Yola vs Shift4shop: Comprehensive comparison guide for 2024

Final verdict

Yola and Shift4shop both offer unique advantages, but they cater to different needs and user preferences.

• 
  Yola (Overall Grade: 6.5/10)
  
  is a user-friendly website builder ideal for individuals and small businesses looking to create professional websites without advanced technical skills. It excels in ease of use, making it accessible for beginners. Yola offers a variety of responsive templates and essential features like SEO tools and e-commerce capabilities through Ecwid integration. However, it falls short in advanced e-commerce functionalities and customization options compared to Shift4shop.
• 
  Shift4shop (Overall Grade: 6.4/10)
  
  is a robust eCommerce platform designed for businesses aiming to scale their online operations. It provides a comprehensive suite of e-commerce features, including advanced product management, integrated payment processing, and a wide array of customizable templates. While it has a steeper learning curve and some usability challenges, Shift4shop’s extensive functionalities make it a strong choice for businesses focused on e-commerce growth.

	Overall grade: 6.5	Overall grade: 6.4
Design functionalities & templates	7.2	7.5
Ease of use	8.0	7.0
Ecommerce	5.7	7.6
Website Editors	6.7	7.2
Product testing options	7.5	5.0
Price	8.1	6.7
Hosting quality	7.2	7.8
Website speed optimization	7.5	6.3
Plugins and integrations	6.3	7.3
Marketing features	6.5	8.0
Customer support	6.3	7.9
Security	8.3	8.9
AI capabilities	0.0	0
User Management	7.3	7.9
Overall	6.5	6.4

Best for ecommerce

5.7

7.6

Verdict

: Shift4shop is the superior choice for ecommerce, offering a more comprehensive suite of features and better scalability compared to Yola.

• 
  Yola
  
  : Yola is a user-friendly website builder that provides essential ecommerce capabilities through integration with Ecwid. It is suitable for small businesses and individuals looking to sell up to 1000 products without transaction fees. However, it lacks the advanced ecommerce features and scalability that larger businesses might require. Yola’s drag-and-drop interface and customizable templates make it easy to create a professional-looking online store, but it falls short in comparison to Shift4shop in terms of ecommerce depth and flexibility.
• 
  Shift4shop
  
  : Shift4shop excels in ecommerce with a robust set of features, including advanced product management tools, integrated payment processing, and a wide variety of payment gateways. It supports various business models, such as dropshipping and print-on-demand, making it a versatile platform for growing businesses. Shift4shop’s comprehensive marketing tools and customizable, mobile-friendly templates further enhance its appeal for serious ecommerce operations. When comparing Yola vs Shift4shop, Shift4shop clearly stands out as the more powerful and scalable option for ecommerce.

Best for informational & business websites

7.4

7.2

• 
  Yola
  
  : Yola is designed to help individuals and small businesses create professional-looking websites without advanced technical skills. Its drag-and-drop interface and customizable templates make it easy to build and manage an online presence. Yola’s focus on ease of use and responsive design makes it a strong contender for informational business websites. With a score of 7.4, Yola is particularly suitable for users who prioritize simplicity and accessibility.
• 
  Shift4shop
  
  : Shift4shop, while primarily an eCommerce platform, offers a variety of customizable and mobile-friendly templates that can be used for informational websites. It provides tools for website creation, payment processing, and business management, making it a comprehensive solution for online business operations. However, its steeper learning curve and focus on eCommerce functionalities might make it less ideal for purely informational sites. With a score of 7.2, Shift4shop is a robust option but may be better suited for users with more complex needs.

Detailed comparison

7.2

7.5

🏆

Winner: Shift4shop.

While both platforms offer a range of design functionalities and templates, Shift4shop edges out with a slightly higher score.

Yola offers a diverse range of templates and designs, catering to various types of websites, from personal blogs to professional business sites. Users can choose from a wide selection of themes, each customizable to fit their specific needs and preferences.

Yola Themes

On the other hand, 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

Get a head start on website creation with AI

Create a custom website tailored to your business needs 10X faster with 10Web AI Website Builder!

