When starting an online store, Shopify, BASE, and STORES are the three platforms most people consider. But each has a different pricing structure, and even comparing feature tables side by side doesn't make it clear "which one actually fits my store."
This article organizes the differences between the three services using a comparison table and a rundown of basic features, then compares them in order of pricing, payments, features, operations, and AI-powered store management support. We also cover the decision points worth sorting out at your own store before comparing. If you're torn on which EC cart to choose, we hope this helps.
*Pricing and features reflect information on each company's official site as of August 2026. Please check the official pages for the latest details.
Comparing Shopify, BASE, and STORES at a Glance
First, here's a concise comparison table summarizing the differences between the three services. Details are explained in the sections that follow.
The biggest difference is how costs accrue. BASE and STORES let you start from ¥0 per month but charge higher fee rates, while Shopify has no free plan but sets lower payment processing fees.
When sales are small, a free monthly plan is more advantageous; as sales grow, a plan with a monthly fee but a lower fee rate becomes more advantageous. However, which plan is actually cheapest also depends on your average order value and payment method, so check the simulation later in this article.
Shopify's features
Image source: Shopify
Shopify is an e-commerce platform used worldwide. Its greatest strength is the extensibility of the Shopify App Store, along with a high degree of theme customization freedom and support for multilingual, multi-currency overseas sales.
It also offers 24/7 Japanese-language chat support. On the other hand, there's no free plan, and the monthly cost adds up as you add more apps.
BASE's features
Image source: BASE
BASE is a Japan-only e-commerce platform with a track record of 2.6 million stores opened domestically (according to the company's official site). Its strength is how easily you can launch a store, sometimes going live the same day, and you add only the features you need through "BASE Apps."
A key feature is that there's no difference in the features you can use between the free Standard plan and the paid Growth plan. The only difference between the plans is the fee structure, so you can choose based purely on a cost calculation for your sales volume.
For a comparison focused on just BASE and Shopify, see the following article.
STORES's features
Image source: STORES
STORES is a Japan-only platform offered not just as a standalone online store but as a suite of store-operations services including cashless payments, POS registers, and a reservation system. Its plan structure was overhauled on March 24, 2026, and it now offers two plans: Free and Standard.
On the Standard plan, paid features such as the POS register can be used at no extra charge, and one payment terminal is provided free of charge under an annual contract.
Comparing the basic features of Shopify, BASE, and STORES
All three services offer the basic features needed to run an online store. The differences lie in whether a feature is available by default, requires adding an app, or is limited to a paid plan.
What's worth noting is that even the same "supported" label can mean different things underneath. A custom domain can't be set on STORES's free plan, and BASE can't use a root domain (example.com) — only a subdomain (shop.example.com).
Another point that's easy to overlook is customer data. BASE lets you export order data as a CSV, but its help documentation explicitly states that customer information itself cannot be downloaded. If you're thinking about a future migration or using an external tool with your customer list, this is worth keeping in mind.
Four decision points to sort out before comparing
Without a clear set of criteria, a comparison table alone won't help you decide. We recommend sorting out the following four points first.
In particular, monthly sales, average order value, and order count directly affect the difference in cost, so apply your own numbers to the simulation later in this article.
Comparing pricing and fees
All three services have zero setup cost. The difference comes from the combination of the monthly fee and the transaction fees.
*Shopify figures are for annual billing; BASE's Growth plan figure is for annual billing; STORES's Standard plan figure is the monthly rate under an annual contract
Be careful of the gap between the fee rate shown on the surface and the actual cost. BASE's Standard plan looks like a 3.6% payment fee, but with the 3% service fee and ¥40 per order added on, the real cost is 6.6% + ¥40. STORES's fee rate rises for methods like PayPal, "pay later," and PayPay balance. For Shopify, the rates shown in the table apply to domestic Visa, Mastercard, and JCB cards; Amex and international cards are 3.9% on the Basic plan.
Cost simulation by monthly sales
We ran a simulation for the flagship plans of the three services across four monthly-sales scenarios. The assumptions behind the simulation are as follows.
- Average order value of ¥10,000
- 100% of orders paid by domestic Visa, Mastercard, or JCB cards (orders via BASE's PAY ID app are not included)
- Monthly fees are converted to the annual-billing rate
- Excludes app costs, shipping, and transfer fees
*Excludes any limited-time promotions or credits offered by each company.
<Total monthly fee + payment fees (per month)>
The cheapest option switches depending on sales volume. At ¥100,000/month, STORES's Free plan is the cheapest, with STORES's Standard plan and BASE's Standard plan also at a low level. At ¥500,000-¥1,000,000/month, Shopify's Basic plan and STORES's Standard plan run nearly neck and neck as the cheapest, and at ¥3,000,000/month, BASE's Growth plan comes out lowest based on the published fee rates.
That said, STORES directs merchants with ¥2,000,000+ in monthly sales to contact them individually, so at ¥3,000,000/month the result may change depending on the terms offered. Stores with a lower order value and a higher order count will also see BASE's "¥40 per order" fee weigh more heavily, among other factors that shift the assumptions. Recalculate using your own store's numbers.
Payout cycle and transfer fees
BASE and STORES both take some time before funds are paid out. STORES in particular pays out at the end of the following month by default, so this is worth watching if your payment cycle to suppliers is tight.
