ChatGPT answers, unedited

For an agency running multiple client stores selling digital products, you’ll usually want a platform with:

• Multi-tenant / multi-store management (one agency dashboard, many stores)
• White-label branding (your logo/domain/client-facing admin)
• Separate client accounts and permissions
• Digital product delivery (files, memberships, subscriptions, licences, downloads)
• Reusable templates/themes
• Billing separation (client pays you, or client owns payments)
• API access if you want to automate provisioning

The best fit depends on whether you want a SaaS-style platform or simply manage many stores.

Strong options

1. Shopify + agency tooling

Best for: agencies that want a proven commerce engine.

Pros:

• Excellent digital product ecosystem
• Each client can have their own Shopify store/account
• Strong themes, apps, checkout, payments
• Shopify Partner ecosystem supports agencies

Cons:

• True white-labeling is limited; clients will still ultimately be on Shopify
• Managing dozens of stores can become operationally heavy

Good model:

• You create/manage stores as a partner
• Clients own their Shopify accounts
• You charge setup + management retainers

shopify.com

2. Multi-tenant commerce platforms

Best for: building your own branded “store builder” service.

Options include:

• Spree Commerce — supports multi-tenant setups where each tenant can have its own storefront, admin, API, branding and configuration. Spree Commerce
• Orbit Commerce — positioned specifically for agencies managing many client stores from one dashboard, with client store provisioning and role management. Orbit Commerce
• Cartvero — focuses on agency workspaces, client shops, white-label admin access and scoped client permissions. Cartvero

Pros:

• Closest to a true white-label storefront factory
• One backend for many client brands
• Easier to build recurring SaaS revenue

Cons:

• Smaller ecosystems than Shopify/WooCommerce
• May require more technical involvement

3. WooCommerce multisite

Best for: agencies comfortable with WordPress.

Pros:

• Cheap and flexible
• Huge plugin ecosystem
• Easy digital downloads, memberships, courses
• Full branding control

Cons:

• You become responsible for hosting, security, updates
• Scaling 50–100 stores requires strong DevOps

Typical stack:

• WordPress Multisite
• WooCommerce
• Digital Downloads / memberships plugins
• Managed hosting
• Your own client portal

4. Headless commerce stack

Best for: a premium agency building a proprietary platform.

Example architecture:

• Commerce backend
• Your own client dashboard
• Frontend storefront templates
• Automated store provisioning

Pros:

• Maximum white-label control
• You own the client experience
• Can become a SaaS product

Cons:

• Highest build cost

For your use case, I’d shortlist:

A key question: do your clients need to log in and manage their own products/orders, or are you operating all stores on their behalf? That changes the ideal platform quite a lot.

Yes. For an agency model where you operate multiple client stores, while each client gets their own branded storefront and account/admin access, I’d shortlist these:

1. Vendure — probably the closest match

Vendure is particularly interesting for an agency building a platform of client stores, rather than simply managing a collection of independent Shopify stores.

Vendure has Channels, which can represent separate stores/tenants. Each channel can have its own products, customers, orders, pricing, payment methods, etc., and administrator roles can be restricted to particular channels. docs.vendure.io

It explicitly documents the multi-tenant architecture: one backend/database can support many shops, with a channel per tenant and permissions scoped to that tenant. vendure.iovendure.io

It also gives you a headless storefront, so you can make each client's site completely branded rather than exposing a Vendure-branded storefront. vendure.io

Architecture I'd use:

Agency platform → Vendure → Client A / Client B / Client C channels → custom branded storefronts

That's a very natural fit if your agency is effectively becoming a SaaS commerce platform for digital-product sellers.

One caveat: Vendure's customer model has some cross-channel behavior, so if you require absolute database-level isolation between clients, you may want separate tenant instances/databases rather than channels. Vendure supports that architecture too. vendure.iovendure.io

2. Shopify Plus — easiest commercial/ecosystem choice

Shopify Plus supports organizations with multiple stores, centralized administration, staff accounts and granular permissions. www.shopify.com

It's excellent if your agency wants:

• proven checkout/payments
• huge app ecosystem
• client-specific staff accounts
• multiple stores under an organization
• custom/ headless storefronts
• minimal infrastructure to maintain

The downside is that Shopify Plus is fundamentally designed around a merchant organization managing its own stores, rather than giving you a clean "tenant = client" architecture for a SaaS product. Plus pricing also starts around $2,500/month on the current published pricing structure. www.shopify.com

For an agency managing, say, 10–50 clients, the economics and tenancy model deserve careful consideration.

