Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued) vs. Shopify

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
Score 8.0 out of 10
N/A
Adobe Business Catalyst is an all-in-one cloud-hosted system for building and managing web content and online stores. It has a built-in CRM framework in addition to sales, service, and marketing features including eCommerce and Email Marketing tools. It is scheduled to be shutdown in 2021.
$10
per month
Shopify
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Shopify is a commerce platform designed for both online stores and retail locations. Shopify offers a professional online storefront, a payment solution to accept credit cards, and the Shopify POS application to power retail sales.
$29
per month
Pricing
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)Shopify
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Shopify Lite
$9
per month
Basic Shopify
$29
per month
Shopify
$79
per month
Advanced Shopify
$299
per month
Shopify Plus
2,000
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)Shopify
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)Shopify
Considered Both Products
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
Chose Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
Bigcommerce or Shopify
Shopify
Chose Shopify
Adobe Business Catalyst was used before Shopify but we ended moving away from the platform and we constantly ran into issues. The support wasn't like Shopify, nor was the platform as reliable. Shopify handles alot more, alot better but we found the constant need to add add-ons …
Chose Shopify
We were Business Catalyst users since 2009 (before it was acquired by Adobe). We met Adobe in person to discuss future development of the Business Catalyst platform, and it served us well until Adobe halted development on it and ultimately discontinued it. We grew accustomed to …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)Shopify
Email & Online Marketing
Comparison of Email & Online Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
6.6
15 Ratings
13% below category average
Shopify
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG email editor2.313 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic content9.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Ability to test dynamic content7.911 Ratings00 Ratings
Landing pages7.011 Ratings00 Ratings
A/B testing7.05 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization8.013 Ratings00 Ratings
Email deliverability reporting8.126 Ratings00 Ratings
List management3.013 Ratings00 Ratings
Triggered drip sequences6.88 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead Management
Comparison of Lead Management features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
1.7
11 Ratings
119% below category average
Shopify
-
Ratings
Lead nurturing1.711 Ratings00 Ratings
Lead scoring and grading2.28 Ratings00 Ratings
Data quality management1.49 Ratings00 Ratings
Automated sales alerts and tasks1.610 Ratings00 Ratings
Campaign Management
Comparison of Campaign Management features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
2.3
11 Ratings
106% below category average
Shopify
-
Ratings
Calendaring2.410 Ratings00 Ratings
Event/webinar marketing2.39 Ratings00 Ratings
Social Media Marketing
Comparison of Social Media Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
8.2
9 Ratings
17% above category average
Shopify
-
Ratings
Social sharing and campaigns7.87 Ratings00 Ratings
Social profile integration8.68 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
7.0
15 Ratings
0% below category average
Shopify
-
Ratings
Dashboards8.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports7.015 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports6.012 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
6.6
14 Ratings
8% below category average
Shopify
-
Ratings
API7.911 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based workflow & approvals7.014 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizability6.013 Ratings00 Ratings
Integration with Salesforce.com5.52 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Storefront
Comparison of Online Storefront features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
-
Ratings
Shopify
8.2
133 Ratings
5% above category average
Product catalog & listings00 Ratings8.6133 Ratings
Product management00 Ratings8.5131 Ratings
Bulk product upload00 Ratings7.9112 Ratings
Branding00 Ratings8.3132 Ratings
Mobile storefront00 Ratings8.5128 Ratings
Product variations00 Ratings8.0125 Ratings
Website integration00 Ratings8.6126 Ratings
Visual customization00 Ratings7.8131 Ratings
CMS00 Ratings7.7107 Ratings
Online Shopping Cart
Comparison of Online Shopping Cart features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
-
Ratings
Shopify
8.3
127 Ratings
8% above category average
Abandoned cart recovery00 Ratings8.0118 Ratings
Checkout user experience00 Ratings8.6125 Ratings
Online Payment System
Comparison of Online Payment System features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
-
Ratings
Shopify
8.8
129 Ratings
3% above category average
eCommerce security00 Ratings8.8129 Ratings
eCommerce Marketing
Comparison of eCommerce Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
-
Ratings
Shopify
8.1
131 Ratings
6% above category average
Promotions & discounts00 Ratings8.1126 Ratings
Personalized recommendations00 Ratings8.432 Ratings
SEO00 Ratings7.9122 Ratings
eCommerce Business Management
Comparison of eCommerce Business Management features of Product A and Product B
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)
-
Ratings
Shopify
7.8
132 Ratings
0% below category average
Multi-site management00 Ratings6.719 Ratings
Order processing00 Ratings8.5130 Ratings
Inventory management00 Ratings8.6129 Ratings
Shipping00 Ratings8.2122 Ratings
Custom functionality00 Ratings7.2122 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)Shopify
Small Businesses
monday marketer
monday marketer
Score 9.2 out of 10
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
monday marketer
monday marketer
Score 9.2 out of 10
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Kentico Xperience
Kentico Xperience
Score 8.8 out of 10
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)Shopify
Likelihood to Recommend
6.0
(21 ratings)
8.8
(146 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.4
(10 ratings)
9.2
(15 ratings)
Usability
9.7
(4 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(8 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Performance
8.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(10 ratings)
10.0
(4 ratings)
Online Training
8.6
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.6
(6 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)Shopify
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
The service provision is good the accounts customer service is poor so I would struggle to give BC a better than average review, if only they could offer customers a better accounts service then the value would be much higher.
Read full review
Shopify
Shopify is a great platform for small to medium-sized businesses looking to set up an online store. It's easy to use, offers a wide range of features and integrations, and is perfect for businesses in the retail and food industry. However, large enterprise businesses with complex and custom needs may find Shopify less suitable.
