Skip to main content
TrustRadius
Miva

Miva

Overview

What is Miva?

Miva Merchant is a point-and-click, online store development and management system that allows merchants to build their online store through a web browser, and lets developers provide aftermarket enhancements for the online store.

Read more
Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Miva is a versatile eCommerce engine that caters to both B2B operations and businesses of all sizes. Users appreciate the platform's high …
Continue reading

Miva Merchant Review

1 out of 10
April 08, 2015
We used Miva Merchant to build e-commerce websites for clients. We worked with small businesses and individuals on their e-commerce needs. …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

Popular Features

View all 20 features
  • Order processing (6)
    7.7
    77%
Return to navigation

Pricing

View all pricing
N/A
Unavailable

What is Miva?

Miva Merchant is a point-and-click, online store development and management system that allows merchants to build their online store through a web browser, and lets developers provide aftermarket enhancements for the online store.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.miva.com/miva-ecommerce…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?

5 people also want pricing

Alternatives Pricing

What is Shopify?

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.

What is Wix?

Wix is a free, hosted website builder, designed to be user-friendly and customizable without requiring coding from the user. It is well-known for its eCommerce solution, which allows users to build an online store.

Return to navigation

Product Demos

MIVA Demo copy 2

YouTube

Miva – Business Consulting WordPress Theme Download, Installation and Import Demo Content

YouTube

MIVA - Illusion (demo)

YouTube

REPAY for MIVA Demo

YouTube

Miva demo video

YouTube
Return to navigation

Features

Online Storefront

Features for creating an online storefront with a browse-able product catalog.

8.3
Avg 7.7

Online Shopping Cart

Features that facilitate the collection of items so that customers can purchase them as a group.

7.5
Avg 7.6

Online Payment System

Features related to processing online payment for eCommerce purchases.

7.6
Avg 8.3

eCommerce Marketing

Features related to marketing for eCommerce websites

7.3
Avg 7.5

eCommerce Business Management

Features related to business management and administration of eCommerce operations

8
Avg 7.8
Return to navigation

Product Details

What is Miva?

Miva is an ecommerce platform which provides businesses with a flexible website and fully-customizable catalog and checkout system with control over the look, content, and functionality of their online store.

Miva is invested in its core competency as an ecommerce platform provider, continuously developing solutions to modern merchants’ most pressing needs. The vendor states Miva excels at supporting businesses whose complex product catalogs or specialized industry requirements have proved too challenging for other ecommerce platforms to handle. With over two decades of experience serving businesses that sell everything from aftermarket parts and fresh-caught seafood to custom diamond rings and swimming pools, Miva invites sellers to bring them the problems other platforms can’t handle.

How Miva Supports a Ecommerce System:

  • Interface provides web management for non-technical users
  • Platform designed to enable B2B and DTC sales on a single website
  • Extensive native functionality minimizes the need for third-party apps and plugins
  • Unlimited product variations for high SKU count (from thousands to millions) catalogs and dependent SKUs
  • Managed ERP integrations with Miva Connect
  • Back-office integrations through Miva’s JSON API
How Miva Helps Merchants Create a Store That Sells More:
  • Built-in subscriptions and reordering for frictionless repeat purchasing
  • Online sales quotes help sales teams automate their sales processes
  • Custom product builders help customers bundle products into kits and custom orders
  • Advanced shipping logic supports complex shipping and compliance requirements
  • Smart pricing options for customer and rule-based pricing

Miva Features

Online Storefront Features

  • Supported: Product catalog & listings
  • Supported: Product management
  • Supported: Bulk product upload
  • Supported: Branding
  • Supported: Search & filter
  • Supported: Mobile storefront
  • Supported: Product variations
  • Supported: Website integration
  • Supported: Visual customization
  • Supported: CMS
  • Supported: Customer service tools

Online Shopping Cart Features

  • Supported: Abandoned cart recovery
  • Supported: Tax calculator
  • Supported: Shipping calculator
  • Supported: Checkout user experience

Online Payment System Features

  • Supported: PayPal integration
  • Supported: Returns & refunds
  • Supported: Single-click checkout
  • Supported: eCommerce security
  • Supported: B2B features

eCommerce Marketing Features

  • Supported: Promotions & discounts
  • Supported: Personalized recommendations
  • Supported: SEO
  • Supported: Product reviews
  • Supported: Customer registration

eCommerce Business Management Features

  • Supported: Multi-site management
  • Supported: Order processing
  • Supported: Inventory management
  • Supported: Accounting
  • Supported: Shipping
  • Supported: Custom functionality

Additional Features

  • Supported: Online Sales Quotes

Miva Video

Lotus Sculpture outgrew Yahoo Stores and moved to Miva to keep his business on track.

