Shopify vs WooCommerce: an honest comparison

Almost every retail client asks the same question: Shopify or WooCommerce? There is no universal winner. The right answer depends on how much you want to own versus how much you want handled for you. Here is how we actually decide with clients.

Shopify — hosted, predictable, opinionated

Shopify is a hosted platform: hosting, security, updates and payments are handled for you for a monthly fee. It is the faster path to a clean, reliable store, and its checkout is one of the best-converting in the world. The trade-offs are a recurring platform fee, transaction fees unless you use Shopify Payments, and limits on deeply custom logic.

• Best for: a business that wants to sell, not to maintain infrastructure.
• Predictable monthly cost, minimal technical upkeep.
• Excellent mobile checkout and app ecosystem.
• Less freedom for unusual pricing, bundling or B2B rules.

WooCommerce — open, flexible, yours to run

WooCommerce is a plugin for WordPress. It is open-source and free to license, which means near-unlimited flexibility and no platform fee — but you (or we) are responsible for hosting, security, backups and updates. It shines when the store needs custom rules, content-heavy pages, or tight integration with an existing WordPress site.

• Best for: content-driven stores and unusual requirements.
• No platform fee; you own the whole stack.
• Requires managed hosting and ongoing maintenance.
• More moving parts — plugins must be kept updated and compatible.

How we choose with clients

If you have a straightforward catalog and want to launch quickly with the least maintenance, we usually recommend Shopify. If you already run WordPress, need custom commerce logic, or want to avoid a monthly platform fee at the cost of taking on maintenance, WooCommerce is the better fit. Either way, we set it up properly — tax rules, shipping, payment, tracking — so it is ready to sell, not just ready to look at.

Not sure which side of that line you are on? Tell us your product range and how hands-on you want to be, and we will make a clear recommendation.