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E-Commerce Platform Comparison

See how FlickRocket compares to other solutions and learn what difference this makes for you. The list below is meant to highlight the most important parts for content owners – for details, we encourage you to try the solutions yourself.

Cloud based shop platforms

With cloud based shop platforms, we refer to systems which run in a cloud. The underlying infrastructure is managed entirely by the platform service, and the shop operator does not deal with individual servers and low level infrastructure components.

Generally, cloud based platforms are the best solution for shop operators who can’t or don’t want to deal with the complexities of managing and maintaining their own server infrastructure. Cloud based platform will also generally out-perform hosted shop platforms by a wide margin – at least unless you are such a big company that you can operate your own cloud. A negative side aspect of the above is, that you are generally somewhat more limited in running your own custom software on cloud platforms.

See here for a list of the most popular cloud based platforms.

PlatformDigital ShopContent Security/ DRMStreaming/ Offline contentContent Access AppsLicense business modelsContent subscriptionsVideoPDF/ ePubAudioHTML, etc.SoftwareRequires no separate payment accountNo bandwidth/ storage restrictionsRequires no add. Resources
License controlPreparationCDN/ Edge ServersDVD-FeaturesLicense controlIncl. viewerLicense controlLicense controlLicense control
BigCartel
BigCommerce
ContentShelf?
3dCart
DPD
FlickRocket
GoDaddy?
Gumroad?
PixyCart
Selz?
SendOwl
Shopify?
VHX?
Volusion
Yahoo Stores?

Legend: Yes/Supported | No/Not supported | Partly supported | ? Unknown (if you know, please tell us )

Did we forget a popular platform? Did we make a mistake? Please let us know .

Hosted shop platforms

With hosted shop platforms we refer to a system which shop operators set up, operate and maintain on servers which they control themselves or which are controlled by a third party company under contract with the shop operator. The shop operator and/or the third party are responsible for all aspects of managing the server(s).


Hosted shop platforms were conventionally used before the advent of cloud solutions. They require a lot of attention to manage and secure the systems. A rule of thumb is, that unless you have at least two specialists handling the server security plus at least one technical administrator, you will not be able to sustain the business from a technical perspective. Performance wise, hosted shop platforms can’t complete with the scale and infrastructure of cloud based solutions. However, for operating a relatively small shop (in terms of customers and data sizes), it is an option. On the positive side you are able to run your own custom software and there are lots of agencies which have experience with these traditional systems and can help you design and general advice.

See here for a list of the most popular hosted shop platforms.

PlatformDigital ShopContent Security/ DRMStreaming/ Offline contentContent Access AppsLicense business modelsContent subscriptionsVideoPDF, ePubAudioHTML, etc.SoftwareRequires no separate payment accountNo bandwidth/ storage restrictionsRequires no add. resources
License controlPreparationCDN/ Edge ServersDVD-FeaturesLicense controlIncl. viewerLicense controlLicense controlLicense control
Drupal E-Commerce
Joomla E-Commerce
Magento
OpenCart
osCommerce
Prestashop
WordPress/ WooCommerce
ZenCart

Legend: Yes/Supported | No/Not supported | Partly supported | ? Unknown (if you know, please tell us )

Did we forget a popular platform? Did we make a mistake? Please let us know .

Add-ons/Extensions/Helpers/Aggregators

With add-ons/extensions/helpers/aggregators we refer to solutions which provide no individual shop platforms but which provide functionality to handle digital content for other websites or shop platforms or in aggregation.

These solutions are generally not capable to handle a digital content business, but can assist to add some aspects of digital content distribution to stand-alone websites or other shop platforms. Scale and flexibility can’t compete with real shop platforms, but they might be a good fit if digital content is one of the side lines of the main business and there are no plans to make this a primary focus.

See here for a list of the most popular add-ons/extensions/helpers.

PlatformDigital ShopContent Security/ DRMStreaming/ Offline contentContent Access AppsLicense business modelsContent subscriptionsVideoPDF, ePubAudioHTML, etc.SoftwareRequires no separate payment accountNo bandwidth/ storage restrictionsRequires no add. resources
License controlPreparationCDN/ Edge ServersDVD-FeaturesLicense controlIncl. viewerLicense controlLicense controlLicense control
ClickBank
Easy Digital Downloads
E-Junkie
Fetch
PayLoadz
Sellfy

Legend: Yes/Supported | No/Not supported | Partly supported | ? Unknown (if you know, please tell us )

Did we forget a popular platform? Did we make a mistake? Please let us know .