3. Medusa — great if you're building the product yourself

Medusa is another strong headless option if your agency has a development team and wants to own the UX and tenant architecture.

I'd choose it over Shopify if your requirement is essentially:

"We're building our own white-label commerce SaaS, and each customer gets a completely separate branded store."

My recommendation

If your actual business model is:

Agency signs client → creates store → client gets login → client manages products/orders/customers → client has custom domain/branding → you retain super-admin access → you repeat this for hundreds of clients

then I'd investigate Vendure first.

It gives you the underlying concepts you need—multi-tenancy, per-tenant permissions, multiple storefronts, headless APIs, and custom storefronts—without forcing you into a separate Shopify store for every client. vendure.iodocs.vendure.io

If you tell me roughly how many client stores you expect (10 / 100 / 1,000+) and whether the digital products are downloads, courses, memberships, or software, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 architectures and explain the tenancy, billing, domains, client login, and Stripe setup.

Yes. For an agency running multiple client digital-product stores, I’d look beyond typical creator platforms. The key requirements are:

• Multiple independent storefronts under one agency account
• Client-specific admin accounts/permissions
• White-label branding and preferably custom domains
• Digital-product delivery
• Your agency retaining the master/admin relationship
• Ability to provision new client stores without creating a completely separate operation each time

Best fits

Spree Commerce is particularly interesting. Its multi-tenant offering is explicitly designed for resellers/white-label operators: one installation can host hundreds of stores, with each tenant getting an independent storefront, admin panel, API, products, orders, customers and permissions. Spree Commerce

WebinOne is more turnkey. It gives agencies a centralized portal for managing client sites, billing and support, with white-label branding and built-in ecommerce. It advertises starting at $10/site/month. WebinOne WebinOne

Shopify works very well if you don't need the platform itself to be white-labeled. Its Partner Dashboard lets an agency manage access to multiple client stores without juggling individual credentials. Shopify

I'd rule out Sellfy for this particular model: it supports digital products well, but explicitly allows only one storefront per account and doesn't support adding multiple users to the account. Sellfy Help Center

What I'd choose

If you're essentially building "Shopify-as-a-service for our clients", I'd shortlist:

1. Spree Commerce — if you have development resources and want complete control over a multi-tenant platform.
2. WebinOne — if you want to launch the agency offering quickly with less infrastructure work.
3. Shopify — if each client can have their own Shopify store and you mainly need centralized agency management rather than true white-label SaaS.

If you tell me whether you want (a) each client to log into their own store/admin, (b) your agency to own the billing/payment accounts, and (c) clients to see absolutely zero mention of the underlying platform, I can narrow this to the 2–3 platforms that actually fit, including pricing and API/multi-tenant limitations.

Shopify works very well if you don't need the platform itself to be white-labeled. Its Partner Dashboard lets an agency manage access to multiple client stores without juggling individual credentials.

I'd rule out Sellfy for this particular model: it supports digital products well, but explicitly allows only one storefront per account and doesn't support adding multiple users to the account.

What I'd choose

Yes. For an agency managing multiple independent client stores, I’d separate the options into three tiers:

My top picks

1. Spree Commerce — best if you're building an agency platform

Spree is unusually close to your exact model: one platform can host hundreds/thousands of tenant stores, with each tenant getting its own storefront, admin panel and API, while your agency retains a super-admin/operator layer. spreecommerce.org

That makes it attractive if your architecture is:

Agency → Client → Store → Client users

rather than simply having a collection of unrelated ecommerce sites.

Spree Commerce

2. Medusa — best if your agency has developers

Medusa is headless and gives you much more control over the architecture. It supports multiple stores within one instance, although multi-tenancy isn't native—you'd implement the tenant isolation yourself. docs.medusajs.com

For digital products, Medusa explicitly supports downloadable products and customer accounts, and you can build completely custom storefronts around its APIs. docs.medusajs.comdocs.medusajs.com

This is probably my choice if you want to build something like:

agency.yourplatform.com
→ Client A
→ Client B
→ Client C

Each client gets their own domain, branding, products, customers and admin users.

