Shopify and WooCommerce are the two platforms most small online stores end up choosing between, and most comparisons of them are written by someone who sells one of the two. So, to be upfront: we build stores on WooCommerce and we do not build on Shopify. That is exactly why this comparison says plainly where Shopify is the better choice, because a store owner who picks the wrong platform on our advice is not a client we want. Below: what each one actually is, what each costs in 2026, where each one wins, and a way to decide in about ten minutes.
The short answer
Shopify is the better choice when you want a store running quickly, do not want to think about servers or updates, and your needs fit what Shopify and its app store already do.
WooCommerce is the better choice when you need control: unusual product logic, specific integrations, content-heavy SEO, full ownership of the store and its data, or a cost structure without a platform taking a share as you grow.
Everything below is the detail behind those two sentences.
What each one actually is
Shopify is a hosted service. You pay a monthly subscription and Shopify runs everything: servers, security, updates, checkout. You rent a store that works out of the box, inside the limits Shopify sets.
WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns a WordPress website into a store. You run it on your own hosting. The software costs nothing; you pay for hosting, any paid extensions, and someone to keep it maintained. You own the store outright, including the responsibility for it.
That difference, rented and managed versus owned and maintained, explains almost every row in the table below.
Side by side
| Shopify | WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Fast. Sign up, pick a theme, add products. | Needs hosting, WordPress and setup. Faster with someone who has done it before. |
| Cost structure | Monthly plan, plus apps, plus payment fees. Current plans vary by tier. | Software free. Hosting, paid extensions and maintenance instead. |
| Transaction fees | 2% extra on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments. | No platform fee. Only your payment provider’s charges. |
| Maintenance and security | Handled by Shopify. | Your responsibility: updates, backups, security. |
| Customisation | Good within the theme and app system. Hard limits on checkout and core behaviour. | Almost anything is possible with code. |
| Content and SEO | Solid basics. Blogging and URL structure are more restricted. | WordPress is a full content system. More control over structure and SEO. |
| Ownership and portability | You can export data, but the store itself lives on Shopify. | Files, database and code are yours, on hosting you choose. |
| Extensions | Large app store, mostly monthly subscriptions. | Large plugin ecosystem, mix of free, one-off and yearly licences. |
| Support | Shopify support for platform issues. | Your developer or agency; no single vendor to call. |
2026 prices and fees
Prices as listed on 23 October 2026, in US dollars, for online sales. Check the linked pages before you decide, because both companies change them.
| Basic | Grow | Advanced | Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify plan, billed yearly | $29 a month | $79 a month | $299 a month | from $2,300 a month |
| Shopify plan, billed monthly | $39 a month | $105 a month | $399 a month | |
| Card rate with Shopify Payments | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.7% + 30¢ | 2.5% + 30¢ | 2.25% + 30¢ |
| Extra fee with another payment provider | 2% | 1% | 0.6% | 0.2% |
Source: Shopify pricing (US page). Premium cards cost more on every plan.
WooCommerce itself is free. If you take payments through WooPayments, the US rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction, plus 1.5% for cards issued in another country and 1% when currency conversion is needed. There is no monthly fee and no platform share of your sales. Source: WooPayments fees. You can also use Stripe, PayPal or a local bank gateway at their own rates.
What WooCommerce costs instead is hosting, any paid extensions and maintenance. Those depend on the store, so they are not in the table. As a reference point, our own WordPress maintenance starts at €990 a year.
What it really costs over three years
The monthly figures on pricing pages are misleading in both directions, so compare structure rather than headline numbers.
On Shopify, the three-year cost is the plan, plus the apps you add along the way, plus payment fees that grow with your revenue. The apps are where estimates usually go wrong: reviews, subscriptions, filters, upsells and shipping tools each carry their own monthly fee, and many stores end up paying more for apps than for the plan itself.
On WooCommerce, the three-year cost is hosting, extension licences, and maintenance time or a maintenance contract. There is no share of revenue going to the platform, so as sales grow, the platform cost stays roughly flat. The risk is on the other side: an unmaintained WooCommerce store becomes a security and stability problem, and fixing that later costs more than maintaining it would have.
A worked example
Take a store selling $10,000 a month online, on Shopify Basic billed yearly.
