Farm Website Platforms
Comparing GrazeCart, Shopify, & Square
Last updated: May 29, 2025
At Grapevine Local Food Marketing, we’ve been building websites just for farms and other local food businesses since 2016, and we’ve spent plenty of time carefully comparing tools!
For purposes of this comparison, we’re focusing solely on platforms that will enable you to have both your website (blog, about page, recipes...) and your online store together under one roof. So, we’re zeroing in on GrazeCart vs. Shopify vs. Square for farm websites.
The comparison tables below will give you all the information you need at a glance, so you can:
Compare platforms based on sales models, including variable weight meat, turkey pre-orders, bulk beef, CSAs, recurring subscriptions, etc.
Explore whether each website platform will work for your fulfillment models, including local delivery, drop points, shipping, etc.
Understand which website platforms will best support your farm’s marketing needs, including SEO, email marketing, blogging, recipes, etc.
Learn how needs such as Quickbooks integrations and routing software fit in.
Scroll to the end to see the real monthly cost for GrazeCart vs. Shopify vs. Square — including apps!
Before we jump in, a couple quick answers…
Where’s Wordpress?
We design Wordpress websites, too, but after developing custom comparisons for dozens of farms over the years, we’ve found that Wordpress never wins out over other platforms for farm websites. The POS is a wildcard, and even if your farm is only selling online, Wordpress doesn’t offer any functionality that you can’t get in Shopify. For these reasons, we typically only recommend Wordpress for food councils, government entities, and local food initiatives who want custom website functionality but don’t need to sell online.
What about Squarespace?
We 💚 Squarespace as a website platform for farms who are already using a separate online sales platform like Local Food Marketplace, Farmigo, or others. Squarespace makes it easy to develop a beautiful farm website as a companion to their online store. But for farms who are looking for a single platform for website + sales, all in a single platform, Squarespace falls short in its e-commerce functionality — GrazeCart, Shopify, and Square blow it away on every count, so it’s just not in the running. (Yes, Squarespace and Square are two different things!)
Farm Sales Models
| GrazeCart |
Shopify | Square | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Variable weight meat (sell exact weight by the pound) |
✅ GrazeCart is the only platform that has this functionality and a complete website, all on one fully integrated platform, so all of your site lives under a single domain name |
🟡💰 Can be accomplished with an app ($10/mo + 0.3% on attributed sales), perfect for special cuts, but not recommended for use across all products |
❌ |
| Buy-down CSA (online only) | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Buy-down/ market-style CSA w/POS support | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
|
Pre-order (Bulk beef, turkeys, etc. — charge a deposit & collect full payment later) |
✅ Note: A bundle with shared inventory cannot be a pre-order item. |
✅💰 $0-10/mo, TBD based on your specific needs |
✅ |
|
Recurring subscriptions subscribe & save |
✅💰* *see GrazeCart note below |
✅💰 Shopify has a Subscriptions app ($0) with limited basic subscription features available to all users. For most situations, will require an app: $5-8/mo based on order volume, or more robust app: $99/mo + 1% per order |
✅ Square has built-in subscription support at no additional cost, however they are still building it out and it is currently limited to shippable orders only. |
|
Bundles w/shared inventory (So when a customer buys a bundle, the inventory of component parts is reduced accordingly) |
✅ |
✅ Limited bundle functionality is available through Shopify's Bundles app ($0/mo) For more robust needs, you may still require an app: $24/mo, or free if < 3 bundled products. Sometimes bundle capabilities are included with apps for subcriptions. |
✅💰 new May 2024: Square's built-in bundle support is now available at no additional cost on paid plans. Robust inventory tracking and bundles may still require an app: $39+/mo depending on order volume |
|
Product drop-down choices (Variants like small roast vs. large roast, bone in vs bone out, 1lb ground vs 5-pack, etc.) |
