Shogun alternative: Checkout Links

Shogun designs pages. Checkout Links closes them. If your goal is a fast pre-checkout landing with the right cart, not a custom-designed long-form product page, you don't need a page builder — you need a link.

Shogun is a serious tool. If you’re building a 12-section product page with custom CSS, dynamic content blocks, and A/B-tested layouts, it’s the right buy. This isn’t a hit piece.

But a lot of merchants install Shogun for one specific thing: a campaign landing page that takes traffic from an ad or email, shows the offer, and gets the customer to checkout. For that job, you’re paying for a page builder when what you actually need is a link.

The combined-stack play

Most merchants we talk to don’t replace Shogun outright — they use both. Shogun for the long-form pages that need design. Checkout Links for everything else: ad-to-cart links, SMS campaigns, influencer drops, QR codes, abandoned-cart recovery URLs.

If you’re spending $99-$499/month on Shogun primarily to ship campaign landing pages, downgrade to the lowest Shogun tier for your evergreen pages and put $25 on Checkout Links for the campaign volume. The math usually clears in the first month.

At a glance

FeatureShogunCheckout Links

PricingShogun: $39–$499/month (Build → Advanced)Checkout Links: $25/month, 7-day free trial

Built forShogun: Full page design and CMSCheckout Links: Checkout-first links + pre-checkout pages

Time to launch a campaign pageShogun: Hours to days (design + QA)Checkout Links: Minutes (pick products, copy link)

Auto-applied discountShogun: Manual (Shogun page → cart → code field)Checkout Links: Yes — baked into URL

Pre-checkout pageShogun: N/A (full pages)Checkout Links: Yes — optional product grid + live cart

Customer pre-fillShogun: No nativeCheckout Links: Yes

Expiry, usage limits, passcodeShogun: NoCheckout Links: Yes

Per-link analyticsShogun: Limited (page-level)Checkout Links: Yes — click + checkout per link

QR codesShogun: No nativeCheckout Links: Yes — branded

Shopify Flow triggerShogun: NoCheckout Links: Yes

Best forShogun: Long-form product/landing pagesCheckout Links: Campaign links + light pre-checkout pages

Where Checkout Links pulls ahead

The cases that make the switch worth it.

Speed to a campaign link

A Checkout Link is two clicks: pick products, pick (optional) discount. Done. The link is ready to drop into an email, an ad, a QR code, anywhere. A Shogun campaign page is a build job: pick a template, configure sections, write copy, add product blocks, set up the cart embed, QA on mobile. Faster than custom-coding, slower than a link.

Discounts that don't require a code field

A Shogun page sends the customer to Shopify checkout — same as everyone else — with the discount field still showing. Customers paste, retype, mistype, or share the code outside the campaign. Checkout Links applies the discount via Shopify Functions when the link opens, so the customer never sees a code field.

Per-link analytics

Shogun shows you page-level metrics. Checkout Links shows you link-level — every click, every checkout, every dollar attributed to a specific link, ad, segment, or recipient. Useful when you're running 30 variants of the same campaign.

Built-in QR codes

Every Checkout Link gets a branded QR. Shogun has no native QR mode for its pages.

When Shogun is the right call

No tool wins everywhere. These are the cases where Shogun is the better answer.

You need pixel-perfect page design

A bespoke long-form launch page with custom sections, animations, A/B tests, and a dedicated designer driving it — Shogun's editor is built for that. Checkout Links is not.

You manage 50+ pages and want CMS workflows

Drafts, versioning, multi-environment publishing, team roles — Shogun has all of it. Checkout Links is link-level, not page-level.

You're already paying for Shogun and using ≥3 of its features

If you're getting page builder + CRO + A/B + CMS value from one tool, don't fragment your stack just to save $14/month.

FAQ

Anything else?

More detail lives in the Help Center, or email us and a human answers.

No. Checkout Links is a checkout link tool. We do generate a lightweight pre-checkout page when you want one (with a product grid and live cart), but you're not designing pages pixel-by-pixel. If you need to build a long-form landing page with custom sections, Shogun is the right tool. If you need to land the customer on the right cart fast, Checkout Links is.

Probably not — they solve different problems. But many Shogun customers use it for one specific job (campaign landing pages) that Checkout Links handles for ~10% of the cost. If that's the only thing you use Shogun for, switching is worth a look.

Checkout Links is $25/month with a 7-day free trial. Shogun starts at $39/month (Build) and scales up to $499/month (Advanced) depending on plan tier.

Yes — they coexist. A Checkout Link can sit inside a Shogun-built page as the CTA, taking the visitor from your designed page straight into a pre-loaded checkout.

It picks up your store's primary brand colour and product imagery automatically. It's not as customisable as a full page builder, but it doesn't look out of place either. The trade-off is speed and consistency over design freedom.

Turn your next message into an order

Every link type, every promotion, unlimited links — $25 a month with a seven-day free trial.

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