The verdict
If you sell physical or digital products and the shop is the business, pick Shopify. Checkout, payments and orders work from the first day, and someone else keeps the servers running.
If you want to test an offer, collect a waiting list or run a campaign page, pick Carrd. It is quick to set up and cheap to be wrong with.
Many teams end up with both. A Carrd page for a campaign or a test can send people to the shop, and the shop does the real selling. That is a sensible split.
What I'd avoid is stretching either one. Carrd is a poor home for a growing catalogue. Shopify is more than you need for a single page, and its costs build up through apps, themes and payment fees, so price your real set-up before you start.
Side by side
| 6 points compared | ||
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $0.75/mo | €21/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | |
| MCP server | Yes | |
| Built-in CMS / blog | No | Yes |
| Native ecommerce | No | Yes |
| Links |
Plans and pricing
Carrd
- FreeFree
- Pro Lite$9/yr
- Pro Standard$19/yr
- Pro Plus$49/yr
Shopify
- Basic€28/mo
- Grow€78/mo
- Advanced€384/mo
- AgenticFree
Who each is for
Choose Carrd if…
Pick Shopify when you sell products online and want a hosted store with a large app and developer ecosystem. It suits brands and small businesses that would rather pay a fee than build and maintain their own checkout.
It also has point of sale tools for selling in person, a GraphQL Admin API and an official developer MCP server, which matter if you want to connect it to other systems or AI tools.
Watch the total cost. The plan is only part of the bill, and apps, themes and payment fees add up. The trial is short, so have your products and branding ready before you start it.
I'd skip it if you mainly sell services, or if you already run WordPress and want the store inside that site.
Choose Shopify if…
Pick Carrd when you need one clean page live this week. It suits founders, freelancers and small teams running a landing page, a waiting list or a link-in-bio.
The free plan covers up to three sites on a Carrd address. Paid plans add a custom domain with SSL, forms, embeds and analytics. Pro Plus adds custom forms that connect to tools such as Zapier, Make, n8n and Airtable.
It also works well as a test bench beside a bigger site. If the test works, you build more. If it does not, you have lost very little.
Do not pick it if you need a blog, a product catalogue or a proper content system. One page per site is the design, not a gap that will be fixed later.
Other options worth a look
Builds responsive websites visually with a built-in CMS and ecommerce, producing HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Builds business websites and online stores without coding, with hosting, payments and blogging built in.
Build a polished marketing site or online store without managing hosting or writing code.
Hosted e-commerce platform for online stores, with B2B features, open APIs and plans tied to your sales volume.
Sells digital products, subscriptions and physical goods from a simple online storefront with checkout built in.