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Shopify vs Framer: which one should you build on?
Clients ask me this almost every week. Here's my honest answer after building on both:
Choose Shopify if you're selling products.
Inventory, payments, shipping, taxes, reviews, subscriptions, TikTok Shop, Amazon: Shopify handles the hard parts of e-commerce out of the box. You can grow from 5 products to 5,000 without rebuilding.
Choose Framer if you're selling an idea, a service or yourself.
SaaS landing pages, agencies, portfolios, clinics, events. Framer gives you design freedom, smooth animations and fast pages, and your team can edit content without touching code.
The mistake I see most often:
Brands with 3 products and no plans to scale paying for a heavy Shopify setup, or service businesses forcing a store theme to look like a premium brand site. Pick the tool for the job, not the trend.
Can you use both?
Yes. A Framer site for the brand story and marketing pages, with Shopify handling checkout, is a great setup for premium DTC brands.
Quick rule:
🛒 Selling products → Shopify
✨ Selling a story, service or SaaS → Framer
Which one are you building on right now? 👇
#Shopify #Framer #WebDesign #Ecommerce #NoCode
The hybrid setup is where I'd add one caution: once checkout lives on a different domain than the brand story, attribution and cart persistence get messy fast, so it's worth planning that handoff before launch. In my experience the bigger deciding factor for food and CPG brands...
Great point, Mariana, and I agree. The handoff is where hybrid setups usually break.
Yes, I've seen it go wrong when the split happens without a plan: UTMs lost between domains, carts emptying when people jump back to the brand site, and two places to update every product. Now I...
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New here, so I'm slowly filling in my portfolio and getting to know the place. So far I like it.
Here's an extract from Software Intelligence, a Framer site I designed and built a few months ago for an enterprise data consulting startup.
The visual idea mirrors what they do with data: compact blocks that animate, break apart and recompose, like charts taking shape. Few effects, all consistent, everything managed through the CMS.
If you have a minute, take a look at the full case study.
I'd love to know what you think, especially whether the motion supports the content or ends up overpowering it.
You're very welcome, Francesco — glad the note landed. The motion in that extract really does the heavy lifting for the content, so keep sharing your work here. Looking forward to seeing what's next from you. ✌️
Framer agent templates are out, and seven of mine are in 🔥
Plakat, Datum, Halation, Parallel, Tender, Signal and Oda.
An agent template is built for Framer's agent to work on. Every colour and text style has a name that says what it's for, there's a design system page, and skills that tell the agent how the site fits together.
So you can ask for a rebrand, a new section or a whole new page. The agent works with the template's own styles and components and doesn't have to guess.
All agent templates: https://www.framer.com/marketplace/templates/?agent=true
Mine, also in HTML and React: https://no-code.supply/templates
Naming every colour and text style by purpose so the agent knows what it's touching is the part I think most templates will need to catch up on. Congrats on getting seven in at launch, Lauri!
A beautiful Shopify store is great. But does it make people want to shop?
Take a look at my latest e-commerce design project for Amora Renae, a luxury hair extension brand.
I wanted the experience to feel as premium as the products themselves.
From the bold pink hero section and elegant product collections to the detailed product pages and responsive layouts, every design decision was made to bring the brand's identity to life while keeping the shopping journey intuitive.
But here's where I need your honest opinion:
If you were the customer visiting this store for the first time, what would catch your attention first?
The homepage and overall visual identity 🎨
The product presentation and collections 🛍️
The product page experience
The mobile shopping experience 📱
And for the designers here, what would you improve?
I genuinely want to hear different perspectives. Let's talk design, user experience, and what makes an online store memorable.
#Shopify #EcommerceDesign #WebDesign #UIDesign #UXDesign
Love the creativity behind this. The visual identity feels consistent and well thought out.