Generate Your Website

No credit card required

8.0

7.0

🏆 Winner: Yola

. Scoring 8.0, Yola stands out for its user-friendly interface, making it exceptionally easy for beginners to create and manage their websites. Shift4shop, with a score of 7.0, offers a robust platform but with a steeper learning curve, especially for those new to ecommerce. If ease of use is a priority, Yola is the clear winner in this category.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: Shift4shop

. While both platforms offer solid learning resources, Shift4shop goes a step further with its wide array of detailed tutorials and active community forums, making it easier for users to learn and adapt.

5.7

7.6

When it comes to ecommerce, Shift4shop outperforms Yola with a score of 7.6 against Yola’s 5.7. Shift4shop offers a comprehensive suite of ecommerce features, including a robust website builder, advanced product management tools, and integrated payment processing with support for a wide variety of payment methods. On the other hand, Yola provides an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop website builder with ecommerce capabilities through an integration with Ecwid, allowing for the sale of up to 1000 products without transaction fees and supporting multiple currencies and payment services.

Ecommerce themes and templates	5.5	6.5
Product page customization	6.8	7.8
Payment processing and commissions	7.0	8.4
POS capabilities	4.5	7.0
Payment gateways	7.5	9.0
Product numbers	7.0	7.5
Additional ecommerce features	6.0	7.2

Yola ecommerce features:

• Shipping and Tax configurations
• Product Catalog Management
• Ability to checkout as guest
• Analytics and reporting
• Promotions features

Shift4shop ecommerce features:

• Payment Gateway integrations
• Inventory management
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Order management

Ecommerce themes & templates

Yola offers a range of templates for building websites, including those suitable for ecommerce, but the variety and design quality may not match those provided by other leading website builders. The templates are customizable, especially for users on higher-tier plans (Silver or Gold), which allow for deeper customization, including CSS editing. In contrast, all the templates of Shift4Shop are designed for online stores, providing a more ecommerce-focused approach.

Product page customization

Yola’s eCommerce platform offers a variety of customization options for your product pages, including the ability to manage product options and combinations. This feature is especially useful for selling items that come in different sizes, colors, or models, allowing customers to select their preferences directly from the product page. On the other hand, Shift4Shop offers a variety of product page customization features to enhance the online shopping experience. These include advanced product options with inventory tracking, customizable product layouts, and the ability to showcase products through images, zoom, and video.

Payment processing

Yola supports various payment gateways for online store transactions, such as PayPal, Sage Payments, and American Express, allowing users to choose based on their specific needs, including geographical availability and fee structure. In contrast, 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 from the platform itself. However, merchants may incur standard fees from their chosen payment providers, typically ranging from 2-3% per sale.

6.7

7.2

🏆

Winner: Shift4shop

. With a score of 7.2, Shift4shop offers a comprehensive website builder with a focus on e-commerce. It integrates advanced features for product management, payment processing, and SEO optimization, alongside marketing tools for social media and email campaigns. However, some users experience a learning curve and report challenges with customer support and usability aspects.

Yola’s website builder editor, scoring 6.7, is designed for ease of use, allowing users to create professional-looking websites without needing coding knowledge. It offers a drag-and-drop interface, enabling users to easily add, customize, and position elements like text, images, and buttons on their web pages. However, some users might find the customization options somewhat limited compared to more advanced platforms.

Mobile editor/app

4.5

0

🏆

Winner: Yola

. When it comes to mobile editing capabilities, both Yola and Shift4shop fall short of providing dedicated mobile editor apps. However, Yola does offer the ability to make small changes using a mobile browser, which can be useful for minor adjustments on the go. Shift4shop, on the other hand, does not provide any mobile editing capabilities, making it less flexible for users who need to manage their websites from mobile devices.

In summary, while neither platform excels in mobile editing, Yola has a slight edge due to its limited mobile browser editing capabilities.

7.5

5.0

Overall Result

:

Yola wins

. Yola scores 7.5, while Shift4shop scores 5.0 in product testing options. Yola offers a free version and a 30-day money-back guarantee, during which premium features can be tested. On the other hand, Shift4shop offers a free version only for US customers and does not provide a money-back guarantee. Premium features can be tested within its free plan.

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

8.1

6.7

Yola offers a wider range of pricing plans and a discount for annual billing, while Shift4shop offers a free plan with essential features for businesses willing to use Shift4Shop’s payment processor.