Medusa

3. BigCommerce — best managed/SaaS option

BigCommerce's Multi-Storefront is strong if you don't want to operate the infrastructure yourself. You can run multiple branded storefronts from one backend, give each storefront its own domain/customization, and manage customers/orders centrally. www.bigcommerce.com

The catch is that it isn't really a white-label agency SaaS in the same sense as Spree/Medusa—you'll have more constraints around making the entire experience look like your platform.

BigCommerce

One important distinction

If by "client accounts" you mean:

Each client logs into our agency dashboard and can manage only their own store

then I'd prioritize Spree or a custom Medusa implementation.

If you mean:

Each client gets their own ecommerce store, and their customers get normal accounts to access their purchased digital products

then BigCommerce, Medusa, Spree, and nopCommerce can all fit.

For an agency specifically selling digital products, I'd lean Medusa if you want maximum control, or Spree if you want multi-tenancy to be a first-class architectural concept. Medusa's storefronts are decoupled from the commerce backend, which is particularly useful if every client needs a radically different branded frontend. docs.medusajs.comdocs.medusajs.com

If you tell me whether you want clients to log into a shared agency dashboard vs. their own isolated admin, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 platforms and compare pricing, white-labeling, custom domains, client permissions, digital downloads, and API access.

For an agency building multiple client storefronts for digital products, you’ll want something closer to a multi-tenant commerce platform or white-label SaaS/reseller platform rather than a normal ecommerce builder.

The best fit depends on whether you want clients to own/manage their stores or whether your agency operates everything.

ushoptec.com

My shortlist for your use case

1. Shopify (best operationally)

Use this if:

• each client gets their own branded store
• you don’t need clients to see a fully rebranded admin SaaS
• you want the largest ecosystem for digital downloads, subscriptions, memberships, apps, payments

Typical agency model:

• Your agency is the Shopify Partner
• You create stores for each client
• Clients get collaborator access
• You charge setup + management fees

Downside: Shopify is not a true white-label platform; clients will know they are using Shopify.

2. Spree Commerce (best if you want your own platform)

Use this if you want to create something like:

“YourAgency Commerce — create your own digital product store in minutes”

Features:

• tenant/client accounts
• separate storefronts
• separate admins
• custom domains
• API-first architecture
• full control over branding

Spree specifically supports multi-tenant ecommerce where each tenant can have its own storefront, admin panel, and API while being managed centrally. ushoptec.comspreecommerce.org

Downside: requires engineering resources.

3. UShopTec / similar multi-tenant white-label platforms

Better if you want a ready-made white-label system:

• create multiple stores
• each client has branding/catalog/pricing
• agency controls the platform layer

UShopTec positions itself specifically around multi-tenant, white-label ecommerce with centralized management of many brands/stores. ushoptec.com

4. Orbit Commerce (agency-first)

Worth looking at if your business model is:

“We launch and manage ecommerce stores for clients.”

It focuses on:

• one agency dashboard
• multiple client stores
• client logins
• provisioning new stores quickly
• centralized management

ushoptec.comorbitcommerce.net

For digital products specifically, make sure the platform supports:

• customer accounts
• file delivery after purchase
• license keys (if applicable)
• subscriptions/memberships
• coupons
• affiliates/referrals
• client-level analytics
• separate Stripe/payment accounts
• tax/VAT handling
• custom domains
• role-based permissions

Architecture I’d recommend for an agency

If you have <50 clients:

• Shopify Partner ecosystem
• reusable themes
• apps for digital delivery
• agency-managed client accounts

If you want 50–500+ client stores:

• Spree Commerce or another true multi-tenant platform
• your own agency dashboard
• automated store provisioning

If you want to sell “store-in-a-box” as a SaaS:

• build on a multi-tenant backend (Spree, Medusa, custom)
• add your own billing, onboarding, and client portal

One key question changes the recommendation: are your clients supposed to log in and manage their own storefronts, or is your agency going to operate all stores on their behalf?

Yes. For an agency running multiple independent client stores, with each client getting their own login/storefront while you retain centralized control, there are a few good options.

