Compare
IndieMade vs Shopify
Shopify is built to scale from kitchen table to Mattel, and priced and complicated accordingly. IndieMade is built for exactly one seller: you, the maker.
| Shopify | IndieMade | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $39/mo ($29 billed annually), after the $1 promo ends | $15/mo ($12 annual) |
| Extra fee on your payments | Up to 2% on top of card processing unless you use Shopify Payments | None, with any of our processors |
| What the base plan needs | An app store of 21,000 add-ons, many with their own monthly fees | Everything built in. There is no app store. |
| Etsy | A migration app in early access, desktop only, fed by the CSV you export from Etsy. Products only: orders, customers and reviews need paid apps. | Connect Etsy, choose your listings, keep the shop. Both stay matched. |
| Options & personalization | "A product can have a maximum of 3 options", their own migration guide. Personalization is theme code or a paid app. | Variations and the options system together, native, no 3-option cap. Custom options (select, text, file upload) sit on the same listing and import from Etsy as they are |
| Audience | "Entrepreneurs to enterprise", no maker language anywhere on the homepage | Handmade sellers. That's the whole roadmap. |
| Galleries & artist pages | Theme-dependent or app territory | Native, galleries, blog, pages, your story |
Shopify's published US pricing, August 2026. The third-party gateway fee is 2% on Basic, waived only with Shopify Payments. Payment processing is separate on both: you pay your own processor's standard rate, about 2.9% + 30¢ a sale with Stripe, Square or PayPal, and IndieMade adds nothing to it.
Where IndieMade wins for a handmade seller
A third of the cost, all-in
Basic Shopify is $348/yr billed annually, before apps, and before the 2% gateway fee if you don't use their payments. IndieMade is $144-180/yr, complete.
Keep Etsy instead of fleeing it
Shopify's Etsy story is a one-way migration ("most businesses migrate in under 3 months"). Ours is a sync. Your Etsy traffic keeps flowing while your own store grows.
What a CSV migration costs you
Shopify's own guide moves products and stops there: "products with more than 3 options won't have their options imported." Orders, customers and reviews come through apps with their own monthly fees, from about $5 to $39 a month. Personalization is not a product field at all on Shopify; their own blog says names, dates or uploads need a customization app. Here variations and the options system work together, native. You connect Etsy, pick your listings, and the variations and personalized options arrive intact.
No app tax
Reviews, galleries, promotions, back-in-stock, cart recovery, things that cost monthly app fees on Shopify are simply included here.
Built for how makers sell
Handmade listings often need more than color and size. Variations and the options system grew from that work: one-of-a-kind stock reservation, made-to-order personalization with photo uploads, and order stages that fit a studio, such as in the kiln.
The math, at maker scale
At a typical maker's volume, say $500/month in sales, Shopify Basic runs about $29-39/mo plus app subscriptions plus up to 2% gateway fees. IndieMade runs $15. Over a year that difference is a craft-fair booth fee, a new kiln shelf, or simply your margin.
See it with your own products.
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