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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google App Engine

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AGoogle App Engine is Google Cloud's platform-as-a-service offering. It features pay-per-use pricing and support for a broad array of programming languages.

    $0.05

    Per Hour Per Instance

    Shopify

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AShopify 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.

    $39

    per month

    Pricing
    Google App EngineShopify
    Editions & Modules
    Starting Price
    $0.05
    Per Hour Per Instance
    Max Price
    $0.30
    Per Hour Per Instance
    Basic Shopify
    $39
    per month
    Grow
    $105
    per month
    Advanced
    $399
    per month
    Shopify Plus
    2,000
    per month
    Shopify Plus
    2,300
    per month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google App EngineShopify
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—A 25% discount is offered for annual billing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google App EngineShopify
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    Shopify
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    12 Answers
    98%
    Would buy again
    80 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    77 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    12 Answers
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    76 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    10 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    68 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    92%
    Implementation went as expected
    12 Answers
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    69 Answers
    Features
    Google App EngineShopify
    Platform-as-a-Service
    Comparison of Platform-as-a-Service features of Google App Engine and Shopify
    Feature
    Google App Engine
    9.5
    32 Ratings
    20% above category average
    Shopify
    -
    Ratings
    Ease of building user interfaces9.018 Ratings00 Ratings
    Scalability10.032 Ratings00 Ratings
    Platform management overhead9.032 Ratings00 Ratings
    Workflow engine capability8.024 Ratings00 Ratings
    Platform access control10.031 Ratings00 Ratings
    Services-enabled integration10.028 Ratings00 Ratings
    Development environment creation10.029 Ratings00 Ratings
    Development environment replication10.028 Ratings00 Ratings
    Issue monitoring and notification9.028 Ratings00 Ratings
    Issue recovery9.026 Ratings00 Ratings
    Upgrades and platform fixes10.029 Ratings00 Ratings
    Online Storefront
    Comparison of Online Storefront features of Google App Engine and Shopify
    Feature
    Google App Engine
    -
    Ratings
    Shopify
    8.4
    149 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Product catalog & listings00 Ratings8.7149 Ratings
    Product management00 Ratings8.2147 Ratings
    Bulk product upload00 Ratings8.3125 Ratings
    Branding00 Ratings8.6146 Ratings
    Mobile storefront00 Ratings9.1142 Ratings
    Product variations00 Ratings7.9139 Ratings
    Website integration00 Ratings8.7140 Ratings
    Visual customization00 Ratings8.7146 Ratings
    CMS00 Ratings7.6118 Ratings
    Online Shopping Cart
    Comparison of Online Shopping Cart features of Google App Engine and Shopify
    Feature
    Google App Engine
    -
    Ratings
    Shopify
    8.5
    141 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Abandoned cart recovery00 Ratings8.2131 Ratings
    Checkout user experience00 Ratings8.8139 Ratings
    Online Payment System
    Comparison of Online Payment System features of Google App Engine and Shopify
    Feature
    Google App Engine
    -
    Ratings
    Shopify
    9.4
    143 Ratings
    12% above category average
    eCommerce security00 Ratings9.4143 Ratings
    eCommerce Marketing
    Comparison of eCommerce Marketing features of Google App Engine and Shopify
    Feature
    Google App Engine
    -
    Ratings
    Shopify
    8.3
    146 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Promotions & discounts00 Ratings8.4140 Ratings
    Personalized recommendations00 Ratings8.432 Ratings
    SEO00 Ratings8.1135 Ratings
    eCommerce Business Management
    Comparison of eCommerce Business Management features of Google App Engine and Shopify
    Feature
    Google App Engine
    -
    Ratings
    Shopify
    8.1
    147 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Multi-site management00 Ratings6.719 Ratings
    Order processing00 Ratings9.0144 Ratings
    Inventory management00 Ratings7.6143 Ratings
    Shipping00 Ratings8.4135 Ratings
    Custom functionality00 Ratings8.7136 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google App EngineShopify
    Small Businesses
    IBM Cloud Foundry
    Score8.5 out of 10
    Ecwid by Lightspeed
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM Cloud Private
    Score9.6 out of 10
    Shopify Plus
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    AWS Elastic Beanstalk
    Score8.6 out of 10
    IBM Digital Commerce
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google App EngineShopify
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (36 ratings)
    8.4
    (162 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.3
    (8 ratings)
    10.0
    (16 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (8 ratings)
    8.3
    (16 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.4
    (12 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google App EngineShopify
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    App Engine is such a good resource for our team both internally and externally. You have complete control over your app, how it runs, when it runs, and more while Google handles the back-end, scaling, orchestration, and so on. If you are serving a tool, system, or web page, it's perfect. If you are serving something back-end, like an automation or ETL workflow, you should be a little considerate or careful with how you are structuring that job. For instance, the Standard environment in Google App Engine will present you with a resource limit for your server calls. If your operations are known to take longer than, say, 10 minutes or so, you may be better off moving to the Flexible environment (which may be a little more expensive but certainly a little more powerful and a little less limited) or even moving that workflow to something like Google Compute Engine or another managed service.
    Incentivized
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    Shopify
    Shopify allowed us to handle matrix items and combined listings. Both of which we could not do on our previous platform. There was some customization involved but overall, it did what we needed it to. The one downside was that if we want to change anything we would have to reload the entire set of matrix items manually.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Google
    • Quick to develop, quick to deploy. You can be up and running on Google App Engine in no time.
    • Flexible. We use Java for some services and Node.js for others.
    • Great security features. We have been consistently impressed with the security and authentication features of Google App Engine.
    Incentivized
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    Shopify
    • It's base security and integration with trusted security partners (such as NoFraud) is a game-changer when it comes to reliability and a "hands off approach" for our IT department. The up-time is also very good.
    • It offers a wide range of verified plugins that are (for the most part) easy to install and use for any specific scenario you're looking for.
    • It's Analytics area in the admin is actually nice and offers a wide variety of reports that you can run.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Google
    • There is a slight learning curve to getting used to code on Google App Engine.
