Shift4shop vs Zoho Sites: guide for 2024

Final verdict

Shift4shop and Zoho Sites both offer robust website building solutions, but they cater to different user needs and business models.

Shift4shop (Overall Grade: 6.4/10)

is a comprehensive ecommerce platform with a variety of professional, customizable, and mobile-friendly website templates. It excels in ecommerce features, offering advanced product management tools, integrated payment processing, and robust security measures. However, it may present a steeper learning curve for beginners and lacks some of the user-friendly design flexibility found in other platforms. Shift4shop is ideal for businesses that require a comprehensive ecommerce solution with strong security and extensive payment gateway options.
Zoho Sites (Overall Grade: 7.6/10)

stands out for its user-friendly interface and extensive template library, making it suitable for beginners and small businesses. It offers a visual editor for easy customization without coding, responsive templates, and seamless integration with other Zoho products. Zoho Sites also provides a more comprehensive set of learning resources and better hosting quality. It is a great choice for users who need a general-purpose website builder with the option to add ecommerce functionality through Zoho Commerce.

	Overall grade: 6.4	Overall grade: 7.6
Design functionalities & templates	7.5	7.4
Ease of use	7.0	7.0
Ecommerce	7.6	7.4
Website Editors	7.2	7.5
Product testing options	5.0	8.8
Price	6.7	8.6
Hosting quality	7.8	8.0
Website speed optimization	6.3	7.1
Plugins and integrations	7.3	7.3
Marketing features	8.0	7.6
Customer support	7.9	8.3
Security	8.9	8.1
AI capabilities	0	7.5
User Management	7.9	7.3

Best for ecommerce

7.6

7.4

Verdict

: Shift4shop and Zoho Sites both offer solid ecommerce functionalities, but they cater to different business needs. Shift4shop is more comprehensive and suited for businesses looking for a robust ecommerce platform, while Zoho Sites is ideal for those needing a general-purpose website builder with ecommerce capabilities.

Shift4shop

: Shift4shop excels in providing a comprehensive ecommerce platform with advanced product management tools, integrated payment processing, and support for various business models like dropshipping and print-on-demand. It offers a range of professional, customizable, and mobile-friendly templates, making it a strong choice for businesses aiming for extensive ecommerce operations. With a best for ecommerce score of 7.6, Shift4shop stands out for its robust payment gateway integrations and advanced inventory management.
Zoho Sites

: Zoho Sites is a versatile website builder that integrates with Zoho Commerce to offer ecommerce functionality. It provides a user-friendly interface with customizable templates and a visual editor, making it suitable for businesses of various sizes. While it may not match Shift4shop’s depth in ecommerce features, Zoho Sites offers a flexible and scalable solution for those looking to add ecommerce capabilities to their general-purpose websites. With a best for ecommerce score of 7.4, Zoho Sites is a solid option for businesses seeking a balance between website building and ecommerce.

Best for informational & business websites

7.2

7.9

Verdict

: Zoho Sites is the better choice for informational and business websites, offering a more user-friendly interface and a higher score in this category compared to Shift4shop.

Shift4shop

: Shift4shop, with a score of 7.2, is a robust platform primarily designed for eCommerce. While it offers a variety of professional, customizable, and mobile-friendly templates, its focus on eCommerce features may be overwhelming for users looking to create simple informational websites. The platform’s comprehensive tools for business management, payment processing, and marketing are excellent for online stores but may be more than what is needed for a basic informational site.
Zoho Sites

: Zoho Sites, scoring 7.9, excels in creating user-friendly, visually appealing informational websites. It provides a wide range of customizable templates and a visual editor that makes website creation easy without any coding knowledge. Zoho Sites is particularly suitable for small businesses and individuals looking to establish an online presence with minimal hassle. Its higher score reflects its strength in catering to a broader range of website types beyond eCommerce, making it a versatile choice for informational and business websites.

Detailed comparison

7.5

7.4

🏆

Winner: Shift4shop.

If you’re looking for a platform that offers a variety of professional, customizable, and mobile-friendly website templates aimed at facilitating online business operations, Shift4shop is the preferred choice.

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.

Shift4shop Themes

Compared to Shift4shop, Zoho Sites offers a diverse collection of over 150 templates, thoughtfully categorized into industries like Restaurants, Architecture, Health, and more. Each template provides a pre-designed layout with responsive design for various screen sizes. Customization options include visual elements such as colors, fonts, and images, as well as the ability to modify layouts and content using the visual editor.