My shortlist

🥇 Best fit: Spree Commerce

Spree Commerce

Spree is particularly interesting for your model because it explicitly supports multi-tenant, white-label ecommerce: each client/tenant can have its own storefront, admin panel and API, while your agency has a super-admin layer controlling the whole system. spreecommerce.org

That maps closely to:

Your agency → Client A → Store A
Your agency → Client B → Store B
Your agency → Client C → Store C

You can also customize the platform around digital-product fulfillment, customer accounts, subscriptions, licensing, downloads, etc.

🥈 Best managed option: BigCommerce

BigCommerce

BigCommerce's Multi-Storefront lets one backend operate multiple distinct storefronts, with different domains, designs, pricing, catalogs and customer/order management. www.bigcommerce.com

It's particularly attractive if you don't want to build and maintain the underlying commerce infrastructure yourself.

The catch: it's more naturally designed around one merchant operating multiple storefronts than an agency giving every client a completely independent white-labeled tenant. For a true "Shopify-for-our-agency" SaaS model, Spree/Medusa are more flexible.

🥉 Agency-first: Orbit Commerce

Orbit Commerce

Orbit is explicitly built for agencies: one agency dashboard, isolated client stores, client/team access, provisioning, domains, billing and white-label capabilities. It advertises management of 10–150 client stores from one login. orbitcommerce.net

I'd investigate this one if your priority is launching client stores quickly rather than engineering the platform yourselves.

What I'd choose for your business

If you're building a repeatable agency platform where clients log in and manage their own digital-product businesses, I'd rank them:

1. Spree → best if you want to own/customize the architecture
2. Medusa → best if you're a technical agency and want a headless/custom SaaS architecture
3. BigCommerce → best if you want managed infrastructure and less engineering
4. Orbit → best if you want agency tooling/provisioning out of the box
5. Shopify → excellent for individual client stores, but less suitable as the underlying white-label multi-client platform

Medusa is also unusually well suited to digital products: its documentation specifically covers digital-product purchasing, download delivery and customization of the admin/storefront for digital goods. docs.medusajs.com

If you tell me (1) whether clients need their own admin login, (2) whether you want to charge them monthly, and (3) whether each client needs their own Stripe account/payment processing, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 architectures for your agency.

Yes. For an agency model where you build multiple branded client stores, give each client their own login/admin, and ideally keep your agency in control of the underlying infrastructure, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: BigCommerce

BigCommerce Multi-Storefront is particularly interesting for your model. Its Multi-Storefront functionality lets you operate multiple distinct storefronts from one backend, with different branding, domains, catalogs, pricing, and customer experiences. You can manage customers and orders across storefronts centrally. www.bigcommerce.com

That maps fairly well to:

Your agency
→ Store A / Client A
→ Store B / Client B
→ Store C / Client C
→ …

You could give each client access appropriate to their store while retaining agency-level administration.

Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus is excellent if clients are ultimately going to own their stores. Shopify Partners can create client transfer stores, build them under the agency, and transfer ownership to the client when ready. Shopify says Partners can create an unlimited number of client transfer stores. help.shopify.com

The catch is that Plus expansion stores aren't really designed as an arbitrary "one agency → hundreds of unrelated client brands" white-label SaaS. Shopify's standard expansion-store rules are oriented around extensions of the same brand, although Shopify mentions multi-brand agreements as an option for qualifying organizations. www.bigcommerce.comhelp.shopify.com

Medusa is worth serious consideration

If by white-label you mean the client should see your agency's SaaS rather than "Shopify/BigCommerce", I'd look hard at Medusa.

It's headless/open-source, so you can build your own:

• Agency admin
• Client portal
• Store provisioning
• Branded storefront templates
• Per-client domains
• Per-client product catalogs
• Customer accounts
• Digital delivery
• Billing/subscriptions
• Role/permission system

Medusa already has customer profiles/groups and configurable access levels, and its B2B tooling includes company/employee accounts and multiple sales channels. medusajs.com

The tradeoff is that you become responsible for building the SaaS layer rather than getting a polished agency/client-management experience out of the box.

The important distinction

If you mean:

"We want to build stores for clients, then give each client their own admin login."

BigCommerce or Shopify Plus are probably the sensible choices.

If you mean:

"We want to sell our own white-label ecommerce platform to hundreds of clients, where clients log into our dashboard and create/manage their own stores."

Then I'd lean toward Medusa/custom headless (or another composable commerce backend) rather than Shopify.

If you tell me roughly how many stores you expect (10 / 100 / 1,000+), whether clients need to manage their own products/orders, and whether you want clients to see the underlying platform at all, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 architectures and pricing model.

