Shopify in brief
Shopify is a hosted platform. You pay a monthly plan and the company handles hosting, security and updates. It is quick to launch and simple to manage, which suits teams that want to focus on selling.
WooCommerce in brief
WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress. You manage hosting and updates yourself, but you get maximum flexibility and full ownership of your data. It suits businesses that already use WordPress or need custom behaviour.
How to decide
- Want the fastest, simplest launch: Shopify.
- Need deep customisation or content-heavy pages: WooCommerce.
- Have a developer or agency to maintain it: either works well.
- Selling globally with many sales channels: Shopify is strong here.
Count the real cost
Compare theme, app and plugin costs, transaction fees and maintenance time, not just the headline plan price.
Speed and maintenance
Shopify handles hosting and security updates for you, which saves time. WooCommerce needs good hosting, regular updates and backups, but rewards you with flexibility. If nobody on your team wants to manage a website, Shopify is usually less stressful.
Growth and flexibility
Both scale well. WooCommerce makes it easy to combine rich content and shop pages, while Shopify makes it easy to add sales channels such as social media and marketplaces. Think about where you expect your business to be in two years.
Switching later
Moving between platforms is possible, but it takes planning to keep product data, customers and search rankings. Choosing carefully now avoids a costly migration later.
We build on both. Tell us your plans and we will recommend the right fit.
