Shift4Shop vs Infusionsoft by Keap: Which is Better?
Choose the right eCommerce platform to build and grow your business
VS.
What was founded in 2001 as Infusionsoft by Scott and Eric Martineau with Clate Mask has since rebranded to Keap, sharing the name of its new software product that was launched in 2018. Infusionsoft is Keap’s legacy platform, which is a SaaS product and all-in-one sales and marketing platform with CRM and small business eCommerce features built in. Keap’s office headquarters is located in Chandler, Arizona.
Shift4Shop is a feature-rich eCommerce platform serving businesses of all sizes in a wide range of industries across the globe. Offering an unmatched free eCommerce solution, the company provides everything you need to start — and grow — your business. This turnkey eCommerce experience includes powerful tools to help businesses succeed — a robust website builder, product and order management, customer marketing tools, and more. Customers can choose from dozens of professionally designed, industry-specific templates, all of which are mobile-friendly, SEO optimized, and highly customizable.
According to Keap, Infusionsoft is designed for service-based businesses that have already been established. This means that their software is mainly tailored to one specific type of business; if you’re a larger business, or a new business that’s looking for a way to start selling online, then Infusionsoft isn’t designed for you. While it does provide a comprehensive suite of CRM and marketing automation tools as part of its software, it’s lacking in eCommerce functionality. You can do a lot with their marketing campaign tools, customer relationship software, and sales features, but you’re ultimately going to be limited when it comes to building and managing an eCommerce storefront and shopping cart. Infusionsoft supports up to 3 variations per product and has built-in templates that support only 50 products. If you want your own custom URL, you’ll have to buy and register that yourself; the only thing Infusionsoft will provide to you for free is an Infusionsoft sub-domain with random letters and numbers rather than your store name. The best way to take advantage of what Infusionsoft has to offer is by integrating it into an existing website that you’ve already designed and established an online presence with.
With Shift4Shop, you don’t have to worry about limited eCommerce functionality; you can add an unlimited number of product options and products on your uniquely designed online store. Shift4Shop is built to support any size store, whether you’re one person starting a business for the first time or you’re a huge enterprise-level company with thousands of employees and products. We'll even help you register a custom domain name, ensuring that your branding stays consistent across your entire online presence without the need for third-party assistance.
Affordable pricingWhile Keap offers three plans for their software products, only their most expensive one called “Infusionsoft by Keap” supports selling products online. But even though you’re paying $149 every month for that plan, you don’t get full eCommerce functionality out of the box. In order to sell products, services or subscriptions, gain access to your own storefront and shopping cart, and build order forms, you’ll need to pay an extra $399 every month. If you want to manage your sales pipeline, including automated emails and reporting, then that adds another $299 every month. If you want to add users to your account, that’s another $29 monthly charge. Even adding more than 500 contacts adds an extra charge, which can go up to $280 monthly. With Shift4Shop, there’s no hidden fees — you'll get everything you need to sell online successfully, and we even have a free, unlimited plan available.
Multi-channel supportIf you’re interested in or already are selling on multiple channels, both online and physical, then Infusionsoft doesn’t have the tools to support that. There’s no built-in point of sale feature, as well as no integration with Facebook Shops, eBay, or Amazon. To integrate with these platforms, you’ll need to use a third-party application. However, Shift4Shop comes with built-in tools to allow you to sell on multiple channels without needing to seek out an external integration.
“Infusionsoft seemed promising when I first saw how extensive their suite of CRM, marketing, and sales features was. But my biggest mistake was thinking that I could use their platform for my entire online store. My storefront was limited and couldn’t look the way I wanted it to, and my site URL didn’t say my store name at all. I wish I had only used Infusionsoft’s services for everything but eCommerce from the beginning, because I now integrate its basic CRM and sales features with my Shift4Shop store that has all the freedom I need at a much more affordable price.”
– Former Infusionsoft Merchant
Built-in eCommerce featuresIf you’re using software that needs to support your entire online store, then you should have all the essential eCommerce features built-in. With Infusionsoft, you’re going to be missing out on a lot of vital tools for both running your store and marketing your store, including features like SEO tools, A/B testing, product reviews, saved shopping carts, gift certificates & store credit, shipping labels and more. Some features are only available via a third-party app, including inventory management, wishlists and loyalty programs. On Shift4Shop, all of these features (and more) are built-in and ready to use out-of-the-box.
How do free Infusionsoft themes stack up against free Shift4Shop themes?
Infusionsoft is severely lacking in free themes that you can enable and customize for your online storefront, only giving merchants a choice of 2 general layouts and a handful of themes. Even with their small theme selection, each theme looks almost exactly the same aside from small aesthetic changes in font and color. Their themes come off as generally outdated and clunky, with limited options to change things up; all you can do is edit CSS and HTML, change labels to customize specific text, and add your logo and banner images to specific areas. Unless you want your storefront to look like every other Infusionsoft storefront, you’ll need to seek out a third-party design solution or simply host your storefront on another platform.
With a huge (and growing) selection of free themes to choose from, Shift4Shop gives merchants a wide variety of options when it comes to designing their full-featured online store. Each theme is built to be responsive and fully functional for any eCommerce store, and professionally designed so your business can stand out in a unique way that works for you. Customization isn’t limited to basic design changes with these themes either, since all core themes can be edited using the Theme Editor and HTML Builder. If you want more extensive customization, you can also edit the CSS and HTML of your site to get an even more customized design.
Shift4Shop is powered by Shift4 Payments, which will have you ready to accept payments within minutes. You can also expand your store with over 160 payment integrations to accept alternate payment methods including everything from PayPal to digital wallets to bitcoin. And even beyond payments, your business will have access to a huge set of features for building and growing your business, without relying on apps that incur an extra charge.
With Infusionsoft, you’re lacking in both built-in features and payment gateways, relying heavily on third-party apps to carry the weight of integration. Besides the proprietary Infusionsoft Payments, you don't have many other options. This means less customization for your store (and fewer options to offer your customers) plus increased expenses from app costs. Many features aren't available at all, even with an extra app.
Shift4Shop offers merchants unlimited access to an expert customer service and technical support team that’s ready to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year (including holidays). With support available via chat, phone, email, and support ticket, in addition to a comprehensive knowledge base, you’ll be able to find an answer to any question you have.
Keap offers 3 forms of support to Infusionsoft merchants: chat, phone and community forums. While their chat support is available 24/7, phone support is only open during office hours. Unfortunately, some users report that they find better help via phone support, so you may be stuck waiting until their offices open for a clear answer to your issue.