If you are running a dropshipping store, you might have noticed several apps that promise to automate some of your tasks.
With so many dropshipping automation tools competing for attention, not all can make it.
Oberlo, for instance, shut down completely in June 2022 as Shopify, the owner of Oberlo, wanted to focus on other opportunities. Since Oberlo shut down, popular alternatives like AliDropship are taking over.
At first sight, it might look like the apps do precisely the same, making it hard to decide which one is best for your dropshipping store.
However, that's not entirely true.
The main difference between Oberlo and AliDropship is that Oberlo only worked with Shopify stores and had a free version, while AliDropship only works with WooCommerce stores and offers the option to buy premade dropshipping stores.
Therefore, Oberlo was a great app to choose if you already had a Shopify store ready. At the same time, AliDropship is an excellent decision if you want an AliExpress dropshipping app for your WooCommerce store.
In this article, we will review the differences between Oberlo and AliDropship. Let's find out if AliDropship is a good Oberlo replacement or if there might be a better one out there for you!
Important note: On June 30, 2022, Oberlo shut down completely and officially partnered with DSers to migrate its users. This article will show you the differences between Oberlo and Spocket, but you won’t be able to use Oberlo anymore!
If you are interested in more information about Oberlo alternatives and how to migrate from Oberlo to those alternatives, check out this article here!
Overview: Oberlo vs. AliDropship
Looking to quickly learn about the differences between Oberlo and AliDropship?
Look no further!
In the table below, we will summarize the pros and cons of both dropshipping apps:
| Oberlo | AliDropship | ||
| Pros | Cons | Pros | Cons |
| Oberlo is part of Shopify | Only worked with Shopify stores | Includes more features than Oberlo | Only compatible with WooCommerce stores |
| More than just a dropshipping app | App reviews could be better | Opportunity to use Sellvia and dropship with local suppliers | There is no free version of AliDropship |
| Included a filter for AliExpress | Not all features were included in the free plan | There are no monthly fees, just a one-time purchase | |
| Excellent customer service | |||
| Available in multiple languages |
To sum up, let me give you a few examples of which app to choose:
Oberlo was an excellent choice if:
- You wanted a dropshipping app that is tailor-made for dropshipping with AliExpress on a Shopify store.
- English isn’t your strongest point, and you appreciated being able to use an app in languages like French, Spanish, or Italian.
Tip: If you are looking for an Oberlo replacement for your Shopify store, we recommend checking out DSers or Spocket!
AliDropship is an excellent choice if:
- You want a dropshipping app that is tailor-made for dropshipping with AliExpress on a WooCommerce store.
- You would like to try Sellvia and dropship with US suppliers to reduce your shipping times significantly. (Better logistics)
- You prefer paying a one-time fee for your dropshipping app instead of getting a monthly subscription.
- You need any of the additional features that AliDropship offers, but Oberlo does not.
Would you like to try AliDropship but don't want to pay the full price? If so, you can get a 25% discount by entering the 'GETPLUGIN25' coupon here!
If you want to save it for later – check out our infographic below:
Why you might need Oberlo or AliDropship for your dropshipping store
First things first, let's find out why you might need an app like Oberlo or AliDropship for your dropshipping store.
As a dropshipper, you sell products that you don’t have in stock. Once a customer places an order, you forward it to your dropshipping supplier, who ships the product(s) directly to your customer.
Some of the tasks that you will have to carry out when dropshipping are:
- Finding products to sell from dropshipping suppliers.
- Uploading these products to your online store.
- Buying products from your supplier to fulfill your customer’s order (order fulfillment).
- Managing the stock of your products to make sure they aren't sold out (while you are still selling them on your online store).
- Updating the tracking numbers and order statuses for your orders.
And guess what?
These are all things that a dropshipping app like Oberlo or AliDropship can either automate or make a whole lot easier!
