Updated: 2026-09-09

First published: 2025-03-15

Choose the right e-commerce platform for your business.

Shopify vs Viskan: 

which e-commerce platform is right for your business?

Shopify and Viskan are often compared when businesses are choosing a platform, but they are built for different kinds of e-commerce. If you sell B2C in one market, at low volume and without growth plans that will change that, Shopify is almost always the right choice. If you operate across multiple markets, handle high volumes, combine B2B and B2C in the same business, run subscriptions or need omnichannel, the choice is less about what the platforms can do today and more about how cost and complexity develop as you grow. Here, we look at both the differences and the similarities, and where each platform is the stronger choice.

In short:

This article compares the e-commerce platforms Viskan E-commerce Platform and Shopify for you if you are choosing a platform. The comparison covers architecture, CMS and content work, AI features, support for B2C, B2B, omnichannel and subscription, selling in multiple markets, support and total cost of ownership. Shopify is usually the right choice at low volume in a single market, where low entry cost and fast deployment matter most. Viskan is the stronger option at high volumes, across multiple markets or with more complex business models, where more functionality is built into the platform and costs are not multiplied per market.

How the platforms differ at their core

The difference between Viskan and Shopify is less about individual features and more about what the platforms are built for. Both are delivered as cloud-based SaaS with automatic upgrades. What sets them apart is how they are structured, and what that means as your e-commerce business grows

Shopify is a standardised SaaS platform with a large app ecosystem.

Its core is limited and proven, and you extend functionality through the Shopify App Store. That gives you fast deployment and a low threshold for getting started. The model is built to work for millions of merchants across all sizes and industries, which is its strength and at the same time explains why more specific needs are solved outside the core

Viskan is a composable SaaS platform with strong core functionality and open APIs. 

CMS, PIM, OMS and customer management are in place from day one, and through Viskan Open API you connect the third-party solutions that strengthen your specific business, without being locked into a single vendor ecosystem. What you connect becomes a strategic choice, not a prerequisite for getting started. Setup is a configuration project where the platform is adapted to your business.

Which model is best depends on your situation: your volume, your markets and your business model.

Feature comparison: Viskan and Shopify side by side

The tables below describe how each platform solves the same needs in its standard setup. 

The information is accurate as of 2026-09-09.

Technology and architecture

How much you can change yourself in the CMS

This question determines how quickly your team can work day to day, and it rarely shows up in a feature list.

In Shopify you work within your theme. The theme editor lets you change colours, fonts, spacing and the order of sections, and you can go a bit further with custom CSS. The limit is structure. If you want a completely new type of section, a layout the theme does not support, or content that behaves differently for different customers, you need code. At that point, the idea becomes a development task with both lead time and cost, in practice usually through an agency. And if you choose to build a custom front end to push the design further, a large share of apps stop working because most inject their functionality into the theme.

In Viskan your marketing and e-commerce team works in a no-code CMS and a Site Builder without template limitations. You rebuild page structure, create new layouts, set up campaign pages and schedule publishing yourself. More than 100 components can be customised globally or for an individual page. Your brand drives the expression, not a theme. What would otherwise become a request to a developer becomes a task your team solves the same day.

The difference shows up in two ways: a team that owns its content works faster and does not have to wait for someone else, and every change that requires external help comes with both an hourly cost and lead time.

How far have the platforms come with AI?

Both platforms have AI built in. In both cases, you give instructions in plain language, and the AI both answers questions and carries out tasks for you. Both are also developing their AI quickly, so the description below is a snapshot.

In Shopify the AI features sit in the admin, gathered under Shopify Magic with the Sidekick chat assistant as the entry point. You get help writing product copy and email copy, editing images, asking questions about your store data and carrying out multi-step tasks with your approval. Everything is included free on paid plans, while generating internal tools and apps requires the Grow plan or above.

In Viskan the AI features are built around the agent Mímis, which works directly in the platform. Mímis answers business questions using real-time data without exports or BI tools, generates product copy from product data in all your languages at once directly in the PIM, builds publish-ready pages in the CMS using your existing components and visual identity, translates entire pages into all configured languages while preserving structure and styling, and automates recurring tasks through templates or your own instructions. Access is controlled by your role, and data never leaves the platform.

