Tillkit / Tillkit vs Shopify
A Shopify alternative you pay for once
Tillkit is the source code for a complete online store that you host yourself: $79 once plus about $5 a month on Railway, instead of a monthly Shopify plan. Here is what that saves in a year, and what you give up for it.
Updated October 2026
Year one, side by side
Platform and hosting costs only. Card fees, apps, themes and your domain are covered below the table.
| Tillkit Core | Shopify Basic, billed yearly | Shopify Basic, billed monthly | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software | $79 once | included | included |
| Platform or hosting | $5 × 12 = $60 | $29 × 12 = $348 | $39 × 12 = $468 |
| Year one | $139 | $348 | $468 |
| Each year after | $60 | $348 | $468 |
| US online card fee | 2.9% + 30¢ (Stripe) | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ |
Prices checked October 28, 2026 on Shopify's pricing page, Railway's pricing page and Stripe's pricing page. Tillkit's hosting is Railway's Hobby plan, which costs $5 a month and includes $5 of usage, enough for a small store; a busier store can use more. Shopify's pricing page also advertises a short free trial and $1 a month for the first three months, which lowers its first year.
Card fees are about the same
Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ per successful US card payment, with no monthly fee, plus 1.5% for cards issued outside the US. Shopify Payments lists the same 2.9% + 30¢ for online cards on the Basic plan. If you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments on Basic, Shopify adds a 2% fee on top of that provider's own fee.
So the saving is the platform fee itself: on Shopify Basic, $209 to $329 in year one and $288 to $408 in each year after, before any paid apps.
What you give up
A hosted platform does real work for its monthly fee. With Tillkit, that work is yours, or ours if you pay for setup.
- You run the hosting. The store runs on your own Railway account. The setup guide walks you through it, and Railway handles the servers, but you own the account and its bill.
- No app store. Tillkit is a single-store codebase. New features are changes to the code, made by you, an AI coding assistant or a developer.
- A web store only. There's no point-of-sale for in-person selling and no built-in selling on marketplaces.
- Stripe for cards. There's no Shopify Payments or Shop Pay. Customers pay through your own Stripe account (cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay), and there's a template for connecting another card processor.
- Support is short and by email. Core includes 30 days of setup help. After that, custom changes are $100 an hour.
What you get instead
- The code is yours to change. The full Node.js source, with no platform deciding what you may edit.
- Back-office tools in the box. Supplier invoices (PDF, Excel or CSV) become stock and landed cost, with a reorder planner, purchase orders, profit and margin reports, and a by-state sales tax report. On a hosted platform, check which of these your plan includes and which need an app.
- No platform fee as you grow. Your costs are hosting and card fees.
- Built for AI edits. A CLAUDE.md file and tests that run without keys let an AI coding assistant change the store safely. How that works.
Which one fits
Pick Shopify if
- you want zero setup and zero upkeep
- you rely on apps from an app store
- you sell in person or on marketplaces
- you'd rather pay monthly than run hosting
Pick Tillkit if
- a monthly platform bill is what you want to stop paying
- you want to own and change the code
- you track stock from supplier invoices and want real margins
- you're happy to follow a guide, ask an AI assistant, or have us set it up
Other ways to stop paying a platform fee
WooCommerce, the store plugin for WordPress, is free to download. You still need WordPress hosting, which WooCommerce's own pricing page estimates at $25 to $350 a month for most stores, and its marketplace extensions are typically $29 to $299 a year each (WooCommerce pricing). Tillkit is a smaller codebase with one dependency, built to run on Railway's $5 plan.
Try it before you buy
The live demo runs the same code as the kit, and its admin is open and read-only, so you can try the invoice upload, the reports and the order screens. See every feature.
Questions
Is Tillkit cheaper than Shopify?
In platform fees, yes. Tillkit is $79 once plus about $5 a month for hosting, so about $139 in year one and $60 a year after. Shopify Basic is $348 to $468 a year before apps. Card fees are about the same either way. In exchange, you run the hosting.
Is Tillkit a Shopify theme or app?
No. It's a complete store that runs on its own, on your Railway account, with no Shopify account involved.
Can I move my Shopify store to Tillkit?
There's no one-click import. You add products in Tillkit's admin. Shopify can export your products as a CSV file, and our done-for-you setup loads up to 25 products from a spreadsheet you provide.
Does Tillkit work with Shop Pay or Shopify Payments?
No. Customers pay through your own Stripe account, with cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and there's a template for connecting another card processor.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. The setup guide is written for people who don't code. For changes later, you can ask an AI coding assistant or hire us.
Own your store.
$79 once for the full source code, the setup guide and 30 days of setup help by email. Hosting is yours, from $5 a month on Railway. Building stores for clients? The Agency License is $249.