WordPress and Woocommerce vs Shopify – what do we recommend?

Choosing an ecommerce platform isn’t just a tech decision. It’s a business-defining choice.

Your online store isn’t a side project. It’s your shopfront, your livelihood, your chance to turn browsers into loyal buyers while you sleep. Whether you’re selling products, memberships, or even building a multi-vendor marketplace, your platform needs to keep up—not hold you back.

Most business owners exploring ecommerce find themselves looking at two big players: WooCommerce or Shopify.

Both can get you selling. But the long-term cost, control, and customisation are where the real differences lie.
Before we dive into comparisons, let’s talk about a concept that most articles skip but could save you thousands: open source vs closed source.

Open Source vs Closed Source: Are You Buying a Freehold or Leasing a Shop in a Mall?

Imagine two storefronts.

Option A:

You rent a space in a busy mall. The foot traffic is decent. Security, cleaning, and some signage are included. But you’re stuck with the mall’s rules:

• Want to change the fixtures? Nope.
• Want to hire your own security guard? Sorry, use the mall’s.
• Fees go up? Too bad. You’re locked in.

This is Shopify. You’re technically running the shop, but the mall owner (Shopify) calls the shots and takes a cut of your sales.

Option B:

• You buy a freehold building. No rules. No rent. Full control.
• Want to paint it neon pink? Go for it.
• Want to change the layout or expand? Totally up to you.
• Costs? Predictable and fully yours to manage.

This is WooCommerce. You own the whole thing—land, building, and the keys.

Here’s the kicker: renting can feel easier when you’re just starting. Less to think about. No scary decisions. That’s why Shopify looks like a dream in the beginning.

But when you grow—or when you need just one thing outside the mall’s rules—you hit limitations and hidden costs fast.

On WooCommerce, you might need a plugin for X and another for Y. That’s not a flaw. That’s the point. It’s designed to be flexible so you only pay for what you actually need, not bloated features you never use.

Your takeaway?
Choose your platform based on your future business requirements, not just what feels easiest today. The decision between open source and closed source shapes everything from your profit margins to your ability to adapt as you scale.

Pricing & Costs: Transparent vs Predictable

Let’s talk money. Not just what you’ll pay today, but how your choice will affect profit margins, scalability options, and financial control over time.

WooCommerce: Build Your Own Adventure

What this means:

WooCommerce gives you choice. You invest where it matters and stay lean elsewhere. Some costs are one-off (like premium themes or lifetime plugins) while others—like hosting or certain services—are recurring.

Your hosting plan is a key investment. Entry-level hosting might cost less than a cup of coffee each month, while high-traffic or advanced eCommerce businesses will need robust, secure hosting that scales. Security and backups are critical for any serious online store. Most WordPress hosts provide weekly backups (or more frequent depending on your plan)—and tools like BlogVault can provide real-time backups for added peace of mind.

As with all things, you get what you pay for. And with WooCommerce you decide what that looks like based on your store’s size, complexity, and growth stage.

For businesses that value ownership, technical expertise, and customisation, WooCommerce is like hiring your own team and you choose the best fit for every role.

Shopify: Pay-to-Play Simplicity

What this means:

Shopify is a user-friendly interface and all-in-one solution. Your online store comes packaged with essential built-in features, so there’s no need to assemble a tech stack yourself.

Your costs are predictable, but also fixed. As your eCommerce business grows, monthly fees can increase automatically; especially if you need additional features or higher-tier plans. Most Shopify apps come with monthly subscription fees, which can add up quickly as you scale.

One important note: Shopify does not provide automatic store backups. This means it’s the merchant’s responsibility to ensure data security, either manually or with a paid app or service. For businesses seeking speed, simplicity, and less technical knowledge to get started, Shopify can be an excellent choice.

Quick Recap:

• WooCommerce gives you flexibility and control. Shopify gives you speed and simplicity.
• If your business is scaling—or you want full ownership and deeper customisation—WooCommerce puts you in the driver’s seat.
• If you want a ready-made solution that requires less technical experience, Shopify might be the right starting point.

Just remember: what’s easiest today may not serve you tomorrow, but the right choice is the one that fits your business now and in the future.

The Cost of Flexibility (aka What Freedom Actually Costs)

Owning your website’s future comes with some responsibility… and yes, some investment. But that investment pays off in control, customisation options, and scalability.

Think of it like this:
WooCommerce is like owning a freehold shop. You can build, change, and grow without asking permission.
Shopify is like renting a spot in a busy mall. Everything’s ready to go, but there are rules (and fees), especially when you want to expand or customise.

