Shopify
Shopify's October drop lets Sidekick test store changes on AI shoppers and has POS know buyers.
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Cody and Hi.Events — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Cody rebuilds its Products module and pipes in-store sales and stock into Google Ads.
Cody is a white-label ecommerce platform for retailers in New Zealand and Australia, built around a POS-linked promotions engine. A second batch of ten releases landed at once on October 27: a rebuilt Products module with one page per product and in-app editing, in-store sales and local inventory feeds for Google Ads, accessibility scoring in Page Builder v3, and Google Tag Gateway. Promotions v2 also gained safer OnTempo imports, and a bundle-save bug was fixed.
Hi.Events 2.0 rc.3 adds paid Enterprise features: reserved seating and a box office.
Hi.Events v2.0.0-rc.3 adds reserved seating with a visual seat-map designer and a browser-based box office with Stripe Terminal card readers, both marked Enterprise and requiring a licence in production. It also adds a per-product purchases view, refunds on manual orders and grouped ticket emails. On 1.x, v1.11.3 refuses to run while the example JWT_SECRET that earlier versions shipped is still configured, since anyone could forge sessions with it, and v1.11.2 rebuilt on patched PHP.
Cody is a white-label ecommerce platform for retailers in New Zealand and Australia, built around a POS-linked promotions engine. A second batch of ten releases landed at once on October 27: a rebuilt Products module with one page per product and in-app editing, in-store sales and local inventory feeds for Google Ads, accessibility scoring in Page Builder v3, and Google Tag Gateway. Promotions v2 also gained safer OnTempo imports, and a bundle-save bug was fixed.
The October batches move Cody from storefront-and-promotions toward the retailer's whole data loop: product data edited in Cody instead of upstream systems, and store sales and stock fed to ad bidding. Most features ship per site and start with OnTempo POS sites, so the OnTempo integration is becoming the default path for new capability. Self-service is a recurring line in the notes, aimed at fewer support tickets for product and promotion issues.
Expect the new Products module to replace the old one once feedback is in, with editing extended to more fields and integrations beyond OnTempo. The entries don't say when the rollout finishes.
Hi.Events v2.0.0-rc.3 adds reserved seating with a visual seat-map designer and a browser-based box office with Stripe Terminal card readers, both marked Enterprise and requiring a licence in production. It also adds a per-product purchases view, refunds on manual orders and grouped ticket emails. On 1.x, v1.11.3 refuses to run while the example JWT_SECRET that earlier versions shipped is still configured, since anyone could forge sessions with it, and v1.11.2 rebuilt on patched PHP.
The 2.0 cycle has gone from structural changes (recurring occurrences, embedded checkout, an API) to venue-grade features, and now to an open-core split between free self-hosting and licensed Enterprise features. The 1.x line is in security-only mode, with users pushed toward 2.0.
Expect a 2.0.0 final soon after rc.3, with the Enterprise licence terms spelled out, and 1.x limited to security fixes.
Other E-comm products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Cody or Hi.Events.
Shopify's October drop lets Sidekick test store changes on AI shoppers and has POS know buyers.
Foxy follows its legacy API lockdown with a FedEx rate-type option.
Virto Commerce opens two-factor sign-in to extensions after its Admin UI refresh.
Antavo's feed is loyalty-industry commentary; the product rarely appears in it.
Cart Abandonment Recovery Pro 1.3.0 adds an activity log and an email capture popup.
Squarespace adds customer profiles, transactional email and PIX/UPI/USDC payments via Link.
See all Cody alternatives → · See all Hi.Events alternatives →
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Hi.Events is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Hi.Events is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other E-comm products to evaluate alongside.
Top Cody alternatives in E-comm are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Cody alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/cody-store for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
Top Hi.Events alternatives in E-comm are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Hi.Events alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/hi-events for the full list with editorial commentary on each.