✅💰* *see GrazeCart note below |
✅ | ✅ |
|
Product location exclusivity (Restrict products to specific pickup locations or shipping zones) |
🟡 Good built-in functionality, with some limitations. Customers see only products available for their selected pickup or shipping option. This can create issues where customers can't see products you sell if it isn't explicitly available for their selected method. |
🟡 Good built-in functionality, with some limitations. Product inventory is not automatically shared between locations, and must be managed separately for each location. For more robust needs, apps and custom solutions are available. |
🟡 Good built-in functionality, with some limitations. Product inventory is not automatically shared between locations, and must be managed separately for each location. |
|
Location-specific product pricing (Set different product pricing by pickup location or shipping zone; offer lower pricing for pickups) |
🟡 Can be accomplished using product location exclusivity, but inventory will have to be tracked separately |
🟡 Can be accomplished using product location exclusivity, but inventory will have to be tracked separately For more robust needs, apps and custom solutions are available. |
✅ + Also has location-specific automatic discounts |
|
Pricing groups (Assign customers to a group and set different product prices for the group) |
✅ |
✅💰 $20-40+/mo, based on your specific needs |
🟡 Group discounts are only available at POS. Online group discounts not available at this time. |
| Customer payment plans | ❌ |
✅ 5.9% + 30¢ with Shopify Shop Pay Installments |
✅ 6% + 30¢ Afterpay |
| Wholesale | ✅ |
🟡 Not a built-in feature, but possible using a combination of other features. Note: Robust built-in wholesale capabilities are only available on Shopify Plus accounts ($2,300+/mo). Some specific wholesale functionality can be accomplished with apps, outside of Shopify Plus. |
🟡💰 Not as smooth as other platforms. $0-39+/month, TBD based on your specific needs |
Wondering if you should sell by the pound? Check out our thoughts on selling meat by the pound vs. by the package.
If variable weight meat is your primary concern and you’re not shipping, you can also check out storefront platforms like Local Food Marketplace and Eat From Farms.
What about traditional CSAs? If your farm is looking for a CSA platform to support a traditional CSA model, consider taking advantage of a specialized farm CSA platform like Farmigo, CSAware, or others that have the functionality you need, built right in.
Order Fulfillment Options
| GrazeCart |
Shopify | Square | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allow COD or offline payment (Choose if you want to let customers submit a complete order without credit card payment.) | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Accept SNAP/EBT payments (Your business must be authorized by the USDA to accept SNAP/EBT benefits. Additional authorization is required to accept online payments.) | 🟡 No built-in functionality for online processing of SNAP/EBT. Customers can choose COD and payments can be manually processed in-person through a compatible payments processor at pickup or local delivery. |
✅💰 Requires app (free) to accept online SNAP/EBT payments. Setup involves an additional approval process with the payment processor. Transaction fee: 3.5% + $0.30 |
✅💰 Requires app (free) to accept online SNAP/EBT payments. Setup involves an additional approval process with the payment processor. Transaction fee: 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Local delivery |
✅* Can define delivery zones by zip or by state *see GrazeCart note below |
✅ Can define delivery zones by zip or by radius Date and time scheduling requires app (~$10-17/mo) |
✅ Can define delivery zones by zip or by radius |
| Pick up at farm |
✅ |
✅ Date and time scheduling requires app (~$10-17/mo) |
✅ |
|
Drop points / pickup locations |
✅ |
✅ See below note on inventory syncing |
✅ See note below |
|
Sync inventory across pickup / delivery locations
(not an issue for shipping zone inventory) |
✅ Automatic |
✅💰 More than 1 location requires app (~$10-17/mo, same app as above) |
✅💰 Requires app: $35-39+/mo if more than 1 location (same as the bundling app in previous table) |
| Shipping zones |
✅* Can define shipping zones by zip or by state *see GrazeCart note below |
