iPage vs Shift4shop: guide for 2024

Final verdict

iPage vs Shift4shop: Both platforms offer unique strengths, but they cater to different needs.

iPage (Overall Grade: 6.1/10)

is a user-friendly web hosting and site builder platform, ideal for small businesses and personal projects. It excels in ease of use, making it accessible for users with no prior web development experience. iPage offers a variety of templates and a drag-and-drop builder, along with essential ecommerce features like inventory management and PayPal integration. However, its ecommerce capabilities may not scale well for larger enterprises, and it lacks some advanced customization options.
Shift4shop (Overall Grade: 6.4/10)

is a dedicated ecommerce platform with a comprehensive suite of features, including advanced product management tools and integrated payment processing. It offers professional, customizable templates and a range of marketing tools tailored for ecommerce. Shift4shop provides extensive plugins and integrations, robust security features, and 24/7 customer support. While it has a steeper learning curve, it is a more scalable solution for growing online businesses.

	Overall grade: 6.1	Overall grade: 6.4
Design functionalities & templates	7.0	7.5
Ease of use	7.6	7.0
Ecommerce	5.7	7.6
Website Editors	6.8	7.2
Product testing options	2.5	5.0
Price	7.3	6.7
Hosting quality	7.7	7.8
Website speed optimization	7.4	6.3
Plugins and integrations	6.3	7.3
Marketing features	7.2	8.0
Customer support	6.9	7.9
Security	7.5	8.9
AI capabilities	3.0	0
User Management	3.2	7.9

Best for ecommerce

5.7

7.6

Verdict

: iPage is suitable for small to medium-sized businesses looking for a user-friendly platform, while Shift4shop offers a more comprehensive and scalable solution for a wider range of ecommerce needs.

iPage

: iPage provides a solid set of ecommerce features, including inventory management, coupon codes, and PayPal integration. It is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses that need a straightforward and user-friendly platform. However, it may lack the advanced customization and scalability required by larger enterprises. Best For Ecommerce score: 5.7.
Shift4shop

: Shift4shop excels with its extensive ecommerce capabilities, including advanced product management, abandoned cart recovery, and over 200 payment gateway integrations. It is a dedicated ecommerce platform designed to support a wide array of business models, making it a more robust choice for businesses looking to scale. Best For Ecommerce score: 7.6.

Best for informational & business websites

7.2

Verdict

: Both iPage and Shift4shop score equally well for informational and business websites, each with a score of 7.2. However, their strengths cater to different user needs.

iPage

: iPage is a user-friendly web hosting and site builder platform, ideal for small businesses and personal projects. Its drag-and-drop builder and wide variety of templates make it accessible for users without technical expertise. iPage’s comprehensive approach to speed optimization and ease of use make it a strong contender for those looking to create informational websites quickly and efficiently.
Shift4shop

: Shift4shop, on the other hand, offers a more professional and customizable platform with a focus on eCommerce. It provides a variety of tools for website creation, payment processing, marketing, and business management. While it has a steeper learning curve, its extensive range of plugins and integrations, along with robust security features, make it suitable for businesses looking to scale their online presence.

Detailed comparison

7.0

7.5

🏆

Winner: Shift4shop.

If you’re looking for a platform that offers more professional and customizable templates with a focus on eCommerce, Shift4shop is the preferred choice.

iPage offers a wide variety of templates and designs, catering to users with diverse needs and preferences. With hundreds of options available, ranging from simple and elegant to complex and dynamic, users can easily find a template that suits their specific project or business requirements. These templates are also customizable, allowing for a high degree of personalization in terms of layout, color schemes, and functionality.

Shift4shop provides a selection of over 100 free eCommerce templates, catering to a wide array of design preferences and brand identities. These templates are professionally designed with an emphasis on optimizing sales, employing the latest in technology and design trends. This variety ensures that businesses can find a design that closely aligns with their brand and aesthetic requirements.

