In the WooCommerce vs Shopify choice, Shopify is the easier pick for most small stores: one monthly fee, hosting and security handled, and you can be selling in a weekend. WooCommerce costs less in platform fees and gives you more control over the site, but you take on hosting, updates and more of the setup. Choose based on how much of the technical work you want to own, not just the monthly price.
We've run our own online store since 2016, so this comes from the owner's side of the counter: what each platform costs once you're actually shipping orders, and what running it looks like on a normal Tuesday.
How each one works
Shopify is a hosted store platform. You pay Shopify a monthly fee and it runs the servers, security, software updates and checkout. You pick a theme, add products, connect payments and go. Extra features come from the Shopify App Store, often as monthly subscriptions.
WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns a WordPress website into a store. You need your own hosting and domain, and you (or your web person) handle updates, backups and security. Because it's WordPress, the store and the rest of your website live in one place, and you can change almost anything about how it looks and works.
The simplest way to put it: with Shopify you rent a well-run store in a mall. With WooCommerce you own the building and do the upkeep.
Real monthly costs and transaction fees
Here's what each one costs as of late 2026, from the official pricing pages. Both change prices, so check before you decide.
Shopify, per Shopify's pricing page:
- Basic: $39 a month, or $29 a month billed yearly.
- Grow: $105 a month, or $79 a month billed yearly.
- Advanced: $399 a month, or $299 a month billed yearly.
- Card processing with Shopify Payments: 2.9% plus 30 cents per online sale on Basic, 2.7% on Grow and 2.5% on Advanced, plus 30 cents each.
- Extra fee for other payment providers: if you use a processor other than Shopify Payments, Shopify adds 2% per sale on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced, on top of what that processor charges.
- Trial: three days free, then $1 a month for the first three months on most plans.
WooCommerce, per WooCommerce's pricing page:
- The plugin: free, with no monthly platform fee and no cut of your sales.
- Hosting: WooCommerce estimates $25 to $350 a month for most stores, depending on traffic. Small stores usually sit at the low end.
- Extensions: optional, about $29 to $299 a year each for things like subscriptions, advanced shipping or bookings.
- Card processing: WooPayments has no monthly fee and charges per sale. WooCommerce lists roughly 2.5% to 2.9% plus 30 cents depending on country. For a US store, plan on about 2.9% plus 30 cents for US cards, with an extra fee for international cards. You can also use Stripe, PayPal or Square, with no extra platform fee.
- Domain and theme: a domain runs about $10 to $25 a year. Many themes are free; premium ones are a one-time or yearly cost.
What it means in practice: a small store selling $5,000 a month pays about the same card fees on either platform. The real difference is Shopify's plan fee plus app subscriptions, against WooCommerce's hosting, paid extensions and the time or money for maintenance. On a small store the totals often end up closer than people expect. The gap widens as you add Shopify apps, or as WooCommerce needs better hosting and more upkeep.
Flexibility and add-ons
Shopify covers what most stores need out of the box: product pages, inventory, discounts, shipping labels, taxes, abandoned cart emails and a fast checkout. Its app store fills almost every gap. The limits show up when you want something unusual: a custom checkout flow, odd product options, or content-heavy pages that don't fit the theme. Apps add up too. Five apps at $10 to $30 a month each is a real line item.
WooCommerce can be bent to fit nearly any business: wholesale pricing, product builders, memberships, bookings, complex shipping rules, and a full blog or content site in the same system. Because the code is open, a developer can change almost anything. The trade-off is that every extension is one more thing to update and one more thing that can conflict with another.
Content and search matter too. Both can rank well on Google. WordPress has an edge if your store depends on lots of articles, guides or recipes alongside the products.
Running it day to day
This is where the decision usually gets made.
Shopify, day to day:
- No software updates, server issues or security patches to think about.
- Good mobile app for checking orders and inventory from anywhere.
- When something goes wrong, you contact Shopify support, not a developer.
- Less control: you work within Shopify's rules, and moving off later takes work.
WooCommerce, day to day:
- Plugins, themes and WordPress itself need regular updates, and someone should test the store after big ones.
- Backups and security are your job or your host's.
- If something breaks, you call your web developer or host, not WooCommerce.
- Full control: your site, your data, your hosting, and no platform deciding what you can do.
If nobody on your team wants to own the technical side, either pick Shopify or budget for a maintenance plan for your WooCommerce store. A neglected WooCommerce store is the worst of both worlds.
Which fits which kind of store
Shopify usually fits:
- Owners who want to focus on products, marketing and shipping, not the website.
- New stores that need to start selling quickly.
- Stores selling across several channels, like in person, social media and marketplaces, from one inventory.
- Businesses without a regular web person.
WooCommerce usually fits:
- Businesses that already have a WordPress site and want the store on it.
- Stores with unusual products, pricing or rules that a standard platform can't handle.
- Content-heavy brands where articles and guides drive sales.
- Owners who want full ownership and control, and have someone to look after the site.
Either can run a successful small store for years. There are good stores and struggling stores on both. The platform matters less than product photos, clear descriptions, honest shipping costs and answering customer emails quickly.
Common questions
Can I switch later? Yes, both directions. Products, customers and orders can be moved with migration tools, but design, page addresses and apps need rebuilding. Plan for redirects so you don't lose Google rankings.
Which is cheaper? WooCommerce has no platform fee, so it often costs less for a small, simple store with cheap hosting. Once you count maintenance time and paid extensions, the difference shrinks.
Which is better for SEO? Both are fine for most stores. Good product titles, descriptions and photos matter far more than the platform.
The short version
- Shopify is easier to run: one monthly fee, with hosting, security and updates handled.
- WooCommerce is free to install and more flexible, but you own hosting, updates and fixes.
- Card fees are similar. On Shopify, using an outside payment provider adds an extra per-sale fee.
- Count apps, extensions, hosting and maintenance time, not just the headline price.
- Pick based on who will run the technical side. If you'd like help deciding or building, see our online store design page.