​Shopify vs Amazon: Which platform is better for sellers in 2026?

Choosing between Shopify and Amazon is one of the most important decisions you’ll make when starting or scaling your online business. Both platforms are major players in eCommerce, but they serve completely different purposes. 

One gives you full ownership and flexibility to build your own online store. The other gives you instant access to a massive online marketplace with built-in demand. In short:

• Shopify is ideal if you want to build and grow your own brand, design your eCommerce store, and control the entire customer experience.

• Amazon is ideal if you want immediate reach, fast visibility, and access to millions of customers – though you’ll sacrifice brand control, personalization, and customer data.
  
  

This guide gives you a complete, updated breakdown of Shopify vs Amazon, packed with comparison tables, fresh platform insights, realistic use-case recommendations, and product-specific guidance. By the end, you’ll know exactly which business model fits your needs and why selling on Amazon vs Shopify requires distinct strategies.

Overview of Shopify and Amazon

Shopify

Shopify is a cloud-based, hosted eCommerce platform built for entrepreneurs who want to create their own eCommerce website and brand. You design your Shopify store, choose your layout, set your pricing, and customize everything through Shopify’s eCommerce tools. 

Shopify is widely used by small businesses, creators, dropshippers, and established brands. It allows full control over branding, content, and the long-term customer relationship.

Shopify offers:

• A customizable, standalone online store connected to a custom domain, providing complete brand control. 

• Robust eCommerce tools and integrations to manage your entire business.

• Flexible fulfillment through third-party services (3PLs) or print-on-demand partners like Printful.

• Multiple Shopify plans (including Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify).

• Integrated features like Shopify Payments, discount code creation, and a huge selection of paid apps.
  
  

Amazon

Amazon is the world's largest online marketplace, generating $790.3 billion in GMV in 2024. Instead of creating your own website, you list your products online inside Amazon’s ecosystem. Your product appears next to other third-party sellers, including competing brands. 

Listing on Amazon means you immediately tap into high buyer intent.

Amazon offers:

• A massive built-in audience of Amazon customers.

• A consistent store page layout, prioritizing conversion over unique brand identity.

• High trust and strong brand reputation.

• Access to Amazon FBA for storage, packaging, and shipping, which is key for fast delivery.

• Selling on Amazon through an Amazon seller account or Amazon Stores.

• A per-item sold or $39.99/month Professional fee structure.
  
  

Amazon emphasizes convenience and reach – great for speed, but with limited brand identity and strict rules for product listings.

Shopify vs Amazon: Key differences at a glance

Here are the core differences between Amazon and Shopify:

Selling experience

This is where the distinction between an eCommerce platform and an online marketplace becomes clearest.

On Shopify

When building a Shopify store, you gain total autonomy:

• Full control over store design, branding, and pricing.

• The flexibility of a custom domain and integrations with multiple eCommerce tools and paid apps.

• You own your customer relationships, allowing for long-term marketing and loyalty building using captured customer data.

• You have complete control over additional costs and revenue margin.
  
  

This experience is ideal for sellers who want more control, independent growth, and a long-term eCommerce business.

On Amazon

Selling on Amazon is fundamentally different, prioritizing reach over customization:

• Easy listing and instant visibility to millions of buyers actively searching for products online.

• Less creative control – strict rules and uniform product listings govern everything from images to messaging.

• Amazon owns the customer data and interaction, limiting direct communication and long-term relationship building.

• You rely heavily on the efficiency of Amazon FBA and the trust associated with the Amazon brand.
  
  

Pricing and fees

Pricing is one of the key factors when comparing Shopify vs Amazon, as the two platforms operate in entirely different ways and have a direct impact on profitability.

Shopify pricing

Shopify uses a monthly subscription model, making it highly predictable.

• Basic Shopify ($39/month): Best for small businesses and new sellers.

• Shopify (or Grow) ($105/month): Mid-tier for growing brands needing more features.

• Advanced Shopify ($399/month): For established brands scaling operations with lower credit card rates and advanced features.
  
  

Additional costs:

1. Transaction fees: If you opt not to use Shopify Payments, you incur additional transaction fees (e.g., 2% on the Basic plan). This single transaction fee structure is a major reason to use their built-in system.

2. Shopify Payments: When using Shopify Payments, you avoid Shopify’s own transaction fees entirely, but still pay industry-standard credit card processing rates (e.g., 2.9% + $0.30 on the Basic plan). The ability to use Apple Pay and other digital wallets is included.

3. Paid apps: Beyond the subscription, paid apps are the main recurring cost.
   
   

Amazon pricing

Amazon uses a highly variable, per-sale and per-service model.