Be aware that transfer fees weigh more heavily on smaller amounts. For BASE, a ¥500 administrative fee is added when the payout request amount is under ¥20,000, bringing the total deducted to ¥750. For STORES, if the payout amount is under ¥10,000, it's carried over to the following month by default; only if you enable the "pay out even under ¥10,000" setting is a ¥275 administrative fee deducted (¥550 total).
Comparing payment methods
If the payment methods on your site are lacking, it can lead to customers abandoning their cart right before purchase. Let's check the payment methods available on each service.
BASE and STORES cover a wide range of domestic Japanese payment methods by default. Shopify supports a large number of international payment methods as well, making it a strong option for anyone considering cross-border e-commerce.
Note that the payment fees mentioned above can vary by payment method. Check each service's official site for details.
Comparing features and customizability
Here we compare the features and customizability of each service.
Design and extending with apps
All three services let you build a store using templates, but they differ in how far you can change the design and how you add features.
Shopify has the highest extensibility through apps and themes, but running costs also rise as you add more paid apps. BASE centers on free Apps, though hiding the logo or using a paid theme costs extra. STORES is designed around running things simply with its standard features rather than freely adding apps.
Marketing and promotion features
All three services have basic marketing and promotion features, but they differ in how extensible their sales channels are and how customer data can be used.
Shopify offers more freedom if you want to build up search content or combine multiple conditions for customer marketing initiatives. That said, BASE and STORES can also handle basic promotions such as sending a newsletter to a targeted group of customers.
Cross-border e-commerce, multilingual, and multi-currency support
Shopify supports multiple languages and currencies as well as collecting duties and import taxes, making it well suited if you want to design your own cross-border e-commerce operation in detail. BASE and STORES, on the other hand, provide mechanisms that handle overseas sales on your behalf, letting the store itself focus mainly on domestic shipping.
If simplicity is your priority, BASE or STORES are strong choices; if you're planning a full-scale international expansion, Shopify is the leading option.
Comparing operations and management features
How easy the operations and management features are to use is another important consideration.
Order/inventory management and physical-store integration
If you're only running an online store, all three services can handle basic order and inventory management. The gap widens when you also run a physical store.
STORES lets you use an online store, POS register, and cashless payments within the same suite of services, making it well suited to integrating online and physical-store operations. Shopify also supports POS, but in Japan, Shopify Payments can't be used for in-person payments, so an external service is needed for in-store payments. BASE doesn't have its own POS system and instead integrates with external services such as Smaregi.
External integrations and multi-person operation
As a business grows larger, integrating with external systems and managing permissions for each staff member becomes more important.
On Shopify's Basic plan, you can't add staff at all; if you want to add staff to your operation, you'll need to upgrade to a higher plan.
*STORES's employee management feature requires a system update on some existing accounts.
Comparing AI-powered store management support
Shopify, BASE, and STORES have all introduced AI-powered store management support. However, they differ in what they're each good at.
*BASE's "BASE AI" is available only to a limited number of stores as of August 2026.
With Shopify, "Shopify Magic" can generate product descriptions, emails, images, and more. On top of that, "Sidekick" can analyze your store's sales data, answer questions about running your store, and even carry out some admin tasks such as editing products. Being able to use AI not just for writing and images but also for data analysis and actual admin work is a major strength.
BASE's "BASE AI Assistant" handles writing tasks such as product descriptions, social media posts, and inquiry replies, and also suggests store design ideas. BASE also offers "BASE AI," which lets you consult AI about running your store, but as of August 2026 it's available only to a limited number of stores. For now, this makes it an AI feature that's easy to use if you want to streamline content creation.
With STORES's "STORES Play," asking AI about your sales or customer data gets you an analysis along with an answer or improvement suggestions. There's also a feature that drafts inquiry reply text using AI. On the other hand, there's currently no feature that lets AI generate product descriptions or images, or operate the admin dashboard on your behalf. That makes STORES a good fit if you want to understand your current situation from sales data and think through your next move.
In summary: choose BASE if you mainly want to use AI for content creation, STORES if you prioritize sales analysis and improvement suggestions, and Shopify if you want to use AI broadly across creation, analysis, and management tasks.
Recommended EC cart by type
Based on the comparisons so far, here's a summary of the recommended EC cart by type.
Which service is the right fit depends on what your business prioritizes. Start by sorting out your operating scale, sales channels, and what you want to achieve going forward, then choose the service that matches your type of business.
Points to watch when switching to Shopify, BASE, or STORES
Product and customer information can often be migrated via CSV, but reviews, subscription contract details, and points balances typically can't be carried over.
Migrating away from BASE deserves particular caution. As mentioned earlier, customer information can't be downloaded, so while there are ways to make use of buyer information included in order data, you can't export a customer list in bulk. This limitation hits harder the more repeat customers your store has.
Also, even though you can carry over a custom domain, the URL structure for product pages and category pages differs by service, so redirect settings are often needed when switching. Search rankings may also temporarily drop, so it's best to migrate outside of your busy season.
Choose based on your business's growth, not just each service's pricing
All three services offer the features needed to run an online store, and none of them is clearly superior to the others. The differences show up in how costs accrue, how features are delivered, and how easily you can expand into physical retail or overseas markets.
When choosing, we recommend first sorting out four things: your monthly sales and future outlook, the features and external integrations you need, your sales channels, and how much staff you can dedicate to operations. In particular, once you know your monthly sales, average order value, and monthly order count, you can apply this article's simulation to your own store's conditions.
Why not start by pulling up your sales data from the last three months and writing down these three figures?
