Dropshipping has become a very popular way to operate eCommerce stores, and is a worldwide phenomenon. The growing demand for dropshipping services has encouraged the development of excellent apps & services to ease the process.
Dropified and Oberlo are two such services for dropshipping sellers making product management, order management, and product search easier. Let’s take a closer look at both brands to determine the winner of the Dropified vs Oberlo debate.
How does Dropified and Oberlo Work
Before we move on to their comparison we quickly take a look at how both services work. To make use of either of the two services you require creating an eStore on Shopify. Once that is done head over to the Google Chrome Extension webstore. You should easily find both extensions with their respective names.
Once installed the icons for Oberlo and Dropified will appear in front of products on relevant eCommerce platforms. While Oberlo only allows use over AliExpress, Dropified can be synchronized with AliExpress, AliBaba, Amazon and more than 50 other eCommerce platforms.
For a detailed comparison of the two extensions, carry on reading.
Dropified vs Oberlo Extension Comparison
Both Dropified and Oberlo work using a Google Chrome extension to import products to your eStore. You will be required to create a free account with both services to access the extension at first. As you can see in the two screenshots above, both Dropified & Oberlo extensions even have more or less the same interface.
Oberlo being an established services offers better options within the extension. Dropified extension does offer extended settings when you click the settings cog on the bottom left. So, once you have installed the extension(s) and registered an account, you can begin importing products from AliExpress & AliBaba.
You will notice that the Oberlo extension is quite well equipped compared to Dropified. You can sort products by shipping service, by country and also check equivalent currency conversions instantly. Dropified extension although provides other interesting criteria including hiding non-ePacket items, and hiding unreliable suppliers.
Do remember that Oberlo only works with AliExpress only, while Dropified works with a wider range of services including AliBaba, Walmart, Amazon & many more. I did notice that the Dropified extension did not identify items on Amazon, so in case it doesn’t work simply contact the live support on Dropified’s website.
The two services even have a very similar dashboard, so similar that even the tags are same in the dashboard panels. Once your eStore is connected to the dashboard, it’s time to import products and begin listing on your eStore pages.
Both Oberlo and Dropified dashboards offer inventory management, order management, sales analytics, notifications, and search for products. Oberlo even provides its own Oberlo product supply. These are suppliers already vetted by the platform, with proper contact and order processing information provided.
Dropified dashboard is fairly young and still going through rapid changes. You can notice in the image above that Dropified offers almost all the necessary management features. For the cost, it offers all the features that Oberlo does, give or take a few.
How much does it cost to use Dropified vs Oberlo
When comparing the two in terms of cost, Oberlo just wins the race by a mile because Dropified is not for free users. You can definitely download the Dropified extension and import products, but after that you can do nothing with it. Dropified users will have to subscribe to either the Elite or Unlimited plans to start selling.
Oberlo offers a huge list of features you can use for free after registering your eStore. The free starter plan allows using most Oberlo features without worrying about paying additional fees. There are three subscriptions, with a superb free version that beginners & new eStore owners can use, the three plans include:
- Starter – Free
- Basic – $29.90 per month
- Pro – $79.90
Subscribers can enjoy a massive list of features even with their free plan signup:
- List up to 500 Products (with free plan)
- Take up t0 50 Orders per month (with free plan )
- Daily Products Sync
- Fulfil Orders Automatically
- Synchronize Tracking Numbers Automatically
- Bulk Orders Using Oberlo Supply
- Pricing automation
- Download and Use Free Chrome extension
- Generate Sales reports
- Unrestricted Use of Oberlo Supply
- New Dispute Management feature
- Shipments Tracking (Basic & Pro only)
- Orders fulfilment monitoring (Basic & Pro only)
- Multiple Users (Pro only)
As I mentioned above, Dropified is a premium paid service hence only work when you have subscribed to one of their packages. The two Dropified plans currently available include:
- Elite – $47 per month
- Unlimited – $99 per month
Now don’t get me wrong, it might be expensive, but if Dropified is your only offers some brilliant features for its value. Both the Elite and Unlimited subscriptions offer the following features:
- ePacket ID & Filtering
- 1-Click Save for Later
- Product Boards
- US Product Database
- 1-Click Add To Shopify
- Quick Default Settings
- Easy Product Images
- Easy Product Variant Setup
- Bulk Editing of Products
- Product Filters
- Save Original Product Information
- Easy Product Variant Setup
- Send Multiple Products to Shopify at Once
- Set Automatic Margins
- Saves Shipping Options
- Notes
- Upload Custom Product Images
- Download Product Images
- In App Photo Editing
- View and Manage Shopify Orders
- 1-Click AliExpress Order Fulfilment
- Auto Save AliExpress Order ID
- Auto Scan For Tracking Numbers
- Automatically Marked Orders as Fulfilled
- Edit Shopify Order Notes
- Save Order Info To Shopify Notes
- Custom Order Notes To Supplier
- Easy Order Filtering
- Advanced Variant Mapping
- AliExpress Captcha Solver
- Bundle Products
- Product Price Change Alerts
- Product Availability Alerts
- Auto Pricing and Inventory Updates
- Add Sub Users
Dropified vs Oberlo Trial
For all of us looking for a Dropified free plan, dory to disappoint you but there is none. When comparing the two services, Oberlo offers a full feature free plan that provides complete functionality for beginners to get acquainted with the service. You can have a look at the all available features in the pricing section above.
Dropified does not provide a free trial and requires a subscription to use any of the features listed above.
When comparing Dropified prices with Oberlo pricing, there is not only a massive cost differential but also how these services are offered. You will notice that Oberlo has a much better onboarding process, where they allow users to learn and get to the experience the service with the free plan.
Comparatively, Dropified is for more established eCommerce businesses that require more sources to sell, than learn to manage their businesses. Oberlo is a great way for beginners and new eCommerce businesses to learn more about the industry, niches, eStore management, sales funnels and other basics.
Dropified vs Oberlo – Ease of Use
So with all that we have discussed above, when it comes to ease of use and flexibility for even the most basic user Oberlo wins the head to head comparison. In addition to having the better Chrome extension, Oberlo’s dashboard is more user friendly to go around.
The Chrome extension, when put head to head have significant differences. Oberlo allows easier filtering and much more flexibility compared to Dropified’s extension. More options to filter products, compared to Dropified which has selective filters. There is however the issue that Oberlo only works with AliExpress, while Dropified will allow you to pick out products from more than 60 eCommerce websites.
Even when it comes to the main dashboard of the two platforms, Oberlo is the winner. Considering the error reports across social networks for Dropified, Oberlo is much more stable. No eCommerce store owner would like to make it their daily routine to visit Dropified support to report service issues. As I mentioned above, Dropified is still going through rapid changes and still improving.
Reviewer’s Verdict
An abundance of reasons lead to the conclusion that Oberlo is by far the better service between the two platforms. But, as I have claimed throughout the comparison, Dropified is in no way lacking behind. Constant innovation and new features have enabled the platform to gain great popularity. Oberlo does miss out on backend customization features, but that’s something they focus on ease of use.
Oberlo offers the better extension and a simpler dashboard all for free making it ideal for beginners. Dropified however, offers a vast list of features with its premium services and is a better option for established eCommerce stores. The abundance of platforms that Dropified can be used over is just brilliant, a must have for medium & enterprise level businesses.