✅
Can define shipping zones by state or pay for an app ($10+/mo) to define by zip codes, with some limitations |
✅ Can define shipping zones by state |
|
Shipping rate setup How shipping rates can be calculated for the customer (and for you) |
✅ Rate Setup: Set shipping rates to calculate per pound or use a flat rate for each zone. Can add additional flat fees and set a free shipping threshold. Multi-Box Shipments: Rate calculations do not factor in if orders require multiple boxes. Real Time Rates: No real-time calculated carrier rates. |
✅
Rate Setup: Set flat rates based on zone, order value, or order weight. Multi-Box Shipments: Rate calculations do not factor in if orders require multiple boxes (can use an app) Real Time Rates: Built in (when using Shopify Shipping), no extra fee. |
✅ Rate Setup: Set flat rates based on zone, item quantity, order value, or order weight. Multi-Box Shipments: Can set weight or item caps for your box sizes to calculate rates for orders with multiple boxes. Real Time Rates: Built in, but requires an upgrade to the $79/mo Premium plan (instead of the regular $29/mo Plus plan) Free to connect your own UPS or FedEx carrier account, or use Square's master USPS account for discounted rates. |
|
Shipping discounts Some platforms offer discounted shipping rates if you purchase labels through them or their partners |
✅💰 GrazeCart integrates with ShipFare / VNDR for special negotiated shipping rates. Rate Discounts: 60% off Ground, 80% off Overnight Shipping Services: UPS, FedEx, and USPS |
✅ Discounted rates via Shopify Shipping Rate Discounts: ~67-88% on domestic services - see rates Shipping Services: UPS, USPS, DHL |
🟡 Discounted rates built-in for USPS only, but can connect your own carrier accounts to use your negotiated rates |
| Set order fees based on geo zone | ✅ | ✅ |
✅ |
|
Order deadlines & specific delivery/pickup days (You can always communicate these manually, but a checkmark here means it's enforceable and automated) |
✅ |
✅💰 Built-in functionality uses rolling lead times ("typically ready in 2-4 days") Specific deadlines and dates require an app: ~$10-$17/mo (same app as inventory sync & local delivery) |
✅ |
|
Sales tax (We do not consult on sales tax.) |
🟡 You can manually enter sales tax rates based on zones you set up. If you’re shipping nationally, you may need to include tax in purchase price and calculate your tax responsibility offline. Products can be set as taxable vs. not taxable, but no way to set different rates for based on product type. |
🟡 Built in calculations, but does not distinguish between food and non-food items. If you’re shipping nationally, you may need to include tax in purchase price and calculate your tax responsibility offline. |
🟡 Built in calculations, but does not distinguish between food and non-food items. If you’re shipping nationally, you may need to include tax in purchase price and calculate your tax responsibility offline. |
|
Integrated POS (You can always use a separate POS; just consider the effect on inventory management.) |
✅💰* + $249 card reader Transaction fee: 2.9% + 30¢ Details at grazecart.com/pos *see GrazeCart note below |
✅ $5/month for POS Lite plan, or $89/mo for Pro plan + $49 card reader (or use free Tap to Pay on newer phones) Transaction fee: 5% on Lite plan; 2.6% + 10¢ USD on Pro plan Details at shopify.com/pos. Requires app to enable selling by the pound, +$20/mo |
✅ $0/month Free basic magstripe card reader, or +$299 for a terminal (recommended) Transaction fee: 2.6% + 15¢ Details at squareup.com |
|
Variable Weights with Integrated POS |
✅ |
✅💰 Requires app to enable selling by the pound, +$25/mo Also has app options for scanning weight embedded barcodes, +$25/mo |
✅ Multiple options for selling by weight, including manual weight entry, automatic entry using compatible weight scales, and price-embedded barcodes. (Not supported for Square Online sales – in person POS sales only.) |
What about food hubs, farm stops, farmers markets, & other aggregators? If your business is aggregating food from multiple producers, and you want producers to be able to login and manage their own inventory, check out specialty farm software like Local Food Marketplace or others. Otherwise — if you want to simply label or categorize products as being produced by partner farms, that can be handled easily in GrazeCart, Shopify, and Square.
