Shopify Vs WooCommerce: Which Is Better For Your Store?

7 min readAug 6, 2021

Need help choosing between Shopify and WooCommerce?

If you are looking to develop an custom eCommerce store, you almost came across these two platforms — Shopify and WooCommerce, as they are the most popular ones on the market.

Since both platforms offer their own merits, it is even more difficult to choose between them, especially for an e-commerce site.

Therefore, let’s look closely at each platform in this post to compare and contrast them, in a manner to be sure to select the right solution for your store.

Introduction of Shopify and WooCommerce

Shopify — Shopify is a one-stop shop for all your eCommerce needs. Using this platform, you can create an online store, receive payments online, and manage inventory all from one place without having to worry about the technical aspects of managing an online store, such as web hosting, security, caching, etc.

WooCommerce — It is an open-source eCommerce plugin built for WordPress. Using it, you can run an online store with the most powerful content management system (CMS). Since it is open-source, it allows you to customize every aspect of your store and develop your own extensions with ease.

Pros and Cons of Shopify and WooCommerce

Pros of Shopify -

Shopify will handle all aspects of hosting and security for you.
Pricing is fair, and you know exactly how much you’ll pay every month.
Beautiful themes are available.
Launching your store takes just minutes.
You can expand your store with thousands of apps.
Shopify makes dropshipping easy.
The support is excellent.

Cons of Shopify -

Shopify themes are harder to customize.
Email hosting is not available.
It can be expensive.

Pros of WooCommerce -

An open-source platform
Custom functionality
Easy and effective design options
Non-tech entrepreneurs can easily use it.
Sell any type of products
Integration capabilities
An SEO-friendly platform

Cons of WooCommerce -

Paid advanced features.
It depends on your own web hosting capabilities (you must have a reliable hosting plan that can handle the demands of an e-commerce site).

Comparison:

Ease of use -

One of the main advantages of Shopify is that it’s a subscription-based tool. In other words, Shopify will take care of all the technical details involved in the process of setting up the shop, including the installation of the software and the choice of hosting platform.

Shopify is going to assist you along the way, asking about the purpose of your store (what you plan to sell) and giving you recommendations about which design/structure to choose and how to set up your store.

You simply need to create an account, answer some questions related to your business, and you’re done.

The Shopify dashboard includes several options for managing products, tracking orders, checking out customers, creating reports, and setting up discounts.

The WooCommerce eCommerce store is almost as easy to manage as a WooCommerce site. However, getting started and actually setting up the store takes a lot more work, and it is usually necessary to use a third party that has some experience setting up WooCommerce stores. As this is a WordPress plugin, there are a few preparations needed.

Firstly, you will need to set up and install WordPress, as this is the foundation of WooCommerce.

To get started, you’ll need a domain, a WooCommerce storage plan to download and install WordPress on your site and to select and install a WordPress theme. After following all these steps, you can get started with WooCommerce.

Cost -

Initially, WooCommerce seemed to be the cheapest option since its price is 0$. However, if you start adding extra features, such as web hosting ($5–15 per month), a domain name ($10–20 per year), premium themes ($59 one-time), plugins, and custom coding, it can quickly become a money pit.

The Shopify plans can even end up costing more than these, which are respectively:

$29 per month for Basic Shopify
$79 per month for Shopify (the standard one)
$299 per month for Advanced Shopify

If you buy more than a year of service at once, you get a little discount, so do not forget to check out the full list.

Themes Comparison -

A theme is essentially for your online storefront.

WooCommerce does not have its theme store, but it can be found through third-party providers. On ThemeForest, for example, there are over 1,300 WooCommerce themes available, with prices ranging from $14 to $139. You can also find free themes, but these do not offer any support.

On the other hand, Shopify has its own theme store, with over 70 theme options. They are mostly free, but some are premium. Almost all of them provide customization options so that you can change their look and feel without touching any code. In addition, these templates are mobile-friendly so that you can view them on any device.