Shift4shop Themes

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7.6

7.0

🏆 Winner: iPage

. Scoring 7.6, iPage is designed with simplicity in mind, making it highly accessible for users with no prior web development experience. Its drag-and-drop interface and wide range of templates make it easy to set up and customize websites quickly. Shift4shop, with a score of 7.0, offers a comprehensive ecommerce platform but presents a steeper learning curve, especially for beginners unfamiliar with ecommerce or web design. If ease of use is a priority, iPage is the better choice in this category.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: Shift4shop

. While both platforms offer solid learning resources, Shift4shop provides a more comprehensive set of articles, videos, and 24/7 customer support, making it easier for users to navigate its complexities and develop their online businesses.

Learn Shift4shop

Learn iPage

5.7

7.6

iPage is a user-friendly web hosting and site builder platform, offering a range of ecommerce features suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. It integrates with shopping carts like AgoraCart and PayPal for payment processing, but its ecommerce capabilities might not scale well for very large enterprises. Shift4Shop, on the other hand, is a dedicated ecommerce platform with a comprehensive suite of features, including advanced product management tools and integrated payment processing.


Ecommerce themes and templates	5.5	6.5
Product page customization	5.0	7.8
Payment processing and commissions	6.0	8.4
POS capabilities	3.0	7.0
Payment gateways	6.5	9.0
Product numbers	4.0	7.5
Additional ecommerce features	5.5	7.2

iPage ecommerce features:

Inventory Management and Tracking
Coupon Codes and Promotions
SEO Tools
PayPal Integration

Shift4Shop ecommerce features:

Payment Gateway integrations
Inventory management
Abandoned cart recovery
Order management

Ecommerce themes & templates

iPage offers a variety of ecommerce-specific templates designed to cater to online stores and businesses. These templates are integrated with features such as shopping carts, product catalogs, and payment processing options. However, users might find some limitations in terms of customization and advanced ecommerce functionalities compared to specialized ecommerce platforms. Shift4Shop, in contrast, provides templates specifically designed for online stores, ensuring a more tailored ecommerce experience.

Product page customization

iPage’s website builder offers a range of ecommerce product page customization options, allowing users to design their storefronts with various templates, adjust layouts, and incorporate multimedia elements like images and videos. However, it may offer less flexibility in advanced customization or coding for those who require unique functionalities. Shift4Shop offers advanced product options with inventory tracking, customizable product layouts, and the ability to showcase products through images, zoom, and video. The Product Designer app further enhances customization for personalized products.

Payment processing

iPage supports several payment options for ecommerce, including major gateways like PayPal and Stripe, without charging additional transaction fees. However, it does not explicitly mention integrated POS capabilities for in-person transactions. Shift4Shop supports over 200 payment gateways, including major providers such as PayPal, Visa, and Stripe, without charging additional transaction fees from the platform itself. It also facilitates POS capabilities through third-party integrations, enabling both online and physical store sales.

In summary, while iPage offers a solid set of ecommerce features for small to medium-sized businesses, Shift4Shop provides a more comprehensive and scalable solution for a wider range of ecommerce needs.

6.8

7.2

🏆

Winner: Shift4shop

. Shift4shop, with a score of 7.2, offers a comprehensive website builder with a focus on e-commerce, enabling the creation of various types of websites with an array of templates and customization options including a drag-and-drop editor. It integrates advanced features for product management, payment processing, and SEO optimization, alongside marketing tools for social media and email campaigns. Security measures and customer support options are in place, although reviews on support quality vary.

iPage’s editor, scoring 6.8, is designed for ease of use, catering to both beginners and those with some web design experience. It offers a drag-and-drop interface, allowing users to easily add, remove, and customize elements on their web pages without needing to code. Users can choose from a variety of templates that are responsive and customizable to fit their brand or personal style. However, some users might find the options and settings a bit overwhelming at first.

Mobile editor/app

5.0

🏆

Winner: iPage

. When it comes to mobile editing capabilities, neither iPage nor Shift4shop offers a dedicated mobile editor app. However, iPage does allow users to edit their websites through a mobile browser, although this comes with certain limitations. This feature can be useful for making minor adjustments or updates while on the go.

Shift4shop, on the other hand, does not provide any mobile editing options, which can be a significant limitation for users who need to manage their websites remotely.