Zoho Sites Themes

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7.0

🏆 Winner: Tie

. Both Shift4shop and Zoho Sites scored 7.0 in ease of use. Shift4shop offers a comprehensive ecommerce platform with a wide array of features and customization options, but it may present a steeper learning curve for beginners. On the other hand, Zoho Sites offers a user-friendly interface and is more suitable for beginners and small businesses.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites

. Both platforms offer a wide range of learning resources, but Zoho Sites provides a more comprehensive and high-quality set of learning resources.

Learn Shift4shop

Learn Zoho Sites

7.6

7.4

Shift4shop and Zoho Sites both offer a range of ecommerce features, but they cater to different needs and business models. Shift4shop is a comprehensive ecommerce platform with a robust website builder, advanced product management tools, and integrated payment processing. It supports a wide array of business models including dropshipping and print-on-demand. On the other hand, Zoho Sites is a general-purpose website builder that integrates with Zoho Commerce for ecommerce functionality, providing flexibility and scalability for businesses of various sizes.


Ecommerce themes and templates	6.5	6.5
Product page customization	7.8	7.0
Payment processing and commissions	8.4	6.8
POS capabilities	7.0	5.5
Payment gateways	9.0	7.2
Product numbers	7.5	6.0
Additional ecommerce features	7.2	7.3

Shift4shop ecommerce features:

Payment Gateway integrations
Inventory management
Abandoned cart recovery
Order management

Zoho Sites ecommerce features:

Product and Inventory management
Order management
Payment Processing
Marketing and Promotions
SEO and Analytics
Security

Zoho Sites add a product

Ecommerce themes & templates

Shift4shop offers professional, customizable, and mobile-friendly website templates designed for online stores. In contrast, Zoho Sites provides a range of ecommerce website templates and themes that cater to various industries and business needs. These templates are customizable, allowing businesses to tailor their online stores to their brand and product offerings.

Product page customization

Shift4shop offers a variety of product page customization features, including advanced product options with inventory tracking, customizable product layouts, and the ability to showcase products through images, zoom, and video. Zoho Sites also offers extensive product page customization options, including features like image galleries, sliders, and video integration.

Payment processing

Shift4shop supports over 200 payment gateways, including major providers such as PayPal, Visa, and Stripe, offering a broad range of options for global markets without charging additional transaction fees. Zoho Sites, in conjunction with Zoho Commerce, offers robust payment processing capabilities and supports integration with multiple payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and Square, facilitating secure online transactions.

Considering the features, availability, cost, and flexibility, both Shift4shop and Zoho Sites offer robust and flexible ecommerce solutions. However, Shift4shop seems to be more suited for businesses that require a comprehensive ecommerce platform, while Zoho Sites might be a better fit for businesses that need a general-purpose website builder with the option to add ecommerce functionality.

7.2

7.5

🏆

Winner: Zoho Sites

. Zoho Sites, with a score of 7.5, offers a user-friendly website builder that enables both businesses and individuals to create professional, responsive websites without coding skills, through its drag-and-drop interface. It offers customizable templates, SEO tools, social media integration, and ecommerce features, along with connectivity to other Zoho applications for enhanced functionality.

Zoho sites editor

Shift4Shop, scoring 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.

Mobile editor/app

5.5

🏆

Winner: Zoho Sites

. When it comes to mobile editing capabilities, neither Shift4shop nor Zoho Sites offer a dedicated mobile editor app. However, Zoho Sites allows users to make visual adjustments to the mobile version of their website, such as changing font size, color, background, and shadow. This feature provides some level of customization for mobile users, although it does not support content changes through the mobile interface.

Shift4shop, on the other hand, does not provide any mobile editing capabilities, which can be a significant limitation for users who need to make on-the-go adjustments to their websites.

In summary, Zoho Sites receives a higher rating due to its limited but existing mobile customization options, whereas Shift4shop lacks mobile editing features entirely.

5.0

8.8

Overall Result

:

Zoho Sites Wins

. Zoho Sites scores 8.8 in product testing options, significantly higher than Shift4shop’s 5.0. Zoho Sites offers a 15-day free trial with access to all features of each plan, and a full refund policy within the first 30 days for monthly subscriptions and 45 days for annual subscriptions. On the other hand, Shift4shop offers a free plan with all its features but only for US customers, and it does not offer a trial version or a money-back guarantee.