Miva Integrations

Miva Competitors

Miva Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Mac
Mobile ApplicationNo
Supported CountriesAll
Supported LanguagesEnglish

Frequently Asked Questions

Miva Merchant is a point-and-click, online store development and management system that allows merchants to build their online store through a web browser, and lets developers provide aftermarket enhancements for the online store.

Shopify, Volusion, and WooCommerce are common alternatives for Miva.

Reviewers rate Order processing highest, with a score of 7.7.

The most common users of Miva are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).

Miva Customer Size Distribution

Consumers0%
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)90%
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees)8%
Enterprises (more than 500 employees)2%
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(29)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Miva is a versatile eCommerce engine that caters to both B2B operations and businesses of all sizes. Users appreciate the platform's high level of customization, allowing them to tailor the customer experience and backend connections to their specific needs. This flexibility extends to design and code adjustments, making it easy for users to optimize their sites for SEO and Google snippets. Miva prioritizes security by ensuring compliance with PCI/PDA-SS requirements, giving customers peace of mind when it comes to protecting their data. The platform also seamlessly integrates with popular third-party services like PayPal, Power Reviews, Shipworks, and Authorize.net.

Miva Merchant goes beyond being an online cart and offers a robust templating system and powerful customization capabilities using Miva Script. Customers find it to be a cost-effective choice for comprehensive e-commerce systems that provide all the necessary functionalities at an affordable price point. The platform has gained popularity among developers for its ongoing development, responsive support, and active community. One of its standout features is its user-friendliness, even for non-tech-savvy individuals, thanks to its intuitive interface and excellent customer service available 24/7. With Miva, users can create functional and user-friendly websites that remain under their control while striking a balance between ease of use and customization options.

The platform's configurability allows businesses to overcome security and SEO challenges effortlessly, while its ability to handle high traffic loads without issues ensures seamless operations even during peak periods. Miva serves as a reliable backend sales platform, providing modern front-end interfaces for retail and wholesale customers while offering integrations to automate various processes. Users value Miva's exceptional customer support, with knowledgeable staff delivering timely and insightful responses. Many online companies rely on Miva Merchant for merchandising and content management, particularly those offering a wide range of products.

However, some users have encountered challenges such as MAP pricing implementation, inventory management with POS systems, and integrating live data feeds. Despite these hurdles, Miva Merchant has been successfully utilized to create and launch ecommerce websites, providing wireframe design, strategy, implementation, and ongoing support. Users appreciate the platform's powerful and customizable nature when building online storefronts for clients. They have managed over 1000 products seamlessly through Miva Merchant, allowing customers to place orders, track shipments, and create accounts. The flexibility and customization options of Miva Merchant have received praise for facilitating unique online store designs and streamlined workflows. Its extensive community of developers enables the creation of custom templates, giving stores a unique look and feel. In addition to the built-in scripting language and modules, users have found that Miva Merchant offers further customization options to meet their specific needs.

The exceptional assistance provided by Miva's support staff, online documentation, and user community has been commended by users. This level of support is particularly valuable for users who may be new to the platform or facing technical challenges. Miva Merchant has proven to be a cost-effective and flexible choice for many businesses seeking an ecommerce solution.

However, it is worth noting that some users have experienced reliability issues with hosting, as well as a lack of critical management features and delayed updates when compared to other ecommerce platforms. As a result, some users have chosen to migrate from Miva Merchant to alternative platforms like Shopify and Big Commerce, citing cost and feature considerations as key factors in their decision.

Despite these challenges, Miva Merchant continues to come recommended by service providers due to its flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and feature set. The platform remains popular among developers and businesses alike for its ability to create and manage online catalogs and ecommerce projects effectively. With its customizable design options, secure infrastructure, powerful integrations, and ongoing development support, Miva proves to be a trusted solution for those seeking full-featured ecommerce systems.

