Best Shopify Page Builder Apps (PageFly vs Shogun vs GemPages)

Shopify has an incredible list of features for building an online store. However, it’s somewhat lacking in the design department. It doesn’t have a true drag-and-drop builder, you can’t format blog posts, and the pre-built themes lack reliable tools for adjusting headers and sidebars.

That’s why we’ve reviewed the best Shopify page builders to introduce you to Shopify apps that provide you with options for customizing every part of your online store, from the header to the product pages - without having to touch a single line of code. Get ready to explore the best drag-and-drop builders for your Shopify store. 

We may receive compensation from the tools featured in this guide. However, we do not recommend any tools or services that we do not use in our businesses, have not fully evaluated, or that are not successful for our clients.

If you're short on time, here's a quick breakdown of our top picks for different use cases (we recommend reading the full article to learn how we came to these recommendations):

• 📈 Best for small shops or startups - 🥇 PageFly
• 👔 Best for enterprise shops -🥇 Shogun
• 😌 Best for ease-of-use - 🥇 GemPages‍
• 📄 Best for landing pages - 🥇 Unbounce‍‍
• 🔍 Best for SEO - 🥇 Shogun
• 😌 Best for conversion optimization - 🥇 GemPages

Best Shopify Page Builders

PageFly

PageFly is our preferred Shopify page builder for startups and smaller Shopify stores and due to its ability to control and customize every page on your website, the powerful SEO options, affordability, and it's beautiful templates that cater to specific industries like health, beauty, and technology. It delivers the best bang for your buck without sacrificing any critical functionality.

You can work on all page types like product pages, FAQs, collections and more. PageFly also provides premade sections and display modules for formatting your content and building web pages in a matter of minutes. On top of that, you gain access to more advanced tools for editing HTML and Liquid code, optimizing your page speed, and checking out analytics. 

Key PageFly Features

• Preset templates to build an entire store, including templates for homepages, landing pages, and blog posts. 
• Mobile optimization with manual editing tools to ensure all layouts are responsive on smaller devices. 
• Pre-made sections and display elements for incorporating things like testimonials, hero banners, and images. 
• An area to input your own HTML or Liquid coding for the ultimate customization. 
• Integrations with popular marketing and analytics tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and Klaviyo. 
• Promotional features to boost your social media presence and build trust. Some options include timers, social sharing buttons, and testimonials. 
• Smart customer interaction tools to check on what your customers are doing with analytics and make the experience more appealing with the use of hover and animation effects. 
• A full version history and auto-save system so you don’t lose your hard during the process. 

What we like about PageFly (pros)

• It has a free plan to test out the Shopify website builder and use all built-in features. You’re limited to one page per page type but it’s a good start. In addition, the lower priced plans beat out much of the competition. 
• You can customize far more than regular pages and homepages. Options include collections, blog posts, password pages, and product pages. 
• You get built-in analytics with the option to integrate with something more powerful like Google Analytics. 
• PageFly offers buttons to import, export, and copy over previous designs for a faster workflow. 
• You can use standard PageFly content modules or drop in Shopify or third-party elements, all from the same dashboard. 
• It has a large collection of page templates with filters for the types of pages and the industries. 

What we don’t like about PageFly (cons)

• It’s analytics functionality is relatively new and thus, is limited compared to some of the other Shopify page builders 
• It lacks A/B testing functionality so you must use a third-party tool such as Google Analytics
• Since PageFly effectively amends the code of your site, it can be difficult to fully uninstall in the event you were to switch to another page builder
• When PageFly releases updates, it’s possible that you may experience broken functionality (we haven’t personally experienced this but it’s been brought to our attention by a client) 

Example Stores Using PageFly 

PageFly has a wonderful list of ecommerce brands that use its Shopify page builder for making homepages, products pages, and more. 

For example, the PawPrintsBy.com website uses PageFly for its homepage and many of its internal pages. 

The BrooklynCandleStudio.com website manages its content on the homepage, and much of the site, with PageFly. 

You can also find the effects of PageFly content elements and design templates on LyfeFuel.com product pages. 

PageFly Pricing

👉 Try the PageFly Shopify page builder app.

Shogun‍

The Shogun page builder is a Shopify page builder app that’s catered to more established, enterprise ecommerce brands that have more complex design needs.

Used by many top brands such as Leesa, Chubbies, and MVMT, Shogun helps you create pages with confidence as it provides pre-made, optimized templates and content modules for building quick, creative homepages, product pages, and other posts and pages throughout your website. 

Key Shogun Features 

• Pre-made templates and content modules for rapidly designing homepages and product pages. Some content modules include accordions, timers, and sliders. 
• Unlimited A/B testing and optimization tools for improving your conversion rates. 
• Built-in tracking to monitor things like session numbers and bounce rates. 
• Product and design syncing between multiple stores. 
• High-quality support through email and chat. 
• Suggested design variants so that you can test different forms of your pages and see which one works best. 
• Design options to edit pages based on screen size. 
• SEO optimization to add elements like meta descriptions and tags. 
• A development center to incorporate custom code and reuse those designs. 

What we like about Shogun (pros)

• The page templates are stunning and result in a great customer experience.
• You can actually test out how well your pages are optimized instead of assuming they work well. This is done with analytics and split testing. 
• You can design anything from sales funnels to landing pages, and product pages to blog posts. 
• They have a section of content elements made just for conversions, including options like a sales countdown timer, discount tags, and custom forms. 
• It’s easy to optimize for search engines with quick fields for meta titles and descriptions. 
• Shogun provides strong social integrations with Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest. 

