Volusion vs Shopify are 2 of the biggest names in eCommerce, robust SaaS options that offer users with web-based platforms on which they can feature, market, and sell their items. Both are easy-to-use shopping carts that are similar in style and cost.
So, how do you pick between the 2?
We’re here to assist. We’ve compiled pertinent details on each option to make an in-depth contrast of the two solutions. In the following post, we’ll compare Shopify and Volusion head-to-head in categories like prices, features, web design, and customer service. And, at the end of the fight, one eCommerce service will emerge the victor.
However first, let’s begin with a little background info on each shopping cart.
Shopify is a Canada-based eCommerce solution that concentrates on ease of use and elegant website design. Shopify hosts more than 600,000 clients, including the Lakers Shop and Black Milk Clothing.
Volusion (see our evaluation) has been around since 1999. In the previous twenty years, Volusion has grown to power more than 30,000 websites. They likewise maintain an outstanding list of customers, consisting of Tiny House Coffee Roasters and USA Bride-to-be. While in the past Volusion has actually provided two variations of their software, they now just offer V2, which is the new, easier platform that’s designed to get merchants offering quickly.
Read on to see how Shopify and Volusion rate.
Pricing
Winner: Volusion
Shopify provides a fully-functional eCommerce solution at an extremely competitive price. They have plans priced at $9 a month, $29 a month, $79 a month, and $299 a month. Each action up in prices consists of more features and a lower transaction charge. All Shopify strategies feature a completely practical 14-day (no charge card needed) trial.
Regrettably, Shopify still charges transaction charges, even after many eCommerce platforms have actually dropped the practice. Merchants are not fans of these deal fees. You can have those charges waived if you register for Shopify Payments, Shopify’s in-house payment processor for US merchants.
Keep in mind: Some merchants report that they are not eligible for Shopify Payments for different factors. Read our review of Shopify Payments before you rely on this payment processor.
All Volusion plans consist of a full 14-day trial. Volusion’s rates resemble Shopify’s. V2 is priced at $25/month, $75/month, or $135/month depending on the number of functions you require. V2 offers endless bandwidth and products on every plan; nevertheless, they also charge costs of 0.5% -2.0% on every transaction.
Overall, Shopify and Volusion’s prices models are relatively similar. The main difference is that Volusion’s greatest plan is over $100 less expensive than Shopify’s greatest strategy. So, the winner here is Volusion.
Ease Of Use
Winner: Shopify
Both Volusion and Shopify use easy-to-use backends.
Shopify is well-known for its tidy admin, simple to browse functions, and simple style. When you sign up for your trial of Shopify, you’ll discover a control panel that looks a great deal like this:
It does not take long at all to find out the basic features. Including items, creating discounts, and releasing brand-new material are all straightforward processes. We provide Shopify high marks in ease of use.
Volusion is likewise easy to learn. V2 places a strong concentrate on use. Their new dashboard uses vibrant icons and easy language to help start merchants learn their method around.
V2 does a lot of handholding in their day-to-day operations. For instance, when you go to include a discount rate, you will be presented with a screen that guides you through the decision-making process:
As a knowledgeable user, I found this handholding annoying. Nevertheless, a brand-new merchant might enjoy the additional support.
Volusion is still dealing with adding performance to V2, and the UI needs a little work (in specific, we wish to see subcategories nested underneath each category in the UI’s toolbar).
Even if I had no experience building shops I ‘d feel comfortable starting with either platform. Both competitors are reputable in the market, and the majority of the credit is because of their concentrate on creating a user-friendly experience for newbie merchants. Of the 2, we think Shopify supplies the very best ease of usage. Shopify takes the category.
Features
Winner: Shopify
Both Shopify and Volusion have some genuine selling points. Each cart enables you to fill and handle products, total transactions, and ship products to customers. Shopify and Volusion also offer several other overlapping features, including a deserted cart tool and reporting tools.
Shopify comes a bit lighter out of the package. Advanced features often need add-ons, which can get a bit pricey. However, numerous merchants will find that Shopify has enough to meet the majority of their needs. Some notable bonuses consist of Shopify’s multilingual abilities and digital product selling functions.
Volusion’s V2 is still a work in development. V2 does not yet have as numerous features as Shopify, however, there are a few innovative functions offered. These consist of storefront instant search, a mobile management app, and a dropshipping app.
Shopify offers more powerful features than Volusion V2. Shopify wins here.
Website design
Winner: Shopify
Shopify’s skins are a few of the most distinctive, sophisticated templates in business. You can choose from 64 totally mobile responsive alternatives.
