Compare
Roots HQ vs. Shopify
Hosted ecommerce. Live selling, CRM depth, and marketing come from apps or other tools.
Ecommerce platform · Last reviewed 2026-07-25 · shopify.com/pricing
What each one actually is
Not the same kind of product.
- Roots HQ
- Connected business headquarters — inventory, customers, events, and money in one system, across every channel you sell on.
- Shopify
- Hosted e-commerce storefront — your own branded store; live-selling, deep CRM, and marketing come from apps or other tools.
A fair read
Where Shopify is genuinely strong — and where it isn't.
Derived directly from the sourced comparison matrix below, not written separately.
Where Shopify is stronger
- Your own hosted storefront
- You own the customer list
- Brute-force protection
- Custom domains
- Product catalog & inventory
- Product types + collections (filter by kind)
- Order-status workflow
- Labels, tracking & status notifications
- Multi-factor authentication
- Categories & discounts
- Email campaigns
- AI-assisted content
- AI-drafted emails, blogs & product copy
- CMS pages & blog
- Media library & video embeds
- SEO metadata & structured data
- Built-in AI business assistant
Where Roots HQ is stronger
No rows in the matrix currently credit Roots HQ over Shopify.
Fees
What Shopify actually charges.
- Monthly
- $29–$399/mo billed annually (month-to-month up to $399); Plus "starting at" $2,300/mo
- Commission
- $0 platform commission on Basic/Grow/Advanced; Plus is negotiated
- Processing
- 2.9%+30¢ (Basic) · 2.7%+30¢ (Grow) · 2.5%+30¢ (Advanced) online; third-party gateways add fees
- Per order
- None published beyond processing
- Category exceptions
- None published
- Promo exceptions
- None published
POS Pro is a separate $89/mo-per-location add-on.
Last verified 2026-07-25 against shopify.com/pricing.
Feature by feature
Every sourced row that mentions Shopify.
Selling & discovery
Built-in marketplace audience & buyer discovery
Roots HQ
Not applicable
Roots HQ is a storefront and operations platform, not a marketplace — it has no built-in buyer audience of its own. Bringing buyers is on the seller; in exchange, the seller keeps the customer relationship (see Business ownership).
Shopify
Not available
A hosted store the seller brings their own traffic to; Shopify itself is not a marketplace with a buyer audience.
Marketplace checkout (buyer pays inside the platform's own app)
Roots HQ
Not applicable
Buyers check out on the seller’s own branded checkout — Roots HQ does not operate a marketplace checkout of its own.
Shopify
Not available
Not a marketplace — checkout is the merchant’s own store checkout.
In-person card payments (POS, keyed card entry)
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Add-on required
Available only by installing and paying for a separate third-party app or plugin — it is not part of the base product.
Marketplace cross-listing (push listings to other platforms)
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Add-on required
Available only by installing and paying for a separate third-party app or plugin — it is not part of the base product.
Security & access control
Brute-force protection
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Multi-factor authentication
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Business ownership
Your own hosted storefront
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
You own the customer list
Roots HQ
Native
Scoped to the customer contact list specifically (see “Data export” below for the exportable proof of this) — not a claim that every business record is exportable.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Sell on your OWN site (not a marketplace)
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Add-on required
Available only by installing and paying for a separate third-party app or plugin — it is not part of the base product.
Product reviews
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Add-on required
Available only by installing and paying for a separate third-party app or plugin — it is not part of the base product.
Custom domains
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Operations
Product catalog & inventory
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Product types + collections (filter by kind)
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Local pickup & delivery
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Limited
Real and shipped, but narrower than the feature name suggests. See the note on this cell for the specific boundary.
Shipping with live carrier rates + labels
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Available
The capability exists but is gated to a specific pricing plan or subscription tier — you get it, just not on every plan.
Marketplace order imports (Whatnot, eBay, Etsy…)
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Add-on required
Available only by installing and paying for a separate third-party app or plugin — it is not part of the base product.
Multi-channel order consolidation
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Add-on required
Available only by installing and paying for a separate third-party app or plugin — it is not part of the base product.
Order-status workflow
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Labels, tracking & status notifications
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Event pickup & local delivery scheduling
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Add-on required
Available only by installing and paying for a separate third-party app or plugin — it is not part of the base product.
Invoices
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Limited
Real and shipped, but narrower than the feature name suggests. See the note on this cell for the specific boundary.
Per-item media
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Limited
Real and shipped, but narrower than the feature name suggests. See the note on this cell for the specific boundary.
User roles
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Available
The capability exists but is gated to a specific pricing plan or subscription tier — you get it, just not on every plan.
Growth
Categories & discounts
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Email campaigns
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
One Promotions hub (coupons, wheels, giveaways, loyalty, offers)
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Add-on required
Available only by installing and paying for a separate third-party app or plugin — it is not part of the base product.
Prize wheels (spin-to-win) + winner emails
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Add-on required
Available only by installing and paying for a separate third-party app or plugin — it is not part of the base product.
QR codes & printable market flyers
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Add-on required
Available only by installing and paying for a separate third-party app or plugin — it is not part of the base product.
AI-assisted content
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
AI-drafted emails, blogs & product copy
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
CMS pages & blog
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Media library & video embeds
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
SEO metadata & structured data
Roots HQ
Limited
Real and shipped, but narrower than the feature name suggests. See the note on this cell for the specific boundary.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Business intelligence
Built-in AI business assistant
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Unified sales dashboard (all channels)
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Available
The capability exists but is gated to a specific pricing plan or subscription tier — you get it, just not on every plan.
Revenue, expenses, COGS & margin
Roots HQ
Native
Built in at no extra cost and no separate app — this is how the product ships out of the box.
Shopify
Limited
Real and shipped, but narrower than the feature name suggests. See the note on this cell for the specific boundary.
Bottom line
Should you use Roots HQ instead of Shopify?
Shopify is a strong choice if the storefront itself is the whole business and you are comfortable adding apps (and their separate subscriptions) for live selling, deep CRM, and consolidated reporting. Roots HQ is not a pitch to leave Shopify — it centralizes what Shopify leaves to apps: live selling, email/SMS, promotions, and cross-channel reporting, without becoming a fourth or fifth login. Businesses that want to keep their Shopify store and still get that operational layer are the intended fit.
See how they compare against your real numbers.
Bring your current stack — we will map it honestly.