Netlify Platform vs. Volusion

Netlify is a static website host, so it obviously wouldn't work for hosting dynamic websites built in PHP, such as WordPress or Drupal. It works very well with static sites with a git codebase on something like GitHub. It has automatic deployments, which include preview websites. It works very well with this workflow. There are solutions for allowing content authoring on static websites on Netlify, but I would probably reach for something like WordPress or Drupal for that.

Incentivized

Volusion is a good company if you're starting out. The problem is that, if you want more complexity out of the program, you're kind of stuck. Also the regular time out errors and slow downs can be very frustrating. Packages that miss overnight deadlines because your system stops working can cost you customers. In today's highly competitive market, that's just something that's hard to put up with. If you have a lower volume of business you might be able to work around these issues.

Incentivized

• I can connect Github/Gitlab repos or drag and drop code folders directly to host them onto the platform, and can customize build and publish details. It handles all granular details itself, so I don't have to worry about configuring everything like I would have to do on an IaaS like AWS
• Netlify Platform has inbuilt scalability support - meaning automatic upgrading of servers to handle traffic, without us needing to do anything at all, again, unlike IaaS, where we'd have to manually configure scaling
• It has a built in CDN, meaning static applications can be served blazing fast over the web without worrying about traffic or latency

Incentivized

• Templates are pre-built for a good end user experience. I've gone through the process of building custom sites as well as tweaking both free and paid templates that Volusion's design team provides.
• Their support team didn't use to be as helpful, but in recent years have answered nearly all questions I've had. Their support section within the database provides detailed walkthrus as well.
• Order processing is easy once you've been trained on the system. We got to a point where nearly the entire process was automated from initial purchase through shipping.

Incentivized

• it is not aimed at it but first party laravel support would be nice.
• their free tier was so handy, i wish they start some similar efforts
• incorporate more WebOps mindset

Incentivized

• API calls use the previous call as a reference, even if you weren't the one we made the previous call. Can lead to data gaps, so you often have to set a manual date range to look back to make sure you aren't missing any data.
• Not as customizable as most ecommerce platforms
• Not as many integration options as most platforms

Incentivized

When you spend so much time with a product like this and not only have you witnessed its growth, but you almost feel like you are next those that make the decisions of building features a certain way, you can't help but want to stay and be a part of their continued growth. It's simply a great product. Can it improve? By all means! But it will only improve because of users and avid resellers like me.

We interact with the CLI via our CI/CD pipeline. It was very straightforward to get set up, and their documentation is thorough. There are a ton of examples online of various setups. We needed to deploy a React SPA, so we required redirects, which was straightforward with Netlify.

Incentivized

I know what to do to add a new product, promotion or do an analysis of sales.

Incentivized

You have to wait on hold for at least 45 minutes every call—the tech support person never knows the answer right away so they put you on 10 minute holds only to come back and say they're still looking for answers. The chat function could take days to get a response. Our "Dedicated Account Manager" never checks in or answers, nor are they ever in the office when we call. It's like they try to be as unavailable as possible until you forget why you even called in the first place. Insane.

Incentivized

It is best to use the built-in features and recommended services for the most turn-key experience (ie. Skipjack for payment processing so that it can all be done from the Volusion backend).

Netlify Platform is the first choice that we are using in this organization continuously and it's been a very promising platform to use. It also maintains the things very well. it also giving a very good updates. It is very easy to use and very easy to learn. overall it is good.

Incentivized

While k-eCommerce was very glamorous to us because it integrates with our main workflow, it just didn't have some of the marketing features that are so integral to the way we do business online. The set-up costs were also way too high. Volusion is so affordable and feature heavy, it makes it very difficult for any shopping cart provider to compete. You can find others who are competitively priced and have similar features, but they simply aren't as robust (at least for the way we use it)

• it's free to get started and to work on small frontend projects for testing and qa
• very nice DNS Management
• quick and easy to use, reduces dev efforts

Incentivized

• Honestly, when you're in the dashboard, the UX is simply horrendous. I mean, everything that should be 1-2 clicks away is 4-6 clicks away, and each pages takes at least four seconds to load. You just find yourself wasting a lot of time waiting for things to load. This should be more simple.