- With Shopify Payments, card fees are 2.9% + 30¢ per order, about the same as most payment providers charge anywhere.
- Without Shopify Payments, for example because it is not offered in your country, you pay your payment provider’s fees plus Shopify’s extra 2%. That is $200 a month, or $7,200 over three years, on top of the $1,044 for the plan itself.
On WooCommerce the same store pays only its payment provider. The money goes to hosting and maintenance instead, and that cost does not rise when sales do. Neither number includes apps or extensions, which is where real budgets usually grow.
We went through the fees that rarely make it into the first conversation in WordPress or Shopify: what nobody tells you before you open a shop, and through build and running costs generally in ecommerce website cost.
Choose Shopify if
- You want to be selling within weeks and have no one to maintain a server.
- Your products are standard: items with a few variants, normal shipping, normal payment.
- Shopify Payments is available in your country and you are happy to use it. It is not offered everywhere (list of countries); Serbia, for example, is not on it, and without it every sale carries the extra fee above.
- You would rather pay a predictable monthly amount than deal with updates and hosting.
- You sell across several channels, such as social platforms and marketplaces, and value Shopify’s built-in connections.
Choose WooCommerce if
- You need product or pricing logic Shopify does not handle well, such as trade pricing tiers, complex configurable products or unusual bundles.
- Content is a large part of how customers find you, and you want full control of the blog, URL structure and SEO.
- You need integrations with local couriers, accounting or stock systems that have no Shopify app.
- You want to own the store and its data outright, and not depend on one company’s pricing and policy decisions.
- You have, or are willing to pay for, someone to maintain it properly.
Questions that decide it faster than any table
- Who will keep the store updated and secure? If the honest answer is nobody, choose Shopify.
- What does your store need to do that a standard shop does not? If you cannot name anything, Shopify is likely enough. If you can name three things, check each against Shopify before committing.
- Where will customers come from? If mainly search and content, WooCommerce’s control over content matters more.
- How much will you sell in three years? The higher the volume, the more a revenue-linked cost structure matters.
- How much does it matter to you to own the store outright? For some businesses a lot, for others not at all. Both are fine, as long as the choice is deliberate. See who actually owns your website.
Myths worth dropping
- “WooCommerce is free.” The plugin is. Running a store on it is not.
- “Shopify is bad for SEO.” It is perfectly capable for most stores. It is less flexible, which matters mainly for content-heavy strategies.
- “WooCommerce cannot handle big stores.” It handles large catalogues well on proper hosting with proper setup. Most slow WooCommerce stores are slow because of hosting and plugins, not WooCommerce itself.
- “You can always switch later.” You can, but a migration means moving products, customers, orders and URLs without losing rankings. It is a project, not a setting.
If you already have a store
Switching platforms only makes sense when the current one is costing you sales or flexibility you can name. If you are on WooCommerce and it feels slow or fragile, the fix is often hosting and cleanup, not a new platform. Read five signs you have outgrown your WooCommerce setup before deciding. If you are moving from Shopify to WooCommerce, or opening a WooCommerce store for the first time, here is how we decide and build it. If you are launching for the first time, the most common online store mistakes matter more than the platform choice.
Common questions
Does Shopify charge transaction fees in 2026?
Only if you do not use Shopify Payments. Then Shopify adds 2% per sale on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus, on top of your payment provider’s own fees. With Shopify Payments there is no extra fee, only the card rate. WooCommerce has no platform fee at all.
Which is easier to use day to day?
For adding products and processing orders, both are straightforward once set up. Shopify’s admin is more polished; WooCommerce’s feels more like WordPress, which is an advantage if you already know it.
Which is faster?
Shopify is consistently fast because hosting is handled for you. WooCommerce can be just as fast or noticeably slower, depending on hosting, theme and plugins.
Can I use WordPress for content and Shopify for the shop?
Yes, and some businesses do. It adds complexity: two systems, two logins, and some SEO decisions about which site owns which pages. It is worth it for content-heavy brands, overkill for most small shops.
Next step
If you would like a straight recommendation for your products and your situation, tell us what you sell and how. If WooCommerce fits, we will tell you what the build and the yearly running costs would be. If Shopify is the better fit, we will say so, and tell you why.
Related: What WordPress maintenance costs