ZDNet guide: Shopify best for beginners; Stripe, ShipStation, Canva and Klaviyo also recommended
ZDNet's expert-tested guide says Shopify is the best e-commerce software to build an online store in 2025 and highlights Stripe, ShipStation, Canva and Klaviyo as top complementary tools for payments, shipping, design and marketing. The guide describes Shopify as beginner-friendly, secure and scalable, with built-in AI (Shopify Magic), a theme store (including the free Dawn theme), a drag-and-drop editor, bot traffic filtering and a mobile app for managing sales and inventory.
It notes limits such as advanced reports behind higher plans and that deeper design freedom often requires developers. Shopify pricing listed in the guide starts with a Starter plan at $5 per month, Basic at $39, Grow at $105 and Advanced at $399, plus a free start and a $1-per-month offer for the first three months; the Starter plan is limited to new merchants and trial users.
The guide recommends Stripe for global payments, saying Checkout handles currencies, taxes and local payment options and that features like Connect support marketplaces and global payouts. For subscriptions it highlights Billing, and for invoicing it describes automated matching of bank transfers.
The guide states Stripe charges a standard 2.9% plus $0.30 per online card transaction in the U.S. and lists features such as 125+ payment methods, 135+ currencies, Radar fraud prevention and PCI Level 1 compliance.
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