Let’s look at three essential features most ecommerce stores need and what they cost on each platform.

Backups: Peace of Mind Isn’t Optional

WooCommerce

• Most hosting plans include daily or weekly backups.
• We recommend a BlogVault subscription for advanced backups (starts at $149/year, with plans scaling to suit growing stores). We configure our clients’ stores with two backup locations: daily server backups + BlogVault  daily or real-time backups.
• Bonus: You can restore exactly what you need, whether that’s a full site or just a few pages. Staging sites allow safe testing before updates go live.

Shopify

• Shopify does not provide native full-store backups.
• Rewind Backups app starts at $9/month and scales up to $79/month depending on order volume and added features.
• Restores are generally full-site or collection-based (more limited control than WooCommerce).
• There are no built-in staging sites—testing changes can be more risky or require workarounds.

Bottom line:
With WooCommerce, backups are customisable and scalable. On Shopify, you’ll pay additional costs for backup services, with less flexibility.

Mega Menus & Advanced Navigation

WooCommerce

• UberMenu: $25 (one-off) which is our choice for DIY-ers not using our templates.
• Our preferred Bricks Builder includes powerful menu options out of the box (at USD$79 a year).
• Want to customise? No problem: your developer has loads of options in either solution.

Shopify

• Apps like Buddha Mega Menu: $9.95/month or $99/year.
• Custom mega menus may require a developer or premium app upgrades.

Bottom line:

• WooCommerce’s approach is pay once or use built-in tools.
• Shopify’s options often involve monthly subscriptions or require developers for advanced features.

Flexible Page Builders

WooCommerce

• Bricks Builder: $79/year. For many stores, a lifetime license (no recurring fee) is also available. O
• ffers drag-and-drop interface and deep customization options without bloating your site.

Shopify

• Apps like LiquidBlox start at $22/month or $45/month for more advanced plans.
• Costs increase if you need more flexibility or advanced features.

Bottom line:
WooCommerce builders tend to be one-off or lifetime costs. Shopify’s builders are ongoing expenses, adding to the monthly subscription.

Ongoing Maintenance & Technical Expertise

WooCommerce

• Some technical expertise is needed (or you can partner with experts, like us!).
• Maintenance costs vary based on how complex your store is and how much you want to customise.
• Many premium themes and additional plugins offer lifetime licenses, keeping long-term costs predictable.

Shopify

• Less technical knowledge required for day-to-day management.
• Ongoing costs are predictable but tend to grow as you add additional features or scale.
• Customisation beyond apps usually requires professional developers (often at higher rates due to Shopify’s closed system).

Bottom Line

WooCommerce gives you flexibility, ownership, and the ability to customise every detail.

Shopify gives you convenience and built-in features—but at the cost of long-term flexibility and higher recurring costs.

Neither is “better.” The best choice depends on your business model, technical comfort level, and where you want your store to go in the future.

Payment Gateways & Transaction Fees: Who Takes a Cut?

Taking payments isn’t just a technical detail: it’s a core profit margin decision. Over time, small percentages can add up to significant additional costs, especially for growing ecommerce businesses.

WooCommerce

Transaction Fees: WooCommerce charges no additional transaction fees beyond those from your chosen payment gateways.
Example rates:

• Stripe 1.7% + $0.30.
• Paypal: 2.9% + $0.30.

That’s it: no platform fees or penalties for choosing your preferred payment methods.

Multi-Currency Support: Whether you use WooPayments’ built-in multi-currency feature or a plugin, WooCommerce allows you to sell in unlimited products across as many currencies and markets as you like. No restrictions.

Flexibility: Prefer regional payment providers? Want niche payment options? WooCommerce’s open-source plugin structure means you can integrate virtually any processor. It does require some technical expertise—or a trusted expert partner—but that flexibility often translates to higher profit margins and the ability to adapt as you scale.

Bottom line: With WooCommerce, you control how you get paid—and keep more of what you earn as your business grows.

Shopify

Transaction Fees (Shopify Payments):

• Basic plan: 2.9% + $0.30
• Shopify plan: 2.6% + $0.30
• Advanced plan: 2.4% + $0.30
• Third-Party Payment Gateway Surcharge: If you use PayPal, Stripe, or other third-party payment gateways, Shopify adds additional transaction fees (0.5% to 2%, depending on your plan).

Multi-Currency Limits: To enable multi-currency, you must use Shopify Payments. Basic plans support three markets. Advanced plans ($399/month) allow up to 50 markets, but at an additional monthly subscription of $59 per market beyond the included three. Even Shopify Plus limits you to 50 markets unless you invest in complex custom coding.