In summary, iPage takes the lead in this category due to its limited but existing mobile browser editing capabilities, whereas Shift4shop falls short by not offering any mobile editing options at all.

2.5

5.0

Overall Result

:

Shift4shop leads

. Shift4shop scores 5.0, offering a free plan with essential features for US customers, which allows for extensive testing of the platform’s capabilities. iPage, with a score of 2.5, provides a 30-day money-back guarantee, enabling users to test all features during this period, but lacks a free trial or free version.


Free Plan	No	Yes, only for US customers
Trial Duration	No free trial	No
Testing Premium Features	All features during 30-day refundable period	All features within its free plan
Money Back Guarantee	30-day money back guarantee	No

7.3

6.7

iPage offers a variety of plans with significant annual discounts, while Shift4shop provides a free plan with conditions and a straightforward paid plan.

	Offerings	Offerings
Free	No offering at this amount.	Free Plan ($0/month): Requires minimum $500/month processed payments with their Shift4shop payment with 2.90% + 30 Cents transaction fees. Unlimited Products, SEO & Marketing Tools, Unlimited Staff Users, Integrated Blog, Unlimited Bandwidth, 24/7 Customer Support, No Revenue Caps, API Access, Secure Online Payments. This plan allows to manage only 1 website and there is no limitation of number of pages offered.
$10-$20	Basic ($15.99/month): Simple website or blog, 1 website, 10 GB SSD, free domain, managed WordPress, free SSL for 1st year. Value for Price: 6.5	No offering at this amount.
$20-$30	Choice Plus ($27.99/month): Multiple sites with storage, security, backups, 3 websites, 40 GB SSD, daily backups, domain privacy, malware scanning. Value for Price: 7.5	Paid Plan ($29/month): All features of the free plan with support for other payment processors such as PayPal. This plan allows to manage only 1 website and there is no limitation of number of pages offered. Value for Price: 8.5
$30-$34	Online Store ($32.99/month): Online selling with eCommerce tools, 3 websites, 40 GB SSD, store features like unlimited products and secure payments. Value for Price: 8.0	No offering at this amount.
$34+	Pro ($34.99/month): High traffic sites, advanced storage, 5 websites, 100 GB SSD, optimized for high traffic, enhanced security and backups. Value for Price: 9.0	No offering at this amount.

In some cases companies have different prices based on various components like a
location. As a result in rare cases the prices displayed here can differ from the ones you see on their
websites.

7.7

7.8

🏆

Winner: Shift4shop

Shift4shop edges out iPage with its managed cloud hosting, unlimited bandwidth and storage, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. iPage offers a variety of hosting services, but its performance and scalability may not meet the needs of high-traffic sites. Shift4shop’s comprehensive hosting features and uptime guarantee make it a more reliable choice.


Do they offer hosting?	Yes, a range of affordable hosting services including shared, WordPress, and VPS hosting	Yes, with unlimited bandwidth and storage, daily backups
Data Centers:	2 data centers: US, Europe	Shift4shop does not disclose the locations of its data centers
Type of hosting:	Managed WordPress Hosting	Managed Cloud Hosting
Uptime:	99.9%	99.9%
Uptime Guarantee:	No	Yes, 99.9%

7.4

6.3

🏆 Winner: iPage

Both iPage and Shift4shop have their own strategies for optimizing website speed, but iPage has a slight edge due to its comprehensive approach and better average load times and PageSpeed scores.


Focus	Web Server optimizations, Caching, CDN, Database optimization, SEO optimization	CDN, Code Minification, Image optimization, Caching
Performance Tools	Various optimization tools	Various optimization tools
Key Strategies	Web Server optimizations, Caching, CDN, Database optimization, SEO optimization	CDN, Code Minification, Image optimization, Caching
Load Times	2.6s average	Varies depending on optimization
Page Speed Scores Range	72/100 average	Varies depending on optimization
Core Web Vitals Improvement	LCP, FID, CLS improvements	No information provided

iPage, a user-friendly web hosting and site builder platform, offers a range of strategies for speed optimization, including web server optimizations, caching, CDN, database optimization, and SEO optimization. These strategies help ensure that websites built on iPage load quickly and perform well. The average load time for iPage websites is 2.6 seconds, and the average PageSpeed score is 72/100. Additionally, iPage focuses on improving Core Web Vitals, specifically LCP, FID, and CLS.

