What about headless or a custom build?

Past $50M with an engineering team and a reason — a checkout the platform cannot express — it is a real option. Below that it is an engineering budget spent on what Shopify already does.

Do you migrate stores?

No. Shopify’s partner directory is full of agencies that do nothing else. What we do on this site is the operating layer above the store — content, attribution, lifecycle — and it reads from whichever of these you run.

Are you paid if I sign up?

Where we are enrolled in a vendor’s partner programme, yes, and the link says so beside the button. The pick above does not change with the commission.

Recommendation · DTC ecommerce founders and heads of growth

Which platform and email-SMS stack should a DTC brand run on?

Shopify for the store and Klaviyo for email and SMS, for nearly every DTC brand between $5M and $50M in revenue. The reasons are boring and decisive: the app ecosystem, the number of people who already know how to operate both, and a data model every attribution tool on this site can read.

None of the links below currently pays us. If that changes, the button will say so. The recommendation is the same either way.

What decides it

· A catalogue and checkout your team can change without an engineer
· An email and SMS layer that reads the store’s events natively — abandoned cart, browse, purchase — without middleware
· Talent availability: how many operators can run it on day one
· Total platform cost including apps, not the headline plan

The vendors, by scale

Shopify

Best for: DTC brands from launch to nine figures

The checkout, the app ecosystem and the operator talent pool; Plus for brands past roughly $1M a month.

Cost: From roughly $39 a month; Plus from roughly $2,300 a month (vendor list, 2026 — verify on the vendor site)

Start with ShopifyNot a partner link — we are not paid for this one.

Klaviyo

Best for: Email and SMS for any Shopify brand

Native event ingestion from the store, segmentation built for retention, and SMS in the same tool.

Cost: Scales with contacts; from free to several thousand a month at $20M+ (vendor list, 2026 — verify on the vendor site)

Start with KlaviyoNot a partner link — we are not paid for this one.

Read first

The pages that explain what the software has to plug into, and why the criteria above are the ones that matter.

Frequently asked

What about headless or a custom build?: Past $50M with an engineering team and a reason — a checkout the platform cannot express — it is a real option. Below that it is an engineering budget spent on what Shopify already does.
Do you migrate stores?: No. Shopify’s partner directory is full of agencies that do nothing else. What we do on this site is the operating layer above the store — content, attribution, lifecycle — and it reads from whichever of these you run.
Are you paid if I sign up?: Where we are enrolled in a vendor’s partner programme, yes, and the link says so beside the button. The pick above does not change with the commission.

If the scale rule does not fit you

Three questions about your operation, answered in writing, and the pick above adjusted to it. No call unless you ask for one.

Ask which one fits