seller. The app approximates vendor accounts and payouts on a data model that was never built for them, which is where the small errors creep in, a shipping total that is off, tax applied to the wrong party, a payout that has to be reconciled by hand.
IXXO Cart Multi-Vendor was built as a marketplace from the start, so the per-vendor maths is part of the checkout rather than a bolt-on.
- Shipping, tax and commission calculated correctly per vendor on every order
- Automatic split payments to each seller
- Vendor dashboards for products, orders and payouts
- Our in-house team builds any rule your model needs
Ready when you are
See what your store keeps without transaction fees
Book a walkthrough, or tell us what you sell and we will help you pick the right plan