Is Cardel an alternative to Shopify or ThriveCart?

Cardel is a home for your craft: a site of your own with a blog, newsletter, shop, community, and one inbox. It can replace Shopify or ThriveCart when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Shopify and ThriveCart are marked.

Can I use Cardel with Shopify or ThriveCart?

Yes. Cardel pages can link out to other products, so you can keep Shopify or ThriveCart for what it does best and bring the rest of your work to Cardel.

How much does Cardel cost compared with Shopify and ThriveCart?

You don't pay for Cardel until you publish. Choose Starter, Pro, or Studio when your site goes live. Shopify and ThriveCart set their own prices, so check their pricing pages on this page for current plans.

How do I switch from Shopify or ThriveCart to Cardel?

Start with Build Your Site, set up your home, and bring your work over at your own pace. You do not have to move everything on day one.

Compare

ShopifyvsThriveCart

Shopify is the commerce platform: storefront, checkout, inventory, POS, email, and inbox. ThriveCart is a lifetime-priced checkout with bumps, upsells, affiliates, and courses.

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How Shopify and ThriveCart compare

Shopify is what you use when the store is the business. World-class checkout, inventory and shipping, taxes, POS, thousands of apps, Shopify Email, Shopify Inbox, and a theme store make it the standard for merchants of every size. It scales from one product to a warehouse without changing platforms.

ThriveCart is a cart that pays for itself once. A one-time price buys high-converting checkout pages, order bumps, one-click upsells, subscriptions, coupons, affiliate management, and a course platform through ThriveCart Learn. Digital sellers who hate monthly fees and love conversion rates have made it a cult favorite.

Where they are different

Shopify

Shopify's blog and pages serve the store.
Shopify Inbox handles chat.
Shopify doesn't manage scheduling natively.

ThriveCart

ThriveCart is the cart, not the site.
ThriveCart hands buyers to your email tool.
ThriveCart has no inbox or bookings.

Choose Shopify when you sell products at volume and need inventory, shipping, tax, and apps.

Choose ThriveCart when checkout conversion, bumps, and affiliates matter and you want to pay once.

Compare features

What's on Shopify and ThriveCart

A check means that capability is available. Shopify and ThriveCart are marked only when the offer is comparable, not the same product.

Site and brand

Workspace site
Shopify: Included
ThriveCart: Not included
Custom domain
Shopify: Included
ThriveCart: Included
Theme and fonts
Shopify: Included
ThriveCart: Included

Public content

Blog
Shopify: Included
ThriveCart: Not included
Shop pages
Shopify: Included
ThriveCart: Not included

Audience and email

Audience
Shopify: Included
ThriveCart: Included
Marketing emails
Shopify: Included
ThriveCart: Not included
Campaign workflows
Shopify: Included
ThriveCart: Not included

Messaging

Messaging Center
Shopify: Included
ThriveCart: Not included

Commerce

Shop payments
Shopify: Included
ThriveCart: Included
Orders and fulfillment
Shopify: Included
ThriveCart: Included

Team

Admin users
Shopify: Included
ThriveCart: Included
AI Assistant
Shopify: Included
ThriveCart: Included

Feature comparison for Shopify and ThriveCart
Feature	Shopify	ThriveCart
Site and brand
Workspace site	Included	Not included
Custom domain	Included	Included
Theme and fonts	Included	Included
Public content
Blog	Included	Not included
Shop pages	Included	Not included
Audience and email
Audience	Included	Included
Marketing emails	Included	Not included
Campaign workflows	Included	Not included
Messaging
Messaging Center	Included	Not included
Commerce
Shop payments	Included	Included
Orders and fulfillment	Included	Included
Team
Admin users	Included	Included
AI Assistant	Included	Included

* Note: This table does not capture every feature of Shopify or ThriveCart, and is not intended as a comprehensive list. We keep this page current, but Shopify or ThriveCart may add or remove features that are not shown here.