Custom store vs Shopify
Should I build a custom online store or use Shopify?
The short answer
Shopify wins for standard catalogue selling, where it launches in weeks and its monthly fee is cheaper than the engineering it replaces. A custom Next.js store wins when checkout has rules Shopify does not express, such as product customisation, business-to-business pricing tiers, or tight coupling to a system you already run.
Side by side
| Criterion | Custom Next.js store | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Build cost | $3,000 – $10,000 | $1,000 – $4,000 for a custom theme |
| Monthly cost | Hosting only | Subscription plus apps plus transaction fees |
| Time to launch | 4–8 weeks | 2–4 weeks |
| Unusual checkout logic | Unlimited | Constrained, often needs paid apps |
| Product customisation | Natural | Awkward beyond simple variants |
| B2B pricing tiers | Straightforward | Higher plan or apps |
| Middle East payment gateways | Any, including PayTabs | Depends on regional support |
| Who can run it daily | Needs the admin you were given | Anyone, mature admin |
| Compliance and PCI burden | Yours to manage via the gateway | Largely Shopify's |
How to decide
Choose custom when
- Customers configure or personalise the product before buying
- Different customers see different prices
- The store must read stock or pricing from your own system in real time
- Subscription and transaction fees have grown past the cost of building
Choose Shopify when
- You sell a fixed catalogue with standard variants
- You want to be selling within a month
- Nobody internally wants to think about payment compliance
- You value a large ecosystem of apps and people who know the platform
What most comparisons leave out
The number that decides it is the crossover point, and it is worth calculating before choosing. Add your Shopify plan, app subscriptions and transaction percentage over three years, then compare against the one-off build plus hosting. Below roughly a few hundred orders a month, Shopify almost always wins on that arithmetic.
Relevant work
The Tee Spot - Custom Apparel Store
Successfully launched a fully functional custom e-commerce store with unique brand identity, seamless shopping experience, and optimized conversion funnel. The store features custom product displays, intuitive navigation, multiple payment options, and maintains fast loading times while providing excellent user experience.
View case study →
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Marwan Ayman is a full-stack web developer and automation engineer based in Egypt who builds custom business systems, Next.js web applications, e-commerce stores, client portals and n8n / API automations for companies in the Middle East, UK, Europe, Australia and the US. He works remotely in English and Arabic.
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