To conclude, you will need to use a dropshipping app like Oberlo or AliDropship to connect your online store to a supplier and make it easier to fulfill your orders.
The features of apps like Oberlo or AliDropship will help you save a lot of time, which you can then spend on things like making your store more unique or developing the perfect pricing strategy.
So, which one was better? Oberlo or AliDropship?
Let's look at the two in more detail!
What is Oberlo?
We will begin with Oberlo, which was a dropshipping app for Shopify stores. The main function of Oberlo was to integrate your Shopify store with AliExpress.
That's right, Oberlo would only work if you had a Shopify store.
That's because Oberlo was acquired by Shopify in 2017. However, it was completely discontinued in June 2022 by Shopify as they focused more and more on their own fulfillment network.
Before being discontinued, you could install the Oberlo dropshipping app from the Shopify app store.
The Oberlo app had the following main features:
- Import products from AliExpress into your store in just a few clicks (including the product description, images, and variants).
- Automatic updates for stock levels and prices in real-time.
- Ability to fulfill multiple orders in a single click.
- Variant mapping (choose the exact variants that you want from multiple suppliers).
- Automatically get AliExpress cashback using your Admitad affiliate ID.
Sounds awesome, right?
But, we do have one disclaimer. While it is possible to directly import all product information from AliExpress to your store, it isn't recommended.
For the best results, you should write your own product description and use only the highest-quality photos from the AliExpress seller.
Pricing
Oberlo had two options in terms of pricing plans. There was a free plan and a paid monthly subscription, which unlocked some additional features.
Oberlo's free plan was called 'Explorer' and included essential features like the Oberlo Chrome extension, product imports, and unlimited monthly orders.
To access features like bulk order fulfillment or shipment tracking, you could opt for the paid 'Boss' plan, which costed $29.90 per month.
The pros of Oberlo
So, what are some reasons why Oberlo might have been a great choice? Let's find out!
Oberlo is part of Shopify
Oberlo started as an independent company in Lithuania. However, that changed in 2017, when Shopify acquired the company and transformed it into a part of its business.
At one point, Oberlo was one of the most installed dropshipping apps on the Shopify app store.
Shopify is renowned for being one of the best ecommerce platforms out there. So, if you decided to use Oberlo, you would know that you would be in good hands!
Oberlo was more than just a dropshipping app
Since Shopify acquired Oberlo, they transformed the business into something more than just a dropshipping app.
Besides connecting your store with AliExpress, you could use Oberlo as an information resource about dropshipping and ecommerce.
On Oberlo’s website, you will find numerous blogs, success stories, free courses, guides about dropshipping, and even making money online in general. Their website is still online today, even though the Oberlo app is discontinued!
Shipping filter for AliExpress
You may know this already, but when you are dropshipping with AliExpress, you will often have to deal with long delivery times.
Luckily, Oberlo introduced a feature that helped you find the products with the shortest delivery time on AliExpress.
When using Oberlo's Chrome extension, you would be able to filter AliExpress products on the shipping methods they used.
After setting up the filter, you would see which products are shipped with fast shipping methods (like AliExpress Standard Shipping or ePacket), and it would even display the total shipping time:
And here is how the settings looked from Oberlo's Chrome extension:
Excellent customer service
Ever tried using Shopify's customer service? If so, you have probably had a great experience.
Remember, Oberlo is part of Shopify, so their customer service was excellent as well!
So, if you ever had questions about running your dropshipping store, tracking your orders, or contacting suppliers, you would be able to contact Oberlo's support 24/7.
Available in multiple languages
Do you have a preferred language that's not English? Or are you targeting a specific market?
That was no problem with Oberlo!
Oberlo was available in languages like English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, or Portuguese. Besides, it worked with multiple currencies and worldwide shipping, which allowed you to start dropshipping from anywhere in the world!
The cons of Oberlo
Nothing is perfect, and the same went for Oberlo. Let's look at the cons!
