Shopify

Shopify
Status	🤝 Community
Type	eCommerce CMS / SaaS
License	Commercial (Proprietary)
Language	Ruby on Rails (backend) / Liquid (themes)
Database
Latest Version
Release Date
Website	Official Site
GitHub	Repository

Shopify is a leading cloud-based eCommerce platform that enables businesses of all sizes to create and manage online stores. Founded in Ottawa, Canada in 2006, Shopify powers over 4 million stores in 175+ countries and processes hundreds of billions of dollars in merchant sales annually.

Overview

Shopify was founded by Tobias Lütke and partners who initially tried to build an online snowboard shop, only to find that existing eCommerce solutions were inadequate. They built their own platform, open-sourced the storefront framework, and launched Shopify as a product in 2006. The company went public on the NYSE in 2015.

Shopify is a fully hosted, all-in-one eCommerce solution — merchants get hosting, security, CDN, payment processing, and store management under one roof. This makes it particularly attractive for non-technical users who want to launch a store quickly without managing servers or software updates.

For developers, Shopify offers an extensive App Store with 10,000+ apps, a full REST and GraphQL Admin API, webhooks, custom theme development using the Liquid template language, and the Hydrogen framework for headless storefronts built with React.

Key Features

Online Storefront — Fully hosted storefront with 100+ professional themes
Shopify Payments — Built-in payment processing (2% fee waived vs third-party gateways)
Point of Sale (POS) — Sell in-person with Shopify POS hardware and app
Multi-channel Selling — Sell on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Amazon, eBay from one dashboard
Inventory Management — Track stock across multiple locations, set low-stock alerts
Shopify Shipping — Discounted shipping rates with USPS, UPS, DHL
Abandoned Cart Recovery — Automatic emails to recover abandoned carts
Subscriptions — Sell recurring subscription products (via apps or Shopify Subscriptions)
Shopify Markets — Sell internationally with multi-currency, multi-language, local payment methods
Shopify Hydrogen — React-based framework for headless storefronts

Installation

Shopify is a SaaS platform — no installation is required. Getting started:

Step 1: Create an Account

Visit shopify.com and start a free 3-day trial (then $1/month for 3 months on basic plans).

Step 2: Set Up Your Store

# No server setup needed. Access your admin at:
# https://YOUR-STORE.myshopify.com/admin

Theme Development (Liquid)

# Install Shopify CLI
npm install -g @shopify/cli @shopify/theme

# Authenticate
shopify auth login --store your-store.myshopify.com

# Download your theme for local development
shopify theme pull

# Start local development server
shopify theme dev

Headless with Hydrogen (React)

npm create @shopify/hydrogen@latest
cd my-hydrogen-app
npm install
npm run dev
# Visit http://localhost:3000

API Reference

Shopify provides REST and GraphQL Admin APIs plus a Storefront API.

Storefront API — Fetch Products

query {
  products(first: 10) {
    edges {
      node {
        id
        title
        description
        priceRange {
          minVariantPrice {
            amount
            currencyCode
          }
        }
        images(first: 1) {
          edges {
            node {
              url
              altText
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

JavaScript (Storefront API)

import { createStorefrontClient } from '@shopify/storefront-api-client';

const client = createStorefrontClient({
  storeDomain: 'your-store.myshopify.com',
  publicStorefrontToken: 'YOUR_STOREFRONT_TOKEN',
  apiVersion: '2024-01',
});

const { data } = await client.request(`
  query { shop { name primaryDomain { url } } }
`);
console.log(data.shop.name);

Admin API — Create Product

curl -X POST https://your-store.myshopify.com/admin/api/2024-01/products.json   -H "X-Shopify-Access-Token: YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"   -H "Content-Type: application/json"   -d '{
    "product": {
      "title": "My Product",
      "body_html": "<p>Product description</p>",
      "vendor": "My Brand",
      "product_type": "T-Shirts",
      "variants": [{"price": "29.99", "sku": "SKU001"}]
    }
  }'

Pricing

Plan	Monthly Price	Transaction Fee	Best For
Basic	$39/month	2% (waived with Shopify Payments)	New stores
Shopify	$105/month	1%	Growing stores
Advanced	$399/month	0.5%	Scaling stores
Shopify Plus	From $2,300/month	0.15–0.25%	Enterprise
Starter	$5/month	5%	Social selling only

ℹ️ All plans include a 3-day free trial. Shopify Payments eliminates transaction fees on all plans.

Pros & Cons

✅ Pros	❌ Cons
Easiest setup for non-technical users	Monthly fees are ongoing costs
10,000+ apps in App Store	Transaction fees if not using Shopify Payments
Built-in payment processing	Limited customization vs open-source
24/7 support on all plans	App costs add up quickly
Excellent multi-channel selling	Liquid template language has learning curve
Shopify Payments in 20+ countries	Locked into Shopify ecosystem
Hydrogen for headless storefronts	Export data is cumbersome

Community & Support

Help Center: Shopify Help Center
Developer Docs: Shopify Dev Documentation
Community Forum: Shopify Community
Partners Program: Shopify Partners for agencies and developers
Changelog: Shopify API Changelog

External Links