Free Plan	Yes, only for US customers	Yes
Trial Duration	No	15 days
Testing Premium Features	All features within free plan	All features of each plan during trial
Money Back Guarantee	No	Yes (30 days for monthly, 45 for annual)

6.7

8.6

Zoho Sites offers more pricing flexibility and discounts on annual plans, while Shift4shop provides a free plan with essential features for businesses willing to use Shift4Shop’s payment processor.

	Offerings	Offerings
Free	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.	No offering at this amount.
$0-$10	No offering at this amount.	Starter ($8.00/month): Offers basic features suitable for small websites, including 5 pages, 500MB storage, 10GB bandwidth/month, SSL hosting, domain connection, ad-free experience, and more. Ideal for personal blogs or small business websites. Value for Price: 6.5
$20-$25	No offering at this amount.	Pro ($23.00/month): Upgrades significantly on the Starter plan, offering 50 pages, 100GB storage, unmetered bandwidth, 50 forms, and advanced features like social share button, audio player, comment box, scheduled blog post, and dynamic content. Best suited for professional sites that require more resources and functionalities. Value for Price: 8.0
$25+	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	Agency ($32.00/month): Tailored for agencies managing multiple sites, providing a bundle plan that offers significant savings and flexibility. Includes all Starter features with the option to add Pro features as needed. Value for Price: 9.0

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.

7.8

8.0

🏆

Winner: Zoho Sites

Zoho Sites edges out Shift4shop with its efficient hosting focused on speed, a high Google PageSpeed Insights score, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. It also boasts 12 global data centers, providing a robust infrastructure for hosting. Shift4shop, while offering unlimited bandwidth and storage, does not disclose its data center locations, which could be a concern for some users.


Do they offer hosting?	Yes	Yes
Data Centers:	Not disclosed	12 globally: Canada(Montreal and Toronto), US(Quincy and Dallas), India(Mumbai and Chennai), Australia(Sydney and Melbourne), China(Beijing and Shanghai), Japan(Tokyo and Osaka)
Type of hosting:	Managed Cloud Hosting	Managed Hosting
Uptime:	99.9%	99.9%
Uptime Guarantee:	99.9%	Yes, 99.9%

6.3

7.1

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites

Both Shift4shop and Zoho Sites prioritize website performance and page speed, but Zoho Sites has a slightly higher website speed optimization score.


Focus	CDN, Code Minification, Image optimization, Caching	Regularly testing and implementing updates, Optimized code and libraries, Cache balancing
Performance Tools	Not specified	Not specified
Key Strategies	CDN, Code Minification, Image optimization, Caching	Regularly testing and implementing updates, Optimized code and libraries, Cache balancing
Load Times	Varies depending on optimization	Below 2-5 seconds average
Page Speed Scores Range	Not specified	70-80/100 average
Core Web Vitals Improvement	Not specified	Implementing various performance optimization techniques

Zoho Sites focuses on regularly testing and implementing updates, optimizing code and libraries, and balancing cache for speed optimization. It has an average load time of below 2-5 seconds and an average PageSpeed score of 70-80/100. Zoho Sites also emphasizes on implementing various performance optimization techniques for improving Core Web Vitals.

On the other hand, Shift4shop uses CDN, code minification, image optimization, and caching as its key strategies for speed optimization. However, it does not provide specific information on load times, PageSpeed score ranges, and Core Web Vital improvements.

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7.3

🏆 Winner: It’s a tie.

Both Shift4shop and Zoho Sites score 7.3 in plugins and integrations. Shift4shop offers a wide array of plugins and extensions, catering to various online store enhancements from user experience improvements to sales boosts. On the other hand, Zoho Sites extends its website features through integrations with Zoho’s suite of applications and third-party services, rather than traditional plugins. This approach allows for a versatile and customized website building experience. Both platforms offer a mix of free and premium options, providing flexibility for users with different needs and budgets.

Shift4shop Applications

Shift4shop integrations

Zoho Sites Applications

Zoho Sites integrations

8.0

7.6

🏆

Overall Winner: Shift4shop

. Shift4shop edges out Zoho Sites with a slightly higher score, indicating a more comprehensive set of marketing tools. Both platforms offer a range of features, but Shift4shop’s robust analytics and reporting tools give it an edge.


