The Shopify Alternative

Shopify Sells. Machinence Runs the Whole Business.

Shopify is the best ecommerce engine in the world, and that is all it is. Your store is one part of a business. Machinence is the website, store, CRM, marketing, finance and support, built as one. All 22 AI tools for a flat £99 a month, with no transaction fees and no app stack.

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All 22 AI tools from day one · No platform fee on our cut · Cancel anytime

Shopify

2.9% +30¢

per sale on Basic, before app costs

Shopify

£50+

a month in apps to add what isn't built in

Machinence

22 in 1

AI tools in one platform, £99/mo

Known for one thing

Shopify Was Built to Sell. Not to Run a Company.

Shopify is genuinely the best ecommerce engine there is, and if all you do is sell products online it is superb. But a business is more than a store. The moment you need a real CRM, proper bookkeeping, HR, email marketing, a blog, business research or company formation, you are in the app store stacking subscriptions, and most stores end up paying £50 to £200 a month on top before any of it talks to each other.

Ecommerce only 2.9% + 30¢ per sale Apps cost extra No real accounting No HR or CRM depth Apps don't fully connect

SHOPIFY

The real cost

Shopify's Real Cost Is the Stack You Build Around It.

Add the email, reviews, accounting and CRM Shopify leaves to apps, and the picture changes.

Shopify BasicThe store. Hosting, SSL, checkout, products.

£31/mo

+ Email marketing appKlaviyo or similar for real campaigns

£30/mo

+ Reviews, upsell & loyalty appsThe conversion tools left to the app store

£40/mo

+ Bookkeeping (QuickBooks/Xero)Shopify has no accounting; you bolt one on

£25/mo

+ CRM & helpdeskTo manage customers beyond order data

£40/mo

Real monthly stackFive tools, five bills, five dashboards

~£166/mo

Machinence

£99/mo

Store, website, CRM, email, support, accounting and 16 more tools. Built in, connected, one price.

You save around £60+ a month, drop the per-app sprawl, and everything actually talks to each other.

The Machinence platform

One Platform. Everything Talking to Everything.

Machinence is one platform: 22 AI tools with 820+ features to run your business, built so your website, marketing, finance, support and data all work as a single unit, not a pile of disconnected apps.

This is the Machinence ecosystem. Every Machinence tool shares the same data in real time, so a sale updates your CRM, your books, your analytics and your email list at once, with no plugins, no integrations and no developer.

The difference that matters

Shopify Does the Store. Machinence Runs Everything.

Shopify is excellent at what it does. A business needs far more than that one thing.

With Shopify

Brilliant for selling products, but it stops at the store.

Email, reviews, upsells and loyalty are paid apps you assemble.

No real accounting or bookkeeping; you bolt on QuickBooks or Xero.

No HR, no company formation, no AI business research.

Use a third-party gateway and Shopify adds a fee on every sale.

Five apps, five bills, dashboards that don't fully connect.

With Machinence

→

A full website and store, AI-built from a description in minutes.

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Email, SEO, social and blog included and wired to your store.

→

Bookkeeping, invoicing and financial reporting built in.

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CRM, HR, legal docs, formations and AI research, all included.

→

Stripe from day one, no platform fee on our side.

→

One platform, one bill, one connected source of truth.

Everything, delivered today

Everything Your Business Needs. In One Place.

22 AI tools with 820+ features across every part of your business. Launch, compete, market and scale on one platform, at one price, from day one.

AI Online Store Builder

Describe your store. AI builds products, images, legal pages and payments in under 2 minutes.

AI-powered

AI Website Builder

A full business website from a plain description. Live in minutes.

Live in minutes

AI Branding Suite

Logo maker, name generator and AI images. 25 images per month.

AI-generated

Domain & Hosting

Free hosting, SSL and business email. No server setup.

Fully included

SEO Optimiser

Keyword analysis and on-page scoring built in. No extra subscription.

Built in

AI Blog Writer

SEO posts written and published automatically. Up to 8 per month.

Auto-publish

AI Business Research

Market and competitor intelligence. Enterprise research at startup prices.

Strategic

Business Analytics

Revenue, SEO, social and finance in one dashboard. No setup.

Unified data

Email Marketing

AI campaigns and automation. 1,500 emails, 500 contacts on Launch.

Automated

Social Media Publisher

AI content and scheduling across all channels. 30 posts per month.

Multi-channel

CRM & Lead Management

Full pipeline CRM, 3,500 contacts, deal tracking. Active day one.

Day one

AI Customer Support

Multilingual AI chatbot, around the clock. No extra cost.

24/7 AI

Payments & Invoicing

Stripe payments from day one. Professional recurring billing.

Stripe partner

Bookkeeping & Accounting

Expense tracking and financial reports built in. Zero config.

Zero config

HR Management

Contracts, onboarding and payroll on the Growth plan.

Growth plan

Legal Document Generator

AI-generated contracts, terms and policies. No solicitor needed.

AI-generated

Also includes: Payment Processing · Review Management · Smart Calendar & Booking · Company Formations UK · Content Hub & Media Library · AI Image Generator

Side by side

We Give Shopify Full Credit Where It Genuinely Earns It.

An honest comparison. Every strength. Every gap. No spin.

Capability

Machinence · £99/mo

Shopify Basic · £31/mo + apps

Online store builder

✓ IncludedAI builds your store, products, images and legal pages in minutes.

✓ Best-in-classThe strongest ecommerce engine there is. This is where Shopify leads.