Oberlo was only compatible with Shopify stores
Shopify owns Oberlo, so the dropshipping app would not work with dropshipping stores on other ecommerce platforms, like WooCommerce or BigCommerce.
To start using Oberlo, you would have to install its Shopify app.
Reviews from app users could be better
Oberlo received an average rating of 4.3 stars based on over 2,400 reviews.
This rating isn't necessarily bad, but it could have been better.
It looks like most negative Oberlo reviews were concerned about the app's technical difficulties. Some users experienced loading issues, syncing issues, or product importing issues.
Bulk orders and shipment tracking were only available on the paid plan
Another con of Oberlo is that the free plan was somewhat limited in terms of its features.
With the free plan, you got the essentials like unlimited monthly orders, Oberlo's Chrome extension, and variant mapping.
However, you would miss some awesome features like bulk orders and shipment tracking. This was unfortunate since a feature like bulk orders, which let you fulfill multiple orders simultaneously, was a big time saver once you started getting multiple orders per day.
To unlock these features, you would need to get Oberlo's $29.90 per month 'Boss' plan. As an extra, you would also unlock features like multiple staff accounts and Oberlo's affiliate program.
What is AliDropship?
With Oberlo out of the way, let's take a look at AliDropship!
First of all, remember that if you understand what Oberlo does, then you will understand what AliDropship does.
Yes, they don’t have the same features, but their core goal is the same.
They are helping people to make their AliExpress dropshipping store easier to handle.
However, you may actually see from AliDropship's homepage above that they actually have two main goals:
- Help people obtain a dropshipping store by selling premade dropshipping stores.
- Help people run their dropshipping store with the AliDropship Plugin.
So, from that aspect, you will have a bit more freedom of choice when working with AliDropship.
If you don't feel like building your own store (or even making the marketing campaigns), you can get a custom or premium store from AliDropship.
And if you've already created your dropshipping store, you can integrate it with a supplier on AliExpress using the AliDropship Plugin:
The biggest difference between the AliDropship Plugin and the Oberlo app is that the AliDropship Plugin only works with WooCommerce stores (WordPress) and that it requires a one-time purchase to obtain.
In terms of features, the AliDropship Plugin offers basically the same ones as the Oberlo app.
With the AliDropship Plugin, you get the following main features:
- Import products from AliExpress into your store in one click (including the product description, images, and variants).
- Access to a database of 50,000+ handpicked AliExpress products that you can sell without holding any inventory.
- Automatic updates for stock levels and prices in real-time.
- Ability to fulfill multiple orders in a single click on your dashboard.
- Automatically get AliExpress cashback using your Admitad affiliate ID.
- They can help you with your analytics by creating a traffic report.
As you can see, the features are almost the same as Oberlo's!
Pricing
The AliDropship Plugin currently costs $89 for a lifetime license:
That's right, you won't have any monthly payments with AliDropship (like with Oberlo).
Are you ready to hear something awesome?
AliDropship will give you a 25% discount if you use the discount code: GETPLUGIN25
As you can see, you will also have the option to add hosting for your WordPress store or a monthly plan for Sellvia (we will talk about that later).
Lastly, if you are interested in buying a premade dropshipping store from AliDropship, you will be able to get a custom store for $299 to $899 (also includes the AliDropship Plugin) or a premium store for $300.
The pros of AliDropship
Ready to hear about some awesome things about AliDropship? Let's go!
AliDropship includes more features than Oberlo
While AliDropship offers pretty much all features that Oberlo offers, you will see that AliDropship also has some additional features that Oberlo did not have.
We will highlight four features of the AliDropship Plugin that were not available with the Oberlo app.
The first one is auto order tracking. With Oberlo, you could update things like tracking information manually, but AliDropship does this automatically!
That means the AliDropship Plugin automatically checks your orders for tracking updates. If there is an update, it will also automatically send email notifications to your customers.
