Review updated on June 10, 2026.
Does Shopify live up to its reputation? Our verdict is unambiguous: 9/10. After delivering over 100 stores since 2018 and operating two of our own brands on the platform, we consider Shopify the best e-commerce solution for the vast majority of French-speaking brands. Only one criterion lowers the score, and it's not the one you hear everywhere: Shopify's customer service, which has significantly declined in the last two years.
This Shopify review is not from an affiliate comparison site that tested the platform for three weeks on a fictitious store. We are a Shopify agency Plus Partner, and more importantly, we pay our own Shopify bills every month: we launched Superbon (sold to SPRiNG in 2022) and today we operate Cabania, which exceeds 100,000 euros in monthly revenue on the platform. What follows is our on-the-ground feedback, with supporting figures.
Table of Contents
Our Rating: 9/10, breakdown by criterion
Here's how we rate Shopify in June 2026, criterion by criterion, based on our client projects and our own brands:
| Criterion | Rating /10 | Our Field Observation |
|---|---|---|
| Conversion rate | 10 | In 100% of migrations carried out by the agency, the new store converts better than before |
| Ease of use | 10 | No technical skills required to manage your store daily |
| App and third-party solutions ecosystem | 10 | Dozens of highly-rated alternatives for every functional need |
| Cost control | 9 | Application Maintenance budget close to 0, few of our clients exceed €150 in apps per month |
| Native functionalities | 9 | The functional package is continuously enriched, at no extra cost |
| Internationalization | 9 | Shopify Markets makes multi-market accessible without a Plus plan |
| Performance and reliability | 9 | Almost never any bugs observed on our production stores |
| Scalability | 9 | From zero to over €100,000 monthly without changing platforms: this is the journey of our Cabania brand |
| Shopify customer service | 5 | Significantly declined: approximate answers, no more dedicated contact, sometimes multi-day blockages |
Overall Rating: 9/10. Only customer service lowers the score. This table summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of Shopify as we measure them in the field: everything else, from costs to conversion rate, justifies us building our business on this platform since 2018.
Shopify's Strengths from the Field
An ecosystem that grows faster than your needs
Shopify is growing so fast that the solution brings together and carries with it thousands of third-party developers, app publishers, and theme creators. The contrast with our beginnings is striking: in 2018, we sometimes struggled to find an application to meet a specific functional need. In 2026, there are often dozens of highly-rated alternatives for the same functionality. The direct consequence for merchants: you almost always find what you need off-the-shelf, which limits the need for custom development and allows for control of both technical complexity and associated costs.
Native functionalities in constant evolution
The native functional package has evolved considerably in favor of merchants. The most striking example: international. No need to be on Shopify Plus to sell abroad anymore. Shopify Markets manages specific catalogs by market, multi-currency, local taxation rules, and even allows adapting the theme's experience and UX market by market. Gone are the days when entire stores had to be cloned and localized. The free Translate & Adapt app, while less sophisticated than Weglot, allows you to start multilingual from launch, at zero cost. For a brand starting with export ambitions, this is a major evolution.
The same logic applies to physical stores: Shopify POS now unifies web and point-of-sale, becoming a complete and robust cash register in 2026.
Unbeatable administrative simplicity
Shopify is a one-stop-shop with a single bill at the end of the month. Hosting, security, payment, platform: everything is integrated. This administrative simplicity may seem anecdotal on paper, but it changes leaders' daily lives, especially when faced with the accumulation of service providers required by open-source platforms.
The best conversion rate on the market
This is our most telling data point: in 100% of migrations carried out by the agency, the new Shopify store converts better than the old platform. Without exception since 2018. The Shopify checkout is continuously optimized by entire teams dedicated to conversion, with Shop Pay as an accelerator. No isolated merchant, no agency, can compete with this shared optimization effort across millions of stores. We detail the levers in our guide to 25 conversion levers.
Accessible to everyone
You don't need to be technical to understand and administer a Shopify store. Most of our clients manage their daily e-commerce in complete autonomy after a few hours of training. And the point that comparisons never mention: even for an agency, taking over a store created by a colleague poses no problems. Nobody, however, wants to inherit a poorly documented Magento or PrestaShop. This portability protects merchants: you are never held captive by your service provider.
Real costs much lower than common misconceptions
Total cost of ownership is the angle everyone should look at, and that's where Shopify crushes the competition. Almost never any bugs, so an annual maintenance budget (TMA) close to zero. No need for a monthly agency contract to run the store, unlike PrestaShop or Magento sites for which providers charge maintenance at a high price. Regarding operating costs: a Shopify plan and a few apps are sufficient. The 2026 trend is for stores equipped with few, well-chosen applications, for a faster site: few of our clients spend more than 150 euros monthly on apps.
