Strawlo vs Shopify: Which Is Better for a Ghanaian Business?

Shopify is the best known online store platform in the world. If you are selling in Ghana, that does not automatically make it the right one for you.

The difference is not mainly about features. It is about what Shopify actually costs a Ghanaian merchant once you account for a fee most people do not discover until after they have built their store.

Here is the honest comparison, with real prices in cedis.

The Short Answer

Prices converted at roughly GHS 11.56 to the dollar in September 2026. Rates move, and that is part of the point.

The 2% Fee Nobody Mentions

This is the single most important thing for a Ghanaian merchant to understand.

Shopify has its own payment processor called Shopify Payments. When you use it, Shopify charges you nothing extra per sale. Shopify Payments is not available in Ghana.

So as a Ghanaian merchant you must connect a third-party gateway such as Paystack. The moment you do, Shopify applies its third-party transaction fee to every single order. On the Basic plan that is 2%, on Grow 1%, and on Advanced 0.6%.

That fee is charged by Shopify for the privilege of not using a product you were never able to use. It sits on top of whatever your payment processor charges.

Strawlo does not do this. Strawlo takes 0% of your sales, on every plan.

What "Paystack Fee" Actually Means

Worth being clear, because people sometimes read any percentage as a platform cut.

Paystack is the payment processor. It is the service that physically moves money from your customer's mobile money wallet or card into your account. Somebody has to do that job, and 1.95% is what it costs.

On Strawlo, that money goes directly to your bank account and Strawlo takes nothing from it. You keep 100% of your sale minus Paystack's processing fee.

On Shopify in Ghana you pay the same processing fee, and then Shopify takes another 2% on top.

What This Costs in Real Money

Say you sell GHS 10,000 in a month, which is a modest shop.

Paystack's processing fee is the same on both, so it is left out below. What follows is only what each platform charges you on top of it.

On Shopify Basic

On Strawlo Business

That is a difference of about GHS 452 every month, or roughly GHS 5,400 a year, on a shop doing GHS 10,000 a month.

And it gets worse as you grow, because the 2% scales with your sales while the subscription does not.

Paying in Dollars

Shopify bills in US dollars. For a Ghanaian merchant that creates three problems that have nothing to do with features.

Your price changes every month. Not because Shopify raised it, but because the cedi moved. You cannot budget properly for a cost that floats.

Your card has to work internationally. Many Ghanaian cards need online and international transactions specifically enabled, and plenty of merchants discover this when a renewal fails.

A failed payment can take your shop offline. If the card declines while you are asleep, your store can be suspended until you fix it.

Strawlo bills in cedis and takes mobile money. The price you see is the price that leaves your account.

Full Price Comparison

Strawlo Business is about GHS 1,985 a year cheaper than Shopify's cheapest plan, and that is before Shopify's 2% cut of every sale is counted. Shopify Basic costs roughly four times what Strawlo Business does over a year.

Even Strawlo Business+, with unlimited products and three stores, costs less than half of Shopify's cheapest plan.

Where Shopify Is Genuinely Better

An honest comparison has to include this, and if any of the following describes you, Shopify is probably the right choice.

You are selling mainly to customers abroad. Shopify handles multi-currency, international tax and global shipping carriers far better than anything built for a single market.

You need a specific integration. Shopify's app store is enormous. If your business depends on a particular accounting, fulfilment or ERP tool, Shopify almost certainly connects to it.

You have a very large or complex catalogue. Thousands of SKUs with deep variant structures is territory Shopify was built for.

You have a developer. Shopify's themes and APIs let a developer build almost anything. That only helps if you have one.

You want physical retail POS hardware. Shopify's point of sale ecosystem is mature.

Strawlo is not trying to beat Shopify at running a global enterprise. It is built for a merchant selling in Ghana who wants a store, mobile money payments, delivery and WhatsApp to work properly without paying in dollars.

Where Strawlo Is Better for Ghana

Mobile money is a first-class citizen. MTN MoMo, Telecel Cash and AirtelTigo Money at checkout, not an add-on you configure.

Payment on delivery is built in. Still how a large share of Ghanaian customers prefer to buy, especially from a shop they have not used before.

WhatsApp is part of the product. You can message every past customer from your own number with WhatsApp broadcast, and follow up orders that were never completed.

It runs from your phone. The full dashboard, not a cut-down companion app.

Prices are in cedis and you can pay with MoMo. No card, no forex, no failed renewal at 2am.

Support understands your market. Questions about MoMo settlement, Ghana delivery and local customer behaviour get answered by people who deal with them daily.

Which Should You Choose?

Choose Strawlo if you sell mainly in Ghana, you want mobile money and payment on delivery working out of the box, and you would rather keep the GHS 5,000 a year that Shopify's fees would cost you.

Choose Shopify if your customers are mostly overseas, you need its app ecosystem or a developer-built storefront, or you are running a catalogue large enough that enterprise tooling genuinely matters.

Most Ghanaian merchants selling to Ghanaian customers are in the first group, and many of them are on Shopify because it is the name they heard first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use Shopify in Ghana at all?

Yes. You can build and run a Shopify store from Ghana. You cannot use Shopify Payments, so you connect a third-party gateway such as Paystack and Shopify charges its transaction fee on every order, 2% on the Basic plan.

Does Strawlo take a percentage of my sales?

No. Strawlo takes 0% on every plan. You pay only the monthly or yearly subscription. Paystack's 1.95% is the payment processor's fee for moving the money from your customer to you, and it is not a Strawlo commission.

Can I move my products from Shopify to Strawlo?

Yes, there is a Shopify import that brings your products across rather than making you retype them.

Is Strawlo cheaper than Shopify at every size?

On the monthly price, yes. The gap widens as you sell more, because Shopify's 2% grows with your revenue while a Strawlo subscription does not. At GHS 50,000 a month in sales, Shopify's transaction fee alone is about GHS 1,000 a month.

Do I need a custom domain?

Not to start. Every Strawlo store gets a free address. A custom domain is included on both paid plans when you want one, and you can buy a domain directly inside Strawlo.

What about the free trial?

Strawlo gives you 7 days, and a 30-day money-back guarantee on top, so if you are not satisfied within the first 30 days of a paid subscription you can get a full refund. Shopify gives you a 3-day trial, which in practice is barely enough to add your products, let alone find out whether customers buy.

Try It Against Your Own Numbers

Work out your monthly sales, multiply by 2%, and add about GHS 312. That is roughly what Shopify costs you per month in Ghana.

Then compare it to GHS 60.

If you are selling to Ghanaian customers in cedis, the maths usually settles it. Start with Strawlo, test it with real orders during the 7-day trial, and remember there is a 30-day money-back guarantee if it turns out not to suit you.

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Prices correct as of September 2026, converted at about GHS 11.56 to the US dollar. Shopify's pricing is set in dollars, so the cedi figures move with the exchange rate.