Website & blog

✓ IncludedFull business site, blog, about, contact and jobs from a description.

BasicPages and a blog exist, but it is built around the store, not the business.

Branding, logo & AI images

✓ IncludedLogo maker, name generator and AI image generation built in.

✕ Not availableNo branding or logo tools. Separate platforms required.

Email marketing

✓ IncludedAI campaigns and automation, connected to your CRM and store.

Paid appShopify Email is basic; most add Klaviyo or Mailchimp at extra cost.

CRM & pipeline

✓ IncludedFull CRM, 3,500 contacts, deal tracking. Active day one.

BasicCustomer and order data, but not a real sales pipeline or CRM.

Accounting & bookkeeping

✓ IncludedInvoicing, recurring billing, expense tracking and reports built in.

✕ Not availableNo accounting. You integrate and pay for QuickBooks or Xero.

AI customer support

✓ IncludedMultilingual AI chatbot, 24/7, trained on your products.

Paid appNo native AI support agent; bolt on Zendesk, Gorgias or Intercom.

HR, legal & formations

✓ IncludedHR, AI legal documents and UK company formations included.

✕ Not availableNone of these. Shopify is an ecommerce platform, not a business suite.

Transaction fees

✓ None on our cutStandard Stripe rates, no platform fee on top.

Fee on third parties0% only with Shopify Payments; third-party gateways add a surcharge.

App ecosystem & scale

Focused22 connected features; built for digital and service businesses.

✓ Best-in-class8,000+ apps and elite tooling for high-volume stores. Shopify leads here.

Where Shopify wins, we say so. That's how an honest comparison earns your trust.

Who it is for

Shopify Is Great at One Thing. Machinence Runs the Whole Business.

The platform that wins at one job is not always the one that runs your company.

Choose Machinence

You need to run a business, not just one tool.

Founders & solopreneurs who need the whole business live today, not just a website
Startups in their first two years who can't absorb a stack of separate subscriptions
Service businesses like consultants, coaches and agencies that need more than a store
Small teams (1 to 10) who want one connected platform, not five tools to wire together
Marketing-led businesses where SEO, social and email matter as much as the product
First-time founders who want everything AI-built and running in minutes

Consider Shopify

You are first and foremost a high-volume online store.

High-volume ecommerce where the store is essentially the whole business
Sellers who want the deepest app ecosystem and ecommerce tooling available
Brands needing advanced merchandising and checkout at serious scale
Teams happy to assemble and pay for an app for each extra function

And when your store needs a whole business around it, Machinence is right here.

Shopify is excellent at what it is built for. If you need to run an entire business, not just one part of it, that is what Machinence is for.

Simple pricing

One Price. Every Tool. No Surprises.

No per-user penalties. No add-ons for the basics. No surprise renewals. Everything your business needs from day one.

Launch & Scale · Everything to start

£99/mo

per month, no annual contract

1 Website or 1 Online Store
1,500 emails per month, 500 contacts
3,500 CRM contacts
45 invoices per month
25 AI images, 4 AI blogs, 30 social posts
20GB storage
All 22 AI tools included from day one

Start free for 7 days

Enterprise & Market Leader · Everything to scale

£150/mo

per month, no annual contract

1 Website and 1 Online Store
3,000 emails per month, 1,000 contacts
10,000 CRM contacts
300 invoices per month
45 AI images, 8 AI blogs, 60 social posts
100GB storage
HR Management plus Advanced Analytics

Start free for 7 days

Additional users £45 per month each · Stripe payment processing, we are a Stripe partner · Domains via Tucows

Frequently Asked Questions

For most startups and small businesses, yes. AI builds your store with products, payments and legal pages in minutes. For very high-volume or complex merchandising at scale, Shopify's ecommerce depth and app ecosystem still lead. The difference is that Shopify is only the store; Machinence is the store plus the entire business around it.

No platform fee on top of your processor. You pay standard Stripe rates. Shopify only waives its fee if you use Shopify Payments; third-party gateways add a surcharge on every order.

The 8,000-app ecosystem and the deepest ecommerce tooling. What you gain is CRM, accounting, HR, marketing, research and support already built in and connected, for one flat £99.

You can rebuild fast: describe your business and AI generates the store, copy and pages. Talk to us about importing your products and customers.

£99 covers most starting businesses. £150 doubles limits and adds HR and advanced analytics. Extra users are £45 each, with no per-app sprawl as you scale.

Switching is easy

Already on Shopify? Bring Your Store Across.

No re-platform project and no checkout downtime. Bring your products and customers over, with the whole business attached this time.

Describe your store

Start your free trial and describe what you sell. AI rebuilds your storefront, product pages and checkout in minutes.

Bring your catalogue

Import your products, customers and domain. Stripe payments are live from day one, with no app to install.

Sell, plus everything else

CRM, email marketing, reviews, finance and support are now built in, not eight separate apps you wire together and pay for.

You keep your products, your customers and your domain, and the trial is free for 7 days. There’s nothing to lose by trying.

Stop Waiting. Start Trading.

7 days free. No annual contract. All 22 AI tools from minute one.

Get Started

No implementation fees. No setup costs. No partner required.

Machinence is the all-in-one AI platform that runs your whole business from one place, built to help founders launch, scale and compete.

Based on publicly available pricing and features, June 2026. Figures vary and change over time, so verify current details with each provider. Shopify and other product names are trademarks of their respective owners; Machinence is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by them, and they are referenced for comparison only.