Although premium themes give you more options, if you truly want to customize it to your liking, you’ll need to learn to program or hire someone to make the changes. You are not limited to Shopify’s templates, as ThemeForest offers more than 1,200 Shopify themes.

Payment Methods -

By default, PayPal and Stripe payments are available in WooCommerce. However, through add-ons, it also supports other popular payment services.

As for payment gateways, WooCommerce supports many regional and less popular payment services. In addition, because there is no barrier to entry, any company can make add-ons and provide support for WooCommerce.

With a self-hosted platform, you only pay the transaction fees charged by your payment gateway or bank. The major advantage of WooCommerce is you never pay a % fee on your store transactions.

Additionally, Shopify provides customers with plenty of options for paying during checkout. Shopify Payments (powered by Stripe) gives users access to all the most popular third-party payment gateways.

Using third-party payment gateways on Shopify incurs an additional 2% fee. These fees are in addition to those charged by the payment gateway. However, with a $299 monthly payment for the Advanced Shopify plan, you can reduce the fee to 0.5%.

SEO Options -

Having a strong SEO strategy is essential for websites planning to make an impression. It’s an opportunity for both Shopify and WooCommerce.

WordPress is primarily used as a content creation platform, and SEO experts consider it to be one of the most reliable options. You can easily adjust content and meta tags to ensure that your pages will rank high for specific keywords.

With the help of plugins such as Yoast SEO, you can make the WordPress site highly optimized. By utilizing WordPress features or third-party plugins like the Yoast SEO, WooCommerce runs efficiently.

WooCommerce offers more SEO-specific features as a result of being a WordPress plugin. The only issue is that the speed of your site is dependent on the web host you choose.

Although Shopify may rank second in terms of the number of SEO features available, how it presents content makes no sense. Additionally, it handles basic SEO practices such as meta information and site copy easily. In the long run, producing quality content should bring you great results and strong engagement from users.

In terms of SEO, Shopify proves to be superior to WooCommerce on a site-wide basis. In addition, software developers are highly praised for its clean code and natural linking structure that provides a smooth user experience, enhancing SEO.

Security -

The security of your store and online transactions is always a major concern. Any business owner should always keep a high level of security in mind when evaluating any popular ecommerce platform. Keep in mind that you will be handling customer information and money.

Since WooCommerce is a plugin, there are no security measures. As a result of WordPress’ involvement, most of its security is up to you. In this case, you would need a secure SSL certificate and a secure hosting company. Additionally, you should configure security plugins and two-factor authentication to protect your site.

On the other hand, Shopify takes care of all your security needs. Due to this, you do not need to worry about installing an SSL or securing your site.

Customer Support -

WooCommerce doesn’t offer a straightforward support system. First of all, WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin. Therefore, you can get WordPress support via the WordPress forums. Meanwhile, WooCommerce also offers free user registration at WooCommerce.com, where you can pick up support.

Also, there are a ton of blogs that discuss WooCommerce. It is great for people who do not need to speak with representatives but would prefer to research online before their purchase.

Shopify is well-known for offering excellent customer service. Clients can contact a customer adviser 24/7 via — email, open chat, and phone call for any questions or concerns. In addition, you can access an extensive knowledge base that covers common user questions and problem solutions.

Conclusion: Which is the leading eCommerce Platform?

The Shopify Vs WooCommerce battle has come to an end, and now let’s decide which platform has the greatest potential to help your business succeed.

It’s completely normal to feel challenged by the decision to choose an e-commerce platform. Running an online store is a big undertaking, and choosing the wrong one could damage your business right from the start.

Shopify is a great option for users who aren’t interested in complicated setup procedures or need premium support. The service charges a monthly fee for smooth sailing.

In the end, both Shopify and WooCommerce are great platforms on their own, although each has its own pros and cons. No matter which option you choose, you’ll have made the right decision.

In case, if you find it difficult to handle, you can take technical assistance from an experienced and professional eCommerce development company. You can hire a professional such as — Galaxy Weblinks Inc. for all your eCommerce development needs.