SEO Tools	✓	✓
Email Marketing	✓	✓
Blogging	✓	✓
Social Media Integration	✓	✓
Analytics and Reporting	✓	✓
Ads and Promotions	✓	✓

7.9

8.3

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites

. Comparing Shift4shop vs Zoho Sites, Zoho Sites takes the lead in this category with a higher customer support score of 8.3. Zoho Sites offers 24/7 support through live chat, email, and phone, ensuring that users can get help whenever they need it. Additionally, Zoho Sites provides a comprehensive knowledge base and community forum, which are valuable resources for troubleshooting and learning.

Shift4shop also offers robust customer support available 24/7/365 through US chat support, US phone support, and European support. While Shift4shop’s support is commendable, it falls slightly behind Zoho Sites with a customer support score of 7.9. Despite this, Shift4shop’s dedicated eCommerce support team and multiple support channels make it a reliable option for users needing assistance.

8.9

8.1

🏆

Winner: Shift4shop

. Shift4shop takes security seriously, providing a secure platform for eCommerce businesses with PCI compliance, daily website data backups, advanced fraud protection, and DDoS protection. It also supports ADA compliance and integrates seamlessly with payment processing solutions for enhanced security.

Zoho Sites also offers secure private data storage and protection with advanced encryption and access controls. It uses SSL encryption to protect data transmission and offers two-factor authentication for added security. However, it falls slightly short in comparison to Shift4shop’s comprehensive security measures.

7.5


Personalized Design
SEO Optimization
Customer Behavior Analysis		AI-driven product recommendations based on customer interactions
Sales Predictions		AI-powered sales forecasting tools
Inventory Management
Content Generation		AI assistance in creating and optimizing site content

🏆 Winner: Zoho Sites

. Zoho Sites, with a score of 7.5, leverages its AI assistant, Zia, to enhance the ecommerce experience and content generation. Zia provides intelligent, contextual suggestions for headlines and paragraphs, significantly reducing the time required to create high-quality landing page copy. Additionally, Zia delivers unique and targeted product recommendations based on customer interactions and purchase history, and provides sales predictions, workflow automation, and customer service enhancements.

Zoho AI feature

Shift4shop, on the other hand, does not have any AI capabilities.

7.9

7.3

🏆 Winner: Shift4shop

. Both Shift4shop and Zoho Sites allow for multiple users to manage and edit a website, with the number of staff user slots varying by plan. However, Shift4shop offers a more flexible system, allowing additional users to 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.

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.

Unfortunately, there is no information available about the user roles and access levels for Zoho Sites.

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

Shift4shop

34 reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars

Zoho Sites

111 reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars

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. Additionally, some users find the setup process and system architecture to be overly complex and dated. 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.

Zoho Sites receives mixed reviews, with users praising its user-friendly interface, extensive template library, and seamless integration with other Zoho products, which simplifies website development and management for small businesses. However, some users express dissatisfaction with its limited design flexibility and the inability to create custom features. Overall, Zoho Sites addresses the need for cost-effective website solutions, particularly for those without coding knowledge, offering a one-stop-shop for building and managing websites with varying degrees of customization and integration with other business tools.

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 ecommerce, Shift4shop or Zoho Sites?

Shift4shop is specifically designed for ecommerce, offering robust features tailored for online stores, including advanced product management and integrated payment processing. Zoho Sites, while capable of ecommerce through Zoho Commerce integration, is more versatile and better suited for less complex online stores.

Can I use both Shift4shop and Zoho Sites for non-ecommerce websites?

Yes, both platforms can be used for non-ecommerce websites. Shift4shop, although optimized for online stores, can technically support informational sites. Zoho Sites is particularly well-suited for a variety of website types including blogs, portfolios, and business sites due to its user-friendly interface and customizable templates.

How do Shift4shop and Zoho Sites compare in terms of user-friendliness?

Both platforms are user-friendly, but Zoho Sites is noted for its ease of use, making it ideal for beginners and small businesses. Shift4shop offers a comprehensive ecommerce platform that might present a steeper learning curve, especially for those new to online business management.

What are the pricing options like for Shift4shop and Zoho Sites?

Shift4shop provides a free plan for users willing to use its payment processor, making it a cost-effective option for startups. Zoho Sites offers more flexible pricing plans, including a free version with basic features and paid plans that provide more advanced functionalities and greater resource allocation.