Yes. For an agency running multiple client-owned digital-product stores, I’d put Shopify at the top of the list.

Best fit: Shopify + Shopify Partners

Shopify supports the agency model particularly well:

• One agency/Partner organization can manage the stores you build for clients through the Partner/Developer Dashboard. help.shopify.com
• You can create client-transfer stores, build them yourself, then transfer ownership to the client when ready. help.shopify.com
• Clients can have their own Shopify accounts and ownership, while your agency retains controlled collaborator access. You don't need to share passwords. help.shopify.com
• Storefronts can be completely client-branded/custom-domain rather than presenting as an agency marketplace.
• Shopify supports digital-only stores: PDFs, templates, video, audio, software, courses, etc. Its Digital Downloads app handles file/link delivery and download limits. www.shopify.com
• If you eventually have a large portfolio under one organization, Shopify Plus adds centralized multi-store management, users/roles, billing, and expansion stores. help.shopify.com

How I'd structure your agency

Agency
→ Shopify Partner organization
→ Client A store
→ Client B store
→ Client C store
→ etc.

Each client gets:

their own domain + branded storefront + customer accounts + products + payments + analytics

Your agency gets:

controlled admin access + centralized team permissions + ability to build/maintain every client store

That's a much cleaner model than trying to make one ecommerce account represent dozens of unrelated clients.

One important distinction

If by "white-label" you mean you want to resell the entire ecommerce platform itself under your agency's brand, Shopify isn't really a white-label SaaS platform. It's better described as client-branded storefronts with agency-managed accounts.

If that's what you mean, I can compare Shopify vs a genuinely white-label/multi-tenant platform (including options where your agency is the platform and each client gets their own isolated store/account). That distinction changes the recommendation substantially.

Yes. For an agency running multiple independent client stores, there are a few materially different options. The key distinction is whether you want “multiple stores under our agency” or a true multi-tenant/white-label platform where each client gets their own login, branding, domain, catalog, and admin.

My shortlist

1. Spree Commerce — best fit if you want to build an agency platform

This is the closest match to what you're describing.

Spree Commerce explicitly supports multi-tenant ecommerce: you can host hundreds/thousands of stores from one platform, with each tenant having its own storefront, admin panel, API, products, orders and customers. You retain a super-admin/operator dashboard over all the stores. spreecommerce.org

So you could have:

Your Agency
│
├── Client A
│   ├── clienta.com
│   ├── Client A admin
│   └── Client A customers/products/orders
│
├── Client B
│   ├── clientb.com
│   ├── Client B admin
│   └── Client B customers/products/orders
│
└── Client C
    ├── clientc.com
    ├── Client C admin
    └── Client C customers/products/orders

And your agency has the master/operator account.

The important part is that Spree's Enterprise multi-tenant functionality specifically supports independent branding, domains, catalogs and admin users per tenant. spreecommerce.org

I'd pick this if you're building a serious recurring-revenue agency infrastructure rather than simply building Shopify stores for clients.

2. BigCommerce — best managed/SaaS option

BigCommerce has Multi-Storefront, allowing multiple unique storefronts to be managed from one dashboard. Each storefront can have its own domain, theme, currency, customer groups, products and configuration. www.bigcommerce.com

This is attractive if you don't want to operate infrastructure yourself.

The caveat: it's multi-store, rather than a purpose-built white-label SaaS/reseller architecture. You'd have to design the agency/client-account layer around it.

3. Shopify Plus — great commerce engine, less ideal for your exact model

Shopify Plus gives you centralized organization management, users/permissions, billing and multiple expansion stores. help.shopify.com

However, there's an important limitation for an agency: Shopify's Plus expansion stores are intended primarily for extensions of a brand, rather than hundreds of unrelated client brands. Shopify's current pricing says one brand per Plus contract, with additional arrangements required for multiple brands. www.shopify.com

So I'd use Shopify when each client is effectively getting their own Shopify store, not when you're trying to create a single white-label agency platform.

4. Payhip / Sellfy — excellent for digital products, but not agency platforms

Payhip is actually very good for the digital-product selling part: downloads, courses, memberships, subscriptions, etc., plus customer accounts where buyers can log in and access their purchases. payhip.com

Sellfy similarly handles digital downloads, subscriptions and custom domains very well. sellfy.com

But neither is what I'd choose as the backend for an agency managing dozens/hundreds of independently branded client stores.