	Offerings	Offerings
Free	Free (Website) ($0/month): Basic features with Yola subdomain, suitable for starting a simple site. With possibility to have up to 2 websites and 2 page limit. Free (Online Store Add-on) ($0/month): Launch an online store with basic features and a limited number of products. Available as an add-on to a website plan.	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.
$0-$10	Bronze (Website) ($9.45/month): More resources and features, including unlimited pages and bandwidth. With possibility to have up to 5 websites. Value for Price: 7.5	No offering at this amount.
$10-$15	Basic (Online Store Add-on) ($15.00/month): Includes inventory tracking, order management, and the ability to sell on Facebook. Available as an add-on to a website plan. Value for Price: 7.0	No offering at this amount.
$15-$20	Silver (Website) ($18.95/month): Advanced design features and site customization options. With possibility to have up to 25 websites. Value for Price: 8.0	No offering at this amount.
$20-$35	Professional (Online Store Add-on) ($35.00/month): Advanced features including discount coupons, product filters, and sales on multiple platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Available as an add-on to a website plan. Value for Price: 8.0	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
$35-$40	Gold (Website) ($35.45/month): Comprehensive plan with unlimited storage and advanced SEO tools. With possibility to have up to 25 websites. Value for Price: 8.5	No offering at this amount.
$90+	Unlimited (Online Store Add-on) ($99.00/month): The most extensive plan offering a vast product catalog, point of sale integrations, and more, for expanding online business. Available as an add-on to a website plan. Value for Price: 9.0	No offering at this amount.

7.2

7.8

Winner: Shift4shop

. Both Yola and Shift4shop offer managed cloud hosting with a 99.9% uptime guarantee. However, Shift4shop edges out with unlimited storage and bandwidth, and daily backups, making it a more robust choice for businesses with high traffic and data needs. Yola, on the other hand, offers a more limited storage starting from 1GB on the free plan.

Do they offer hosting?	Yes, included in all plans	Yes, included in all plans
Data Centers:	5 in US and EU	Not disclosed
Type of hosting:	Managed Cloud Hosting	Managed Cloud Hosting
Uptime:	99.9%	99.9%
Uptime Guarantee:	Yes, 99.9%	Yes, 99.9%

7.5

6.3

🏆 Winner: Yola

Both Yola and Shift4shop prioritize website performance and page speed, but Yola takes the lead with a higher website speed optimization score and a clear emphasis on Core Web Vital improvements.

Focus	CDN, Caching, Code Minification, Server response time improvements, Image optimization	CDN, Code Minification, Image optimization, Caching
Performance Tools	Google Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights	Google PageSpeed Insights Integration
Key Strategies	CDN, Caching, Code Minifcation, Server response time improvements, Image optimization	CDN, Code Minification, Image optimization, Caching
Load Times	Varies widely, depending on the optimization, website complexity	Varies depending on optimization
Page Speed Scores Range	Varies widely, depending on the optimization, website complexity	Varies depending on optimization
Core Web Vitals Improvement	Emphasis on LCP, FID, CLS improvements	No information provided

Yola’s approach to enhancing site speed includes a variety of strategies such as CDN, caching, code minification, server response time improvements, and image optimization. They also place a strong emphasis on improving Core Web Vitals (CWV), focusing on Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) improvements. However, both load times and PageSpeed scores can vary widely, depending on the optimization and website complexity.

On the other hand, Shift4shop also prioritizes website performance and page speed, employing strategies such as CDN, code minification, image optimization, and caching. However, they do not provide any information on their Core Web Vitals improvements, which could be a potential area of improvement for them. Similar to Yola, Shift4shop’s load times and PageSpeed scores also vary depending on optimization.

Get a head start on website creation with AI

Create a custom website tailored to your business needs 10X faster with 10Web AI Website Builder!

Generate Your Website

No credit card required

6.3

7.3

🏆 Winner: Shift4shop.

With a score of 7.3, Shift4shop offers a diverse ecommerce ecosystem with a wide array of plugins and extensions, catering to various online store enhancements from user experience improvements to sales boosts. Yola, scoring 6.3, supports a variety of functionalities through plugins and apps, including social media integration, e-commerce tools, marketing and SEO enhancements, customer engagement features, and various utility widgets to improve user experience and compliance. However, Shift4shop’s wider range of functionalities and more advanced ecommerce capabilities give it the edge.