Shift4shop, an eCommerce platform, also employs various strategies for speed optimization, such as CDN, code minification, image optimization, and caching. However, the load times and PageSpeed scores for Shift4shop websites can vary depending on the level of optimization. Unlike iPage, Shift4shop does not provide specific information on their Core Web Vitals improvements.

Overall, iPage’s comprehensive approach to speed optimization and better average performance metrics make it the winner in this comparison.

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6.3

7.3

🏆 Winner: Shift4shop.

Shift4shop scores 7.3, outpacing iPage’s 6.3, thanks to its extensive range of ecommerce-focused plugins and integrations. Shift4shop offers a diverse ecosystem of add-ons, from advanced analytics and SEO tools to specialized marketing capabilities and expanded payment options, making it a versatile choice for online businesses.

iPage, while scoring lower, still provides a variety of plugins and extensions that enhance website functionality, including SEO tools, e-commerce capabilities, and social media integrations. However, Shift4shop’s broader range and more specialized options give it the edge in this comparison.

Shift4shop Applications

Shift4shop integrations

7.2

8.0

🏆

Overall Winner: Shift4shop

. Shift4shop excels with its comprehensive suite of marketing tools tailored for ecommerce, including advanced SEO, email marketing, and promotional features. iPage is a solid choice for small businesses with its user-friendly interface and essential marketing integrations.


SEO Tools	✓	✓
Email Marketing	✓	✓
Blogging	✓	✓
Social Media Integration	Integrated social media buttons and features	Comprehensive social media integration tools
Analytics and Reporting	Option to integrate Google Analytics	Robust analytics and CRM functionalities
Ads and Promotions	Google AdWords and Bing search credits	Discounts, coupons, and affiliate program

6.9

7.9

🏆 Winner: Shift4shop

. In the iPage vs Shift4shop comparison, Shift4shop takes the lead with a higher customer support score of 7.9. Shift4shop offers 24/7/365 support through various channels, including US chat support, US phone support, and European support. Their dedicated eCommerce support team is available around the clock, ensuring that users can get assistance whenever needed.

iPage also provides 24/7 customer support through phone, email, and live chat, making it accessible at any time. However, with a customer support score of 6.9, it falls short compared to Shift4shop. While iPage’s support is reliable, Shift4shop’s comprehensive and highly rated support system gives it an edge in this category.

7.5

8.9

🏆

Winner: Shift4shop

. Shift4shop excels in security with a comprehensive suite of features including PCI compliance, daily backups, advanced fraud protection, and DDoS defense. These measures ensure that eCommerce businesses can operate securely, protecting both their data and their customers’ information. Shift4shop’s commitment to security is reflected in its high security score of 8.9.

iPage also offers robust security features, such as SiteLock for malware protection and SSL certificates for data encryption. However, its security score of 7.5 indicates that while it provides essential security measures, it may not be as comprehensive as Shift4shop’s offerings. iPage’s focus on privacy protection through Domain Privacy Protection is beneficial, but it falls short in comparison to Shift4shop’s extensive security infrastructure.

3.0


AI Builder	iPage offers an AI-powered website builder	Shift4shop does not have an AI builder
AI Ecommerce Features
AI Content Generation
Additional AI Features	Basic AI tools to assist in website setup

🏆 Winner: iPage

. iPage, with a score of 3.0, provides some basic AI capabilities aimed at simplifying the website creation process for users without technical expertise. These features are primarily focused on assisting users in setting up their websites efficiently.

iPage AI feature

Shift4shop, with a score of 0, does not offer any AI capabilities. This makes iPage the better option for users looking for some level of AI assistance in their website building process.