Flexibility: Shopify offers a user-friendly interface for basic payment methods, but expanding globally or integrating niche options introduces additional costs and technical roadblocks.

Bottom line: Shopify simplifies payments, if you stay within their system. Expanding beyond those boundaries comes with increasing fees and fewer customization options.

SEO: Who Controls Your Search Visibility?

A beautiful website is worthless if no one can find it. Search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t just a “nice to have”: it’s the engine that drives organic traffic and sales. Your eCommerce platform plays a huge role in how much control you have over SEO, and how well you can adapt as your business grows.

WooCommerce

Because WooCommerce is built on WordPress, it inherits the world’s most flexible and powerful SEO foundation.

Key Advantages:

• Full control over URLs, meta tags, titles, and descriptions: no frustrating platform limitations.
• Custom permalink structure: you decide how your URLs look (no forced pages/page-name structure).
• Seamless integration with a wide range of leading SEO plugins. Our favourite is SEOPress Pro ($49/year), which adds advanced schema, meta controls, sitemaps, indexing rules, Google Analytics integration, and even AI-generated metadata.
• Ability to customise robots.txt and canonical tags for better search engine control.
• Content marketing: WordPress + WooCommerce excels at creating and optimising blogs, FAQs, landing pages, and other valuable content—tools that drive search engines traffic over time.
• Full support for multi-region and multi-language SEO, critical for scaling internationally.
• Total control for advanced technical expertise teams, or flexibility to keep it simple for beginners.

Bottom line: WooCommerce offers built-in features plus deep customisation options. Whether you manage SEO yourself or hire an expert, you get the tools to dominate search results and build long-term visibility without limits.

Shopify

Shopify includes some built-in SEO features to help new store owners:

• Automatic sitemap generation.
• Editable meta titles and descriptions.
• Mobile-friendly templates for good user experience.
• For beginners, this is often “good enough.” But once you want advanced SEO—or even basic URL control—you’ll find yourself boxed in.

Biggest Frustrations:

• Forced URL structure for non-core pages (yourstore.com/pages/page-name), which can undermine search engine optimization best practices.
• Limited control over canonical tags, robots.txt, and hreflang (essential for multi-region businesses).
• Technical expertise can’t overcome platform limits—custom code solutions are often restricted or require expensive workarounds.
• Reliance on additional apps like GoSEO or Tiny SEO, which start free but quickly introduce monthly subscription fees for advanced features.
• Content marketing tools are basic and lack the flexibility or SEO depth of WooCommerce + WordPress.

Bottom line: Shopify’s user-friendly interface simplifies SEO for basic needs. But for businesses that require deeper customization, advanced strategies, or scalability, Shopify can become limiting and costly over time.

Monthly Cost Comparison: Mid-Sized Store Example

Let’s imagine you’re running a growing eCommerce business with around $5,000/month in orders. You want:

• Reliable hosting or platform stability
• Automated backups
• Strong SEO capability
• Advanced navigation (mega menus)
• A flexible page builder
• Professional maintenance support (WooCommerce only)

Here’s what that looks like on each platform.

WooCommerce Monthly Costs

Shopify Monthly Costs

Bottom Line 

Key takeaway:
Even factoring in professional maintenance and premium tools, WooCommerce’s flexibility and lower transaction fees mean a $175 monthly savings—that’s over $2,100 a year back in the business, not eaten up by platform and app fees.

Know What You Really Need Before You Decide

Choosing between WooCommerce and Shopify isn’t just about features or costs. It’s about understanding your true business needs—not just what feels easiest today or what someone in your business Facebook group swears by.

Here’s what we know from working with dozens of online businesses:

• What works for one store might be completely wrong for another. And what seems like a low-cost, simple choice now might become an expensive limitation as you grow.
• Your choice of eCommerce platform will shape:
  • Your profit margins
  • How much control you have over your store
  • What kind of technical expertise you’ll need (or outsource)
  • How easy or expensive it will be to scale
  • Your ability to customise the user experience for your customers
  • Both WooCommerce and Shopify are excellent tools for the right business model.

That’s why it’s crucial to get clear on your actual business requirements before you decide.

Not quite ready to hit “go”?

No stress. If you’re still wrapping your head around what your website needs (or if you just want to not mess it up), grab our No-Regrets Website Guide.

It walks you through the five things you need to get clear on before you start a website project—so you can stop second-guessing and start making smart moves.

First Name(Required)

Email(Required)