Whatalo is a complete platform for selling with cash on delivery: the store, the domain, the page builder, the one-step COD checkout, and order bumps come in a single plan with no per-sale fee. Releasit is something else. Releasit is a checkout form you install on top of Shopify: it doesn't give you a store, hosting, a domain, or a page builder. It solves one piece of the problem and charges you on top of a platform you're already paying for separately.
That's the real comparison, and it comes down to one question: do you want a platform, or do you want to build one out of three services billed separately?
The fundamental difference: a platform vs a loose piece
When you sell cash on delivery you need, at minimum, four things: a store with a domain, a page builder for landing pages that convert, an optimized COD checkout, and tools to raise average order value. Whatalo brings all four. Releasit brings only the third.
Releasit is an app in the Shopify App Store. Without an active paid Shopify plan, Releasit doesn't work: there's no store, no catalog, no domain, no hosting. And because Shopify doesn't include a landing page builder, you end up paying for a page builder app on top too. The result is a three-service stack — Shopify + Releasit + page builder — with three invoices and a single goal that Whatalo meets with one.
In one line: Releasit sells you the form. Whatalo gives you the store where that form lives, plus the form, plus everything else.
What Releasit doesn't give you (and Whatalo does)
Releasit optimizes the checkout. That's where it stops. Everything before and around the checkout — which is most of your operation — is your problem:
- Store, hosting, and domain. Releasit provides none of them. They come from your Shopify plan. Whatalo includes them, with your own domain.
- Drag-and-drop page builder. Releasit doesn't build pages. For a product landing page you need a separate app (like PageFly, starting at $24/mo) or a premium theme. Whatalo includes the page builder.
- Inventory and variant management. Stock control, variants, and catalog management live in Shopify, not Releasit. Whatalo includes inventory management, variants, and CSV product import/export.
- Zero per-sale fee. Shopify charges a 2% transaction fee outside Mexico (where Shopify Payments doesn't exist). That 2% comes out of every sale, on top of your payment gateway. Whatalo charges no per-sale fee on any plan.
- One invoice. With the Releasit stack you pay Shopify, Releasit, and the page builder separately. With Whatalo you pay one plan.
Releasit isn't an incomplete platform — it was never meant to be a platform. It's a plugin. And a plugin, no matter how good its form is, doesn't replace the infrastructure where the sale actually happens.
Real pricing: the Releasit price is not the price you pay
These are Releasit's plans as they appear in the Shopify App Store:
| Releasit Plan | Price | Order Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Forever Free | $0/mo | 60 orders/mo |
| Premium | $9.99/mo | 420 orders/mo |
| Enterprise | $29.99/mo | 10,000 orders/mo |
| Unlimited | $69.99/mo | Unlimited |
The problem is that none of those numbers are what you actually end up paying. Releasit requires an active paid Shopify plan to function, and Shopify Basic costs $29/mo (month to month; $19/mo only if you pay the full year upfront). Add the page builder and the 2% fee, and the real cost looks like this:
| What you actually pay | Monthly Cost | Orders Included |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify Basic + Releasit Free | $29/mo | Only 60 orders |
| Shopify Basic + Releasit Premium | $38.99/mo | 420 orders |
| Shopify Basic + Releasit Enterprise | $58.99/mo | 10,000 orders |
| Shopify Basic + Releasit Unlimited | $98.99/mo | Unlimited |
And that still doesn't include the page builder (~$24/mo) or the 2% per-sale fee outside Mexico.
Whatalo's free plan lets you operate; Releasit's doesn't
Releasit's free plan caps at 60 orders per month. A store running an active campaign at 15 orders a day burns through that in four days, and the form stops working until the next month. Whatalo's Despegue plan is free, includes 120 orders per month — double — and on top of that gives you the complete store, not just a form.
| Free plan comparison | Releasit Free | Whatalo Despegue |
|---|---|---|
| Orders/month | 60 | 120 |
| Includes store and domain? | ❌ (requires a paid Shopify plan) | ✅ |
| Includes page builder? | ❌ | ✅ |
| Per-sale fee | 2% via Shopify (outside Mexico) | 0% |
The real cost with a concrete example
Let's put numbers to a hypothetical but realistic case: a store processing 500 orders per month at an average ticket of $35, meaning $17,500 in monthly sales.
To run cash-on-delivery operations with Releasit you need, at minimum:
- Shopify Basic: $29/mo
- Releasit Enterprise: $29.99/mo (the only plan with real headroom for 500 orders)
- Page builder for landing pages: ~$24/mo
- 2% fee on $17,500: $350/mo (selling outside Mexico)
Total with the Releasit + Shopify stack outside Mexico: ~$433/mo
That same operation on Whatalo fits in the Emprendedor plan: page builder, COD form, order bumps, and abandoned cart recovery included, with no per-sale fee.
