Compare shift4shop and route on pricing, features, platforms, and ratings — both Ecommerce tools, Free for merchants who exclusively use Shift4 Payments as…
At a Glance
shift4shop
route
Primary category
Ecommerce
Ecommerce
Rating
Not documented
Not documented
Pricing model
Free for merchants who exclusively use Shift4 Payments as their card processor, with no added transaction fee on top of processing; merchants using another payment processor or based outside the U.S. pay for a standard plan instead — Shift4Shop's own site cites an unlimited 'End-to-End eCommerce' plan at $41/month.
free
Starting price
Not documented
$0/mo
Free plan
Yes
Yes
Free trial
Not documented
Not documented
Platforms
Not documented
Not documented
Team collaboration
Not documented
Not documented
AI features
Not documented
Not documented
Public API
Yes
Not documented
Pricing Compared
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
shift4shop
No individual plan breakdown documented yet.
route
No individual plan breakdown documented yet.
Pros & Cons
shift4shop
Pros
Genuinely free software tier for merchants who use Shift4 Payments, with no separate transaction fee layered on top
All-in-one feature set — website builder, product/inventory management, marketing, and SEO tools are bundled rather than sold as add-on apps
100+ included, SEO-optimized, mobile-responsive themes plus a free domain and SSL, reducing setup costs
Long operating history (21+ years, formerly 3dcart) with an established merchant base (~22k merchants) suggesting platform maturity
Cons
The free plan is conditional on exclusively using Shift4 Payments for card processing, which limits payment-provider flexibility for merchants who want the no-cost tier
As a hosted, all-in-one platform, merchants have less flexibility to swap in third-party theme/checkout systems compared to fully headless or open ecommerce stacks
Publicly listed pricing beyond the single $41/month End-to-End plan is not consistently detailed on Shift4Shop's own marketing pages, making full plan-to-plan comparison harder without contacting sales
route
Pros
No monthly platform cost for merchants
Combines protection, tracking, and returns in one integration
AI-driven, exchange-first returns process
Shopify integration
Cons
Detailed transaction/usage-based fees are not publicly disclosed
Founding year, headquarters, and company size are not published on the site