Yola Applications

Shift4shop Applications

6.5

8.0

🏆

Overall Winner: Shift4shop

. Shift4shop offers a more comprehensive set of marketing tools, especially in SEO and email marketing. Yola, while offering a decent set of features, falls short in comparison, especially on lower plans.

SEO Tools	Basic built-in SEO tools with possibility of more advanced third-party integrations	Comprehensive SEO features for eCommerce websites
Email Marketing	Available on higher plans, with possibility to integrate Mailchimp Email marketing	Powerful built-in Newsletter Module
Blogging	Easy post creation, categories and tags, comments management, RSS feed	Blog posts, Disqus comments, categories and tags
Social Media Integration	Social media buttons, embedding social media feeds and content	Integration with a variety of social media platforms and apps
Analytics and Reporting	Basic analytics features with possibility to integrate Google Analytics	Robust analytics and reporting tools
Ads and Promotions	Available on higher plans	Discounts and coupons, email marketing integrations, built-in affiliate program

6.3

7.9

🏆 Winner: Shift4shop

. In the Yola vs Shift4shop comparison, Shift4shop takes the lead with a higher customer support score of 7.9 compared to Yola’s 6.3. Shift4shop offers 24/7/365 support through various channels, including US chat support, US phone support, and European support, ensuring that users can get help whenever they need it. This comprehensive support system is particularly beneficial for businesses that require constant availability.

Yola, on the other hand, provides 24/7 email support with priority responses for paid plan subscribers. They also offer a call-you-back service and support via social media channels. While Yola’s support is reliable, it doesn’t quite match the round-the-clock, multi-channel support provided by Shift4shop.

8.3

8.9

🏆

Winner: Shift4shop

. Shift4shop’s security measures are comprehensive, with a focus on PCI compliance, daily website data backups, advanced fraud protection, and DDoS protection. It also supports ADA compliance, ensuring websites are accessible to individuals with disabilities. This makes it a secure choice for eCommerce businesses.

Yola, on the other hand, also prioritizes security with features like SSL encryption, DDoS mitigation, firewalls, and regular software updates. However, it falls slightly short in comparison to Shift4shop’s robust security measures.

0.0

0

Personalized Design
SEO Optimization
Customer Behavior Analysis
Sales Predictions
Inventory Management
Content Generation

🏆 Winner: None

. Both Yola and Shift4shop do not have AI capabilities. This means they lack features such as personalized design, SEO optimization, customer behavior analysis, sales predictions, inventory management, and content generation. Therefore, if you are looking for a website builder with AI capabilities, neither Yola nor Shift4shop would be a suitable choice.

7.3

7.9

🏆 Winner: Shift4shop

. Both Yola and Shift4shop support multi-user editing capabilities, but Shift4shop offers more flexibility with the number of users and their roles.

• Yola allows different levels of access and control based on the plan chosen. The primary account holder, often referred to as the Owner or Administrator, possesses comprehensive control over the website, including the ability to edit content, manage settings, and extend invitations to collaborators for website modification. Collaborators or Editors, invited by the account holder, can edit the website to varying degrees, which might range from content editing to page management, depending on the permissions granted by Yola’s platform. The number of users permitted to edit a website and the scope of their roles and permissions may vary, typically increasing with higher-tier subscription plans.
• 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.

Shift4shop User Roles and Access Levels:

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

Yola

22 reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars

Shift4shop

34 reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars

Yola seems to have received mostly positive reviews. Users appreciate its professional templates, ease of use, affordability, and customer service. They find it ideal for website creation, especially for those without specialized knowledge. However, some users express dissatisfaction with aspects such as data security, customization limitations, and lack of certain features like chat support. Overall, Yola appears to solve the problem of easy website creation and maintenance for businesses and individuals, offering a range of templates and tools at a reasonable price point.

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.

FAQ

Build your website in 1 minute

Build your website in 1 minute

Tired of comparing? Try 10Web AI Website Builder and create your website in one minute.

See How It Works