Advanced Shopify vs Shopify Plus: Which is the better one?

If you’re an experienced online business that is considering stepping up to the next level, you’ve probably come onto the epic battle between Advanced Shopify vs Shopify Plus.

The decision between Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus becomes increasingly important as businesses expand and require higher-level capacities. In this article, we’ll go through an analysis of two distinct platforms, highlighting their unique features, scalability, pricing structures, and distinct advantages.

Table of Contents

• What is Advanced Shopify?
• What makes Advanced Shopify stand out?
• What is Shopify Plus?
• What makes Shopify Plus stand out?
• Differences between Advanced Shopify vs Shopify Plus
  • Price
  • Target audience
  • Customization
  • Scalability
  • Support and resources
  • Checkout customization
  • Security
• Advanced Shopify vs Shopify Plus – What should we choose?
• Time to grow your Shopify store with Mageplaza’s services!
• The bottom line

What is Advanced Shopify?

Advanced Shopify is a specialized e-commerce plan offered by Shopify, a popular platform that enables businesses to create and manage online stores. It is designed for merchants who require advanced features and capabilities to enhance their online retail operations.

In addition, the Advanced Shopify plan offers advanced features like an advanced report builder, third-party shipping rates, real-time carrier shipping, international sales, gift cards, professional reports, and lower transaction fees.

Read more: What Is Shopify and How Does It Work: 2023 Updated

What makes Advanced Shopify stand out?

As discussed, Advanced Shopify is designed for businesses with more complex needs and higher sales volumes. Businesses can manage higher traffic, sales volume, and product listings thanks to Advanced Shopify’s scalability, which ensures smooth growth without having to worry about outgrowing their chosen e-commerce system.

Advanced Shopify also offers advanced analytics and reporting tools, providing detailed insights into customer behavior, sales trends, and inventory management, enabling merchants to optimize strategies and enhance online business efficiency.

​​Additionally, Advanced Shopify provides customizable features for merchants, allowing them to create a unique online storefront and enhance customer experience through branded checkout processes.

What is Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus is packed with features e-commerce platform designed to satisfy the unique requirements of larger and more complicated online stores. It is ideal for high-volume and enterprise-level businesses.

Shopify Plus is a scalable, customizable, and global expansion platform offering advanced security, automation tools, API access, and high performance. It is ideal for businesses with high traffic, large product catalogs, and high transaction volumes.

What makes Shopify Plus stand out?

Scalability is a major characteristic of Shopify Plus that makes it unique. Shopify Plus’s scalability allows businesses to handle increased traffic, sales volume, and complex operations, allowing them to focus on expansion without worrying about outgrowing their e-commerce platform.

Plus, businesses can personalize the user interface, checkout procedure, and branding of their online stores using Shopify Plus Development. This adaptable structure empowers extensive customization, making the platform ideal for businesses with unique needs. Operations and customer interaction are optimized by its connectivity with third-party apps.

With its extensive automation tools, Shopify Plus simplifies the running of e-commerce businesses, reducing human error and time spent on things like order fulfillment and marketing campaigns.

Differences between Advanced Shopify vs Shopify Plus

Price

• Shopify Plus. Shopify Plus, an enterprise-level pricing model, caters to high-volume merchants and large businesses with complex requirements, offering customized pricing based on the enterprise’s specific needs and scale.
• Advanced Shopify. Advanced Shopify offers a fixed monthly subscription fee for mid-sized businesses with a growing website, providing essential features without the extensive capabilities of Shopify Plus.

Read more: Shopify Pricing Plans (2023): Which Shopify Plan is For You?

Target audience

• Shopify Plus. Shopify Plus serves large businesses and high-volume companies with complex requirements that call for a reliable and expandable e-commerce platform. For well-known businesses with significant sales volumes, multiple distribution channels, and complex needs, this plan is perfect.
• Advanced Shopify. Targeted toward small to medium-sized businesses, Advanced Shopify is designed for entrepreneurs and companies that have grown beyond the basic Shopify plan. This plan is suitable for businesses with moderate sales volumes.

Customization

• Shopify Plus. Merchants can view the source code of the platform with Shopify Plus, enabling them to make extensive modifications to core store functionalities, making it ideal for large enterprises and high-growth businesses requiring a modified, expandable e-commerce platform.
• Advanced Shopify. Advanced Shopify offers merchants extensive customization options, including editing HTML and CSS files, implementing custom themes, and integrating third-party apps, suited for businesses with specific design and feature requirements within Shopify’s standard infrastructure.

Scalability

• Shopify Plus. Shopify Plus is a scalable and reliable platform ideal for enterprises with rapid development. Because of its advanced capabilities, plenty of resources, and specialized infrastructure, it can endure unexpected increases in traffic and handle a huge amount of transactions.
• Advanced Shopify. Shopify Advanced is appropriate for small to medium-sized enterprises, but because it lacks features designed for businesses with high scalability requirements and solid foundation, it may not be able to handle huge traffic, extensive product catalogs, and complex processes.

Support and resources

• Shopify Plus. Shopify Plus subscribers receive 24/7 priority support from dedicated account managers, a Launch Engineer for store setup and customization, and additional resources for scalability planning, performance optimization, and strategic guidance, ensuring a consistent transition for large and rapidly growing businesses.
• Advanced Shopify. Advanced Shopify offers standard customer support, self-service resources, and limited strategic guidance, but may not provide personalized or expedited service compared to Shopify Plus merchants.