1. Subscription/per-item fee: $39.99/month for the Professional Plan (waives the $0.99 per-item sold fee).

2. Referral fees: A commission charged on every sale, typically 8-15% of the total price, though some categories can reach up to 45%. These referral fees are the platform's primary revenue source from selling on Amazon.

3. Amazon FBA fees: For those using Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), there are numerous fees:

• Fulfillment fees (picking, packing, shipping).

• Monthly storage fees (varies by time of year and size).

• Long-term storage fees (for slow-moving inventory).
  
  

Profitability differences: Because Shopify charges fixed monthly fees and avoids high referral fees, sellers of their own products or high-ticket items can often maintain stronger profit margins. 

This is a central financial point in the Shopify vs Amazon debate: you pay to build traffic on Shopify, but you pay a commission on every sale on Amazon.

Fulfillment: Control vs convenience

The choice of fulfillment method is critical, especially when comparing the differences between Amazon and Shopify.

Shopify fulfillment

With Shopify, you choose the fulfillment method, giving you more control over the post-purchase customer experience:

• Self-fulfillment: Ideal for smaller operations or customized products.

• Third-party logistics (3PLs): Integrates seamlessly via apps, offering cost-effective warehousing.

• Print-on-demand (POD) services: Automatically fulfill orders without holding inventory.
  
  

Amazon fulfillment

Selling on Amazon offers two main methods, both requiring compliance with Amazon's rules:

1. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA): The gold standard. Amazon FBA stores your inventory at Amazon's fulfillment centers, handles packing, shipping, customer service, and returns. This grants your product listings Prime eligibility, a massive conversion driver for Amazon seller success.

2. Fulfilled by merchant (FBM): The Amazon seller handles all logistics. This provides flexibility but requires hitting Amazon's stringent performance metrics for on-time delivery.
   
   

Actionable advice: 

If shipping is your biggest pain point, Amazon FBA is a major advantage. If custom packaging and branded inserts are key to your brand identity, Shopify's fulfillment flexibility is the clear winner.

Branding and marketing: Build an audience or borrow one?

This section answers how Shopify is different from Amazon from a long-term brand control perspective.

Shopify marketing and branding

Building your store on Shopify gives you:

• Full brand control: Complete flexibility in visual design, copy, navigation, and merchandising. You own your store page and every aspect of the customer experience.

• Ownership of traffic: You must drive traffic via SEO, social media, ads, and content marketing to create organic sales. You use SEO tools to rank your site externally.

• Customer data ownership: You collect and own all customer data for remarketing, loyalty programs, and long-term Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
  
  

Design

Shopify provides extensive tools for web design and visual customization. You can select from thousands of themes (both free and premium) and use drag-and-drop builders to completely tailor the look and feel of your eCommerce store. 

This ensures your brand identity is unique, professional, and entirely under your control. By comparison, Amazon's standardized product listings offer minimal design flexibility.

Amazon marketing and branding

Selling on Amazon gives you immediate demand but limits your ability to build a unique brand identity.

• Minimal branding: The uniform layout standardizes how product listings appear. While you can use A+ content and Amazon Stores, your brand identity is subservient to Amazon's platform.

• Built-in traffic: You benefit from millions of shoppers actively searching for products online. This immediate access is the core advantage of Amazon vs a blank eCommerce website.

• Fierce competition: Visibility means competing directly with other third-party sellers for the coveted "Buy Box."
  
  

This part of the Shopify vs Amazon debate boils down to the audience – do you invest time and money to build your own brand on Shopify, or pay commission for instant access to Amazon's audience?

Strategic recommendation: Long-term growth and the hybrid model

The question, is it better to sell on Amazon or Shopify, rarely has a single answer for a mature eCommerce business.

Choose Shopify if:

• You prioritize the lifetime value of your customers and need to access customer data for email and retention marketing.

• Your business model relies on high-margin, high-ticket, or subscription-based own products.

• You want more control over brand identity and the ability to scale into a truly standalone online store.
  
  

Choose Amazon if:

• You’re testing products or flipping items for resale.

• You’re selling commodity items or products in highly-demanded niches where speed-to-market is crucial.

• You want to leverage Amazon FBA to handle all logistics and tap into the Prime customer base.
  
  

The hybrid strategy (selling on both Shopify and Amazon)

Many successful Shopify and Amazon sellers use a hybrid model:

1. Shopify serves as its own online store and brand headquarters, where you capture customer data and build loyalty.

2. Amazon serves as a high-volume sales channel to reach buyers who only shop on the online marketplace.

3. Both Shopify and Amazon can be integrated so that Amazon FBA can even fulfill orders placed on your Shopify store (multi-channel fulfillment). This approach maximizes reach and diversifies risk for your business online.