Shopify alternatives for agencies that want their own brand

Shopify is a strong product and many agencies build on it happily. But if you want clients to see your brand, pay you every month and stay your customer, its model works against you. Here are the alternatives, and what each one means for your agency.

Why agencies look for a Shopify alternative

Let’s be fair to Shopify first. It hosts the shop, keeps it secure, has a mature checkout and a very large app store, and clients often ask for it by name. For an agency that builds a shop, hands it over and moves on, it is a sensible choice.

The friction starts when you want the client to stay your client. Shopify’s own partner help centre describes how it works:

• The client owns the store. You can build a store for a client inside your partner account, but when it goes live you transfer it. In Shopify’s words, “After the transfer, the merchant owns the store and it leaves your organization.”
• The client pays Shopify. Your earnings from the Partner Program are calculated “on the fees paid by the merchant to Shopify”: on 21 October 2026, 20% of the monthly subscription plus 0.1% of eligible sales, for four years, on eligible plans. Starter and Lite plans are not eligible, and Shopify says the final decision on payouts is at its discretion.
• Fees depend on the payment provider. Shopify’s pricing page lists fees from 2% on Basic down to 0.2% on Plus when a store uses a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, which is “available only in certain countries”. India, for example, is not on Shopify’s list of Shopify Payments countries.

None of this is hidden or unfair. It simply means that on Shopify you are a partner in Shopify’s business, not the owner of your own. We compare the two models in detail in Shopify Partner Program vs a white-label platform, and the fees in Shopify transaction fees. For the wider picture, start with our checklist for choosing the best ecommerce platform for agencies.

What does “your own brand” really mean?

For an agency, brand isn’t just a logo in the footer. It is the name your client sees when they sign in each morning, the address they type, the emails they receive and the person they call for help. If all of that says another company’s name, the relationship slowly moves to that company. We explain the difference in what your clients see and what you control on a white-label store builder.

The four kinds of Shopify alternative

1. Another hosted builder

Wix Studio, Squarespace, Webflow and BigCommerce each host the shop for you. They differ in design tools, catalogue size and checkout, but the business model is similar to Shopify’s: the client is the platform’s customer, and agencies earn through the platform’s partner terms. Wix pays a revenue share on yearly plans when you are the site’s first owner. Squarespace Circle offers discounts and referral payments. Webflow applies your Certified Partner code to sites where the client pays through its client payments feature. Swapping Shopify for one of these changes the tools, not who owns the client. See Wix Studio or a white-label platform, Squarespace for agencies and BigCommerce’s partner programme.

2. Self-hosted, open-source software

WooCommerce describes itself as free and open source, with no revenue share. You can make the client’s experience entirely yours. In exchange you, or the client, choose the host and keep WordPress, WooCommerce, the theme and every extension up to date. WooCommerce’s own pricing page estimates hosting at $25 to $350 a month for most stores and extensions at $29 to $299 a year each. Read the real cost of running WooCommerce sites for clients before you choose this path.

3. Build your own platform

Some agencies with strong developers build their own store builder. It gives full control and full responsibility: payments, security, uptime and every feature request land on your team. We weigh it up in build your own ecommerce SaaS or white-label one?

4. A white-label ecommerce platform

A white-label platform gives you a ready-made store builder that you offer under your own brand. The platform runs the software; you own the client relationship and the price. It is the closest thing to building your own, without the engineering team. Read White-label ecommerce: what it is and how agencies use it if the idea is new.

How to choose between them

Ask three questions. Do you want monthly income from each store, or project fees? Do you want clients to know the platform’s name, or yours? And how much hosting and code do you want to own? If the answers are “monthly”, “ours” and “as little as possible”, a white-label platform is the fit. Our full list of questions to ask a white-label platform before you sign will help you compare providers.

DripFunnel as a white-label Shopify alternative

DripFunnel’s partner programme is built for exactly this. More than 75 partners across the globe run client stores on it. Here is what changes for you compared with Shopify:

• Your brand on the portal. Clients sign in to a merchant portal with your product name, logos, colours and font, on your own address, with your support email and legal pages. Whether a small “Powered by DripFunnel” line shows is set in your contract. See Brand your merchant portal.
• Your plans and prices. You build the plans clients choose from, decide what each includes and set monthly and yearly prices in the currencies your contract allows. The console shows DripFunnel’s fee and what you keep on every price. See Create your plans and do the margin maths.
• No fee on orders. DripFunnel takes no fee on your clients’ orders. Shoppers pay the shop through its own payment account.
• Nothing to host. DripFunnel runs the hosting, updates and security. Clients describe their shop in plain words and the AI builds the storefront, which they preview on desktop, tablet and phone before publishing.
• Clients stay with you. The console lists every store with its plan, status, last month’s sales and domain, and you help inside a shop through support sessions the client allows.

Be clear about the gaps too. Card and online payments are available today for shops in India and the United States, not yet in the UAE. The portal is in English only, and there is no partner-level API yet. You can also see a feature-by-feature view on our DripFunnel vs Shopify page.

Moving existing Shopify clients

You don’t have to move everyone at once. Many agencies start new clients on their own platform and move existing ones at a natural moment, such as a redesign or a renewal. DripFunnel’s Shopify import brings products, their versions and photos across; collections, tags, vendor and type are set up again. See Bring your products from Shopify, and our step-by-step migration plan for moving client stores from Shopify. If app bills are part of the reason, read Shopify app costs first.

Ready to offer stores under your own name? Talk to us about becoming a partner.

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