What we don’t like about Shogun (cons)

• It doesn’t offer a free plan, and the cheapest one is $39 per month. For up to 350 pages you need to pay $149 per month. 
• Essential tools like analytics and A/B testing aren’t available in the basic $39 per month plan. 
• Shogun offers fewer integrations when compared to PageFly. We’d like to see better support for email marketing apps and other third-party tools. 

Example Stores Using Shogun

As mentioned before, Shogun has an impressive list of customers. 

Leesa, the ship-to-your-door mattress company, utilizes Shogun for optimizing its homepage and product pages. 
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Badgley Mischka also creates beautiful and clean product pages with Shogun. 

Finally, the Rumpl blanket company has the vast majority of its site designed with the Shogun Shopify page builder. 

Shogun Pricing

👉 Try the Shogun Shopify page builder app.

GemPages‍

The GemPages app offers a stunning design interface for your Shopify store, with high-converting templates, over 65 page builder elements, and a beautiful mobile design feature. GemPages taps into third-party applications to integrate with your current apps, while also providing unlimited customization options with themes, layouts, and content blocks. The Shopify drag-and-drop builder includes specific sale booster items like timers and Buy Now buttons. Not to mention, the customer support team is always available via the ticketing system and live chat. 

Key GemPage Features

• A powerful content module library to add everything from buttons to countdown timers. 
• A fully responsive web page design process with customization tools to change layouts for certain devices. 
• Ready-to-use templates for making homepages, contact pages, and product pages, as well as a wide range of other templates for specific industries. 
• Options to save and reuse your templates on other parts of your site, or for completely different websites. 
• Strong product page elements like image zooming, social sharing buttons, and an Ajax cart button. 
• Has a Global Styles feature to keep your design consistent across all of your pages.
• A complete Shopify landing page builder with optimized templates. 
• A sales funnel builder to create a pathway to guide customers towards purchasing. 
• Keep track of your page performance with A/B testing and Google Analytics.

What we like about GemPages (pros)

• The GemPages pricing opens up more features at a lower price than both Shogun and PageFly. For instance, you can make unlimited pages with the $15 per month plan. 
• The page builder is a complete drag-and-drop editor with dozens of content elements and templates that are optimized for conversions. 
• It integrates with a number of third-party apps, like for email marketing, dropshipping, and more. 
• All templates are optimized for search engines and include fields to adjust your metadata. 
• You receive a few bonus builders, like one for quickly building a landing page and another for making a sales funnel. 

What we don’t like about GemPages (cons)

• GemPages offer a free Shopify page builder plan but only 1 publishable page.
• The page builder lacks some essential features like autosaving, Analytics but the developers have this on the roadmap.

Example Stores using GemPages

GemPages boasts a reputable list of customers, many of which take advantage of the Shopify landing page builder and the overall website designer. 

For instance, you can see some of the conversion and sales features from GemPages on the AlchePharma website.  

AthenaGaia is yet another GemPages user, with a beautiful homepage packed with sales banners, buttons, and calls to action. 

We also like the SIBU website, since the product pages give you a taste of other GemPages features like the image zooming and the sales popups. 

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GemPages Pricing

👉 Try the GemPages Shopify page builder app.

What is a Shopify Page Builder?

A Shopify page builder expands upon the basic website design tools provided when you sign up for Shopify. A page builder functions as an app that you install to generate a visual or drag-and-drop design interface for easily constructing web pages, blog posts, and product pages. The standard Shopify templates have limitations in how much you can edit, so a page builder opens up your design for more potential and utilizes content modules so there’s no need for coding. 

Most Shopify page builders come with templates to begin your designs, along with content blocks for inserting items like buttons, lists, and paragraphs. 

What is the Best Free Shopify Page Builder?

PageFly is our top choice for Shopify page builders, seeing as how it’s reasonably priced, offers a truly free plan for those getting started, and you receive hundreds of templates, pre-made sections, display elements, FOMO effects, and credibility items like badges and testimonials. 

What is the Best Shopify Page Builder for Enterprise Brands?

Shogun is the preferred page builder for enterprise Shopify brands because it offers more robust functionality to support the needs of larger Shopify stores - simply view the customers  that Shogun showcases throughout it’s site to get a feel of who they service: Leesa, Beardbrand, K-Swiss, and more.

Additionally, Shogun now offers a headless product named “frontend” for enterprise brands with deeper pockets and more complex needs.

What is the Best Shopify Page Builder for Landing Pages?

Unbounce is the best landing page builder for Shopify because it's specifically built for landing pages. Therefore, it has more functionality and utility as it relates to landing pages. Unbounce is not a full Shopify page builder and should not be used as such.

Tips and Strategies for Using a Page Builder on Shopify

• Don’t overcomplicate the design process. There are templates and pre-made modules waiting for you to use. 
• Use existing templates that match with your brand. Then, tweak them with brand-specific content. 
• Forget about the notion of building a webpage from scratch. All these Shopify page builders have templates from different industries, and there’s a good chance those templates are better than anything you can make. 
• If available, use testing and analytics tools on a regular basis. Don’t use your gut when an A/B test tells you the right answer. 
• Consider saving all your designs, since you may have to make a similar page in the future. 
  

Conclusion

Overall, PageFly, Shogun, and GemPages each have their own advantages and disadvantages. 

When comparing Shogun vs PageFly vs GemPages, they all offer page templates and content modules. PageFly is the only one with a free pricing plan, and it’s lower priced plans are reasonable as well. You also get unique features called FOMO effects and integrations with third-party apps. Shogun is a strong contender due to its A/B testing and SEO controls, yet it’s by far the priciest option and is tailored to larger brands. In addition, Shogun has fewer integrations than the others. Finally, GemPages excels with its landing page and sales funnel builders. It doesn’t have a free plan, but they’re all fairly affordable.