Another awesome feature of the AliDropship Plugin is that it has a built-in product review importer. It allows you to import reviews of your product from AliExpress to your dropshipping store.
Normally, you would need a separate app for this, but you will be able to do it for free with the AliDropship Plugin:
The third additional AliDropship feature is that you will be able to see the price changes of your AliExpress product over time.
That way, you will see how much the price usually fluctuates, and if it's normally a lot higher or lower. Amazing, right?
Last but not least is AliDropship's great collection of free and paid add-ons.
For example, you can get a free abandoned cart add-on for your AliDropship Plugin:
Using it, you eliminate the need to have a separate app for this and will be able to recover some of your abandoned carts for free!
You will find a lot more awesome AliDropship add-ons on this page!
You can use AliDropship in combination with Sellvia to dropship with local suppliers
One of AliDropship's features that we didn't talk about yet is the opportunity to sign up for Sellvia and dropship with local suppliers!
Sellvia has been developed by AliDropship to address the main pain point of any ecommerce entrepreneur, long delivery times from Asia to North America.
To put it short, Sellvia buys products from suppliers in Asia and stores them in their US warehouse located in Irvine, California. Then, they ship out the products to US customers for the dropshippers they are working with.
Now, their clients (you!) can get their orders shipped across the US within one to three business days!
To use Sellvia, you will have to purchase a monthly subscription plan, which costs $39 per month. This plan will give you unlimited product imports and orders.
You can also get a 14-day free trial by clicking here!
AliDropship does not have monthly fees
Another potential advantage of the AliDropship Plugin is that it does not work with monthly fees (unless you will be using Sellvia as your supplier).
The AliDropship Plugin just requires a one-time payment of $89, but you will still get life-long support and updates!
The advantage of a one-time payment is that it can save you money in the long term.
Considering the paid Oberlo plan was around $30 per month, you would already save money after three months!
The cons of AliDropship
Having highlighted the pros of AliDropship, let's take a look at the cons too:
AliDropship is only compatible with WooCommerce stores
If you were getting your hopes up of running a Shopify store with all those awesome built-in features of the AliDropship Plugin, we have a disappointing announcement.
The AliDropship Plugin is only available for WordPress and WooCommerce.
Therefore, it is not compatible with a dropshipping store on Shopify or any other ecommerce platform!
There is no free version of the AliDropship Plugin
One of the great things about the Oberlo app was that you could use a free version of it.
Granted, it didn't come with some of the fantastic features like bulk orders and shipment tracking, but it still allowed you to do the essentials:
Processing an unlimited amount of monthly orders, adding new AliExpress products to your store using Oberlo's Chrome extension, and variant mapping.
With AliDropship, you only have a single choice; paying the one-time fee for the plugin.
But, don't forget that if you decide to go with AliDropship, you can use the 'GETPLUGIN25' coupon for a 25% discount!
Tip: For more information about dropshipping with AliDropship, you should definitely check out this article!
Compare Oberlo to other dropshipping companies
Not sure yet if AliDropship is the right fit for your business? Check out our other comparison articles below:
And to compare more companies, visit the comparison hub!
Final thoughts
We wrote this article to help you show the differences between Oberlo and AliDropship.
As said before, AliDropship and Oberlo had a lot of similar features, but there was one main thing that is different.
Oberlo only worked with Shopify stores, while AliDropship only works with WooCommerce stores.
So, if you already have a dropshipping store on one of these platforms, the choice would be relatively easy for you!
But considering Oberlo is discontinued, which dropshipping app should Shopify store owners use now?
Spoiler alert - there are many more dropshipping apps out there.
You can check out two great Oberlo alternatives, DSers and Spocket, here:
And if you won't be using AliExpress anymore, you might be interested in looking at other great suppliers. For example, did you hear about Syncee, SaleHoo, or uDroppy?
Place a comment below if you have any further questions, and have a great rest of your day!
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