For a small UK retailer, Shopify is usually the faster and simpler way to start selling online: it is hosted for you, has ready-made themes, and handles payments and orders out of the box. A custom online shop costs more to build up front but can be shaped exactly around your products, delivery rules and customers, without stacking up monthly app subscriptions or being limited by a platform's templates. The right choice depends on your range, how you sell, your budget and how much control you want.
We build custom online shops, but Shopify is a genuinely good product and the right answer for plenty of businesses. This guide compares them honestly so you can decide for yourself.
What Shopify is and how it works
Shopify is a hosted e-commerce platform. You pay a monthly subscription, choose a theme, add your products and connect a payment provider. Shopify handles the hosting, security and checkout infrastructure. Extra features, such as subscriptions, product reviews, advanced filtering or wholesale pricing, are usually added through apps from the Shopify App Store, many of which carry their own monthly fees.
It is popular because it lowers the barrier to selling online. You can set up a basic shop yourself, and there is a large community of designers, developers and guides.
What a custom online shop is
A custom online shop is designed and built specifically for your business. Instead of starting from a theme and adding apps, the shop is built around how you sell. Payments are handled by trusted providers such as Stripe or PayPal, which cover cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and products, stock and orders are managed from a dashboard.
Our e-commerce websites include a product catalogue and category structure, payment gateway setup, shipping, delivery and tax rules, order and stock notifications, optional customer accounts and analytics with conversion tracking.
Cost: upfront and ongoing
Shopify costs
Shopify's upfront cost can be low, especially if you set it up yourself with a free or premium theme. The ongoing costs are where you need to look carefully. Typically you are paying for:
- A monthly plan fee, which rises on higher tiers
- Payment processing fees on each sale, and potentially extra transaction fees if you use a third-party payment provider
- App subscriptions for features not included as standard
- A premium theme, if you choose one
- Any developer or designer time for customisation
Shopify's prices change from time to time, so always check their current pricing page for exact figures.
Custom shop costs
A custom shop has a higher upfront cost because it is designed and built for you. Our Pro package, which covers e-commerce, starts from £3,200, with the final price depending on your range and requirements. Ongoing costs are usually hosting, maintenance and payment provider fees, without a stack of separate app subscriptions.
The fair way to compare is to estimate the total cost over three years, including all plan fees, apps and transaction costs, against the build plus running costs of a custom shop. Our guide to how much a website costs in the UK explains how to compare quotes.
It is also worth thinking about how costs scale as you grow. Payment processing fees apply on any platform, because card payments always cost something to process, so they are rarely a reason to choose one route over the other on their own. The bigger differences tend to be plan fees that rise on higher tiers and app subscriptions that accumulate as you add features. If your shop needs a handful of paid apps just to work the way you want, that is often a sign a custom build deserves a closer look.
Flexibility and features
Shopify
Shopify does the standard things very well: product pages, collections, baskets, checkout and order management. Where it can get awkward is when your business does something slightly unusual, such as:
- Complex delivery rules, like local delivery zones around Glasgow or Edinburgh alongside national courier rates
- Made-to-order or personalised products with many options
- Trade and retail pricing on the same site
- Combining products with bookings, classes or services
These are usually possible with apps or custom development, but each one adds cost and complexity.
Custom shop
A custom shop is designed around your rules from the start. If you need a particular product configurator, delivery logic or trade portal, it is built in rather than bolted on. It can also be combined with other features, such as booking and appointments, in one system.
Speed and performance
Speed matters a lot in e-commerce, where shoppers compare products and abandon slow sites quickly.
Shopify's infrastructure is fast, but individual shops can become slow when they use heavy themes and many apps, each adding scripts to every page. A custom shop can be built lean, with only the code it needs, which makes it easier to pass Google's Core Web Vitals. We explain those metrics in Core Web Vitals explained for business owners.
SEO for online shops
Both approaches can rank well. What matters is:
- Unique, helpful product and category descriptions
- Clean URLs and a logical category structure
- Structured data for products, prices and availability
- Fast loading on mobile
- Product data ready for Google Merchant Center
Shopify covers the basics and some things are handled automatically, though certain URL structures are fixed by the platform. A custom shop gives full control over URLs, structured data and page structure. Either way, good product content does most of the heavy lifting.
Ownership and control
With Shopify, your shop lives on Shopify's platform. You can export your product and customer data, but the theme and apps do not move with you if you leave. You are also subject to the platform's pricing and policy changes.
With a custom shop, the site is built for your business and hosted on infrastructure chosen for it. Your domain stays registered to you. If you ever need to move, there is no platform-specific theme or app ecosystem holding you in place.
Shopify or custom: which is right for your shop?
The honest answer is that it depends on your stage of business and how standard your products and processes are. These rules of thumb help.
When Shopify is the better choice
Shopify is often the right call if:
- You are just starting and want to test demand with a modest budget
- You are comfortable setting up and managing the shop yourself
- Your products and delivery rules are fairly standard
- You want to tap into Shopify's app ecosystem for specific features
When a custom online shop is the better choice
A custom shop tends to suit retailers who:
- Have outgrown templates, or keep paying for apps to work around limitations
- Have unusual products, pricing or delivery rules
- Want a fast, distinctive shop that reflects their brand
- Want to combine selling with bookings, quotes or a trade portal
- Are moving from marketplaces to their own shop and want full control
If you are moving from an existing shop, we migrate products and set up redirects so you keep your search rankings.
FAQs
Is Shopify good for small UK businesses?
Yes, for many. It is a reliable, hosted platform that makes it easy to start selling. It works best when your products and delivery rules are fairly standard and you are happy to pay monthly for the plan and any apps.
Is a custom online shop more expensive than Shopify?
Usually more up front, but not always over time. Compare the total cost over a few years, including plan fees, apps and transaction costs, against a custom build plus hosting and maintenance.
Can you move my Shopify shop to a custom website?
Yes. We migrate your products and set up redirects from your old URLs so you keep your search rankings and avoid broken links.
Which payment providers can a custom shop use?
Most commonly Stripe and PayPal, which cover cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Other providers can be integrated on request.
If you are weighing up Shopify against a custom online shop, tell us about your products and how you sell. We will give you an honest view of which route suits you, and a fixed quote if a custom build makes sense.
- E-commerce
- Comparison
- Retail