What I'd choose for your agency

If your requirements are:

• multiple unrelated client brands
• each gets a separate storefront/domain
• each client has their own login
• clients can manage products/orders/customers
• your agency retains super-admin access
• complete client-by-client branding
• primarily digital products
• potentially dozens/hundreds of stores
• ideally API access so you can automate provisioning

→ Spree Commerce is the strongest architectural fit.

If you don't want to maintain the infrastructure and would rather pay for a managed platform:

→ BigCommerce Multi-Storefront is probably the first one I'd investigate.

If you tell me roughly how many client stores you expect (10 / 50 / 500+) and whether clients need to log into the backend themselves, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 architectures and compare pricing, white-labeling, client permissions, Stripe/payment ownership, digital downloads, and API/provisioning.

Yes. For an agency running multiple client storefronts for digital products, I’d separate the options into two models:

My recommendation: Shopify for most agencies

Shopify is probably the safest choice if you're building stores for clients rather than building your own ecommerce SaaS.

As a Shopify Partner, your agency can create client transfer stores, build them inside your Partner/Dev Dashboard, and then transfer ownership to the client. Shopify explicitly supports unlimited client transfer stores. help.shopify.com

Once a client owns the store, your agency can retain access through collaborator accounts, with permissions limited to whatever the client authorizes. help.shopify.com

Shopify Partners

The big caveat: Shopify isn't truly white-label at the platform level. The client's storefront can be completely branded as their business, but you're still building on Shopify and the client ultimately has a Shopify account.

If you mean true white-label + multi-tenant

Look seriously at Spree Commerce.

Spree specifically supports a multi-tenant architecture where you can run thousands of independent stores from one platform, with each tenant getting its own storefront, admin panel, and API. It also provides a central operator/super-admin layer for provisioning and managing tenants. spreecommerce.org

Spree Commerce

That's much closer to:

Your Agency → Client A store / Client B store / Client C store → each client logs into their own branded admin

rather than:

Agency → separate Shopify stores → clients own/manage them individually.

One I'd rule out: Sellfy

Sellfy is attractive for digital products—it handles file hosting, checkout and automatic delivery—but it explicitly allows only one storefront per account and currently doesn't support adding multiple users to an account. docs.sellfy.com

Sellfy

So it isn't a good foundation for an agency managing many client stores.

Bottom line:

• Agency builds/maintains stores for clients: Shopify
• You want to sell your own white-labeled ecommerce system to many clients: Spree Commerce
• One-person/simple digital-product stores: Sellfy

If you tell me whether the clients should own their stores or remain tenants inside your agency's master account, I can narrow this down to the 3–5 best platforms and compare pricing, client login/permissions, custom domains, digital downloads, and agency margins.

Yes. For an agency building multiple client-owned digital-product stores, I’d narrow it to these:

My recommendation: Spree Commerce

If by "white-label" you mean your agency is the platform/operator, and each client gets their own branded storefront + login/admin while you retain super-admin control, Spree is unusually well suited.

Spree explicitly supports a multi-tenant architecture where you can host hundreds/thousands of stores from one platform, with each tenant having its own storefront, admin panel and API. Your agency retains an operator/super-admin dashboard and can control how much autonomy each client gets. spreecommerce.org

That maps closely to:

Agency
→ Client A
→ Client B
→ Client C
→ Client D

Each client gets:

• clienta.com
• Their own branding/theme
• Their own products
• Their own customers/orders
• Their own admin users
• Their own permissions
• Your agency's centralized oversight

BigCommerce is my second choice

BigCommerce has Multi-Storefront, which lets you run multiple branded storefronts from one backend, with separate domains, themes, products, pricing, customers and analytics. It also has an agency partner program. www.bigcommerce.com

The catch is that it's more naturally a merchant operating multiple storefronts model than a completely white-label "agency runs a SaaS platform for its clients" model.

Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus is excellent if your agency wants to manage multiple stores centrally. Its organization/expansion-store system provides centralized billing and user management, and Shopify supports up to 10 stores on a standard Plus contract before additional arrangements are needed. help.shopify.com

But there's an important distinction: Shopify Plus expansion stores have eligibility rules and are designed around extensions of a main brand; different unrelated client brands may require a multi-brand agreement. spreecommerce.orghelp.shopify.com So I wouldn't pick Plus purely because you saw "multi-store."

