| Best Fit For |
Fast-scaling DTC brands wanting zero server maintenance
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Content-heavy brands wanting 100% data ownership & 0% fees
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Enterprise brands requiring sub-second edge speed & custom UX
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| Ongoing Platform Cost |
$39 to $2,000+/mo (Shopify Plus) + payment processing
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$0 monthly software fees (Pay only standard VPS hosting)
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Vercel / AWS hosting ($50–$250/mo based on traffic)
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| Checkout Flexibility |
High on Shopify Plus via Checkout UI Extensions
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Complete 100% open-source control over every field & hook
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Completely bespoke headless microservices checkout
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| Mobile Speed Potential |
Fast (1.5s–2.2s with custom lightweight Liquid)
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Fast (1.2s–1.8s with Redis caching & clean code)
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Ultra-Fast (<0.8s with Next.js edge prerendering)
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| Database & IP Control |
Hosted on Shopify Cloud; data exportable via REST/GraphQL
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100% Direct MySQL access on your own private server
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100% Full ownership of frontend code & backend database
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