Shopify powers millions of online shops, and for plenty of businesses it is a great choice. It is quick to set up, reliable and easy to use. But it is not perfect, and it is not right for everyone.

Before you commit, here are the honest cons of Shopify for UK businesses, based on the shops we have built, migrated and rescued over the years.

1. The monthly costs add up

Shopify’s headline plan price looks reasonable, but it is rarely what you end up paying. On top of the plan, most shops need:

• Paid apps for reviews, subscriptions, product options, wishlists, upsells and more, often £5 to £30 each per month
• A premium theme, usually a one-off cost of a couple of hundred pounds
• Higher plans as you grow, to unlock better reporting or lower fees

It is common for a growing shop to spend far more on apps than on the plan itself. Over a few years, that is a real cost to factor in.

2. Transaction fees

Use Shopify Payments and you pay card processing fees, which is normal. But if you want to use a different payment provider, Shopify charges an extra transaction fee on top, unless you are on a higher plan. For shops with healthy turnover, that extra percentage can quietly add up to thousands a year.

3. You do not fully own the platform

Your shop lives on Shopify’s servers, under Shopify’s rules. If they change their pricing, policies or features, you have to go along with it. Moving away later is possible, but it is a project: products, customers and orders can be exported, but your theme, apps and some settings do not come with you.

4. SEO limitations

Shopify is fine for SEO out of the box, but there are a few frustrations that matter if organic search is important to you:

• Fixed URL structures. Products always sit under /products/ and collections under /collections/, and you cannot change that.
• Duplicate content. Products can appear at more than one URL depending on how they are linked, which needs managing.
• A less flexible blog. Shopify’s built-in blog is basic compared with WordPress, which matters if content marketing is part of your plan.
• Limited control over some technical files, such as the robots.txt file on older setups.

None of these will stop a shop ranking, but they do make serious SEO work harder. We cover this in more detail in our post on what a Shopify SEO agency can do.

5. Customisation can get expensive

Want something a little different, such as a custom checkout step, unusual product options or a bespoke layout? On Shopify that often means paying a developer who knows Shopify’s own coding language, or adding yet another app. The checkout in particular is locked down on most plans.

6. UK-specific quirks

Shopify is a Canadian company built with a global audience in mind. Most things work well in the UK, but a few areas need care:

• VAT settings and showing prices with or without VAT need setting up properly
• Some popular apps are built for the US market first, with UK features added later
• Customer support is good but not UK-based, and you will not be talking to someone who knows your local market

7. Content and blog-heavy sites can feel cramped

If your business sells products but also relies on lots of content, such as guides, recipes, events or a busy blog, Shopify can feel limiting. WordPress with WooCommerce is often a better fit for content-led businesses that also sell online.

So when is Shopify still the right choice?

Despite all of the above, Shopify is often the right answer, particularly if:

• You want to launch quickly with minimal technical fuss
• You sell a straightforward range of physical products
• You want hosting, security and updates handled for you
• You value reliability and an easy dashboard over total flexibility

The main alternatives

The most common alternative for UK businesses is WordPress with WooCommerce. You own your site outright, have complete control over design and SEO, pay no platform transaction fees, and get the best blogging tools available. The trade-off is that you need good hosting and someone to look after updates.

We compare the options in more detail in our guide to the best alternative to Shopify for UK online stores.

Need a hand deciding?

We build e-commerce websites on both Shopify and WooCommerce, so we have no reason to push you one way or the other. If you are about to launch a shop, or you are wondering whether to move, book a free Social Clinic and we will give you an honest view of what fits your business.