I would avoid Sellfy for this

Sellfy is actually very good for one creator selling digital products—it hosts the files, handles checkout and automatically delivers downloads. But Sellfy explicitly says you can create only one storefront per account, and it doesn't currently support adding multiple users to an account. docs.sellfy.com

So it doesn't match an agency/client hierarchy.

Bottom line: If your actual business model is "we operate a white-label ecommerce platform and provision a separate store/account for every client," I'd investigate Spree first. If you want a hosted/managed solution and don't need the platform itself to disappear behind your agency brand, BigCommerce is probably the stronger choice.

If you tell me whether you want (A) clients to log into their own admin, (B) clients to pay you a monthly platform fee, and (C) you to handle each client's Stripe/payment account, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 architectures.

Yes. For an agency running multiple independent client stores, I’d shortlist these:

My recommendation: Spree Commerce

If what you mean by white-label is:

Your agency owns the platform → you create Store A, Store B, Store C → each client gets their own branded domain, storefront, admin account, catalog and customers → your agency still controls everything centrally

then Spree Commerce is probably the closest architectural fit.

Its multi-tenant Enterprise setup explicitly supports independent storefronts, admin panels and APIs per tenant, while giving the operator a central dashboard. Each tenant can have its own branding, domain, catalog and checkout. spreecommerce.org

Spree Commerce multi-tenant/white-label ecommerce

The catch: it's more of a platform you build/operate than a turnkey SaaS like Shopify. That's actually attractive if your agency wants to turn the storefront infrastructure itself into a product.

Shopify is the safer conventional choice

Shopify is excellent if each client should ultimately own their store.

Shopify Partners can create unlimited client-transfer stores, manage them through the Partner/Developer Dashboard, and use collaborator accounts with granular access. help.shopify.com

Shopify Plus also supports multiple stores under one organization with centralized users and billing. help.shopify.com

But there is an important distinction: Shopify isn't really a white-label multi-tenant platform for you to resell under your own brand. Your clients ultimately know they're using Shopify, even if the storefront itself is completely branded.

I would not choose Sellfy for your model

Sellfy is very good for an individual creator selling downloads, subscriptions, etc., but its current limitations are almost exactly what your agency doesn't want: one storefront per account and no multiple-user/staff accounts. docs.sellfy.com

One other option worth investigating

WebinOne is specifically agency-oriented: centralized client-site management, white-label branding, ecommerce, CRM, member areas and consolidated billing. webinone.com

And Orbit Commerce is explicitly positioning itself around running 10–150 client stores from one agency dashboard, with store provisioning, client access, domains and billing handled centrally. orbitcommerce.net

If you're building this as an agency product rather than merely managing Shopify stores for clients, I'd rank them:

1. Spree Commerce — best if you want true multi-tenant + white-label control.
2. Shopify — best if clients need a mature, familiar ecommerce platform and can have Shopify underneath.
3. WebinOne — worth evaluating for an agency-first turnkey setup.
4. Orbit Commerce — potentially very interesting if its feature set matches your digital-product requirements.
5. Sellfy — great creator tool, wrong architecture for multiple client accounts.

If you tell me whether (a) clients need to log into an admin dashboard, (b) each client needs their own Stripe account/payouts, and (c) you want to charge clients a monthly platform fee, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 architectures and their likely costs.

Yes. For an agency model where you operate multiple client stores, there’s an important distinction between:

1. Multiple storefronts — each client gets their own domain, branding, catalog, checkout, etc.
2. Client/merchant accounts — each client can log in and manage only their own store.
3. True white-label — clients never see the underlying platform branding.

Based on those requirements, I’d shortlist these:

1. Spree Commerce — closest to what you're describing

Spree Commerce

Spree has a multi-tenant white-label ecommerce architecture specifically designed for situations where one operator provisions many independent stores. Each tenant can have its own storefront, admin panel, products, customers, domain and branding, while you retain a super-admin dashboard. spreecommerce.org

That's a particularly good match if your agency wants to eventually offer something like:

client-a.youragency.com
client-b.youragency.com
client-c.youragency.com

with each client having their own login and isolated data.