Total with Whatalo Emprendedor: $24/mo
Cost verdict (hypothetical but realistic): Selling outside Mexico, the Releasit + Shopify + page builder + fee stack costs roughly 18 times more than Whatalo for the same result. And the gap widens with every sale, because the 2% scales with your revenue while Whatalo's monthly price doesn't move.
What your operation gets with each option
The honest comparison isn't form versus form — it's what your business receives and pays with each path.
| What your operation needs | With Releasit | With Whatalo |
|---|---|---|
| Store, hosting, and own domain | ❌ Pay Shopify separately | ✅ Included |
| Drag-and-drop page builder | ❌ Pay separate app (~$24/mo) | ✅ Included |
| 1-step COD checkout | ✅ It's the app | ✅ Native |
| Order bumps and quantity offers | Inside the form | ✅ Native |
| Inventory and variant management | ❌ Via Shopify | ✅ Included |
| Abandoned cart recovery | ⚠️ Limited by the Shopify API | ✅ Native |
| Meta Pixel + Conversions API and TikTok Pixel | Inside the form | ✅ Native |
| Per-sale fee | ❌ 2% via Shopify (outside Mexico) | ✅ 0% |
| Free plan that lets you operate | ⚠️ 60 orders, no store | ✅ 120 orders, complete store |
| Monthly invoices | ❌ 2–3 (Shopify + Releasit + page builder) | ✅ 1 |
The pattern is clear: where Releasit gives you a piece, Whatalo already comes with the whole platform. And where Shopify charges you 2% for selling, Whatalo charges you nothing.
Releasit makes sense in one scenario
To be fair with the data, not the marketing: if you already have an established Shopify store, with your catalog built out, your integrations running, and your team trained on that dashboard, adding Releasit costs less effort than migrating. In that specific scenario, Releasit is a reasonable way to improve your checkout without moving anything else.
Outside that case — if you're starting from scratch, if you want to stop paying a per-sale fee, or if you're tired of managing three services to sell — you're overpaying to manually assemble what Whatalo already brings together.
Signs Whatalo is right for you
This isn't a matter of faith. If you identify with two or more of these, the Releasit stack is costing you extra money or time:
- You pay Shopify, Releasit, and a page builder app separately, with three different invoices.
- Shopify's 2% per-sale fee is eating into your margins because you sell outside Mexico.
- You're starting from scratch and Releasit's free plan (60 orders, no store) doesn't let you operate.
- An update to one of your apps broke your checkout in the middle of a live campaign.
- You want one platform, one dashboard, and one support team instead of coordinating three vendors.
If you want to see how the platform model compares to building an app stack, read Whatalo vs Shopify. And to understand how order bumps and quantity offers raise average order value — both included in Whatalo — that post covers the mechanics in detail.
Frequently asked questions
Does Releasit work without Shopify? No. Releasit is a Shopify App Store app and requires an active paid Shopify plan to install and operate. Without Shopify there's no store, no hosting, and Releasit doesn't run. It is not an independent platform; it's a plugin.
What does Releasit actually cost? Much more than the price on its page. You have to add Shopify Basic ($29/mo month to month), the 2% per-sale fee outside Mexico, and a page builder app to create landing pages. For a 500-order monthly operation outside Mexico, the real total exceeds $430/mo. The same operation on Whatalo costs $24/mo.
Does Whatalo replace Shopify + Releasit? Yes. Whatalo includes the store, the domain, the page builder, the optimized COD checkout, and order bumps in a single plan with no per-sale fee. It's the complete platform, not one piece stacked on another.
Is the Releasit free plan usable for a real store? At 60 orders per month, no. An active campaign burns through it in under a week, and it doesn't include a store — you still pay Shopify separately to have one. Whatalo's free plan gives you 120 orders per month and the full store.
Do I have to pay a per-sale fee with Whatalo? No. Whatalo charges no per-sale fee on any plan. You use whichever payment gateway you want and only pay what that gateway charges. Shopify, by contrast, charges 2% per transaction outside Mexico.
Can I migrate to Whatalo if I'm currently using Shopify + Releasit? Yes. You recreate your catalog in Whatalo, build your landing pages with the included page builder, and redirect your traffic to your new domain. Since the COD tools are already built in, you stop paying for and managing separate apps.
Ready to open your store? Start free at whatalo.com