Shopify vs Dukaan for an Indian D2C store

The case for

• Basic lists at ₹1,499 per month on annual billing in INR, so there is no forex markup on the platform fee itself.
• Advanced cuts the Shopify third-party gateway surcharge to 0.6 percent from 2 percent on Basic, which pays for itself at high volume.
• Plan prices, staff account limits and even the ₹175,000 per month Plus entry point are published, so total cost can be modelled upfront.

The catch

• Shopify Payments is not available in India, so every Indian merchant pays the third-party gateway surcharge of 2 percent on Basic.
• That surcharge stacks on top of your Razorpay or PayU MDR, and payment gateway fees themselves attract 18 percent GST.
• Grow costs ₹7,447 monthly against ₹5,599 on annual billing, so paying month to month adds roughly a third to the platform fee.
• Basic includes no additional staff accounts, so a second person needing their own login means moving up to the Grow tier.

The case for

• Plans are priced and invoiced in rupees by an Indian entity, starting at ₹1,499 a month for Starter and ₹3,899 for Growth
• The service fee per order is capped at ₹200, so one high value order does not carry an uncapped percentage cut
• Higher tiers buy down the per order service fee, from 3.99 percent on Starter to 1.99 percent on Growth and 0.99 percent on Infinity

The catch

• Dukaan charges a service fee on every successful order on top of the subscription, and that fee does not cover payment gateway charges
• The free plan carries a 4.99 percent service fee per order, so a store paying ₹0 a month still pays Dukaan on every sale
• The service fee applies to cash on delivery orders as well, and only Infinity plan users are exempted from paying it on COD
• The per order service fee is absent from the public pricing page and documented only in a help centre article, so buyers find it after signup