Shopify vs WooCommerce: which platform to choose for your online store

Updated: October 2026.

Short answer: choose Shopify if you want to start selling quickly, sell across several countries and currencies, and would rather pay a monthly subscription than look after hosting. Choose WooCommerce if you have a large catalogue fed from an ERP or supplier files, non-standard pricing or B2B logic, or you already run a WordPress site with Google traffic and want to keep your data on your own server. Both handle a serious store.

We build stores on both platforms, so this is not a sales pitch for either. The real differences come down to three questions: who is responsible for the technical side, what the store costs to run after launch, and how far the store has to bend to fit your business.

Shopify vs WooCommerce at a glance

	Shopify	WooCommerce
What it is	Hosted e-commerce platform on a subscription	Free plugin for WordPress, on hosting you choose
Hosting and security	Handled by the platform	Your hosting; needs maintenance
Monthly costs	Subscription plus paid apps	Hosting; extensions often billed yearly
Flexibility	Within the platform’s rules	Almost unlimited
Payments	Shopify Payments in supported countries, plus PayPal and third-party gateways	Stripe, PayPal and other gateways through extensions
Selling in several countries	Built in with Shopify Markets: currencies, languages, domains	Possible with plugins and more setup
Large catalogue	Works well	Works well with proper hosting and caching
ERP and accounting sync	Apps or a custom integration	Proven plugins and custom scripts
Data ownership	Data on the platform, export available	Database on your server

What each platform really costs to run

Building a store on either platform starts at €2,000 with us, with timelines from 45 days. The bigger difference shows up after launch, in the monthly bill.

Cost item	Shopify	WooCommerce
Platform	Monthly subscription (current plans at shopify.com/pricing)	Free
Hosting	Included	Roughly €5–30 a month; more for large catalogues
Extensions	Apps, often billed monthly	Plugins, often with a yearly licence
Payment fees	Processor fees, plus a possible Shopify fee if you use a third-party gateway	Processor fees only
Maintenance	Less needed	Updates, backups and security, from €100 a month

Our advice: model the costs over two to three years, not the first month. Five or six paid Shopify apps can cost more than WooCommerce hosting plus maintenance. The reverse is also true: a cheap shared host turns a WooCommerce store into a slow one, and a slow store loses orders. For a full breakdown of build and running costs, see how much a website costs in 2026.

When Shopify is the better choice

• You sell in several countries or currencies, or plan to.
• Nobody on your team wants to deal with hosting, updates and security.
• You need a fast start and stability during sales peaks.
• Your catalogue is small to mid-sized and pricing is standard.
• You are opening your first proper store after selling on social media.

Shopify’s limits can usually be worked around with custom development. For a supplement brand selling in Ukraine, the standard checkout did not support the local delivery and payment providers, so we built a custom checkout on a separate serverless back end: parcel locker selection, a local payment gateway and orders flowing automatically into the CRM and the team’s Telegram. The same approach applies anywhere a market needs something the standard checkout does not offer.

Shopify pitfalls to plan for

• Payments. Shopify Payments is available only in supported countries. Elsewhere, or if you prefer another processor, check whether your plan adds a transaction fee for third-party gateways.
• Checkout. Deeper checkout customisation is largely reserved for Shopify Plus, so non-standard delivery or payment flows often need a custom solution.
• Apps. Every app adds scripts and often a monthly fee. In a Shopify tracking audit we found the Google Tag Manager container loading three times per page through the theme and custom pixels, so ad platforms counted conversions in duplicate.

When WooCommerce is the better choice

• You need specific logic: complex pricing, product configurators, wholesale or dealer accounts.
• You have a large catalogue with frequent imports from suppliers or an ERP.
• You want low monthly fees and your data on your own server.
• You need a deep integration with accounting, inventory or a custom CRM.
• You already have a WordPress site that ranks on Google.

For example, a building materials store on WooCommerce that we support handles thousands of products, bulk image imports and exports for marketplaces. Products, photos and stock levels sync from the accounting system without manual entry. Details are in the WooCommerce building materials case study.

WooCommerce pitfalls to plan for

• Hosting decides everything. Cheap shared hosting with thousands of products means a slow cart and abandoned orders.
• Updates. WordPress, the theme and plugins need regular updates and backups, otherwise you get security holes and broken features.
• Plugin sprawl. Every single-purpose plugin adds weight. Fewer, well-maintained plugins beat many small ones.
• Caching. The cart, checkout and account pages cannot be cached like catalogue pages; the wrong cache settings break the cart. On the building materials store we set up caching and performance through WP Rocket with these exclusions.

SEO and speed: which one ranks more easily

Both platforms rank well when they are set up properly. WooCommerce gives you full control over URLs, schema.org markup and category structure. Shopify is easier to maintain but uses fixed URL prefixes (/products/, /collections/) and creates duplicate product paths inside collections, which are handled with canonical tags. Speed on Shopify depends mostly on the theme and apps; on WooCommerce it also depends on hosting and caching. If speed is already a problem, our guide to Core Web Vitals in plain English shows what to fix first.

On either platform, the same things matter: category pages with real copy, Product markup with actual prices and availability, a Google Merchant Center feed, and redirects whenever URLs change. That is part of our technical SEO work.