Checkout customization

• Shopify Plus. Shopify Plus offers the Script Editor, a powerful tool allowing merchants to create custom scripts to enhance the checkout process, enabling unique promotional strategies, complex discounting mechanisms, and personalized experiences.
• Advanced Shopify. Advanced Shopify offers basic checkout customization options like modifying colors, fonts, and logos, but doesn’t have access to the Script Editor tool. Designed for businesses with growing needs, it doesn’t provide the same level of precise control over the checkout process as Shopify Plus.

Security

• Shopify Plus. Shopify Plus offers enhanced security features and advanced customization options for merchants, allowing them to implement custom security measures, use dedicated SSL certificates, and utilize advanced protocols.
• Advanced Shopify. While Advanced Shopify also offers a secure platform, it may not provide the same level of customization and control as Shopify Plus. Advanced Shopify offers advanced features for growing businesses but may have limitations compared to strong security features in enterprise-level Shopify Plus.

To summarize the whole differences between Advanced Shopify vs Shopify Plus, take a look at the table below:

Differences	Shopify Plus	Advanced Shopify
Price	Shopify Plus provides customized pricing based on the enterprise’s specific needs and scale.	Advanced Shopify offers a fixed monthly subscription fee for mid-sized businesses with a growing website.
Target audience	Shopify Plus is ideal for large businesses with complex requirements.	Advanced Shopify is designed for small to medium-sized businesses that have grown beyond the basic Shopify plan.
Customization	Merchants can view the source code of the platform with Shopify Plus, enabling them to make extensive modifications to core store functionalities.	Advanced Shopify offers merchants extensive customization options, including editing HTML and CSS files, implementing custom themes, and integrating third-party apps.
Scalability	Shopify Plus is a scalable platform and can handle large transactions because of its advanced capabilities and resources.	Advanced Shopify struggles to handle high scalability requirements and complex processes due to its lack of features designed for businesses with solid foundations.
Support and resources	Shopify Plus gives 24/7 support from dedicated account managers, a Launch Engineer for store setup, and additional resources.	Advanced Shopify offers standard customer support, self-service resources, and limited strategic guidance, but may not provide personalized service.
Checkout customization	Shopify Plus’s Script Editor enables merchants to create custom scripts, enhancing checkout processes, and enables unique promotional strategies, complex discounting mechanisms, and personalized experiences.	Advanced Shopify offers basic checkout customization but lacks Script Editor tool, but lacks precise control over the checkout process compared to Shopify Plus.
Security	Shopify Plus provides merchants with enhanced security features and customization options.	Advanced Shopify offers a secure platform for businesses but may lack customization and control compared to Shopify Plus’ strong security features.

 

Advanced Shopify vs Shopify Plus – What should we choose?

Choosing between Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus based on the particular demands and specifications of your company. Here are some factors to consider before making a big decision for your online store:

• Budget. Shopify Plus is a more expensive option compared to Advanced Shopify. Think about your spending limit and whether the extra features provided by Shopify Plus justify the higher cost.
• Scale and growth. Shopify Plus is designed for high-volume businesses with significant growth potential. If your business is experiencing rapid growth or has a large sales volume, Shopify Plus might be a better fit.
• Need for modification. Determine how much customization your company needs. Shopify Plus provides additional customization and flexibility choices, including access to the Shopify Script Editor for custom scripting.
• Support. Shopify Plus comes with a higher level of assistance, consisting of priority help and a dedicated account manager. If personalized support is more important to your business, Shopify Plus may be the better choice.
• Compliance and security. Assess the compliance and security requirements of your business. Shopify Plus includes features like PCI DSS compliance, which may be crucial for businesses dealing with sensitive customer information.

Don’t forget that the best choice depends on your unique business needs and goals, so before choosing, make sure that you have already considered all of these tips:

• Identify your business’s requirements and growth plans to determine the essential features for your success.
• Use Shopify’s demos and trial periods to your advantage to explore the features and capabilities of both Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus.
• Seek advice from e-commerce experts, developers, or agencies familiar with both Shopify plans if you’re unsure about your choice.
• Consider the long-term costs associated with each plan, including transaction fees, app costs, and any other additional expenses.
• Explore case studies of businesses using Advanced Shopify or Shopify Plus to gain insights into their success and challenges.

Time to grow your Shopify store with Mageplaza’s services!

Growing your Shopify store with Mageplaza can significantly enhance your e-commerce journey. As a successful provider of Shopify Plus solutions, Mageplaza offers potential reasons why you should choose our services.

Mageplaza is known for our reliability and commitment to customer support. By choosing Mageplaza, you can rely on our services to work effectively with your Shopify store, and our responsive support team is available to assist you in case you encounter any issues.

In addition, Mageplaza extensions are designed for the performance optimization of your Shopify store. Whether it’s improving page load times, optimizing images, or enhancing overall site speed, we can contribute to a better user experience for your customers.

Furthermore, Mageplaza offers free 1:1 consultation sessions for personalized advice on addressing Shopify store needs. We also provide a 30-day free trial, allowing you to test our services without financial commitment. This can help you as well as your business make informed decisions about your suitability for your business.

So, why don’t you give us a try right away?

REACH OUT TO US NOW

The bottom line

So, the comparison of Advanced Shopify vs Shopify Plus highlights their unique advantages for businesses of varying sizes and needs, with Advanced Shopify offering strong attributes for growing enterprises and Shopify Plus catering to high-volume businesses.

Remember, the choice between Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus depends on budget, scale, and business goals. Both platforms support merchants in their e-commerce journey, showcasing Shopify’s commitment to empowering merchants.

As businesses continue to evolve, a thoughtful evaluation of these platforms in alignment with individual requirements will open doors for long-term success and growth.