What Shopify does well
Shopify is the dominant e-commerce platform for a reason. The checkout experience is polished and conversion-optimised. Payment processing, tax management, shipping integrations, and inventory tracking are handled at a level most businesses could not build themselves. The app ecosystem for retail operations is extensive.
For a business selling products, Shopify solves hard problems extremely well: fraud detection, multi-currency, returns management, abandoned cart recovery. These are years of investment in a specific domain. Shopify is excellent at them.
Shopify also provides a developer platform: Liquid for storefront templating, Shopify Functions for customising e-commerce logic, and Shopify Admin API for reading and writing store data. For developers building e-commerce extensions, these are capable tools.
Where Shopify hits the wall for business applications
Every tool in Shopify's developer platform exists to support e-commerce. Liquid renders storefronts. Shopify Functions modify checkout behaviour. The Admin API reads orders, products, and customers.
None of those tools have anything to do with a job application tracker, a staff directory, an internal CRM, a stock audit tool, or a custom dashboard for operations. Shopify's backend is not designed for arbitrary application logic. It is designed for one vertical. Custom business applications are outside it.
Shopify does not give you a server you control. Your store data lives on Shopify's infrastructure. You access it via API, not direct SQL. You cannot run arbitrary server-side processes. You cannot install server-side packages. You cannot deploy a PHP application or any other server-side code that runs independently of Shopify's platform.
A business running Shopify for its store and needing an internal operations tool faces the same question as every other business: where does the tool go? It cannot go on Shopify. Shopify's own documentation acknowledges this — tools outside the e-commerce scope require external infrastructure.
The typical path is a SaaS subscription for each tool needed. CRM. Job tracker. Invoicing. Staff management. Each one is a separate login, a separate monthly fee, and data that lives on someone else's server. Shopify provides none of these and is not designed to.
What WordPress provides that Shopify does not
WordPress is a general-purpose application platform. It has no vertical constraint. A WordPress install running a Merebase app can power a CRM, a job tracker, an inventory system, and a custom operations dashboard — all on the same server, in the same database, with the same login.
- Vertical platform — e-commerce only
- Liquid templating, not general-purpose PHP
- Data on Shopify's servers, API access only
- No arbitrary server-side processes
- No direct database access
- Internal tools require separate platforms
- Monthly subscription A$49 to A$399+
- Shopify controls pricing and platform terms
- General-purpose — any application type
- PHP runtime with full library access
- MySQL on your server, direct SQL access
- Run any server-side process
- Build any internal tool
- All tools on one server, one login
- Hosting A$5 to A$20/month
- GPL licence — no vendor lock-in
For a business already running Shopify, WordPress does not replace the store. Shopify handles e-commerce better than WordPress does. The argument is not about which is better for selling products.
The argument is about where internal business tools go. The answer is not Shopify. WordPress is a natural fit because it is already infrastructure most businesses have running. Merebase builds those tools on it.
The cost comparison over time
A business using Shopify for its store typically adds SaaS tools to cover the operations Shopify does not handle. Each one carries a monthly cost and a separate data silo.
A$200 a month across three SaaS tools is A$2,400 a year. A$499 once for a custom app that runs on infrastructure you already control is a different conversation.
A Merebase app installed on a WordPress instance costs A$499. The ongoing infrastructure is a basic hosting plan at A$5 to A$20 a month — which the business often already pays for their WordPress marketing site. The app adds no new subscription. The data stays in a database the business already owns. There is no per-seat fee, no usage tier, and no renewal.
A Merebase app does not touch your Shopify store. It installs as a plugin on a WordPress instance — either one you already have for your marketing site, or a new basic hosting plan. Your Shopify store continues exactly as it is. The app handles the internal operations work that Shopify was never designed for.
The two platforms serve different jobs. They do not compete.