Limitless Customization Options: Users appreciate the platform's limitless customization options, with several reviewers stating that they can fully customize their store design and functionality to accommodate any design elements. They find it convenient to use external API options via XML and JSON, which adds even more flexibility to their customization capabilities.

Easy to Learn and Use: Many users find the platform easy to learn and program, specifically mentioning PHP, JQuery, and other programming languages. Some reviewers have praised its user-friendly interface and intuitive features, making it effortless for them to navigate and utilize the platform effectively.

Solid Architecture and Reliable Performance: The solid architecture of the platform is highly appreciated by users who find it reliable. Several users have mentioned that they trust the platform's performance as the company invests in its future development, ensuring a stable and dependable experience for their businesses.

  1. User-Friendly Admin Area: Some users have found the Miva admin area to be not very user-friendly and outdated in terms of its user interface UI. They have expressed frustration with navigating and using the admin area, which can make managing their online store more challenging.

  2. Limited Theme Engine: Several users have mentioned that the current Miva Merchant lacks a clean and standards-compliant theme engine like WordPress, making it less desirable compared to other options. This limitation restricts their ability to customize the look and feel of their online store according to modern design trends.

  3. Cumbersome Page Content Editing: Users have pointed out that editing page content in MIVA is a cumbersome and old-school task, lacking a WYSIWYG editor. This means they need to rely on manual HTML coding or use external tools for editing content, which adds complexity and time-consuming steps to their workflow.

Based on user reviews, the most common recommendations for Miva are to consider its power, affordability, and functionality. Users highly recommend it for businesses with unique needs and coding knowledge. They suggest investing in support and customization, including hiring expert programmers or development teams. Users also emphasize the importance of attending Mivacon conferences, engaging with documentation and forums, and taking advantage of Miva's robust support services. Additionally, reviewers advise evaluating the size of the business and desired level of control before choosing a platform. They recommend comparing features, exploring hosting options, and considering costs to ensure Miva's flexibility meets specific business requirements.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-19 of 19)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Paco Goebel | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Miva is so much more customer oriented and willing to work with and for you. There are many modules you can install to get specific functionality to work, but if there's none available, they are more than willing to work with you to accomplish your needs. Miva actually listens and acts on customer feedback to keep their product growing and improving.
Marc Vasquez | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Each player has positive features and value to add to a business. BigCommerce and Shopify have brand recognition that has lead to them being the more common choice in eCommerce. Overall, they have their place for simple B2C sites, and less complex B2B sites. Miva was the only one where we had access to not only the core of the platform, but every part of our page templates. Most platforms will give you a box to stay in, but Miva lets you define the box, and when it doesn't fit your needs, you can adjust it to bring it where it will benefit your company most. Some of the major benefits that we couldn't find on other platforms: Ability to incorporate APIs at any stage of customer journey Unlimited Custom / Complex Product Configurators and Builders Easy to understand the structure and hierarchy of pages and templates.
Rebecca Blackburn | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Versatility and customer service. There is nothing more frustrating than being in the middle of a task and having to do tech support via a computer-generated chat box. Miva Merchant gives you a live tech support engineer 24/7.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Miva is more costly than its competitors. [In my opinion] it's harder to set up and use and user interface is cumbersome. Requires costly customization for integration to services you get from Big Commerce or Shopify right out of the box. No Google Shopping integration. No Trust Pilot, no Zendesk, etc. [I think] Product Catalog management is not well thought out. [In my experience] you'll spend much more time tweaking Miva to get what you want out of it compared to Shopify, which is frankly, a joy to use.
Chris Janus | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Miva Merchant can be customized to fit nearly any design, and it has nearly unlimited custom stand-alone, product and category pages for unique and varying layouts. With some other carts, they don't always allow much, if any, design customization outside of the few options or templates they give you. Also, Miva is fully PCI compliant which is a VERY big deal over other shopping cart systems out there.
Timothy Schneider | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Magento,osCommerce,WordPress,Avactis
MIVA Merchant is a good choice for both developers and store owners with small to medium size businesses. The platform is secure, feature-rich, easy to modify and easy to administer. MIVA Merchant is actively being developed and so constantly improving via both the official production updates and the committed third party module developers.
April 08, 2015