Marketing Support
| GrazeCart |
Shopify | Square | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom website design |
✅ When you hire Grapevine, we’ll go beyond the standard GrazeCart template look to craft a polished final website for your farm. |
✅ When you hire Grapevine, we’ll go beyond the standard Shopify template look to craft a polished final website for your farm. |
✅ When you hire Grapevine, we’ll go beyond the standard Square template look to craft a polished final website for your farm. |
| SEO | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Integration with Google Analytics & Facebook Pixel | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Mobile-friendly, responsive design | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
|
Automated abandoned cart emails |
🟡 Not built in, but can be configured easily via Drip integration |
✅ |
✅ |
|
Email marketing & automations |
✅ 💰 Full Drip integration is built in and available on the Growth plan and up. See pricing options in the final table at the end of this article. |
✅ 💰 There are many integration options, but our fave is Klaviyo. See pricing options in the final table at the end of this article. |
✅ 💰 Use Square’s email marketing tools (extra fee) or use Mailchimp integration for more robust functionality. See pricing options in the final table at the end of this article. |
| SMS text message marketing & automations |
🟡💰 Drip has paused their built-in SMS for new customers and instead offers integrations to other SMS services – but misses out on fully integrated automations. |
✅ 💰 SMS is built right in to Klaviyo. Since it's fully integrated with email, your automations will be smart enough to choose email vs. SMS for each contact, and avoid overcommunicating. See pricing options at the end of this article. |
🟡💰 Use Square’s SMS marketing tools. It's fully inetgrated with email, automations are limited. See pricing options at the end of this article. |
| Loyalty program |
✅ Can develop w/email automations |
✅ Can develop w/email automations |
✅💰 Built in, but requires extra fee, starting at $45/mo (see details at squareup.com) |
| Blogging |
✅
When Grapevine builds your site, we build on the flexibility of GrazeCart's blog to enhance the browsing experience and increase customer engagement. |
✅ When Grapevine builds your site, we build on the flexibility of Shopify’s blog to enhance the browsing experience and increase customer engagement. |
🟡 Square currently has very basic blog functionality ("Stories"), with no way to add tags or pull a feed into the homepage. We expect this to improve in the next year or two. |
| Recipes |
✅ Built in recipe functionality even lets you use your products as ingredients. |
✅ When Grapevine builds your site, we’ll extend the blog functionality to include a dedicated recipe section with custom styling. |
🟡 Square’s limited blog functionality translates to very limited support for farm recipes. It’s not a fit if you plan to have 10+ recipes. |
A note on SEO: The framework is there in all three platforms — it's up to you or your web designer to make the most of it! If you hire Grapevine for a budget-friendly farm website template package, we'll provide a text template with SEO tips for you to fill out. If you hire us for a Custom Website package, we can include more in-depth SEO support based on your needs.
What about transactional emails like the order confirmation? Basic transactional emails are built right in to every e-commerce platform — no extra fees or apps needed. (Some sales models may warrant additional customized transactional emails, which can be configured separately in your email marketing platform.)
Wondering if SMS is a fit for your farm? It is! Find out why.
Administration
| GrazeCart |
Shopify | Square | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pick lists (Get total quantity of each product needed to pack all orders) |
✅ View directly in backend report or download CSV |
✅ 💰 We can show you how to generate pick lists with a workaround (free), or use an app: $10/mo |
✅ Download CSV |
| Packing lists | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Shipping labels | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| QuickBooks Online | 🟡 Manual export/import |
✅ 💰 Full integration w/app: $0-45/mo, based on your needs | ✅💰 Full integration w/app: $0-13/mo, based on your needs |
| Routing software |
🟡💰 Manual export/import to multiple platforms, $30-45/mo |
✅ 💰 Full integration available with multiple platforms $30-45/mo (add’l drivers will incur add’l costs) |
