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Most buyers should pick Shopify.
Choose Adyen if payments, payouts, or embedded financial products are the main need. It charges $0.13 per transaction plus a payment-method fee, with no monthly subscription; the minimum invoice varies and is not published. Choose Shopify for a store and sales across online, in-person, social, and AI channels. Its Basic plan starts at CHF 21 monthly when billed yearly, with card processing fees. These products solve different jobs, so compare total payment costs and the tools your business needs.
01Side by side
| Adyen | Shopify | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $0.13 per transaction plus payment-method fees; no subscription. | CHF 21/month yearly; CHF 29 monthly, plus processing. |
| Free plan | No free plan listed. | Agentic costs CHF 0/month; pay only when you sell. |
| Best for | Businesses needing payments and embedded financial products. | Businesses selling across online, in-person, and other channels. |
| Core strength | Payments, payouts, data, and financial products on one platform. | Store building, multichannel selling, and centralized commerce management. |
| Learning curve | Ease-of-use review score: 6. | Ease-of-use review score: 8. |
| Integrations and data | Single API; payments and data insights on one platform. | Shopify App Store lists 21,000+ commerce apps. |
| Team and seat costs | Seat limits and pricing are not published. | Grow adds 5 staff accounts; Plus has unlimited staff. |
| Support | Review score: 5. | Review score: 5. |
Adyen Choose Adyen if
- Choose Adyen if payments are your main platform need.
- Choose Adyen if you need payouts or embedded financial products.
- Choose Adyen if you prefer transaction-based pricing over a subscription.
Shopify Choose Shopify if
- Choose Shopify if you need a store and multichannel selling.
- Choose Shopify if you want published monthly plan prices and staff limits.
- Choose Shopify if its 21,000+ app ecosystem fits your stack.
02Pricing compared
Adyen has no monthly or annual subscription fee. Its listed processing charge is $0.13 per transaction, plus a fee that depends on the payment method. The pricing page lists no setup, integration, or closure fees. The minimum invoice varies by industry or business model, and Adyen does not publish the amount. Other Adyen products are priced separately, with prices not published.
Shopify’s Basic plan is CHF 21/month with annual billing or CHF 29 month to month. Grow is CHF 59/79, and Advanced is CHF 269/359. Standard online card rates range from 2.95% + CHF 0.30 on Basic to 2.55% + CHF 0.30 on Advanced. Shopify also lists third-party transaction fees of 2%, 1%, and 0.6% on those plans. Plus starts at EUR 2,100/month. Compare transaction mix and required tools, not subscription price alone.
03Features and depth
Adyen is built around payments and financial products, not storefront creation. Its platform handles payment processing and settlement, automated payouts, and data insights through one API. Businesses can also offer payments, accounts, card issuing, and capital under their own brands. Adyen says its built-in tools aim to improve conversion, reduce fraud, and lower payment costs; those are goals, not guaranteed outcomes.
Shopify is the broader commerce platform. It combines store creation, sales management, payments, and fulfillment, with channels for online, in-person, social, and AI selling. Shopify lists AI store creation, prebuilt themes, Sidekick AI, and international selling through Shopify Markets and built-in shipping tools. Its App Store has 21,000+ commerce apps. That breadth matters if you need a storefront and retail operations in one system. The products overlap on payment handling, but Adyen’s differentiator is financial infrastructure, while Shopify’s is running a commerce business across channels.
04Ease of use and learning curve
Shopify is the more direct fit if the job is to create a store and manage sales channels from one admin. Its listed features include AI store creation, prebuilt themes, and centralized payment, fulfillment, and retail management. Our review scores rate its ease of use 8/10.
Adyen’s single API supports multiple use cases and channels, but configuring a payments and financial-products setup is a different task from launching a Shopify storefront. Our review scores rate Adyen’s ease of use 6/10. That is a relative signal, not a measure of implementation time. If you only need payment acceptance, compare the setup requirements for your payment methods and business model before choosing.
Questions people ask
How do you create an Adyen account?
The published material does not publish Adyen’s account-creation steps or eligibility requirements, so we can’t give a reliable signup walkthrough. It does say Adyen serves businesses accepting customer payments and that its minimum invoice varies by industry or business model. Confirm onboarding requirements with Adyen before budgeting a switch.
What are the key differences between Stripe and Adyen?
We don’t have Stripe pricing or feature details in the published sources, so a direct comparison would be guesswork. For Adyen, the pricing page lists $0.13 per transaction plus a payment-method fee, with no monthly subscription. Its platform also includes payouts and embedded financial products; compare those against Stripe’s current terms before deciding.
What are the best payment options for Shopify sellers?
The published Shopify pricing lists standard online card rates: 2.95% + CHF 0.30 on Basic, 2.75% + CHF 0.30 on Grow, and 2.55% + CHF 0.30 on Advanced. It does not list specific payment methods or provider availability, so check Shopify’s current payment settings for your market before comparing rates.
What is the downside of using Shopify?
The main cost caveat in the published pricing is that the subscription is not the whole bill. Basic, Grow, and Advanced list card processing rates and third-party transaction fees; POS Pro costs CHF 69/month per location, and extra marketplace-order fees may apply. App costs can also add up, but the source does not publish typical totals.