If you are new to the Internet and trying to get your business online, you have a lot of choices when it comes to choosing right website builder, you cut the list and now have 2 options whether to go with Weebly or Shopify.
In this Shopify vs. Weebly comparison guide we have gone through major aspects of both website builders and bring you the pros and cons of each platform.
So read on, after reading this Shopify vs Weebly comparison you will be knowledgeable enough to choose the best website builder for your online presence.
Weebly
Weebly was introduced in 2006 when internet penetration was on high and people were moving their businesses online. Weebly is very easy to use drag-and-drop website builder, specifically targeted to small and mid size business.
Slowly but surely Weebly moving faster, more and more people using the platform due to its simplicity and cheaper price. As the days goes on Weebly introduces many new features and make it a one stop shop for many business.
Features such as cheap plans with hosting, eCommerce facilities and many other features make it very popular choice for new online stores.
Shopify
Shopify, head quarter in Canada, is a website builder specifically launched (in 2004) for online retailers who wanted to sell things online. Their main focus was eCommerce, however they slowly emerged Weebly competitor.
This platform currently powers around 1+ million online sellers around the globe. In fact, Shopify is the number 1 eCommerce platform in online space.
It also uses drag and drop technology to create stunning websites in minutes without even writing a single line of code! That is what makes Shopify one of the best and popular and widely used website builders.
Many fortune 500 companies are using their platform to run their business and that is one of the secret why Shopify is growing so fast and very popular.
Shopify vs Weebly – Pricing
There is a bit of difference between the pricing levels of weebly and shopify. Usually weebly offers different types of pricing levels.
Weebly has a free plan which is usually unlimited and also other plans which are usually paid. The advantage of a free version is that there are no distractions from ads. Rather than presence of ads, there is a Weebly link at the bottom of the website.
The difference of Shopify when compared with Weebly, is Shopify does not allow for any free plan. However, it offers a short 14 days free trial period. The free trial is enough for a web admin to try out all the features it offers and learn how the platform works.
However, after the trial period is over, you either have to move to the paid version or move to other platforms. The paid plans are usually a bit more expensive compared to the Weebly.
One of the reasons why Shopify is costlier then Weebly is due to the fact they offer immense eCommerce features compared to the other competitors.
While comparing the two plans, both of them have good pricing plans but they differ in some areas.
This usually, depends on various factors as the goals and budget of the people utilizing the platforms. Therefore, for those who are searching for an E-commerce platform which is affordable and which allows for efficiency it is important to consider the use of the Weebly.
Shopify usually does not have any version which is free and at the same time the cost of using the paid plans is usually higher compared to the Weebly.
Shopify vs Weebly – SEO
Search engine optimization or SEO is so vital these days thanks to the immense competition in online stores and web shops.
Your website is one of the top looking but what if no one is coming to see it? That’s where SEO comes into play, it’s become such crucial and must have feature when choosing an eCommerce platform.
Normally, Weebly applies a simple form of SEO. Although Weebly doesn’t have advance and dedicated SEO plug-ins like WordPress does but it allows standard SEO techniques at page level and site level.
The features are good enough for you to make your website search engine friendly. It’s easy to use and apply SEO techniques to a Weebly website.
However, Shopify does allow basic SEO technique to be used in a Shopify store, but it’s not as good as Weebly’s dashboard. It requires some technical knowledge to do the SEO and it’s not an easy task to a non-technical person.
However if know the basic ins and out of search engine optimization, you won’t get it hard to apply the technique to your Shopify website.
Shopify vs Weebly – eCommerce
When it comes to E-commerce support there is no big difference between Weebly and Shopify.
Although Weebly is not a full blown eCommerce platform but it does provides and supports standard features to run and host a online store. It is usually very important when it comes to management of the inventory and also making it possible and efficient to performing shipping of various goods and products.
It also allows for various stores such as those involving mobile gadgets and many more.
On the other hand Shopify is specifically developed to build and run your eCommerce store quick and with premium features. Shopify specifically built templates that are not only good looking but also commerce-specific and user-friendly.
As stated above Shopify is specifically built for eCommerce platform, you will find almost every features that you may need for building and running your business online. That is why Shopify is easily a winner in eCommerce space compare to the Weebly.
Shopify vs Weebly – Themes Options
Shopify offers many built in themes to choose from, almost around 100 or so themes are available, but very few of them are Free, and rest of the themes are premium and need you to shell out some money to own and used on your website.
Most of the themes are eCommerce specific thus facilitating the use of online stores and selling.
While on the other hand Weebly offers hundreds of themes suitable for difference industries. And many other independent premium theme providers offers lot of paid custom and premium themes.
Weebly themes are not only more feature rich, customizable, intuitive, but also has many more themes compare to the Shopify. So in this section Weebly is a winner.
Bottom Line
So which is better Weebly or Shopify? I bet you already made your mind? Aren’t you? In my opinion, both of the platforms offer good and standard features, but some features are unique to both of them.
I would encourage users to consider many factors while they want to choose between the two because it will all depend on the user goals, speed, budget and the features offered by either of the two and the plans of the user in future.
So in the end it depends upon what your particular needs are and what unique features your online presence need, for example Weebly mostly targets small and mid size businesses and offer standard features to get start quickly.
While Shopify specifically targets more towards eCommerce feature thus making a online store with Shopify is quick and fast with high end eCommerce features.