The difference comes down to where the data sits. An AI agent can only answer what it can access, and in Viskan, orders, products, customers, returns and customer service cases sit in the same platform. That makes it possible to ask questions that cut across areas, such as which products have the highest return rate and what the most common reason is. If functionality sits in separate apps, that is also possible, but only once the data sources have been synchronised, and every change in one source requires the synchronisation to be updated.

Whichever platform you use, AI-generated content is your responsibility when it is published.

Who helps you when you need support?

The support models differ at a fundamental level, both in who you reach and who solves the problem when it becomes bigger than a support case.

In Shopify the route goes through Shopify Help Centre, where AI search is the first step and chat is the channel available 24/7 on all plans. Phone and email are only available for Shopify Plus and Retail. If your question is about customisations, integrations or migration, you are referred to an agency or partner, ideally a local one that knows your market. That gives you access to specialist expertise and a wide choice of suppliers. At the same time, it means both the cost and the knowledge of your solution sit outside the platform provider: what the agency builds becomes yours to maintain, and if you change agency, the knowledge does not automatically come with it.

In Viskan you can find answers to most things yourself in Viskan Support, where the platform documentation is gathered in one place. On top of that, personal support is included, in Swedish, Finnish and English, and you have a dedicated account manager who knows your business. You are not just a case number in an anonymous queue, and the advice comes from people who know both your business and your market. Fewer parties are involved, and knowledge of your solution sits with the people delivering the platform.

What happens to the platform as you grow?

This is the question that decides the most platform choices, and it rarely shows up in a feature comparison. The difference between the platforms is less about what they can do today and more about how cost and complexity develop as the business grows.

Phase 1: start-up or low volume in one market. Needs are few and standardised: one store, one language, one currency and a small number of integrations. Here, Shopify is usually the best choice, with a fast start, low investment and few apps. But if you are planning more markets or higher volume, it is phases 2 and 3 you should be calculating for.

Phase 2: growing volume, more functionality. Needs become more specific. Multiple languages, advanced campaign logic, ERP and PIM integration, helpdesk, extended reporting and loyalty are solved separately. On Shopify, each of those needs becomes an app with its own monthly cost and an integration to maintain, and the number of front-end scripts grows with the app stack. This is also where API call limits can start to show, because they vary by plan and are tested precisely when data flows to ERP and PIM become heavy. In Viskan, several of these are already included: multilingual CMS, advanced campaign management, PIM and helpdesk. The remaining needs are connected through open APIs without call limits, which means the number of integrations to maintain grows more slowly.

Phase 3: multiple markets and high volume. This is where the models differ most. If you choose separate stores per market on Shopify, you pay a licence per store, most apps charge per store, stock and product data need to be synchronised between stores with additional apps, and content is managed per store. At the same time, payment and currency costs grow in proportion to sales. In Viskan, new markets are handled within the same installation. Stock and product data are shared instead of synchronised, content is updated centrally and goes live across all markets at the same time, and you choose your payment provider and local payment methods freely without platform mark-ups. Neither licence, apps nor content work are multiplied per market.

What do the platforms cost to own over time?

List price is the least decisive line item in both cases. A fair cost comparison needs to add up several items for each platform: platform fee, payments, currency, apps, implementation, migration and internal time.

Shopify’s cost structure

Shopify’s Swedish price list in summer 2026 is SEK 359 per month for Basic, SEK 970 for Grow and SEK 4,240 for Advanced, with a lower monthly price on annual billing. Shopify Plus is priced individually, with an entry level usually quoted at around SEK 25,000 per month on an annual contract. Always see Shopify’s official pricing page for current levels. For simple needs, start-up cost is low, but if you need to migrate data and integrate with ERP or PIM, it becomes a project with a cost attached.

What affects the cost:

Currency and payment solutions. 

With Shopify Payments, card fees are roughly 1.4 to 1.6 per cent plus a fixed fee per purchase, depending on plan. Full support for local currencies depends on Shopify Payments, and if you choose another payment provider, Shopify adds a fee of 0.2 to 2 per cent of the order value on top of what you pay your payment provider. When selling in another currency, a conversion fee is also charged per order according to Shopify Help Centre, and it is not refunded on returns.

Apps. 

Features not included in the core become recurring costs, and in a multi-store setup most apps charge per store.

Cost per market. 

Separate stores mean licence and app costs per store, plus synchronisation of stock, products and content between stores. Expansion stores are also a Plus feature, which means the structure for multiple markets can in itself require an upgrade.

