Cartvero vs Shopify, honestly.
Shopify is a great product with an enormous ecosystem. This page isn’t here to pretend otherwise — it’s here to show where an EU-first platform wins on the things European merchants actually pay for.
| What matters | Cartvero | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| EU data | EU residency: Cloudflare D1/R2, Western Europe | US cloud, covered by SCCs |
| VAT | Built in: OSS rates, VIES validation, B2B reverse charge, invoices | Apps or manual work for OSS/reverse charge |
| Transaction costs | Stripe’s rates + a transparent platform fee per plan | Platform fee on top of your PSP, depending on plan and PSP choice |
| Agencies | Agency workspace: portfolio, white-label admin, scoped tokens | Per-shop management; admin stays Shopify-branded |
| Multilingual | Six languages native, hreflang and translation workflow included | Markets plus translation apps |
| Payments | Your own Stripe account; iDEAL native | Shopify Payments, managed within Shopify |
| App ecosystem & POS | Deliberately small: platform features + agency custom work | Unmatched: 10,000+ apps, mature POS hardware |
When Shopify is the better fit
- Your flows depend heavily on apps — marketplace integrations, POS hardware
- You sell primarily outside the EU and EU VAT/residency play no role
For everyone else selling seriously across EU markets: the basics shouldn’t be an app subscription.
Switching is a project. We treat it like one.
Start with the free migration assessment: a read-only dry run produces a report of what moves automatically, a cost comparison and a fixed implementation package — before you commit to anything.
Start your free assessmentFrequently asked
Is there an app store?
No — the platform features (VAT, multilingual, B2B, inventory, emails) are part of the plans, and custom work runs through your agency on the same codebase. That’s a deliberate trade-off for stability and speed.
Can I migrate from Shopify?
Yes — the free assessment and catalogue migration follow the same route as WooCommerce migrations. Export formats differ; the assessment report states exactly what moves automatically.
Does iDEAL work out of the box?
Yes — natively via your own Stripe account, without an extra app.
Ready to sell without the clutter?
Pick a plan and your shop provisions itself after checkout — or start with a free migration assessment.