Miva Merchant Review

Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Miva Merchant has it's own language which had a high learning curve for me to understand. Customize the template to match a html/css static site was difficult because you needed those Miva Merchant code pieces to be in the correct places. Now that I'm older and wiser, I no longer work for that company and I use WordPress and Woocommerce to build e-commerce and it's much easier for me to understand. Once you know how to customize a WordPress template, Woocommerce is so easy to understand.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Volusion,Magento,Magento Community Edition,Shopify,Bigcommerce,3dCart
Many years ago, Miva was a good eCommerce platform compared to others, typically offered by a hosting company for free or a small charge. However, it's fallen way behind the pack now and the declining interest in their system and ever increasing fees make it exceptionally unattractive compared to competing platforms in practically every way possible. Their management does little to instill confidence, by all appearances preoccupied lately with making a quick buck, and I suspect the writing is on the wall. Since Magento hit the scene in a big way, Miva is no longer unique or best positioned for advanced store customization, and the costs, both in time and money, for launching a fully functional Miva store are ridiculous in comparison to simplified scalable solutions such as Volusion, 3dCart and Shopify.

Since we migrated from Miva, conversions have markedly improved, order fulfillment takes half as much time, responding to customer service requests is centralized and immensely easier, and we have literally dozens of new and valuable features available that we can consider making use of in the future, all included as part of the new platform and easy to roll out. We can even get in touch with knowledgeable and personable support staff in mere minutes, no Design Club membership or extra charge needed.

As is very apparent here, others have different perspectives on Miva; some far better, one or two perhaps worse. I am certainly not unbiased, but I have tried in this commentary to be as level headed and honest as I can about our company's experience with Miva and why it was ultimately not simply appropriate, but required for the health of our business that we make a change to something better. Whether you're considering launching a new online store or perhaps doing a migration, I will only advise that you read and learn as much as you can about Miva and the company backing it. The official website paints a very rosy picture in simplified bullet points, and many developers who specialize in creating Miva stores have chimed in here and elsewhere sharing far more glowing opinions than mine. However, as the old saying goes the proof is in the pudding and, if you're looking for an e-commerce platform that you hope to use long term, do everything in your power to be sure it's one you genuinely believe you'll be happy with, not simply the platform preferred by an outside company or developer handling the project.
Steven Seale | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
OS Commerce, PHP Cart, and many other open code systems. We find the native feature set ample and the developer community quite active and easy to identify. Some platforms can be difficult to find good qualified consultants/coders that can make good quality, well performing, stable modifications.
Eric Karkovack | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
All of these products are nice in their own way. MIVA's big advantage is their selection of modules, although I have to say WooCommerce is starting to catch up in that area. While MIVA has begun to show its age, it's still a solid way to manage a store that contains a lot of products. Some of the other platforms out there just don't have that well-seasoned maturity yet.
David Limon | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
The closest solution I found to Miva is Magento. Magento seems to be gaining popularity at a rapid pace but I think this is only because they have done a better job at marketing their product (it's an eBay Company). When comparing the two I gave the slight edge to Miva because of it's ability to accomplish tasks "outside of the box" were easier and cost less. In addition you can host Miva on a dedicated server for $440 per month while using Magento's Enterprise edition cost waaaay more than that.
Susan Petracco | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Because I have worked with Miva Merchant longer than any other shopping cart package, I'm comfortable doing anything that needs to be done within the package. I find it easier to develop modules for Miva than to do plug-ins or extensions for other carts, primarily based on my own level of knowledge of the different packages. Some of the competition software provides the same level of customization, but certain not all of them do.
Deirdre Daily | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Working with Miva directly reduced the need to utilize someone to help us integrate and become accustom to the platform. Magento does have more flexibility with personalized messaging from my experience however.
Lee Amon | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
  • Zen Cart,volusion,amazon storefront
When we started using Miva, (in 2003) the other alternatives simply weren't available. Miva was the eCommerce solution our hosting provider offered.

Over the years, we considered migrating to several other services, including Volusion, Amazon Storefront, and Zen Cart. Zen Cart was a disaster, We couldn't get anywhere near the level of functionality we had on our Miva Store. We worked with several developers to try to get Zen customized to what we needed, and ultimately gave up. Amazon Storefront was missing a few pieces of key functionality. Volusion appeared to be equivalent to Miva, but we did not see a compelling reason to migrate
Return to navigation