Nuvemshop vs Tray vs Loja Integrada: which platform to start with

If you are starting an online store in Brazil, three platforms dominate the entry-level conversation: Nuvemshop, Tray and Loja Integrada. All three offer hosted e-commerce with no coding required. All three have free or low-cost plans. And all three promise to get you selling online fast. The real differences are in checkout quality, scalability, integrations and what happens when your store starts growing. This comparison is based on real pricing, actual feature sets and performance data, not marketing pages.

Pricing: what you actually pay

Loja Integrada has a free plan with up to 50 products. Paid plans start at R$49/month (up to 250 products) and go up to R$399/month (unlimited). Transaction fees apply on all plans: 1.5% on the free plan, decreasing on higher tiers. Nuvemshop offers a free starter plan (Comecar) with limited features and a 5% transaction fee on the free tier. Paid plans: Impulso at R$59/month (1% fee), Influencia at R$89/month (0.5% fee), and Escala at custom pricing (no transaction fee). Tray starts at R$49/month for the basic plan and goes up to R$349/month for the Pro plan. No transaction fees on any plan, but payment gateway fees apply normally. The hidden cost comparison: Loja Integrada looks cheap but the transaction fee adds up fast. On R$50K/month revenue, the 1.5% fee on the free plan costs R$750/month, making it more expensive than Nuvemshop's Impulso plan. Tray's zero transaction fee is a genuine advantage for higher-volume stores. Always calculate total cost of ownership, not just the subscription price.

Checkout experience and conversion

Checkout is where money is made or lost. A 1% improvement in checkout conversion can mean thousands of reais per month. Nuvemshop: transparent checkout (customer stays on your domain). Fast, mobile-optimized, supports PIX, credit card, boleto. Nuvemshop Payments (powered by Nuvemshop's own processing) offers integrated rates. Checkout conversion rates are consistently above industry average. Tray: checkout redirects to Tray's payment page on some plans. The Pro plan offers transparent checkout. Supports all major Brazilian payment methods. The redirect on lower plans hurts conversion since every additional step loses customers. Loja Integrada: checkout is integrated but historically slower than competitors. Recent updates improved speed significantly. Supports PIX, credit card and boleto through integrated gateways. Verdict: Nuvemshop has the best checkout experience across all price tiers. Tray's transparent checkout on Pro is competitive but you pay more for it. Loja Integrada's checkout has improved but still lags behind.

Templates, design and customization

Nuvemshop: 60+ free and premium themes. Clean, modern designs. Customizable via drag-and-drop editor. Full HTML/CSS access for advanced customization. The design ecosystem is the strongest of the three. Tray: 30+ themes available. Customization is more limited compared to Nuvemshop. The admin panel for design editing is functional but not as intuitive. HTML/CSS editing is possible but the documentation is weaker. Loja Integrada: limited free themes (around 15-20). Premium themes available for purchase. The visual editor is basic. Advanced customization requires knowledge of the platform's templating system, which has less community documentation. For stores where brand identity matters (fashion, beauty, lifestyle), Nuvemshop's template quality and customization flexibility give it a clear edge. For stores where product price is the main differentiator (electronics, commodities), the template difference matters less.

Integrations and app ecosystem

Nuvemshop: the largest app ecosystem among the three. 200+ apps covering shipping (Melhor Envio, Kangu, Frenet), marketing (RD Station, Mailchimp, Google Shopping), ERP (Bling, Tiny), marketplaces (Mercado Livre, B2W, Amazon) and more. The open API is well-documented and actively maintained. Tray: strong native integrations with Brazilian ERPs and marketplaces. The integration with Tray Corp (enterprise version) means a clear upgrade path. The app ecosystem is smaller than Nuvemshop but covers the essentials. API access is available on higher plans. Loja Integrada: the smallest app ecosystem. Basic integrations with major shipping and payment providers. Marketplace integrations are available but fewer than competitors. API access is limited. For stores that depend on specific integrations (marketplace selling, ERP sync, marketing automation), check that your required integrations exist before choosing a platform. A missing critical integration can cost more in manual work than the platform subscription.

Performance and SEO

Performance directly affects conversion and SEO rankings. We tested default stores on each platform using Lighthouse mobile scores. Nuvemshop: average 65-80 on mobile depending on theme. Native SEO features (meta tags, alt text, sitemap, canonical). Automatic structured data for products. The platform's CDN and infrastructure are solid. Tray: average 50-70 on mobile. SEO features are present but less intuitive to configure. Structured data support is basic. Server response times tend to be slower than Nuvemshop. Loja Integrada: average 45-65 on mobile. SEO configuration is the most limited of the three. Some themes have structural performance issues that cannot be fixed without theme changes. Nuvemshop leads on performance and SEO. For stores where organic traffic is a primary acquisition channel, this difference is meaningful. A 20-point Lighthouse score gap translates to measurably different Core Web Vitals, which affects Google rankings.

Scalability and growth path

What happens when your store grows past R$100K/month? Nuvemshop: scales well up to R$500K-1M/month. Beyond that, the Escala plan offers custom solutions. Nuvemshop Next (enterprise) handles large operations. The platform has stores doing R$10M+/month. The growth path is clear without replatforming. Tray: scales through Tray Corp, the enterprise version. The migration from Tray to Tray Corp is relatively smooth since they share infrastructure. Good option if you anticipate needing B2B features or complex catalog management. Loja Integrada: scalability is the weakest point. The platform is optimized for small stores. As volume grows, you will likely hit limitations in customization, integrations and performance. Most stores outgrow Loja Integrada before reaching R$200K/month and need to replatform.

Verdict: who should use each platform

Choose Loja Integrada if: you need a free plan to validate a product idea, you have fewer than 50 products, and you want to test the market before investing. Treat it as a starting point, not a long-term platform. Choose Tray if: you need zero transaction fees, you plan to sell on multiple marketplaces, you need strong ERP integration, or you anticipate growing into Tray Corp enterprise features. Choose Nuvemshop if: you want the best checkout conversion, the strongest design and customization options, the largest app ecosystem, and a clear scalability path. For most Brazilian stores starting from zero, Nuvemshop is the strongest overall choice. The paid plans offer the best value when you factor in checkout conversion, design quality and growth potential. But always calculate your specific total cost including transaction fees at your expected revenue level.