Compare Sharetribe vs. Shuup

Should you choose Sharetribe or Shuup to power your marketplace? The answer depends on your budget, technical resources, and priorities. Here’s a comprehensive comparison table to help you make the decision.

Unlike many Sharetribe alternatives, Shuup doesn’t offer a no-code marketplace builder. Instead, all its pricing plans include some amount of custom development.

This makes Shuup more flexible than Sharetribe Go but also noticeably more expensive and time-consuming. Shuup’s self-hosted license is also more expensive than Sharetribe Flex's, and unlike Flex, its pricing does not include backend hosting or maintenance. At scale, these costs can be considerable.

Shuup could suit companies and entrepreneurs with sizable budgets who need to build several intricate custom features off the bat but have no developer resources of their own. As Shuup also offers customization services, its turnkey solution can work in situations where a streamlined process is more important than time or money.

For marketplace entrepreneurs who want to launch their platform as quickly and as affordably as possible, Sharetribe Go is likely the better choice. Sharetribe Flex works great for technically skilled teams or for entrepreneurs who have some budget for hiring a developer. Like Shuup, Flex offers unlimited customizability, but at a significantly lower price tag and no hosting or maintenance concerns.

Shuup

Sharetribe Go

Sharetribe Flex

Dedicated marketplace solution

How to get started

Contact Shuup through the form on the site
Choose a package according to your needs, budget, and dev resources
If you selected the SaaS plan: have the Shuup team set up your marketplace, have an onboarding training meeting, and start setting up your marketplace content

Sign up to Sharetribe Go
(Buy a custom domain)
(Set up a Custom Landing Page)

Sign up to Sharetribe Flex
Develop your marketplace front end on top of APIs & website template
Buy a domain
Buy hosting for your front end

Built-in marketplace features

Time to launch

Not stated (depending on your agreement with Shuup)

1 day

1–3 months

Pricing

$299 /mo (+$100 for extra admins) for hosted solution
$1,499 /mo for self-hosted license
Custom add-ons starting at $1,500

Plans starting from $79 /mo
(Custom Landing Page $99 /mo)

Subscription fee $299 /mo
(+ Transaction fee for transaction volume over $30,000)

Free trial

Live demo available

30 days

Free for the duration of development

Technical skills needed

Low or high

No coding skills needed for the hosted SaaS solution
High-level skills needed for customizing and hosting the self-hosted version

Low

No coding skills needed
Easy to customize and setup using Admin panel
Hosting, performance, maintenance, backups, and updates included at any scale

Medium

Some development skills needed to take Flex into use
Mid- to high-level skills needed for custom-developing features and integrations
Backend hosting, performance, maintenance, backups, and updates included at any scale

Hosting

Included with the SaaS license

Not included with the self-hosted license

Backend hosting included

Maintenance

Included with the SaaS license

Not included with the self-hosted license

Backend maintenance included

Performance monitoring

Included with the SaaS license

Not included with the self-hosted license

Backups

Included with the SaaS license

Not included with the self-hosted license

Custom development

Unlimited

Not possible

Unlimited

Main programming language

Python + Django

Custom coding not possible

Use the tech stack of your choice

Supports building a mobile app

Support

Included with the SaaS license

Not included with the self-hosted license

Sharetribe support

Sharetribe support +
Flex developer support

Key benefits

+ Development service reduces friction in outsourcing development

+ Support for a big range of marketplace types, including streaming or delivery marketplace

+ Very fast to launch

+ Very easy to use

+ Seamless user experience that keeps improving

+ Effortless to maintain

+ Advanced features for rental marketplaces like Airbnb, service marketplaces like Fiverr, and product marketplaces like Etsy

+ Dedicated support for non-technical founders

+ Fully customizable, yet fast to launch

+ Effortless to maintain

+ Unlimited scalability

+ Enjoyable developer experience

+ Advanced features for rental, service, and product marketplaces

+ Dedicated support for developers

Key drawbacks

- Expensive to get started even on the lowest pricing tier

- Time-consuming to launch

- No free trial

- High extra cost for additional admins

- Hosting and maintenance not included in the self-hosted plan

- No support service for the self-hosted license

- Lowest customizability

- Not possible to build new features

- Fewer marketplace types supported out of the box

- Supports fewer payment gateways and business models

- Requires development skills (or hiring a verified Sharetribe Expert)

- Fewer marketplace types supported out of the box

Always included in both Go & Flex

When you create a marketplace with Sharetribe, here's what you can always count on.

All essential marketplace features

Listings and profiles. Multiple different transaction flows. Search engine. Availability management. Messaging, reviews, email notifications, and a lot more. Because you don’t have to sweat the basics, you can focus on what counts: your brand and your user community.

Secure online payments

Sharetribe’s built-in payment system allows you to process payments between your users, delay payouts, and collect your commission automatically. Without compromising user experience or security compliance.

Powerful admin tools

Have a 360° view of what goes on in your marketplace. User management, content moderation, transaction monitoring, and a lot more – all the tools you need to be in complete control of your platform.

Regular updates & new features

Sharetribe makes your business more powerful every day. In addition to keeping your platform up to speed with the latest security and regulatory advancements, our team adds lots of new functionality to your marketplace every month.

Carefree infrastructure

Wherever your growth takes you, your Sharetribe-powered platform can handle it. You never need to worry about traffic spikes or site performance. Our solutions support your marketplace at any stage of your business lifecycle.

Legal & regulatory compliance

Local payment regulation? Data security protection? Regulatory changes and updates? With Sharetribe, your payment and data processing is always compliant with the latest regulatory standards such as GDPR and PSD2.

Maintenance & backups

Scratch backups off your todo list. Sharetribe keeps your platform and data storage working reliably and securely according to the latest industry best practices. If you ever want to leave, your data is yours to keep.

Expert support 7 days a week

Sharetribe’s support team consists of marketplace business and platform technology experts – all extremely friendly folks to boot. We’ll help you get the most out of our products and share Sharetribe’s decade-long marketplace experience to support your business.