Originally published on LinkedIn in October 2024.
Shopify, Shopsys, Shoptet... What's the difference?
Shopify , Shopsys , Shoptet ...
It's been about 2 years since I published my most popular post, which started with the sentence: "What the heck is the difference between Shopify and Shoptet?" A year later, I still think the market needs a lot of education about the differences between these solutions. Why do I think that? Over the past year I've heard:
Many people are still confused about the differences between Shopify and Shopsys
Shoptet fans thought my post wasn't fair
Terms like "box" and "custom" are becoming increasingly hard to tell apart
This will be a longer read – so I'll tell you upfront what I'll be talking about so you can pick the parts that interest you most:
Why I no longer like my most popular post
Box or platform
Custom as a mindset
Key differences between Shopify and Shopsys
What I got wrong about Shoptet in the past I hope this time it will be a truly insightful post
- Why I no longer like my most popular post
I understand why my post comparing Shopify and Shoptet made waves in my social bubble. But at the time, I was looking forward to it. Not only did I want to raise awareness of Shopify, I also wanted to highlight areas where it excels compared to Shoptet.
However, a year later, looking back, I have to admit I'm not very proud of my approach. It lacks nuance, it overlooks specific Shopify issues, and it doesn't give Shoptet enough credit for great merchants like Kulina.cz , Angry Beards , or Rituals , who were able to sustain their long-term growth on the platform.
In 2024, a potential client even told me they didn't want to work with us because our Shoptet vs. Shopify comparison suggested either our ignorance or an attempt to skew the view of the competition.
I'd like to find another reason why that happened — maybe that I was naive or too passionate. But in the end, it was exactly what he mentioned first: ignorance. It's hard to accept, but it's true. I don't know Shoptet 100% well enough to make a perfect comparison with Shopify. Honestly, it's not possible to know any platform 100%. I'm convinced that when it comes to Shopify in the Czech Republic, I'm among the most knowledgeable people — but as the platform constantly evolves, there's always something new to learn.
I think today, a year after the merger with Shopsys , I'm much better prepared to discuss these issues. Not only because I've met businesses that managed to grow significantly on Shoptet Premium, but also because I've worked hard to explain to our potential clients what the best solution is for them: Shopify or Shopsys. I still don't have a final algorithm that would definitively determine what's better for a specific business, but I'm getting closer. The first step, however, is knowing how much I know — or how much I still don't know — about the offerings on the market.
- Box or platform
Before we start comparing specific solutions, it's very important to understand the differences between the various types of e-shop providers. I very often hear people refer to Shopify as a "box." Some are a little afraid they'll offend me by saying so. Others try to provoke a reaction. I'm not offended at all, though — I love boxes . They enable the general public to do business, which is one of the most inspiring things. But what does "box" actually mean?
Based on my direct experience, I understand it as follows:
Almost zero customization capability
Very low cost
Fast time to market
All basic features are covered
No API
You won't differentiate yourself in any way, but at the same time it won't cost you a significant investment
On the other hand, when people think about platforms, they start getting more demanding (and rightly so). They start to expect:
True modularity
The ability to connect to anything (API)
Custom development is not required, but possible
Updates and upgrades for cheaper innovation (either automatic or paid)
Stability in the long term (no need to migrate as often as you grow)
Based on these interpretations, I can conclude:
Shoptet is one of the best boxes you can have
Shoptet Premium, however, falls more into the platform category (although their API is quite limited)
Eshop-rychle is definitely a box
UPgates is somewhere on the boundary between these two categories
Shopify and Shopify Plus are 100% platforms, but if you call basic Shopify a box, it's not that big a deal. The transition from a simpler box to a robust platform (from Shopify to Shopify Plus) is fairly straightforward in this case.
Shopsys is a fully developed platform in the complete sense of the word
Other solutions such as Publikator by Pecka Design or Etnetera Core E-commerce Framework can also be considered platforms
- Custom as a mindset
What do "custom" solutions mean? Isn't that a separate category?
No, it used to be, but not anymore. Over the last five years, the e-commerce platform market has changed significantly, which is why today almost everyone offers custom solutions.
With market growth, few businesses can afford to be a copy of the competition. Everyone needs some level of customization to support their USPs (unique selling propositions). That's why today every platform, from simple box solutions to the most complex platforms, offers custom solutions.
So what does it actually mean to have a custom e-shop? It may seem a bit vague, but it's more a question of approach — how much you need your online store tailored. Not all platforms are the same. Some, like Shopsys, allow you to change 100% of the e-shop. If you wanted to turn your platform into an Amazon-like marketplace tomorrow, you can do that. The question is how expensive it will be — but it's possible. Or you can also set up your e-shop to capture leads for your B2B and automatically connect them to your sales CRM. Shopsys handles that perfectly too — and so does Shopify (but perhaps in a different way than you originally wanted).
Complex and robust platforms allow this high to unlimited level of customization. Simpler solutions can offer different levels that are more common and still very useful: changing the design, adding new user journeys, connecting to an ERP. That's the case with Shopify, Shoptet Premium, and Upgates.
As they say — the devil is in the details. Even platforms that claim to be 100% customizable will push you toward the simplest solutions possible. This is a common way to make projects cheaper. I very rarely see companies like SUPERKODERS (and of course Shopsys) that try to adapt the platform to the client's requirements rather than having the client adapt their business requirements to the platform.
