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Launch speed
Shopify gets a standard store selling in weeks. A custom store usually takes a few months — and is built around your business from day one.
Shopify vs custom
/// SHOPIFY_VS_CUSTOM.TXTShopify or a custom store?
Shopify is the fastest way to launch a standard store; custom pays off when the store is the core of your business. An honest comparison of monthly fees, transaction costs, Estonian integrations and room to grow — with a clear verdict.
What decides it
Four things before you choose
These four things decide which side of the comparison your business lands on.
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Costs that grow with sales
Subscription, apps, theme and payment processing — Shopify's cost grows with your revenue. A custom build is one-off plus agreed maintenance.
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Special needs
B2B pricing, checkout changes, integrations with your own systems — on Shopify every special need means yet another app with a monthly fee.
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The growth path
Products, customers and order history migrate later without stopping sales — start on the platform, move once you outgrow it.
Side by side
The comparison, without the sales pitch
Both get you a working store. The difference shows in the cost structure and the moment your business wants something the platform does not anticipate.
ShopifyCustom store
Launch speed
Shopify
Selling in weeks — the fastest route for a standard store.
Custom store
Usually a few months; a smaller store faster — with a concrete schedule in the proposal.
Monthly fees
Shopify
App fees and a theme come on top of the subscription — the total grows with your needs.
Custom store
No platform subscription; hosting and maintenance agreed in the proposal.
Transaction costs
Shopify
Payment processing costs on top, growing with every sale.
Custom store
Payment providers of your choice — processing fees remain, the platform's cut does not.
Estonian payments and shipping
Shopify
Shopify Payments is available in Estonia; bank links and parcel lockers need third-party apps — each with its own monthly fee.
Custom store
Bank links, parcel lockers and local shipping are built into the store as part of the build.
Custom logic
Shopify
Within what the platform and its apps anticipate — at some point the logic still runs into platform limits.
Custom store
Custom B2B pricing, campaigns and a checkout that works exactly the way your business sells.
Room to grow
Shopify
Great until you need something the platform did not plan for.
Custom store
No ceiling — the store grows with the business, feature by feature.
Our honest take
Small and standard? Shopify. Core of the business? Custom.
For testing an idea or running a small store with a standard buying flow, Shopify is a perfectly sensible choice — in our view too. Custom pays off when you need custom pricing, integrations with your own systems, or when monthly fees and platform limits start slowing growth down. The bigger and more particular the store, the faster a custom build pays itself back — and migrating later never has to stop sales.
FAQ
Common questions
Everything worth knowing before a project starts — process, pricing and technology. Didn't find your answer?
/// FAQ.TXTShopify is the fastest way to launch a standard store. Custom pays off when you need custom pricing, integrations with your own systems, or when the store is the core of your business and monthly fees plus platform limits start slowing growth down.
When the catalog is small, the buying flow is standard and you want to start selling in weeks, not months. For testing an idea or running a small store, Shopify is a perfectly sensible choice — in our view too.
Usually when they need something the platform does not anticipate: custom B2B pricing, changes to the checkout, integrations with inventory and accounting. Every special need means yet another app with a monthly fee — and at some point the logic still runs into platform limits.
Yes — products, customers and order history can be migrated, and the old store keeps selling until the new one is ready. We plan the migration so sales never stop in between.
Contact
Got a project in mind? Let's talk
Tell us what you're building — we usually reply within a day. No decks, no pressure, just a conversation with the people who'll actually build it.