I Tried and Tested Builder AI vs Shopify: Which is Best for Ecommerce?

Builder AI or Shopify: Which is Better?

Builder AI vs Shopify: Which is best? Ultimately, it’s hard to give a clear answer – because they’re both very different platforms, with specific benefits.

Shopify is, personally, my favorite ecommerce platform – it’s easy to use, flexible, scalable, and packed with great features.

However, as straightforward as Shopify is – it does have some limitations. You still have to manage the platform yourself, and deal with building and customizing your store personally – unless you hire an external expert.

If you want a more “done for you” solution for building an ecommerce experience, Builder.AI could be the better choice.

I’ve compared the two platforms, side by side, to bring you this simple guide to what each solution does best.

Let’s dive straight in.

 The Quick Verdict: Pros and Cons

Ultimately, Shopify is best if you’re looking for a comprehensive omnichannel ecommerce platform that gives you absolute control over your online presence and business. It’s scalable, convenient, and can be less expensive than Builder.AI overall.

Builder.AI is a better option for creating a custom ecommerce app or experience, with a lot of step-by-step guidance and advanced AI tools. You get brilliant guidance from an expert team, and state-of-the-art tools for designing great user experiences.

Shopify Pros & Cons

Pros 👍

  • Easy-to-use and flexible website building
  • Reliable payment processing options
  • Omnichannel selling with integrated POS
  • Powerful marketing and sales tools
  • Affordable pricing

Builder AI Pros & Cons

Pros 👍

  • Simple, no code development
  • State-of-the-art Al tools
  • Fast turnaround for app or website creation
  • Exceptional customers service and support
  • Flexible integrations and add-ons

Builder AI vs Shopify: What Each Platform Does Best

Usually, when I’d compare two platforms or tools, like Writesonic and Jasper, for instance, I’d test the core features of each platform and outline how they stack up against each other. It’s difficult to do that with Builder AI and Shopify – because they’re very different solutions.

They both allow you to create an ecommerce experience, access integrations, and sell products online, but they don’t really fall into the same “technology” category.

With that in mind, for this comparison, I’m going to outline what each platform is, and what it does best.

What is Builder AI?

builder ai homepage

Builder AI is an all-in-one solution for building custom apps and websites with expert support and artificial intelligence. Essentially, it allows anyone – even those without technical or coding knowledge- to build a flexible application in hours, instead of days.

The heart of Builder AI is its “Natasha” AI. This tool uses machine learning algorithms to recommend the kind of features you need for a website or app, based on your business goals.

From there, it generates a “build card” where you can drag and drop elements of your app or website into place, and add features, which are translated into code.

Finally, Natasha recommends a developer for your project, and sends the details to them to finish the “build”.

Builder AI can host your app or website for you, customize it with additional integrations and tools, and even handle ongoing maintenance, so all you need to do is run your business.

What Builder AI Does Best

So, what does Builder AI do best?

Simply put, it’s the better tool (in this comparison) for creating flexible applications and unique ecommerce experiences without code.

Based on my experience, here’s where Builder AI really stands out for entrepreneurs.

Flexible Ecommerce Development

Shopify is great for creating high-quality, scalable ecommerce websites – but with Builder AI, you’re not just limited to a website.

You can create your own custom Android or iOS app without code too – meaning you have more flexible ways to reach your customers, without writing a line of code.

The great thing about Builder AI’s apps and websites is that everything comes already built-in – you can tell your developer (and the AI) what you need from your app, and they’ll implement all the code automatically – so there’s no need to purchase and pay for additional plugins.

Advanced AI Features

Builder.AI is a solution that relies heavily on cutting-edge artificial intelligence.

While Shopify has integrated a few AI tools into its ecosystem, such as Shopify Magic for creating product descriptions and media, and Shopify Sidekick for step-by-step guidance, Builder’s AI tools are more advanced.

shopify magic homepage

These tools can help identify what kind of features your app or store needs in advance, while you’re building your solution. They can also help you determine which products are performing best, and suggest ways to enhance your sales strategy.

Plus, they can automate various tasks, like sending emails, SMS, and push notifications to customers.

Expert Support

builder ai features

Although a lot of the “building” process for creating your app or website on Builder.AI is managed by AI, you still get access to a team of human experts.

These specialists streamline code development, and give you step-by-step support with maintenance, and conversion rate optimization.

