Is Cardel an alternative to Shopify or WordPress?

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 WordPress when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Shopify and WordPress are marked.

Can I use Cardel with Shopify or WordPress?

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

How much does Cardel cost compared with Shopify and WordPress?

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

How do I switch from Shopify or WordPress 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

ShopifyvsWordPress

Shopify is the commerce platform: storefront, checkout, inventory, POS, email, and inbox. WordPress.com hosts the world's most used publishing software with themes, plugins, and commerce plans.

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How Shopify and WordPress 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.

WordPress powers a huge share of the web for good reason. This page compares WordPress.com hosted plans. You get the block editor, thousands of themes, comments and likes, Jetpack newsletters, and on higher plans the full plugin ecosystem and WooCommerce. Nothing else offers this much freedom to extend, and your content is exportable and yours.

Where they are different

Shopify

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

WordPress

WordPress extends by plugin: a form plugin, a booking plugin, an email plugin, each with its own settings.
WordPress email is Jetpack newsletters or a plugin.
WordPress accessibility and SEO depend on your theme and plugins.

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

Choose WordPress when you want maximum control, plugins for anything, and the option to self-host.

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What's on Shopify and WordPress

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

Site and brand

Workspace site
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Included
Custom domain
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Included
Editor Mode
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Included
Theme and fonts
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Included

Public content

Blog
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Included
Reader engagement
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Included
Showcase pages
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Included
Shop pages
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Included

Reach and quality

SEO
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Included

Audience and email

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

Messaging

Built-in chat
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Not included
Messaging Center
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Not included

Commerce

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

Team

Admin users
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Included
Per-admin permissions
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Included
AI Assistant
Shopify: Included
WordPress: Included

Feature comparison for Shopify and WordPress
Feature	Shopify	WordPress
Site and brand
Workspace site	Included	Included
Custom domain	Included	Included
Editor Mode	Included	Included
Theme and fonts	Included	Included
Public content
Blog	Included	Included
Reader engagement	Included	Included
Showcase pages	Included	Included
Shop pages	Included	Included
Reach and quality
SEO	Included	Included
Audience and email
Audience	Included	Included
Marketing emails	Included	Included
Campaign workflows	Included	Not included
Messaging
Built-in chat	Included	Not included
Messaging Center	Included	Not included
Commerce
Shop payments	Included	Included
Orders and fulfillment	Included	Included
Team
Admin users	Included	Included
Per-admin permissions	Included	Included
AI Assistant	Included	Included

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