The tradeoff is that it's much more of a platform-building/development project than Shopify.

2. BigCommerce — probably the best hosted solution

BigCommerce

BigCommerce's Multi-Storefront lets you operate multiple branded storefronts from one backend, with different domains, catalogs, currencies, pricing, themes, etc. It also supports managing customers and orders across storefronts. spreecommerce.orgwww.bigcommerce.com

For an agency, I'd seriously investigate this if you don't want to build the underlying multi-tenant infrastructure yourself.

The caveat: it's multi-storefront, rather than a completely agency-white-labeled SaaS platform. Your clients will still be interacting with BigCommerce's merchant infrastructure/admin experience to some degree.

3. Shopify — best if you're building stores for clients

Shopify Partners

Shopify is excellent if your model is:

Agency → builds store → gives client ownership/access → continues managing it.

Shopify explicitly supports agencies creating stores on behalf of clients and subsequently transferring ownership to them. help.shopify.com

It's less ideal if what you actually want is:

Agency → owns one platform → provisions 100 independent client stores → clients log into your branded SaaS.

That's not really Shopify's core model.

4. Ecwid — simpler and cheaper

Ecwid

Ecwid can run stores across multiple websites and lets staff accounts have restricted permissions. Multiple Ecwid stores can also be bundled so an agency/operator can switch between them without separate logins. support.ecwid.com

It's attractive if these are relatively simple digital-product stores, but I'd choose Spree or BigCommerce if multi-client architecture is a core part of your business.

What I'd choose for your agency

If you mean "we want to build our own white-label ecommerce SaaS for clients":

Spree Commerce → strongest architectural fit.

If you mean "we want one platform where our agency can manage many client stores":

BigCommerce → probably the best hosted starting point.

If you mean "we build and manage individual client stores, then hand them over":

Shopify → probably the easiest commercial/agency workflow.

If you tell me roughly how many client stores you expect (10 / 100 / 1,000+) and whether clients need their own admin login, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 and compare pricing, APIs, digital downloads, subscriptions, custom domains, tenant isolation, and white-labeling.

Yes. For an agency managing multiple client-owned digital-product stores, I’d separate the options into two categories:

My top pick: Spree Commerce

Spree Commerce is particularly close to what you're describing. Its multi-tenant architecture is explicitly designed to let an operator run hundreds/thousands of independent stores from one platform. Each client/tenant can have its own:

• storefront and custom domain
• branding/theme
• product catalog
• checkout
• customers/orders
• admin users
• permissions
• API access

Meanwhile, your agency retains a super-admin/operator layer across all clients. Spree specifically describes this as a white-label setup where each tenant has an independent storefront and admin panel. spreecommerce.org

Spree Commerce multi-tenant platform

If you want a SaaS rather than building the platform yourself

ZenCommerce is worth investigating. It is explicitly positioned as a white-label ecommerce platform for agencies/resellers, with multi-tenant management, partner/reseller hierarchies, white-label branding, domains, APIs and centralized administration. zencommerce.net

ZenCommerce

What I wouldn't choose

Payhip is very good if each client simply needs a straightforward digital-product store—it supports ebooks, software, courses, memberships, etc. help.payhip.com But it isn't really an agency multi-tenant/white-label platform, so you'd end up managing separate creator accounts rather than having the architecture you're describing.

Payhip

Shopify can absolutely power the individual stores, but if your goal is “Agency → Client A/B/C/D → each gets their own branded store + login, while we control everything centrally”, Shopify becomes more of a collection of stores than a true multi-tenant agency platform.

If I were architecting your agency

I'd aim for:

Agency account
→ Client accounts
→ Store/workspace per client
→ Client admins/team members
→ Custom domain per store
→ Independent product catalog
→ Independent Stripe/payment account
→ Independent customer accounts
→ Agency super-admin
→ Central billing/reporting
→ White-label client dashboard

For that exact model, Spree is the strongest technical fit if you are comfortable owning some infrastructure/development. ZenCommerce is the more interesting option if you want the white-label SaaS infrastructure largely handled for you.

If you tell me whether you want (A) a ready-made SaaS you can start using tomorrow or (B) a platform/API you can build your own agency SaaS on, I can narrow this down to the 3 best choices and compare pricing, Stripe/payment ownership, custom domains, client permissions, APIs, and how many stores you can run.