Builder AI’s experts can step in to add new features to your app or webstore at any time, regularly review your code to avoid bugs, and even enable cross-platform sales.

Plus, they can help you with inventory management, and marketing strategies too.

What is Shopify?

shopify homepage

Shopify is a straightforward, cloud-based ecommerce platform that allows users to design custom websites, and sell any type of product online – or in person.

It even includes its own point of sale software, so you can easily sell products offline.

Shopify gives users an all-in-one environment for website building, and business management, with integrated tools for reporting, analytics, team management, shipping, inventory management, and more.

You even get tools for marketing and customer service, like Shopify’s blogging system, and its email and live chat capabilities.

Shopify gives merchants complete control, allowing them to create a website from scratch with convenient themes and templates.

Plus, it integrates with other sales channels, so you can expand your reach to customers across platforms like Amazon and social media.

Speaking of integrations, Shopify has a huge app market (one of the biggest I’ve ever seen), with apps for everything from marketing to customer support, finance, and loyalty programs.

What Shopify Does Best

Shopify shines in the realm of ecommerce website development and management. If you want to create a custom website and sell virtually any product online or offline, across multiple channels, Shopify is the perfect choice.

Here’s where it excels over Builder AI in my opinion:

Simple Website Development

Although you can work with a developer to convert a Shopify store into a mobile app – the platform is primarily designed for building websites.

Fortunately, it makes it very simple to create a high-quality website, with an integrated blog, inventory management tools, and countless other features.

Anyone can create a website with Shopify in minutes, using a wide range of flexible free and premium themes.

You don’t even need to invest in external solutions for payment processing, as Shopify has its own world-leading payment solutions built-in.

Omnichannel Selling

One of the reasons I recommend Shopify to so many sellers, is that it’s great for “omnichannel” sales strategies.

Although you can sell through apps with Builder.AI, it’s much harder to integrate with external channels, like Amazon, Etsy, or Ebay, or social media platforms. There’s also no built-in POS solution – you’ll need to request a specific integration.

With Shopify, you can easily connect your store to a range of different sales channels, potentially boosting your revenue significantly.

Extensive Integrations

shopify app store

As mentioned above, Builder.AI’s team of experts can handle adding integrations and unique apps to your webstore or application for you – but getting all of the tools you need aligned can be complicated.

Shopify makes it easier to extend your store with a huge app market, featuring thousands of apps you can add to your website in a couple of clicks.

It’s definitely the much simpler way to coordinate all the tools you need to run a successful business – even if you do have to pay extra fees for some plugins.

Builder AI vs Shopify: The Pricing

Builder AI is a slightly more expensive option than Shopify – although I do think it can save you a lot of money compared to paying for a web developer to design a unique storefront or app for you.

builder ai pricing

There are two main plan options to choose from. The “Builder Studio Store” option starts at around £75 per month – but the actual amount you’ll pay varies depending on what you need.

The other option is to “pay per feature” – which means you tell Builder AI exactly what you want to accomplish, and they’ll give you a custom quote.

If you’re struggling to find the right plan, Builder AI has a handy quiz to help you make the right decision.

Shopify’s plans are a little more straightforward.

shopify pricing

There’s a simple “Starter” plan for $5 per month if you just want to sell through social media and messaging apps – but you can’t create a full store.

The core plans start at $39 per month for a the Basic Shopify subscription, $105 for the mid-tier plan, called Shopify, and $399 for the Advanced plan – with discounts on annual payments.

There’s also an “Enterprise” plan – Shopify Plus – which starts at $2,300 per month and gives you access to more advanced customization options and support.

Although Shopify isn’t the cheapest ecommerce platform I’ve tried – it is good value for money when you consider all of the functionality that’s built into each plan.

Builder AI vs Shopify: The Verdict

So, which option should you choose?

The simple answer is choose Shopify if you’re looking for an ecommerce platform that will allow you to build an amazing online store in seconds, maintain complete control over your business, scale with flexible integrations, and sell through any channel.

Alternatively, choose Builder AI if you want help building a custom ecommerce experience, with a combination of cutting-edge AI and expert developer support.

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Fritz

Our team has been at the forefront of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning research for more than 15 years and we're using our collective intelligence to help others learn, understand and grow using these new technologies in ethical and sustainable ways.

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