Woocommerce vs Shopify – which one is better for your business? These two eCommerce platforms are easy to use and available in the market to build an eCommerce store with.
A lot of businesses find themselves asking which one of these two platforms fits best as per their business needs? Which is more flexible and easy to work with? Which one is rich in features and functionalities? In this post, we are going to answer all these questions and have a detailed comparison between Woocommerce vs Shopify.
By the end of this article, you will have a much better idea of which eCommerce platform out of Shopify or Woocommerce will serve your business’ needs best. Let’s start with a short overview of each platform.
Woocommerce Overview
Woocommerce is free open-source software, and is also one of the big eCommerce giants in this eCommerce world. With this platform you have to manage your own installation, hosting, setup and configuration before starting to build your online store. Additionally, it came up with features that require a medium to a high level of coding skills and certified developers.
Shopify overview
Shopify, a fully hosted and all-in-one eCommerce platform that is suitable for any kind of business. It is one of the easiest-to-use platforms with all the features and functionalities you will ever need to build and run your customized online store. It is specially designed for you to launch your online store, sell products, manage inventory, accept payments, and track reports easily.
Let’s go through the comprehensive Shopify vs Woocommerce comparison that helps you choose the one that fits the best for your business.
Comparison
1. Ease of use
Ease of Use, one of the most important things to consider during the Woocommerce and Shopify comparison.
Woocommerce is more complex as compared to Shopify because it is a more technical platform and requires a certain level of coding skills to set up an online store. One must have some technical knowledge and expertise to build an eCommerce store for their brand or they should hire a skilled developer for this task.
While on the other hand, Shopify is a hosted platform and it’s way easier to set up and manage a store with Shopify. It is a whole online website builder along with a drag and drop functionality. Using this, a non-technical person can also set up, create, and customize their eCommerce store very easily.
So, when it comes to ease of use, Shopify is way easier to use compared to Woocommerce.
2. Pricing/cost
Let us share with you the pricing difference between Shopify and Woocommerce so that you can easily decide your budget for an online store.
Shopify is a hosted platform, so all the hosting costs are within the set monthly plan without any extra cost. On the other hand, Woocommerce is free to install, but you have to pay for hosting service, security, domain, extensions, add-ons, etc.
Shopify has fixed pricing plans whereas Woocomerce is free to install and more flexible in terms of pricing. Shopify apps are also expensive compared to Woocommerce.
| Shopify | WooCommerce (powered by Bluehost) |
| Shopify Basic ($29/month) | Starter ($13.99/month) |
| Shopify ($79/month) | Plus ($17.99/month) |
| Advanced Shopify ($299/month) | Pro ($31.99/month) |
3. Payment processors
Both the eCommerce platforms help to connect your eCommerce store with the payment processor in just a few clicks.
Compared to Woocommerce, Shopify charges a transaction fee on using any 3rd party payment gateways. Additionally, Shopify has its own payment processor called Shopify Payments which is powered by Stripe and imposes zero transaction fees.
Woocommerce is more suitable for many sellers who are offering products in volume as it doesn’t charge any transaction fees. Also with Woocommerce any payment company can build and support plugins.
4. Theme / Templates / Designs
One of the important factors to attract customers is the website design. Website theme or template not only makes your business impression on customers but also determines the store’s success. It has the power to make a business or break a business. Also if you want to create a long-lasting business relationship with your customers then provide them a positive experience.
Woocommerce and Shopify offer numerous themes for you to choose from both free and paid. And in general, most of the themes, templates, or designs offered by these platforms are responsive and mobile-friendly.
| Woocommerce Themes | Shopify Themes |
| Offers a huge range of themes with a different price range to beautify your website. | Offers 73 templates out of which 9 free and 64 premium themes. |
| Offers limitless customization compared to Shopify | Offers more flexible customization options |
| Woocommerce themes & designs come with fresh and a clean layout. | Shopify’s themes are very polished and sleek as it has a dedicated eCommerce platform |
| All the themes are mobile-optimized. | Mobile Responsive themes |
| Woocommerce is more beneficial as it is an open-source platform so tons of developers sell the woocommerce themes. | Shopify themes can be purchased from the Shopify Theme Store. It is limited to the Shopify store only. |
5. SEO
When it comes to SEO, choosing one from both platforms is tough because both these robust platforms make sure that your products and content appear in front of the right people. Woocoomerce has a wide range of SEO plugins compared to Shopify. They are easy to use and offer excellent support. Being a dedicated blogging platform, Woocommerce is best at SEO. Users can alter body content, meta description, basic URL redirections, and other elements of a page to optimize the product pages.
Shopify has a minimum range of plugins in its App Store. It’s easy for users to add basic SEO details to their online store. One can add titles and descriptions to pages, products, and images. Shopify users are not able to customize some of the sections related to URLs and also it has some rigid URL structure. But there is no doubt that Shopify SEO apps are very well known for their simplicity in installing and operating.
6. Security
When it comes to security, Shopify wins this round because with the Woocommerce platform all the security falls in your own hands. You have to get the PCL compliant, get your own SSL certificate, 2-factor authentication, configure security plugins, and other things that are needed to secure your website.
While with Shopify, all the security measures are taken care of on their own. From domain to hosting, everything is covered up as Shopify is a hosted platform. In addition to this, Shopify doesn’t include any update, install or manage any software so you are free from backup or security. However, you can hire a full time developer from shopify development company to make sure about your online store safety and security.
7. Help & Support
Woocommerce and Shopify both provide support to their customers, but there is a huge difference between them.
| Woocommerce | Shopify |
| Woocommerce doesn’t support email, phone, or live chat. | Provides 24/7 support via call, email, or live chat at the merchant level. |
| Offer assistance in FAQ sections and Woocommerce documentation where one can get the answers to all the common questions. | The Shopify platform has a huge database of FAQs. |
| Seek support from an excellent user community of peers, experts, and developers. | Shopify’s users can dig into the community forums, help center, API documentation, and numerous video tutorials. |
Woocommerce vs Shopify: Pros and Cons
| Woocommerce | |
| Pros | Cons |
| Limitless Customization | No phone-based support |
| Less expensive | Doesn’t come with a domain |
| Large Community | Premium extensions and hidden cost |
| Large plugin library | WordPress knowledge is a must |
| Good SEO features | Have a bit of a learning curve |
| Scalable | |
| Availability of developers | |
| Shopify | |
| Pros | Cons |
| 24/7 Customer Support | Expensive (High Monthly Cost) |
| SEO Compliant | Lock-in feature |
| Speed & Security | Not Multi-feature |
| Multiple Free Theme | Limited Payment Gateways |
| Fully Featured Mobile App | Transaction Fees |
| Easy to use | Complex integrated apps into your store |
| Comprehensive eCommerce Builder | |
So, which is better shopify or woocommerce?
We hope that you are now clear about the difference between shopify and woocommerce. Shopify is way better in terms of themes, marketing tools, ease of use, etc. Woocommerce is more user-friendly and beats Shopify in terms of plugins and apps.
So, what are you waiting for? Build that perfect eCommerce store for your business that you’ve always dreamed of having based on your business requirements and budget plans. If you still have any queries regarding Shopify or Woocommerce, you can comment below.