OnPay vs Shopify
A detailed comparison to help you choose between OnPay and Shopify.
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Verdict: Shopify wins
Shopify scores 4.6/5, edging out OnPay at 4.1/5. Anyone from solo sellers to scaling brands who wants a complete, hosted commerce stack — payments, inventory, POS, B2B and shipping — with AI tooling bundled rather than metered.
OnPay Payroll voor MKB |  Shopify Complete ecommerce platform for online stores | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.1 (1 review) | 4.6 (1 review) |
| Pricing Model | paid | freemium |
| Starting Price | Pricing varies | Free tier available |
| Best For | US small businesses and the accountants who serve them who want full-service payroll with every feature in one transparent plan and no international footprint. | Anyone from solo sellers to scaling brands who wants a complete, hosted commerce stack — payments, inventory, POS, B2B and shipping — with AI tooling bundled rather than metered. |
| Free Tier | ||
| API Access | ||
| Team Features | ||
| Open Source | ||
| Tags | — | team featuresmobile appfree tierapi access |
| Visit Shopify → |
OnPay
Pros
- + One plan with everything in it: at time of writing $49 base + $6/worker/month covers payroll, tax filing in all 50 states, direct deposit and the HR toolkit (onpay.com/Payroll)
- + Per-worker fee applies once per month no matter how many pay runs — weekly payroll does not multiply your bill
- + Tax accuracy guarantee: OnPay covers penalties and interest on filing errors it makes
- + Free setup and migration with human help, which is the hard part of switching payroll providers
- + Accountant-friendly: multi-client dashboard, filterable custom reports and accounting exports with no integration fees
Cons
- - US-only — no international payroll, EOR or contractor-of-record capability
- - Benefits administration without a shopping layer: no marketplace to compare plans, you source your own carrier
- - HR features are basic (onboarding, PTO, documents) — not a full HRIS with recruiting or performance cycles
- - No native time clock; you integrate TSheets, Clockify or similar (third-party review, smbhrreviews.com)
- - Published base price conflicts across sources ($40 in older reviews vs $49 on the vendor site) — confirm current pricing before budgeting
Shopify
Pros
- + From empty account to live store with payments, theme and shipping took me under an hour — the defaults are the product
- + Sidekick and 'millions of tokens' of AI usage are bundled into every paid plan including Basic, not metered as an add-on (vendor pricing page, at time of writing)
- + Transparent, published rate card: third-party transaction fees fall 2%/1%/0.6%/0.2% across tiers, so upgrade decisions are calculable arithmetic
- + Yearly billing cuts every core plan roughly 25% ($29/$79/$299 per month vs $39/$105/$399), with no negotiation required
- + Every plan now carries 200+ real-time reports, 10 inventory locations, 3 B2B catalogs and unlimited products — the base feature floor is high
Cons
- - Basic includes no additional staff accounts and no third-party carrier-calculated shipping, walls that bite quickly once you have any help
- - Checkout customization is locked to Plus (from $2,300/month on a 3-year term) except for limited thank-you-page edits
- - Third-party payment providers add 2% on Basic — an invisible tax that changes the plan math entirely if Shopify Payments is unavailable in your market
- - Real store costs are driven by paid apps, which are unvetted in quality and can double the platform spend
- - Sidekick's custom-app generation was gated to Grow and above in April 2026, and the 'millions of tokens' allowance is a vendor claim with no published metering
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, OnPay or Shopify?▼
Shopify scores higher at 4.6/5 vs 4.1/5 for OnPay, making it the better-rated option in our comparison.
What is the difference between OnPay and Shopify?▼
OnPay: OnPay is payroll software for small businesses, handling pay runs, tax filing and benefits administration in all US states. Shopify: Shopify is an all-in-one commerce platform for building and running an online store, with tools for payments, inventory, marketing, and an AI assistant called Sidekick.
Is OnPay or Shopify more affordable?▼
OnPay starts at €0/mo, Shopify starts at €0/mo. Check the comparison table above for current pricing.
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