Agency and consultants. 

Changes outside the theme’s framework, special integrations and ongoing maintenance of the app stack are usually bought from an agency. Treat that line item as a recurring cost, not a one-off.

Viskan’s cost structure

Viskan’s pricing model consists of a fixed cloud cost of SEK 5,500 per month for the operating environment and a licence fee that is a percentage of your sales through the platform, with the percentage set individually based on your business. The licence includes the platform’s core functionality, automatic upgrades, a dedicated Customer Manager and access to Viskan’s design and growth team. See the pricing model for B2C e-commerce for details. At the start, there is an additional cost for migration, external integrations and any customisations. The size depends on the scope.

What affects the cost:

Currency and payment solutions. 

Handled through a standalone payment provider that you negotiate with directly, with no platform mark-up. You choose freely which local payment methods and currencies to offer.

Cost per market. 

New markets are added within the same installation, which means neither licence nor content work is multiplied per market.

Agency and consultants. 

The need is lower because your marketing and e-commerce team handles content and structural changes themselves, but customisations and new integrations are still development work.

Where the break-even point sits

The pattern is consistent: Shopify is the cheaper solution at low volume in one market. As transaction volume, number of markets and number of apps grow, Viskan becomes the more cost-effective choice. Where the break-even point sits depends on your mix of volume, average order value, return rate, payment methods and number of markets, which is exactly why list price comparisons rarely give the right answer.

In our cost comparisons for real e-commerce businesses, total monthly cost comes out at roughly the same level at around SEK 3.7 million in annual turnover in one market. At around SEK 12 million, Shopify lands at about SEK 33,400 per month and Viskan at about SEK 23,800, including Viskan’s variable licence. The difference is driven mainly by payments. Across multiple markets, it grows further because licence, apps and content work in Shopify’s model are added per store, while Viskan handles markets within the same installation.

When is Shopify the right choice?

Shopify is the stronger choice if any of the following applies to you:

• You have low turnover, sell in one market and want to launch quickly without a large upfront investment.
• You sell B2C or D2C without deep requirements for B2B logic, subscription or store integration.
• You want a large range of ready-made apps to solve new needs.
• You want to test a new market or a new brand with low commitment.

Shopify is not the right choice if you have high transaction volumes, sell or plan to sell in multiple markets, or have specific needs in your B2B business such as negotiated pricing, quote flows or orders that need internal approval. That is when you hit the platform’s ceiling, and the cost of compensating with apps, development and more stores rises faster than the value.

When is Viskan the right choice?

Viskan is the stronger choice if any of the following applies to you:

• You run B2C or D2C with high transaction and order volumes and need a platform that maintains performance and automation even during traffic peaks and campaigns.
• You sell in multiple markets and want to manage languages, currencies and content centrally, with one change going live across all markets at the same time.
• You combine B2C and B2B and need company-specific price lists, in-house invoicing and fast reordering flows.
• You run both e-commerce and physical stores and want omnichannel with shared stock in one connected flow.
• You have or are planning a subscription business with requirements for automated renewal, payment and invoicing flows.
• Your marketing and e-commerce team needs to be able to change page structure, layout and campaigns without waiting for developers.
• You have heavy data flows to ERP or PIM and need APIs without call limits.
• You want a dedicated account manager and a long-term partner with deep knowledge of the Nordic market.

Viskan is not the right choice if you are in the start-up phase and only have room for a minimal upfront investment, or if your sales volumes are very low. In that case, a standardised platform with ready-made templates is both faster and cheaper.

How to decide which platform is right for you

Start with your volume, your markets and your business model. Check how deeply each platform supports what your business actually requires, and calculate what it costs both at your current volume and at the level you are aiming for. Also factor in what a future platform change would cost, because the option that is cheapest today is not always the one that is cheapest over time. Choose the platform that works best once you have reached that volume.

If you want help reviewing your specific situation, we are happy to do that with you, whatever conclusion we reach.

About this comparison

This comparison has been produced by Viskan. We have based it on what the platforms actually do and present both strengths and limitations on both sides. The information about Shopify is based on Shopify’s own documentation and pricing, and the information about Viskan is based on Viskan’s platform and pricing model. Functionality and pricing change continuously, so always check the latest details with each provider.