✅ 💰 Full integration available with multiple platforms ~$30/mo for up to 300 orders, additional orders at $0.10 |
| Reporting | ✅ Farm-tailored reporting. See GrazeCart reporting |
✅ Robust e-commerce reporting. See Shopify reporting |
✅ See Square reporting |
| Invoicing | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Full cost comparison
Monthly fees for Grazecart vs. Shopify vs. Square, including apps
| GrazeCart |
Shopify | Square | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing link |
grazecart.com/pricing | shopify.com/pricing | squareup.com |
| Core fee |
$149/mo Growth Plan is a fit for many farms. See our note on new GrazeCart plans & pricing below for more details. |
$29/mo Basic Plan is a fit for many farms. |
$29/mo Plus Plan is a fit for many farms. |
| Per-transaction fees for online sales |
2.9% + 30¢ (via Stripe) new May 2024: GrazeCart is migrating payment processing from Stripe to GrazeCart Payments |
2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ |
|
Pre-order (bulk beef, turkeys…) |
$0 on Growth plan and up | $0-10/mo, based on your needs | $0 |
| Subscriptions |
First 15 subscribers free, then +$50/mo for every 100 subscribers after |
$5-8/mo or robust app: $99/mo + 1% per order (Free app available with limited functionality) |
$0 |
| Bundled products w/shared inventory | $0 | $0-24/mo, based on your needs | $39+/mo |
|
Product drop-down choices (variants / upsell) |
$0 on Growth plan and up |
$0 | $0 |
| Wholesale | $0 on Growth plan and up | $0-24/mo, based on your needs | $0-39/mo, based on your needs (same app as above) |
| Sync inventory across drop points &/or local delivery zones | $0 | $~10-17/mo, based on your needs | $35-39+/mo (same app as above) |
| Pick lists | $0 | $0-10/mo | $0 (CSV download) |
| POS | $0 on Growth plan and up |
$5/mo for Lite plan +$25/mo if selling by the pound in person |
$0/mo |
| Routing software | Based on 3rd party platform you choose - many options | Based on 3rd party platform you choose - many options | Based on 3rd party platform you choose - many options |
| Quickbooks integration | $0 (manual export/import) | $0-45/mo, based on your needs | $0-12.99/mo depending on feature needs |
| Email marketing |
via Drip - based on # of subscribers: 1000: $39/mo 2000: $39/mo 3000: $49/mo 4000: $69/mo 5000: $89/mo See pricing at drip.com/pricing |
via Klaviyo - based on # of subscribers: 1000: $45/mo 2000: $60/mo 3000: $80/mo 4000: $100/mo 5000: $100/mo See pricing at klaviyo.com/pricing |
via Klaviyo - based on # of subscribers: 1000: $45/mo 2000: $60/mo 3000: $80/mo 4000: $100/mo 5000: $100/mo See pricing at klaviyo.com/pricing |
| SMS marketing |
TBD if/when Drip brings back SMS, but in the meantime one option is
YetiText:
SMS: $0.06 per message MMS: $0.08 per message See pricing at yetitext.com/pricing |
via Klaviyo +$10/mo for each batch of 1,250 SMS credits This works out to roughly: SMS: $0.01 (1 credit) per message MMS: $0.03 (3 credits) per message See pricing at klaviyo.com/pricing |
via Klaviyo +$10/mo for each batch of 1,250 SMS credits This works out to roughly: SMS: $0.01 (1 credit) per message MMS: $0.03 (3 credits) per message See pricing at klaviyo.com/pricing |
A note on new GrazeCart plans & pricing
As of March 2024, GrazeCart has new subscription tiers:
Starter – $69/month
Growth – $149/month
Premium – $299/month
It is unclear at this time when (or if) the new pricing will be applied to current platform users, or when it will go into effect for new users. Our comparison charts use GrazeCart’s currently published pricing and we do our best to update it as changes become known, but your experience with pricing and pricing plans may vary.
There have been changes to included features and the pricing structures for extra apps. Previously, all features and apps were available in one subscription plan with a sliding price based on revenue, and GrazeCart’s apps for extra features had an additional monthly fee attached. In the new pricing plans, it appears apps are now only available in specific plan tiers, and generally do not have an additional monthly fee (with the exception of subscriptions and POS fees). Additionally, some features are now only available on some plans.
We’ve used the $149/mo Growth plan as the reference point for our charts, since features that are important for many farms are only available on the Growth plan and up. Anything with an asterisk* means it is either available on only the Premium plan, or may be priced as an add-on and cost extra monthly – see the table below.