Why so many examples? To better explain what I mean when I say "custom" is about a way of thinking.
- Key differences between Shopify and Shopsys A comparison table is available on our website.
While it's possible to build a custom e-shop on various platforms, the key difference between Shopify and Shopsys lies in how custom you want your e-shop to be.
If you're comfortable with standardizing processes and simplifying complex aspects of your e-commerce business, Shopify is the best solution. Its constraints will force you to avoid decisions or architectures that could increase maintenance and innovation costs in the future.
However, if you believe that standardization is a brake on your business that will slow down your differentiation or flexibility, you should go with Shopsys. With Shopsys, you'll have the freedom to customize every detail, from the frontend appearance to the data structure in the backend and its communication with other systems.
Once you've decided which platform better suits your needs, it's time to define the scope of the implementation that will best match your ambitions. In this process, it's crucial to have partners you trust, with quality references, so you can rely on their guidance.
Other key differences between Shopify and Shopsys:
Shopify has limitations on checkout and payment methods, while Shopsys has no limitations.
Shopify automatically updates with new features, while with Shopsys you have to pay for deploying updates.
Shopify may have higher licensing and hosting costs than Shopsys.
Innovations are cheaper on Shopify than on Shopsys.
With Shopify you have limited control over hosting and data management, while with Shopsys you have full control.
With more complex features you may hit Shopify's limits, while on Shopsys you can easily customize them.
Shopify implementation costs are typically at least half those of Shopsys.
Managing multiple countries, currencies, and languages is more difficult on Shopify, while with Shopsys it can easily be managed from a single admin.
Both platforms share certain common traits:
No vendor lock-in: We have direct experience handing off projects on both platforms to other parties for maintenance and development.
Co-development possibility: In both cases, we've worked with clients' technical teams and allowed them to easily take over development of their solutions.
Both platforms support large brands generating significant revenues across multiple countries.
We've successfully built both B2C and B2B solutions on both platforms.
Neither platform is ideal for complete beginners without a proven business model.
These are not the cheapest solutions in the short term, but they are the best for companies that don't want to migrate to a different system every few years due to issues with cheaper solutions.
- Everything I got wrong about Shoptet
To wrap up this comparison discussion, I need to share what I would say differently about Shoptet today — after a year of gathering experience.
Shoptet is the best solution for most small and medium e-shops in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Another interesting competitor in this category is Upgates. SMBs (small and medium businesses) are Shoptet's primary target audience, and I greatly appreciate their focus on enabling every smaller entrepreneur to start a business with minimal costs. It's exactly the same philosophy that drove the creation of Shopify: the democratization of commerce.
Almost no one can match the availability of customer support that Shoptet provides in our region. They have customer service across the region and a dedicated team for each country, which is much more convenient than Shopify's English-speaking support, where people don't know the specifics of our market.
During this period, however, I haven't heard many positive things about the Shoptet Premium API — other than that it exists. Technically, it doesn't satisfy most developers who work with it, although some, like mime digital Europe , are convinced it works. Nevertheless, Shoptet, as the domestic leader for smaller merchants, has an excellent collection of apps ready to integrate with virtually any third-party system in our market. That's a huge advantage in cost savings compared to other platforms.
They also have an extensive partner network that can cover more complex issues that customer support can't handle. Shopify already has a solid offering of agencies you can work with, such as Sounds Good Agency | Shopify Experts , Digismoothie , Ecommerce Pot , 3NODE Software s.r.o. (Shopify Partner) , and MageXo , but you may even need them for simple things like implementing Zásilkovna (which is standard in the Czech Republic, but not globally).
It's possible to significantly increase GMV (gross merchandise value) while staying in the Shoptet ecosystem (thanks to their Premium solution). Examples like Kulina, AngryBears, and Rituals prove this. Especially if you don't require a fast pace of innovation, have a smaller internal team, and focus more on operational costs than on the complexity of new features.
Personally, I believe that many of the highest-revenue companies using Shoptet Premium aren't staying there because they love it completely, but because migrating to something better would require an upfront investment they couldn't afford yet. This is also directly related to the slowdown in e-commerce after COVID and companies being more cautious about budgets and investments. The same principle applies to many large brands that still use Pohoda as their accounting / inventory / manufacturing / ERP system: many stay — not because they're satisfied, but because leaving it would currently be too expensive.
So, what's the takeaway?
It's entirely understandable that the current market is confused about what all these e-commerce systems are. They sound so similar — but they're so different and target different audiences. I hope I've made some progress today in how to compare the pros and cons of individual solutions.
I haven't been as vocal as I'd like since last year, and I understand that despite all my efforts, I may again stir the waters and some opinions won't suit everyone. I can't guarantee you won't have mixed feelings after reading this post, but I can guarantee that in each of these posts I'm 100% open about how I see things, and I'm sharing my thoughts with the market so we can all grow together and serve each other better.
Shopsys's vision remains the same: to simplify the complexity of online shopping as much as possible.
I hope this post will be another element leading toward achieving our vision. An article by Petr Brejčák in our EXEC magazine
agency in CZ and SK
