Format vs Sellfy: What’s the Best Builder in 2024?

Format vs Sellfy: Final verdict

Format and Sellfy both offer unique advantages tailored to different user needs, but they cater to slightly different audiences.

• 
  Format (Overall Grade: 5.8/10)
  
  is designed specifically for creative professionals such as photographers, artists, and designers. It excels in providing customizable templates and a user-friendly interface, making it ideal for showcasing portfolios. However, its ecommerce capabilities are basic, and it lacks advanced features compared to Sellfy. When comparing Format vs Sellfy, Format is best suited for users who prioritize design and ease of use over extensive ecommerce functionalities.
• 
  Sellfy (Overall Grade: 6.0/10)
  
  stands out as an all-in-one ecommerce platform tailored for creators looking to sell a variety of products, including digital, physical, and subscription-based items. It offers a simple setup process, robust ecommerce features, and a comprehensive set of tools for managing and marketing an online store. Considering Format vs Sellfy, Sellfy is the better choice for users who need a versatile and efficient platform for selling products online.

Which one is the best for ecommerce: Format or Sellfy?

Verdict

: Format is tailored for creative professionals with basic ecommerce needs, while Sellfy offers a more comprehensive ecommerce solution for creators looking to sell a variety of products.

• 
  Format
  
  : Designed for creative professionals such as photographers, artists, and designers, Format provides basic ecommerce functionalities. It includes features like inventory management, discounts, and multiple currency options. However, when comparing Format vs Sellfy, Format’s ecommerce capabilities are limited, making it more suitable for showcasing portfolios rather than running a full-fledged online store.
• 
  Sellfy
  
  : An all-in-one ecommerce platform, Sellfy is ideal for creators looking to sell digital, physical, subscription-based, and print-on-demand products. It offers a user-friendly interface, robust payment processing options, and a comprehensive set of marketing tools. Sellfy’s focus on simplifying the ecommerce process makes it a better choice for those looking to manage and scale their online business effectively.

Which one is the best for informational and business websites?

Verdict

: Format is the better choice for informational business websites, especially for creative professionals, while Sellfy is more tailored towards creators looking to sell products.

• 
  Format
  
  : Format scores 7.2 for informational business websites, making it a strong contender for creatives like photographers, artists, and designers. Its customizable templates and user-friendly interface make it easy to create visually appealing portfolios and informational sites. Format’s focus on high-quality imagery and mobile-friendly designs ensures that portfolios look professional on any device.
• 
  Sellfy
  
  : Sellfy, with a score of 5.7, is more focused on eCommerce, making it less ideal for purely informational websites. However, it offers a simple, user-friendly interface for setting up online stores, which can be integrated into existing websites. Sellfy’s strength lies in its ability to handle a variety of products, including digital, physical, and subscription-based items, making it a versatile platform for creators looking to sell their work online.

Format vs Sellfy: Detailed comparison

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Winner: Format.

If you’re looking for a platform that offers more creative control and a wide array of design features, Format is the preferred choice.

Format is a website builder specifically designed for creatives, offering nearly 100 customizable templates tailored for various artistic disciplines. It emphasizes high-quality imagery and mobile-friendly designs, ensuring portfolios look professional on any device.

Format Themes

Compared to Format, Sellfy provides a collection of design templates through its theme store, located in the Store Customizer. Users have the option to preview these themes before applying them to their websites. As of the latest information, Sellfy offers five main theme options: Lumi\u00e9re, Noir, Savant, Id\u00e9e, and Mode. These themes cater to various aesthetic preferences and can be published to go live on a user’s website after selection and customization.

🏆 Winner: Format

. Scoring 8.3, Format edges out Sellfy, which scored 7.8, in terms of ease of use. Format’s user-friendly interface and customizable templates make it a great choice for creative professionals. Sellfy, while also user-friendly, is more suited for creators looking to sell a variety of products.

Learning Resources

Both Format and Sellfy offer learning resources to help users navigate their platforms. Format provides a comprehensive help center and a YouTube channel with tutorials and updates. Sellfy, on the other hand, offers a documentation page with various guides.