Thankfully, those themes aren’t simply simple to use. They’re likewise easy to modify. Shopify provides a helpful WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor and HTML/CSS editors. In 2015 Shopify presented their Areas themes, which you can modify with a brand name, new drag-and-drop editor (and I do like effective drag-and-drop).
Volusion V2, on the other hand, has a much smaller sized choice of themes. There are only 14 styles offered. Thankfully, all of them are totally free and mobile responsive.
You can edit these styles directly with the CSS. Or, you can use a WYSIWYG editor to add and modify material on your website. Finally, you can utilize V2’s strong visual editor to rapidly alter components of the look or your website, without touching code. V2 has actually put a lot of work into making this visual editor both simple to use and practical. I think they have actually done an excellent job of it.
In general, however, we need to call Shopify the winner. Although V2 is now offering a drag-and-drop editor that resembles Shopify’s Sections, Shopify provides a better choice of themes that you can modify utilizing that tool.
Integrations & Add-Ons
Winner: Shopify
Shopify offers an enormous variety of integrations (1500+), consisting of lots of social networks, shipping, marketing, and accounting plug-ins.
Presently, Volusion V2 just integrates with 22 applications. Luckily, one of those applications is Zapier, which is a service that enables you to connect to more software application services. Sadly, Zapier comes at a cost. We hope Volusion continues to develop out its app marketplace in the future.
In addition, Shopify and Volusion both use APIs, so you can establish extensions and combinations for yourself.
We’re providing this category to Shopify due to their variety of alternatives.
Payment Processing
Winner: Shopify
Shopify deals over 100 payment entrances, which let you connect your platform to a wide array of payment processors. If you select to utilize Shopify’s own processor, Shopify Payments, you can have Shopify’s transaction charges waived. You will, however, still have to pay processing fees to Shopify Payments.
You ought to note that Shopify Payments is not a perfect service. Lots of consumers online grumble that their accounts were suddenly cancelled or that payments were kept. Take a look at our evaluation of Shopify Payments to get more information.
Volusion, on the other hand, incorporates with far fewer options. V2 connects to simply 2 alternatives: PayPal and Stripe.
Volusion also offers their own credit card processor, Volusion Payments, but it’s just readily available to users who are grandfathered into Volusion V1 (which is no longer readily available for new users).
Shopify is our choice for this classification as it has a wider set of payment integrations.
Customer Support & Technical Support
Winner: Tie
Both carts use a variety of methods to contact us.
Shopify offers strong customer service alternatives. You’ll have the ability to get answers to questions via a number of channels, consisting of live chat, e-mail, and phone assistance. Online support resources include a wiki and conversation forum. I like Shopify’s practical blog and Ecommerce University also.
Volusion likewise provides 24/7 live assistance through email, phone, and chat for all strategies (with the exception of the Personal plan, which only gets approved for online assistance). Users offer combined evaluations about the quality of customer assistance, typically grumbling about long wait times. In our experience, Volusion has actually been quick to respond to queries.
Support is equivalent between the two platforms. It’s a tie.
Negative Reviews & Complaints
Winner: Tie
The main beef merchants have with Shopify? Deal fees! (Remember that if you sign up for Shopify Payments, transaction charges are waived, so that negative is a less of a downer than it used to be.) Also, since Shopify is feature-light out of the package, the expense of add-ons can accumulate. In addition, users dislike that there’s no one-page checkout offered in the fundamental feature set.
Volusion customers reported various problems. In particular, they do not like V2’s transaction charges. They are also puzzled at Volusion’s “dated” software, suggesting that Volusion is missing out on a couple of bells and whistles in their feature set. I have actually also seen complaints associated with Volusion’s customer care.
It’s challenging to declare one negative review as better than another. It’s a tie.
Positive Reviews & Testimonials
Winner: Tie
If you’re doing your own research online, you’ll see that users have lots of favorable feedback for both shopping carts.
Merchants generally enjoy Shopify’s ease of usage, killer design templates, and strong client assistance. Shopify users likewise like the cart’s fantastic uptime record and unrestricted bandwidth.
Volusion’s users value the truth that the software is bug-free and simple to utilize. In addition, some clients report favorable interactions with support agents.
Last Verdict
Winner: Shopify
In the end, Shopify wins the day. With its focus on use and aesthetics and a dedication to continuous enhancements, Shopify is a hard platform to beat.
Nevertheless, that does not make Volusion a bad choice. Volusion is a good service for lots of small companies. This cart uses features that ought to satisfy the requirements of a lot of start merchants, and its web design tools are continually improving.
If you still can’t decide in between Shopify vs Volusion, I suggest that you sign up for free trials of both platforms. Or, take a look at our favorite eCommerce options for more options.