    • Google Cloud Datastore is Google's NoSQL database in the cloud that your applications can use. NoSQL databases, by design, cannot give handle complex queries on the data. This means that sometimes you need to think carefully about your data structures - so that you can get the results you need in your code.
    • Setting up billing is a little annoying. It does not seem to save billing information to your account so you can re-use the same information across different Cloud projects. Each project requires you to re-enter all your billing information (if required)
    Incentivized
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    Shopify
    • I would love it if Shopify built an in house app which helped us post UGCs and social proof from platforms such as Instagram, Youtube etc. more seamlessly on our website. Right now, we are able to do it through third party apps but the look and feel is just okay.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    App Engine is a solid choice for deployments to Google Cloud Platform that do not want to move entirely to a Kubernetes-based container architecture using a different Google product. For rapid prototyping of new applications and fairly straightforward web application deployments, we'll continue to leverage the capabilities that App Engine affords us.
    Incentivized
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    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!
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Google
    I had to revisit the UI after a year of just setting up and forgetting. The UI got some improvements but the amount of navigation we have to go through to setup a new app has increased but also got easier to setup. Gemini now is integrated and make getting answers faster
    Incentivized
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    Shopify
    It is fairly easy to use Shopify regardless of what task you are attempting to perform. Most things are customizable to a degree without requiring coding ability. I have very limited coding experience and have still been able to navigate my way around changing features of the website that require edits to the code with the use of AI and trial-and-error. This previously wasn't possible with the WooCommerce platform.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Shopify
    Shopify support is always available when you need them.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Shopify
    Shopify website speed is quite impressive. Even if we integrate couple apps, it does not hamper the site speed.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Google
    Good amount of documentation available for Google App Engine and in general there is large developer community around Google App Engine and other products it interacts with. Lastly, Google support is great in general. No issues so far with them.
    Incentivized
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    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
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Shopify
    Shopify offered us several trainings to setup a Shopify store, how to build a brand, SEO, product photography etc. All this content have been super helpful in our journey.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Shopify
    Just start now and make the switch, the sooner the better. You will love it and it is really a simple process
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    We were on another much smaller cloud provider and decided to make the switch for several reasons - stability, breadth of services, and security. In reviewing options, GCP provided the best mixtures of meeting our needs while also balancing the overall cost of the service as compared to the other major players in Azure and AWS.
    Incentivized
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    Shopify
    Big Commerce and SAP Hybris are two other platforms we've investigated and Shopify is by far easiest to use and customize. While it doesn't do everything out of the box, the apps do fill in many gaps. The cost however, is probably the biggest selling point against these other two options.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Shopify
    Shopify has basic to high-end plans. The plans grow with the brand`s growth and I love that about Shopify.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Google
    • Effective employee adoption through ease of use.
    • Effective integration to other java based frameworks.
    • Time to market is very quick. Build, test, deploy and use.
    • The GAE Whitelist for java is an important resource to know what works and what does not. So use it. It would also be nice for Google to expand on items that are allowed on GAE platform.
    Incentivized
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    Shopify
    • It got the store up quickly so the client could start selling. She was previously selling products on Etsy and Facebook and wanted to consolidate everything onto one website, so the main thing Shopify solved was to reduce the store owner's time in managing all her products on multiple sites. Also, we had previously built a website on Wix with all the custom functionality and branding she needed - a truly great, high-end website - but it performed so slowly that it was unusable. So the speed at which Shopify can be set up and then works on the page is appreciable.
    • The website was manageable by the client - she could figure the system out herself after a while so she saved money on costs for hiring developers. She did have to hire developers to customize some of the plug-ins but costs are all relative; it wasn't a high investment compared to building a full e-commerce website. With the complexity and size of her product base and the functionality and branding she wanted to have in a website, and the potential of her business, she would have needed to invest well over $10,000 to get to where she really needs to be. In the end she kept the budget under $5000.00.
    • Costs kept climbing with plug-ins having to be added with everything. My client became more involved in building the website and began to try multiple plugins, and she did not have the skill base to evaluate the plugins functionalities so she chose plugins that did not do everything she needed, and then ended up paying the plugin developers to customize the plugins. So on one hand, it's pretty amazing to be able to bring up an e-commerce website as quickly as a week or so, but on the other hand if you need anything customized or deeper functionality in regards to product searching and filtering on the web page, and management on the backend, it quickly goes beyond the skills of the average person to manage, and above their expected budget as well. In the end my client really did not get anything close to the functionality for the website we had originally envisioned.
    • Shopify was the easiest way we could find to bring the client's products to a global market. We evaluated several other platforms and the functionality simple did not seem to be adequate, so Shopify seemed like the only solution that could do enough of what we needed and still stay within this client's budget. Really the problem in this project was not platform per se but that the budget wasn't large enough. Shopify managed to provide a solution for an ecommerce store with thousands of products on a tiny budget, so in the sense of pure functionality it provided the best value of all the platforms we evaluated. The solution still isn't big enough for this client's business though so, without having insights into this client's post-build sales results, my guess is that because her new website did not make her products easier to sort through, and she likely didn't have much more budget left to invest in SEO and other marketing of the website, her sales probably didn't increase substantially as a result of having built the website. So I think this project all in all did not likely have a high ROI.
    Incentivized
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