When it comes to ecommerce, Sellfy outperforms Format with a score of 6.8 compared to Format’s 5.2. Sellfy is an all-in-one ecommerce platform tailored for creators looking to sell a wide array of products including digital, physical, subscription-based, and print-on-demand items. On the other hand, Format is a website builder specifically designed for creative professionals such as photographers, artists, designers, and illustrators, offering basic ecommerce functionalities for selling physical and digital products.

Format ecommerce features:

• Inventory management and tracking
• Discounts
• Multiple currency options

Sellfy ecommerce features:

• Product Listings
• Payment Gateways integration
• Product categories

Ecommerce themes & templates

Format does not offer ecommerce specific templates, focusing more on portfolio showcases. On the other hand, all the templates of Sellfy are designed for online stores, providing a more ecommerce-centric design approach.

Product page customization

Format offers limited specific details on product page customization, focusing more on showcasing products through high-quality imagery and detailed descriptions. Sellfy, however, supports a diverse range of products including digital goods like music, videos, ebooks, and software, as well as physical products and print-on-demand merchandise such as t-shirts and mugs. The platform enables the sale of subscriptions, offering a means for recurring revenue.

Payment processing

Format offers integration with major payment gateways, including Paypal and Stripe, but charges a commission on sales. Sellfy supports two primary payment gateways, Stripe and PayPal, allowing for various payment options including credit/debit cards and localized payment methods in Europe. The platform does not charge transaction fees beyond its subscription cost, making it a more cost-effective option for businesses. However, neither platform offers built-in POS (Point of Sale) capabilities, indicating a focus on ecommerce rather than physical retail transactions.

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Winner: Format

. Format, with a score of 7.5, offers a variety of features for creating online portfolios. It provides nearly 100 professionally designed templates and thousands of design variations without requiring any coding. Users can express creativity with custom pages, incorporating unique gallery layouts, colors, text formatting, and custom code embeds. The templates and pages are fully responsive, ensuring a mobile-first experience. Format also supports direct video hosting, high-quality image rendering, and easy template switching to give sites a new look. Additionally, it includes studio management tools, e-commerce capabilities, and SEO tools.

Sellfy’s editor, scoring 6.8, offers a straightforward and user-friendly platform for creating online stores, focusing on simplicity over advanced customization. It supports the sale of digital, physical, subscription-based, and print-on-demand products, alongside integrated marketing tools for promotion and sales optimization. Payment processing is secure and direct, utilizing popular gateways like Stripe and PayPal with no transaction fees. Despite some limitations in design customization and app integrations, Sellfy aims to provide a comprehensive e-commerce solution for entrepreneurs and creators.

Mobile editor/app

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Winner: Sellfy

. Both Format and Sellfy offer different mobile experiences, but they cater to different needs. Format, designed for creative professionals, does not offer a dedicated mobile app for editing, which can be a disadvantage for users who prefer to make changes on the go.

Sellfy, on the other hand, is an eCommerce platform that provides a mobile app allowing users to manage their online stores efficiently. The app offers functionalities such as viewing store performance metrics, managing and tracking orders, and receiving customized notifications. However, it does not allow users to change the layout or design of the website itself.

In summary, Sellfy receives a higher rating due to its efficient store management capabilities and the convenience of mobile notifications, while Format may be better suited for users who prefer desktop editing.

Overall Result

:

Format wins

. Format scores 8.3 in product testing options, slightly higher than Sellfy’s 7.3. Both Format and Sellfy offer a 14-day free trial and a 30-day money back guarantee. However, Format’s higher score suggests it may provide a more comprehensive or user-friendly testing experience.

Format and Sellfy have the same price score, indicating similar value for money.

Both offer multiple price plans with different features, allowing users to choose a plan that best suits their needs. Format offers a discount of 30-60% depending on the plan, while Sellfy offers a 20% discount on annual billing. Neither of the builders offer an enterprise plan.

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Winner: Sellfy

Sellfy scores higher in hosting quality, despite the lack of detailed information about its hosting services. Both Format and Sellfy offer hosting services, but neither discloses the type of hosting they provide or the location of their data centers. Sellfy, however, has a reported uptime of 99.99%, which gives it an edge over Format, which does not disclose its uptime statistics.

🏆 Winner: Sellfy

Both Format and Sellfy have similar scores in website speed optimization, but Sellfy has a slightly higher score.