The main changes in GrazeCart app pricing and available plan features:
| GrazeCart Feature | Past Pricing & Plan | New Pricing & Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Pick-Up Manager App A module for drivers to manage orders, customers, and payments on the go. |
+$25/mo, available on all plans | Available on Premium plan |
| Packing Manager App Go paperless by accessing your orders and packing list on a tablet sized device. |
+$25/mo, available on all plans | Available on Premium plan |
| Product Upseller App (variants) Group products together with a variant menu to upsell bulk bundles and similar items. |
+$25/mo, available on all plans | Available on Growth plan and up |
| Subscriptions Offer your customers a subscription program without creating an inventory & fulfillment nightmare. |
$1.99 per subscriber per month, available on all plans | Available on Growth plan and up. First 15 subscribers free. $50/mo for every 100 subscribers thereafter, capped at $1,000/mo |
| Other e-commerce features Coupons Gift Cards Pre-orders Pricing groups (wholesale) |
Available on all plans | Available on Growth plan and up |
| GrazeCart Express POS $249 for compatible card reader |
+$49/mo, available on all plans | Available on Growth plan and up |
| Integrations for Mailchimp, Google Analytics and Shipfare | Available on all plans | Available on all plans |
| Drip integration and Facebook Pixel | Available on all plans | Available on Growth plan and up |
| Zapier integration | Available on all plans | Available on Premium plan |
Other considerations
We’ll leave you with a few final thoughts on these farm website platforms…
GrazeCart was developed by a farm family to fill their needs for selling direct to consumer. After being acquired in March 2024, GrazeCart is now owned by POS Nation, a point-of-sale technology provider. It’s the only platform that offers the ability to sell by weight and have a complete website, all on one platform, all under a single domain name (e.g. yourfarm.com). Some farms feel GrazeCart isn’t a fit because they’d like a more polished design, but that’s an easy fix! One of our specialties is building completely custom-designed GrazeCart websites using custom code. Our custom GrazeCart websites are still just as easy for the farmer to update and maintain as a non-custom site. Example websites: thelogcabinranch.com, champlinfarm.com, canaljunctionfarm.com, ffnatural.com, and togetherfarms.com.
Shopify is endlessly customizable. Unlike Square and GrazeCart, Shopify has an app store with thousands of plugins. Plus, a Shopify developer can build just about any custom functionality you can imagine (except variable weight meat — we checked!). On the flip side, that means you can rack up a big monthly bill with plugin fees if you’re not careful, and plugins don’t always play well together. If you work with Grapevine, you’ll benefit from our app experience, and we’ll make sure the apps we set up will work together. Example websites: applecreekfarm.me, shop.wildharmonyfarm.com, and adenafarms.com.
Square is a simple, user-friendly choice. It can be an easy choice for farms who already use Square POS, because you’ve already got all of your farm’s inventory right there, and you won’t need to change to a different POS in order to achieve streamlined inventory tracking. Square has a modest app store with a handful of core apps, but it is not infinitely customizable the way Shopify is. Its blog functionality is currently very limited. Example websites: brightideacres.com and fullhandfarm.com.
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Which farm website platform should you choose?
Still not sure which platform is right for your farm? Talk through the options with a pro!
Book a free demo with these direct links:
Schedule a consultation with Grapevine:
If we’re already connected, just click the link in the PDF to book your call. Otherwise, the first step is to request PDFs — reach out to get started.
Not quite ready to chat about a new website? We’re still here to help! Find checklists and conversational prompts to help your team square away all the details that go into a new website (and picking a platform!) in our resource post, How to Prepare for a Successful Farm Website Kickoff.
Ready for a new website?
You have enough to do — let us take care of your farm website! Our team has backgrounds in everything from farming and butchery to Master’s Degrees in graphic design and marketing. We invest heavily in ongoing training and professional development, so you know you’re getting top-notch expertise. We’ve built dozens of websites for small farms as well as websites for food hubs, food councils, and state ag/nutrition initiatives. Local food is our passion and the reason that we choose to do what we do!
Whether you’ve never had a website before or it’s time for a refresh, a strong website will form the foundation for your farm’s marketing. Your website serves as a hub that influences the success of all other marketing tactics you use, so it’s worth getting right. Choose a budget-friendly package based on our farm website templates, or have the Grapevine team build a turnkey, fully custom website. We’ll send a PDF with all the details on both options:
Already have our PDF? Reply to your Grapevine contact to schedule a call, or let us know that you’re ready to get started, and we’ll send an invoice for your downpayment.
