Axnify vs Shopify

Everything Shopify charges add-ons for, included.

A typical Shopify store ends up paying £200–400 a month in app subscriptions before the first sale. We bundled the 53 categories that drive that bill into one platform — free plan included.

TL;DR

Shopify is the market leader and the most polished platform on the market. It also turns essential features (reviews, loyalty, email, subscriptions, multi-currency) into paid third-party add-ons. Axnify bundles all of them at every tier — free included.

Start free — no card required See full pricing

Axnify

All features, every tier.

Pricing

Free · then £19 / £59 / £299 per month

Best for

Founders and agencies who don't want to pay for ten separate add-on subscriptions.

Where it shines

53 features in the free plan — reviews, loyalty, multi-currency, subscriptions, gift cards, bundles, B2B quotations
Pricing tiers gate operational limits (products, staff, storage) — not features
VAT-compliant invoicing built in
Stripe Direct Charges — money goes to the merchant's balance, not ours

Shopify

The market leader.

Pricing

From £39/mo + add-ons

Best for

Merchants who are happy to assemble a paid app stack.

Where it shines

Massive app ecosystem (8,000+ apps)
Polished and battle-tested UX
POS hardware and retail integrations
Brand recognition and large support community

Feature comparison

Built-in (yes) vs not available (no) vs limited (caveat) vs paid add-on (price shown). Prices reflect typical published pricing.

Feature	Axnify	Shopify
What's in the free / starter plan
Product reviews & ratings		£25/moYotpo or Loox
Multi-currency with auto-conversion		£25/moBold or Markets Pro
Loyalty + multi-tier referrals		£30/moSmile.io or Yotpo Loyalty
Smart email campaigns / newsletters		£20/moKlaviyo / Shopify Email beyond free tier
Recurring subscriptions		£60/moRecharge or Bold Subs
Gift cards		Basic tier and above only
Product bundles & kits		£20/moBundles by Shopify or Bold
B2B quotation system		Plus onlyOr third-party app £40+/mo
Partner / wholesale programs		Plus £2,000/moOr third-party
Production / BOM for manufacturers
Storefront
Visual drag-and-drop theme editor
Custom typography (Google Fonts + custom uploads)		Theme-dependent
Template-specific layouts per page type		Requires Liquid coding
Multi-language storefronts (23+ languages)		Free up to 5; more requires Markets
Custom domains + automatic SSL
Mobile-first responsive themes
Commerce & payments
Stripe Direct Charges (money to merchant balance)		Shopify Payments is the default; custom processors face fees
Built-in tax calculation per region		Tax above £15k revenue costs 0.35%/order
VAT-compliant automated PDF invoicing		£20/moSufio or Order Printer Pro
Fraud protection with 3D Secure
Transaction fee if not using native payments	None	2.0%–0.5% depending on plan
Inventory & operations
Variants and configurable products
Supplier management with cost history		£30+/moStocky on Shopify POS Pro
Purchase orders → auto-receive stock		£30+/mo
Bills of materials / product components
Production runs (component → finished good)
Platform & developer
Full REST API on every plan		Storefront API throttled on Basic
Outbound webhooks
Unlimited staff seats	Tier-dependent: 1 / 5 / 25 / unlimited	2 / 5 / 15 / unlimited
Role-based access control		Limited until Advanced plan
99.9% uptime SLA
Multi-store under one account		Shopify Plus onlyFrom £2,000/mo

Real-world monthly bill — a typical store stack

Most Shopify stores need a stack of paid apps to reach feature parity with a modern e-commerce platform. We totalled the most-installed ones at their current published pricing.

Axnify

Total

£19/month

Axnify Pro (everything below included)
£19

Shopify stack

Total

≈ £258/month

Shopify Basic
Base subscription
£39
Yotpo Reviews (Free tier exceeded fast)
Product reviews
£25
Klaviyo (entry tier)
Email campaigns
£20
Smile.io Starter
Loyalty program
£30
Recharge
Subscriptions
£60
Loox Photo Reviews
Photo / video reviews
£25
Bold Bundles
Product bundles
£25
Sufio Invoices
VAT invoicing
£15
Markets Pro (multi-currency)
Local pricing
£19

Honest section

Where Shopify wins

We're not pretending we're the right tool for every store. Here's where the alternative is genuinely stronger.

App ecosystem breadth

Shopify's app store has 8,000+ apps including niche integrations (shipping carriers, accounting tools, marketplace connectors) that we don't all replicate natively. If you depend on a specific Shopify-only app, factor that in.

POS hardware

Shopify sells purpose-built retail hardware that integrates with the same admin. If you're running brick-and-mortar locations and need barcode scanners + tap-to-pay terminals on day one, Shopify still has the edge.

Brand recognition with customers

Some shoppers feel safer at checkout when they see a familiar platform logo. We're the new entrant. Trust signals will accrue over time.

Why merchants move to Axnify

The app subscription bill stopped making sense once the store was assembled
Wanted reviews, loyalty, subscriptions in one admin — not five separate dashboards
Needed B2B quotations without paying for Shopify Plus
Wanted multi-store under one account without enterprise pricing
Hit the limits of Shopify's hosted theme system and wanted real layout control

How merchants move from Shopify to Axnify

1
Export products as CSV from Shopify admin → import into Axnify with one click
2
Export customers as CSV (orders + addresses follow via API)
3
Re-create theme in our visual editor (or pick one from the marketplace and customise)
4
Connect your domain — automatic SSL provisioning, ~3 minutes
5
Connect Stripe — we use Stripe Connect Direct Charges, so the money flows to your account

Migration support: One-click migration tooling is coming Q3. For now we'll personally help any merchant move — DM us once you've signed up to the free plan.

Frequently asked

Does Axnify include everything Shopify Plus does?

Most of it. Multi-store under one account, B2B quotations, partner programs, advanced staff roles, and Stripe Connect direct charges — all included on our standard plans, not gated behind a £2,000/month tier. The exceptions: we don't currently match Shopify's POS hardware ecosystem or every Shopify-specific app integration.

What about Shopify Markets and international selling?

Multi-currency with auto-conversion and multi-language storefronts (23+ languages) are in every Axnify plan — including free. Shopify Markets Pro is £19/month and gates extra capabilities. We include them as standard.

Will my Shopify apps work on Axnify?

Shopify apps don't run on Axnify directly — but the features they provide (reviews, loyalty, email, subscriptions, etc.) are built into our core platform. The point of switching is to consolidate that stack into one product.

How does pricing compare at scale?

A Shopify Basic merchant with 5 essential apps pays around £250/month. Our Pro plan at £19/month gives them the same features. As you scale to Shopify Advanced (£289/mo) plus enterprise apps, our Business plan (£59/mo) still gives parity. Shopify Plus starts at £2,000/mo; our Enterprise tier is £299/mo.

Can I keep my custom theme code?

Shopify themes use Liquid; we use a section-based layout engine. They're not directly portable. The visual editor reproduces most layouts in a few hours — and themes are inheritable, so a clean rebuild is often faster than a port.

Can you help me move my data from another platform?

Absolutely. Email support@axnify.com with the export file from your current platform — we accept Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, Squarespace, Big Cartel, Gumroad, Sellfy and most other common formats. Our team handles the migration of your products, variants, customers and orders end-to-end, free of charge for standard imports.