Format focuses on image and video optimization for website speed optimization. However, it does not provide specific information on load times, PageSpeed score ranges, or Core Web Vital improvements.

Sellfy, on the other hand, uses code minification, caching, and image optimization as strategies for website speed optimization. Like Format, Sellfy does not provide specific information on load times, PageSpeed score ranges, or Core Web Vital improvements. However, the additional strategies used by Sellfy for speed optimization give it a slight edge over Format.

🏆 Winner: Sellfy.

Sellfy scores 6.7, offering a wider range of integrations that enhance ecommerce functionality and automate workflows. Format, with a score of 4.9, offers a limited selection of plugins/integrations, which may not be sufficient for users looking for a more extensive suite of tools to customize and enhance their website’s functionality.

While Format does offer key integrations like Adobe Lightroom, Mailchimp, and Google Analytics, Sellfy’s integrations with Google Analytics, Facebook Live Chat, Zapier, and social media advertising tools provide a more comprehensive set of tools for managing, marketing, and scaling an online business effectively.

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Overall Winner: Sellfy

. Sellfy stands out for its comprehensive suite of marketing tools tailored for creators and small businesses, especially in SEO, email marketing, and ads and promotions. Format, while offering a range of basic marketing tools, lacks in advanced features and integrations.

🏆 Winner: Format

. Comparing Format vs Sellfy, Format takes the lead in this category with a customer support score of 7.0. Format offers 24/7 customer support through email and live chat, ensuring users can get help whenever they need it. The support team is distributed across different countries, which helps maintain round-the-clock availability.

Sellfy, on the other hand, provides 24/7 support but lacks phone and live chat options, which limits the immediacy of assistance. Users can primarily rely on email support and possibly a knowledge base for self-service. With a customer support score of 5.8, Sellfy falls short in comparison to Format’s more accessible and versatile support options.

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Winner: Format

. Format edges out Sellfy with a slightly higher security score. Format emphasizes the security of user data through encrypted data storage, both in transit and at rest, and employs strict access controls. The platform regularly updates its security measures to protect against new threats and complies with data protection regulations like GDPR. Users are also provided with resources to help secure their accounts, including strong password guidelines and two-factor authentication options.

On the other hand, Sellfy employs several security measures to safeguard sellers and their digital products from unauthorized access, fraud, and piracy. These measures include the use of secure payment processors like Stripe and PayPal, unique download links for each purchase, limited download attempts, and additional tools like PDF stamping to deter content sharing. While these strategies significantly mitigate risks, Sellfy also recognizes the inherent challenges of completely eliminating piracy in the digital space. The platform takes a pragmatic approach by providing tools that both protect creators’ content and assist in handling disputes effectively.

Neither Format nor Sellfy offer AI capabilities. Both platforms focus on providing a user-friendly interface and a range of features for building and managing online presence or ecommerce, but they do not utilize AI to enhance these features or offer additional functionalities. Therefore, there is no winner in this category.

🏆 Winner: Format

. Both Format and Sellfy have limited user management capabilities, but Format scores slightly higher.

• Format allows only one user to manage and edit websites.
• Sellfy does not support adding multiple users or staff to a single account.

There are no user roles and access levels provided for either builder.

Additional Features

Format vs Sellfy: User Feedback

Users highly praise Format for its user-friendly website builder, particularly noting the ease of adding images and the effectiveness of customer service. Many reviewers appreciate the variety of modern templates and the platform’s suitability for users without technical expertise, especially photographers. Format’s mobile app and proofing section receive special mentions for their convenience and functionality. However, some users desire more customization options, particularly for mobile views, and mention minor limitations in template flexibility and SEO functionality. Overall, Format is celebrated for its ability to provide a professional online presence easily and efficiently, solving users’ needs for showcasing work and attracting new clients.

The user feedback on Sellfy highlights its strengths in providing an efficient, compact online store setup that caters to specific needs with affordable pricing, including a 14-day trial period to familiarize users with the product. Many appreciate its user-friendly interface, internal marketing tools, and customization options, which enable sellers to tailor their storefronts to their brand, along with integrations for payment processing like PayPal and Stripe. However, criticisms include issues with mobile site speed, a desire for clearer insights, limitations on customization, and some customer service inefficiencies.

Format vs Sellfy: FAQ