The Real Disadvantages of Shopify
Customer service in sharp decline, our real disappointment
This is the dark spot, and we say it all the more freely as we are platform partners. Shopify's growth is such that staffing levels are exploding, and team turnover is significant. In our early days, there was a real startup atmosphere: small, expert teams, and it was not difficult to arrange a video call with a technical manager for a demo. Today, Shopify has become a large machine. Even as a Plus agency, we no longer have a dedicated contact. Support often provides irrelevant answers, and it feels like the subject is not mastered: on complex technical issues, our team is now more expert than most of our contacts at Shopify. We sometimes get stuck for several days on a platform-side issue, which was unimaginable just two years ago. It is this criterion, and this alone, that costs the overall score a point.
Classic limitations, to be put into perspective
Transaction fees if you don't use Shopify Payments, the cumulative cost of apps, dependence on a proprietary editor: these criticisms come up in all comparisons, and they deserve to be put into perspective by the numbers. The extra cost of apps remains under 150 euros per month for the vast majority of our clients, compared to the thousands of euros in annual TMA for an open-source site. As for editor dependence, it is the price of a platform that never goes down: we accept it without difficulty. Two cases remain where the limit is real: very specific B2B needs outside of the Plus plan, and ultra-personalized checkouts, reserved for Shopify Plus.
Who is Shopify for (or not)?
Shopify is the right choice if you're launching a DTC brand, migrating from an aging platform that costs you a lot in maintenance, aiming for international markets, or wanting to manage your store independently without relying on a technical provider. It's our default recommendation for brands from 0 to several million euros in annual revenue, and our guide for launching your store step by step provides the roadmap.
Shopify is not the best option if your model relies on a catalog of several hundred thousand references with a very exotic business logic, if your activity is primarily editorial with a little ancillary sales, or if you have an in-house development team whose job is to maintain a custom platform. In these cases, open source or headless still make sense.
Actual Costs Observed with Our Clients
In summary: a monthly subscription according to the chosen plan, payment commissions, and a few apps. The total remains very predictable, and it is precisely this predictability that open source platforms lack, where the maintenance bill can double from one year to the next. For details on the Basic, Grow, and Advanced plans, commissions, and cases where Shopify Plus becomes profitable, consult our page dedicated to Shopify pricing.
Shopify vs. Alternatives
PrestaShop, Magento, WooCommerce, Wix: each platform has its own playground, but our agency's conviction is documented above, particularly regarding total cost of ownership and conversion. For a platform-by-platform analysis, read our complete comparison of e-commerce platforms. And if you decide to get support, our ranking of the best Shopify agencies in France will help you pre-select the right partner.
FAQ: Your Questions Before Getting Started
Is Shopify good for selling online?
Yes. We rate the platform 9/10 after more than 100 stores delivered: best observed conversion rate on the market, controlled costs, accessible to non-technical users. The only real weak point in 2026 is the quality of Shopify's customer support, which has declined over the past two years.
Is Shopify free?
No. Shopify offers a free trial, then a monthly subscription depending on the chosen plan, plus payment commissions and potential apps. Up-to-date details of plans and commissions can be found on our Shopify pricing page.
What are the fees on Shopify?
Three items: the monthly subscription, payment commissions (reduced if you use Shopify Payments), and apps. For our clients, the app budget rarely exceeds 150 euros per month, and the maintenance budget is close to zero.
Why not use Shopify?
Three legitimate cases: a giant catalog with very specific business logic, a primarily editorial activity, or an in-house development team dedicated to a custom platform. For everything else, Shopify's feature/cost/reliability ratio is, in our opinion, unbeatable in 2026.
Do you need an agency to create your Shopify store?
Not necessarily: it's easy to get started and many merchants launch on their own. An agency becomes relevant for an ambitious launch, a migration, or a strategic redesign. Our comparison of the best Shopify agencies in France helps you evaluate the options.
Final Verdict
Eight years after our first projects, our opinion on Shopify can be summed up in one line: it's the platform we would still choose today to launch our own brands, and indeed, that's what we're doing with Cabania. The 9/10 rating reflects a remarkable product, let down only by a declining support service. If you're still hesitant, start by discovering what Shopify is and how the platform works, then launch your trial: you'll know in a few days if the tool suits you.
And if your project warrants support, let's talk: we put this field experience at the service of brands that want to turn their store into a real growth lever.