Which to choose in common scenarios

Scenario	Our recommendation	Why
Cosmetics or supplement brand, 50–300 products, selling in several EU countries or the US	Shopify	Multi-currency and stability without managing hosting
Building materials, spare parts, plumbing: thousands of SKUs from an ERP	WooCommerce	ERP import, flexible filters, no subscription that grows with volume
Wholesale prices, customer-specific discounts, dealer portal	WooCommerce	Custom pricing logic without platform limits
First online store after Instagram, no technical person on the team	Shopify	Fewer worries about updates and security
An existing WordPress site with Google traffic	WooCommerce	The store lives on the same domain and CMS, no content migration

If you currently sell only through social media, start with our article on why a business needs its own website beyond Instagram: it explains what a store of your own changes.

Switching platforms without losing rankings or orders

Changing platforms is a migration, and the main risk is not the products but the URLs. Shopify and WooCommerce structure product and category URLs differently, so without redirects, pages that have ranked on Google for years start returning 404 errors.

1. Collect every old URL: the sitemap, top pages from Google Search Console and pages with backlinks.
2. Move products, categories, images, customers and, if needed, order history.
3. Build a one-to-one 301 redirect map from old URL to new URL. Never redirect everything to the home page.
4. Carry over titles, meta descriptions, category copy and structured data.
5. After launch, check every old URL and watch Search Console for errors for several weeks.

When we migrated a veterinary store, we ran a full catalogue export (products, brands, pages, images and settings) with a verification log so nothing got lost on the way. The full step-by-step is in our site migration checklist for keeping Google rankings.

A checklist for choosing your platform

1. How many products will you have in a year, and where do they come from?
2. Do you sell abroad, and in which currencies and languages?
3. Which payment methods and shipping carriers do you need?
4. Do you have non-standard pricing rules, wholesale accounts or configurators?
5. Who will handle technical maintenance after launch?
6. How much are you willing to pay every month for the platform and extensions?
7. Where should orders go: CRM, accounting, team notifications?

If questions 1, 4 and 7 have complicated answers, WooCommerce is probably the better fit. If 2 and 5 matter most, lean towards Shopify.

No platform is right forever. A store that starts on Shopify may move to WooCommerce years later because of B2B logic, and a WooCommerce store may move to Shopify once the owner is tired of server upkeep. What matters more is that your product, customer and order data stay yours and the setup allows a clean move.

How we launch a store on either platform

1. Process review. Where products come from, how prices are calculated, who handles orders, which payments and carriers you need. This is usually where it becomes clear which platform is cheaper for you.
2. Structure and design. Categories built around what people search for, a product page that answers questions, and a cart and checkout with as few steps as possible, designed for phones first.
3. Integrations. Payments, shipping, CRM, accounting and team notifications. No order should be copied by hand at any stage.
4. Analytics. GA4 with e-commerce events, Meta Pixel and Google Merchant Center, set up so each purchase is counted once.
5. Testing and launch. Test orders with every payment and shipping option, plus speed and redirect checks.
6. Training and support. We show your team how to add products and promotions, and stay available after launch.

What matters more than the platform

A store sells because it is fast, easy to check out from, trustworthy and measured, not because of the platform logo. According to Baymard Institute, the average documented cart abandonment rate across dozens of studies is around 70%, and many of the reasons are about checkout itself: unexpected costs, forced account creation, long forms. Our guide to abandoned carts and what actually reduces them covers fixes for both platforms; the short version is on the cart abandonment page.

Correct tracking shows which ads pay off, while broken tracking can train ad campaigns on duplicate conversions for years. Plan end-to-end analytics before launch, and send orders straight into a CRM: see custom CRM vs off-the-shelf.

We also work with BigCommerce, but for most small and mid-sized stores the choice comes down to Shopify or WooCommerce. Platform details are on our Shopify and WordPress and WooCommerce pages, and pricing for a complete build is on online store development.

Still not sure? Tell us about your store and we will recommend a platform and quote both options.

FAQ

Is Shopify or WooCommerce cheaper to run?

WooCommerce usually costs less per month because you pay only for hosting and the occasional plugin licence, but it needs ongoing maintenance. Shopify charges a subscription and app fees, and in return takes care of hosting, security and updates. Compare the total over two to three years, not the first month.

Which platform is better for SEO?

Both rank well when they are set up properly. WooCommerce gives full control over URLs, structured data and category structure. Shopify is easier to maintain but uses fixed URL prefixes such as /products/ and /collections/ and creates duplicate product paths inside collections that are handled with canonical tags.

Can I use Stripe or PayPal on both platforms?

Yes. WooCommerce works with Stripe, PayPal and other gateways through official extensions. Shopify has its own Shopify Payments in supported countries and also connects PayPal and third-party gateways, though using a third-party gateway can add a Shopify transaction fee depending on your plan.

Can I move my store from one platform to the other?

Yes. Products, categories, customers and images can be migrated, and every old URL gets a one-to-one 301 redirect so you keep your Google rankings. The redirects matter more than the product import.

How much does an online store cost to build?

With us, a store on either platform starts at €2,000, with timelines from 45 days. The final price depends on the number of products and on integrations with payments, shipping, your CRM and accounting.

Which one is better for a first online store?

For a small catalogue and no in-house technical person, Shopify is usually the safer start because hosting, security and updates are handled for you. If you already run a WordPress site that gets traffic from Google, adding WooCommerce often makes more sense.