Shopify vs Cartly for Egyptian Sellers: 6 Real Differences

1. Pricing currency and tax

Shopify charges in USD ($29-$299/month). With EGP volatility, your platform cost can swing 10-15% in a year. Cartly charges in EGP (699/month or 7,000/year), with VAT included transparently.

Practical impact: predictable costs, no FX surprises in your monthly P&L.

2. Egyptian payment gateways

Shopify supports Egyptian gateways only via third-party apps that you set up yourself. Each typically requires a separate merchant agreement and you handle the integration.

Cartly ships with online card payments (Visa/Mastercard) via Paymob and Cash on Delivery out of the box. Additional local payment methods are on the roadmap.

3. Cash on delivery

Shopify's COD is essentially a 'mark order as cash' option, no integration with Egyptian couriers, no SMS confirmation, no tracking back to the platform. You build the COD operation yourself or use a third-party app.

Cartly treats COD as a first-class checkout option, designed around the realities of the Egyptian market and the address/courier handoff workflow that actually keeps rejection rates down.

4. Arabic UI and RTL

Shopify supports Arabic content but the merchant admin is English-first. Themes vary in RTL quality. Cartly is Arabic-first for Egyptian sellers, both the storefront and the merchant admin.

5. Support in Arabic

Shopify support is global English (good response times, generic answers). Cartly support is in Arabic and English, with Egyptian operators who understand local context.

6. The verdict

If you're targeting Egypt or MENA: Cartly wins on day-1 setup speed, integrated payments, and Arabic experience. If you're a global store with Egypt as a small market: Shopify is fine. For Egypt-first sellers, Cartly's integration depth saves weeks of work and reduces ongoing operational pain.