3.2

7.9

🏆 Winner: Shift4shop

. Managing your online team with iPage and Shift4shop involves different approaches to website editing access.

iPage’s website builder offers very limited multi-user functionality and access levels compared to more sophisticated website builder platforms.
Shift4shop allows for multiple users to manage and edit a website, with the number of staff user slots varying by plan. Additional users can be added as needed through the purchase of extra Staff User seats at $10 per user per month. This system is designed to accommodate business growth by enabling the distribution of website management tasks among staff members with customizable roles and permissions.

Both platforms support simultaneous editing, but Shift4shop provides a more comprehensive and scalable solution for growing businesses.

Shift4shop User Roles and Access Levels:

Role	Description	Access Highlights
Admin	Full control over the platform, responsible for setting up and managing all aspects of the online store.	Complete access to all areas including configuration, order management, product listings, user management, and analytics.
Manager	Oversees day-to-day operations, including order processing, inventory management, and customer service.	Access to order management, inventory, reports, and limited settings for day-to-day operations. Does not have access to high-level configurations.
Sales Rep	Focuses on customer interaction, order entry, and sales tracking.	Access to customer information, order creation, and sales reporting tools. Cannot alter product listings or configurations.
Content Creator	Generates product descriptions, blog posts, and marketing material.	Access to content management systems, blog, and marketing tools. No access to order management or configurations.
Customer Service Rep	Handles customer inquiries, returns, and complaints.	Access to customer information, order status, and communication tools. Limited access to order modifications.

Additional Features


SSL Certificate	✓	✓
Custom Domain	✓	✓
Free Custom Domain Included	✓	X
International Domains	✓	✓
Mobile Responsive	✓	✓
Page Speed	✓	✓
Website Builder Mobile App	X	X
Convert a Website To An App	X	X
Website Analytics	✓	✓
Multilingual Sites	✓	✓
Multiple Users	✓	✓

User Feedback

iPage

0 reviews

0 out of 5 stars

Shift4shop

34 reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars

iPage, a user-friendly web hosting and site builder platform, offers templates and a drag-and-drop builder to simplify website creation for those without technical expertise. It provides comprehensive services including hosting, domain registration, and e-commerce solutions, targeting small businesses and personal projects. Recently, iPage has partnered with Bluehost, merging their hosting capabilities to offer unified and improved hosting and pricing plans.

Shift4Shop reviews present a mixed but generally positive perspective from users. They appreciate the platform’s feature-rich storefront capabilities, ease of use, and versatility in integrating various services, which facilitates online sales and efficient eCommerce management. However, critiques focus on the less intuitive user experience, occasional technical issues such as slow site loading, and the perceived degradation of customer service quality since the Shift4Shop takeover. Despite these criticisms, Shift4Shop is recognized for its cost-effectiveness, support for different customer types, and the ability to solve a variety of eCommerce-related problems, benefiting users by enhancing their online sales capabilities and operational efficiency.

The making of this blog

We followed a clear, step-by-step process to write and research this article.

Our Ranking Criteria

FAQ

Which platform is better for beginners, iPage or Shift4shop?

iPage is generally better for beginners due to its user-friendly interface and simpler web building tools. It’s designed for users with no prior web development experience, making it easier to start and manage a website.

Can I use both iPage and Shift4shop for selling products internationally?

Yes, both platforms support international sales. iPage offers basic ecommerce functionalities suitable for small to medium-sized businesses, while Shift4shop provides a more robust solution with extensive payment gateway support and advanced product management tools, making it ideal for larger enterprises.

How do iPage and Shift4shop differ in terms of customization and design flexibility?

Shift4shop offers more professional and customizable templates with a focus on eCommerce, making it the preferred choice for businesses looking for a tailored ecommerce experience. iPage provides a wide variety of templates that cater to general web building needs and are customizable to a certain extent.

What are the major differences in pricing and value between iPage and Shift4shop?

iPage offers a variety of plans with significant annual discounts, suitable for users looking for affordable web hosting solutions. Shift4shop, on the other hand, provides a free plan with essential ecommerce features for businesses willing to use Shift4shop’s payment processor, as well as a straightforward paid plan that includes support for other payment processors.