Read full review
Pros
Adobe
  • Probably one of the easiest e-commerce platforms to work in, it does take setup, but compared to a lot of other e-commerce solutions, this is probably the best one that I have seen that can be designed and implemented custom.
  • Their template system works very well and allows you to create and re-use templates across Adobe Business Catalyst.
  • Their pre-built modules are great, giving people a great way to use common web elements without having to use a plug-in or find some solution, it is simply built in and generally works exactly as you would expect.
  • Adobe Business Catalyst is more of an all-around solution, providing elements that most smaller companies would have a hard time figuring out, since it includes the ability to build websites, send and track e-mails, analytics. It really is a powerful tool that would typically require a fair amount of coding knowledge and expertise but with the system already built, it can be easily modified and edited by those with limited or no coding knowledge at all.
Read full review
Shopify
  • It is definitely easy to set up and get going. This does not take a lot of work or effort on the user end, especially if using templates.
  • Low code platform. You can. make customizations without code.
  • The integrations are diverse and increase functionality.
Read full review
Cons
Adobe
  • Multi Client Management: The dashboard for managing multiple clients as a reseller is a little difficult to get to. There is also no very easy way for me to manage multiple clients at once. I have to log into and out of individual client accounts to do billing or management.
  • Lack of Server support: There are certain server protocols and languages that are not supported using BC. For example I cannot build a custom php database and upload to BC. I am required to use their tools.
Read full review
Shopify
  • The main drawback that I am facing in Shopify for a long time is that their sales analytics system is not up to mark. As I am using Shopify to run different stores for my organization it does not get updated after-sales and does not provide the right analytics about the product strength and number of sales.
  • Secondly, Shopify has different apps which are best to run the store on max strength but they are very much costly like inventory management, generating multiple discount codes, and more robust customizable editing.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
Actually with Business Catalyst there is no renewal; once you are a partner, you are a partner for as long as you like. It is an investment in your business not simply a product you purchase...and as an investment in partnership with Adobe, both are committed to each other's success.
Read full review
Shopify
Nothing we have used in the past or have seen thus far even comes close to offering what we get with Shopify Plus, especially for the price. You cannot even come close to getting what we are getting at the price we pay. We are beyond thrilled and Shopify Plus meets and exceeds all of our needs and expectations. We love it!
Read full review
Usability
Adobe
Overall it is a "plug and play" interface. The majority of the work is done in other software interfaces. Managing billing, user roles and custom reports are all that you need to manage in the actual BC user interface. For my business this is an incredible benefit as I have to leave my preferred software less.
Read full review
Shopify
I think most people are able to suer Shopify that have used a computer. There are some features that take a bit longer to learn. If you are not a creative person it may be a bit more difficult to learn the website customization, but with a help guide or tutorial it will only take a few tries to understand how to work the interface
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Adobe
very few issues with availability
Read full review
Shopify
No answers on this topic
Performance
Adobe
Very few issues
Read full review
Shopify
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Adobe
The support provided by Adobe is excellent. Though the knowledge base, forums, blogs and online chat questions most all answers can be found. In the event that you are unable to find an answer or you have a unique situation simply post a question to the forums. These forums are regularly monitored by Adobe and its users.
Read full review
Shopify
In terms of support I give Shopify a 9 out of 10 because they're always very friendly and thorough, and they personally can't solve my problem for me they always point me in the proper direction with the proper information I need to move forward
Read full review
Online Training
Adobe
bcgurus.com kiyuco
Read full review
Shopify
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Adobe
Pretty easy to do
Read full review
Shopify
Just start now and make the switch, the sooner the better. You will love it and it is really a simple process
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Adobe
As far as the CMS for BC goes, there is none out there that compares. In the past we have utilized Joomla, Wordpress, Mambo, Drupal, Concrete 5 and others. None of them were as easy to use and train on that Adobe's Business Catalyst. Our alternative to BC is WordPress when our clients want a less expensive solution. For the most part that works OK but we have had issues with plugin incompatibility among other issues. We lost at least two clients because of similar issues. The other great part about BC's solution is that we can still work with our favorite site creation tool - Dreamweaver. The whole process continues to be more and more simplified with added features to the system. No other solution (that we've found) offers such an easy way to create custom web sites that are easily editable by our clients.
Read full review
Shopify
The old platform that I used could not help us to meet our requirements. It was not helping us properly, then I got to know about Shopify and started using it. After 1 month [of] usage of Shopify we could understand that this is the best platform [for E-commerce] to make better sales and goodwill. Shopify helped us to get a proper idea of the analytics of the website. Shopify [supports] most of the [applications] and helps us to make better results.
Read full review
Scalability
Adobe
It's easy to build small sites or large sites and there is lots of templating.
Read full review
Shopify
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Adobe
  • As someone who uses it on behalf of other clients, our ROI with BC is definitely positive. We needed a mid-range CMS without huge licensing costs to satisfy mid-range clients who have some dynamic needs but doesn't need the expense or liability of enterprise level products. Without it we would have lost possible customers or taken bigger hits on projects because of the costs involved with satisfying their mid-level needs
  • Our clients are all usually very positive about the BC platform and are able to use it themselves which lessens our Support time/cost.
  • To use the Web App element,. which we do on almost every site, you need to pay for the highest plan. This brings along with it many features most of our clients would never use. A more basic plan with that Web App capability would be a big improvement on our costs.
Read full review
Shopify
  • Small vendor can't make more sell as they needs to pay monthly plan and commission on sale.
  • For large vendor it is really good sell products easily to using powerful SEO features and Shopify promotes products on they side also.
  • Used power algorithm for Abandoned cart and catalog search.
Read full review
ScreenShots