Spree Commerce Vs Shopify: Choosing A Platform For Online Business

by Kayleigh Kay Content Writer

If you are reading this article, you are probably interested in e-commerce. Perhaps you are going to transfer (expand) business online or looking for a new platform for your online store.

Anyway, the global network has never played such a huge role in business as it is today.

Why is e-commerce breaking all records? Yes, because where else do you buy everything you need without taking the best part of your body away from the sofa (chair/armchair/ stool). No queues and annoying consultants. In short, it is convenient.

However, all these concern customers, not businessmen. The seller’s goal is to make money. And here we are already faced with difficulties. How to develop a competitive strategy? This question should be addressed to marketers. We will approach the topic from a different, equally important angle - choosing a platform. All technical aspects of the store work depend on it.

If Spree Commerce is really a platform, then Shopify is better called an e-commerce solution. This means that if you choose Spree, you will become the sole and unique owner of the online store. The site, built on Shopify, will be managed and hosted by Shopify itself.

Spree Commerce

Spree Commerce is an open source platform developed by Sean Scofield in 2007. Spree is written in Ruby on Rails and is available via Github. The platform is built using various gems that are supported in a single repository and designed to work together, providing a full-featured e-commerce framework.

Since Spree Commerce is built on Ruby on Rails, the platform is ideal for developing ultra-fast, lightweight and beautiful websites. Another of its features is modularity, that is, the ability to customize, replace or add any functions at its discretion.

However, working with Spree Commerce requires serious technical training. For example, you will have to install and maintain this system manually. This means that it is rather difficult to get along without a team of qualified developers.

On the other hand, we are dealing with an open source project. All its code is 100% free and available for use. In addition, Spree has a fairly extensive developer community. And these guys continue to improve the platform code, making it more convenient.

Shopify

Shopify is a cloud platform developed in 2004 by Tobias Lutke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake. Initially, they wanted to open online store equipment for snowboarders. However, having been disappointed in the e-commerce platforms existing at that time, the guys decided to create their own solution. In the process of working on it, the technical project leader Tobias Lutke used the open source code of the Ruby on Rails framework.

However, Shopify uses its language, known as Liquid. It is a template language based on Ruby. In general, it looks like a plugin or application looking for a platform on which to completely customize your site.

Now that we have an idea of both platforms, let's look at the strengths and weaknesses of each of them. Let's start with Shopify.

Shopify: Pros and Cons

Pros
• A large number of themes providing the store a cool look.
• 24/7 support. Are you having difficulty working with Shopify, or just want to ask the experts a few questions? There are lots of ways to realize our plans. For example, online chat, email or phone. When it comes to business, every second count. Tech Support Shopify works tirelessly at any time of the day or night. There are even five international telephone numbers at your disposal. So you can choose the one that matches your region.

Cons
• If you want to file any customization, it is impossible without knowledge of the programming language Liquid. And the services of such specialists are quite expensive. Contacting top web development companies will cost you much less.
• Transaction fee for each sale. In addition to the monthly maintenance fee, Shopify customers must pay a commission of 0.5% - 2% for their transactions. However, you can get rid of it with Shopify Payments. Otherwise, the dealings are as follows: 2% if you use “Basic Shopify“, 1% if you use “Shopify“ and 0.5% if you use “Advanced Shopify.”

Spree Commerce: Pros and Cons

Pros
• Using the platform is completely free. All you need is to download Spree and get started.
• Lots of interesting features that can improve the performance of an online store such as product meta descriptions, permalinks, keyword targeting, etc.
• Save time and resources. Spree Commerce is built on the Ruby on Rails framework, which is usually used to launch startups. It is ideal for quick implementation of workers and at the same time elegant solutions.

Cons

• Spree is a fairly young platform. So, its code base is still changing frequently. And you have to spend some time to keep the platform up to date. Of course, updates are not necessary, but often they contain quite valuable fixes.
• The implementation of some functions is impossible/difficult without top web development companies.
• The same applies to the start of work with the platform. To do this, you need a deep knowledge of Ruby on Rails, HTML and CSS.

Conclusion

However, the key features of Spree commerce and Shopify platforms are disclosed in this article. And if you want to make a competent choice, weigh all the pros and cons in relation to their situation.

We want to make a few recommendations. You should pay attention to Spree Commerce, if:
• You are looking for an individual solution and you want the store to have a variety of unique features.
• You strive for high performance and simple optimization of your site.
• You want Ruby on Rails and the quick update of e-commerce.

On the other hand, your choice is Shopify if:

• You do not want to go into details, as well as learn the technical features of the platform.
• You want to start the store as soon as possible.
• You want to get for the site a beautiful theme out of the box.