WooCommerce vs Shopify: Which Should You Go For?

WooCommerce and Shopify are two ecommerce tools which allow you to open an online shop – but which is a best fit for your business? For our money, Shopify is definitely the one you should go for, as its website and sales features scored it as one of our top free ecommerce website builders. Shopify was also rated higher than WooCommerce by customers we surveyed.

We’ll admit that the playing field is not entirely level here. WooCommerce is an ecommerce software, unlike Shopify, which is a full ecommerce/builder platform. To put it simply: WooCommerce will render your online shop operational, whereas, with Shopify, you’ll be able to build your webstore from the ground up.

WooCommerce’s plentiful plugins will appeal to the cyber-savvy and customisation aficionados, but Shopify’s design features and ease of use are out to please even the most code-averse business owners. In our research – which included both in-house testing and customer-sourced feedback – Shopify scored an amazing 4.7/5 against WooCommerce’s 3.8/5.

While looking into which ecommerce solution is best for you may be daunting, we’ve done the hard work so you don’t have to. With 10+ years of experience, we tested both platforms and you can find the takeaways of our research below. Just read on.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Head-to-head

WooCommerce allows room for deeper customisation and offers more hands-on support than Shopify. These qualities make it great for small businesses, self-starters and design-centred shops.

For medium and large businesses, Shopify’s scale and advanced reporting makes it a better option than WooCommerce. Shopify’s sales features trump what WooCommerce offers, despite WooCommerce’s support being more comprehensive than Shopify’s. Overall, we think Shopify’s the best between the two.

The difference between the tools can bring strategic advantages. For instance, WooCommerce is based on the popular content management system WordPress. If you already have a site there and want to develop it into a store, we’d be hard-pressed to give you an easier way to do so.

That said, for someone starting fresh, and without a site, Shopify offers an overall service which allows you not only to create one but also host it and integrate it with ecommerce.

WooCommerce overview

WooCommerce is an ecommerce software which enables you to turn a WordPress site into an online shop. It’s free – so if you already have a WordPress site, that’s a cheap way of getting into ecommerce. Extensions allow for deep customisation, but require a tech-savvy person to set them up. It’s best for small businesses owners, who can rely on its excellent customer support. Unlike Shopify, it doesn’t offer website building or hosting of its own but it provides better value for money.

Shopify overview

Shopify is a full ecommerce/builder platform with which you can build and host your website as well as equip it for ecommerce. It’s offered in five priced tiers, with no free option. For business owners who haven’t got a site yet, it’s a neat solution to get started despite the need of initial investment. It suits medium to large businesses owners, which will appreciate the detailed stock and reporting capabilities of the platform. It’s not as customisable as WooCommerce but its set-up is more intuitive.

WooCommerce pricing vs Shopify pricing

Packing various features for a small initial investment – or none if you already own a WordPress site – WooCommerce offers the best value. In our research, WooCommerce scored 4.3/5 against Shopify’s 3/5 on value for money – a result influenced by Shopify’s lack of a free version and high price on its Advanced plan. As WooCommmerce’s pricing varies, it’s difficult to compare it to the competitors’. Shopify’s pricing, however, puts it on par with BigCommerce but is more expensive than Wix and Squarespace.

WooCommerce pricing

Potential WooCommerce users are wooed by its price tag: the platform is free. But, unlike Shopify, WooCommerce doesn’t host the websites using it, so you’d have to pay for hosting, which averages £21 per month if you’re aiming for an ecommerce-tailored one, and likely for extensions, which average £79 per year. There’s also a high chance of you needing a paid theme for your shop, which averages at £38 per year.

With all of the above taken into account, WooCommerce would only be free if you’re already paying to host a WordPress website, and you don’t require any paid extensions or themes.

This structure means that, on one hand, since WooCommerce doesn’t work with set prices, it can be difficult to budget for your requirements. On the other hand, because every feature is provided separately, you can buy only what works for your business and get more for your investment. That ability helped WooCommerce to score 4.3/5 on value for money on our research against Shopify’s 3/5.

Shopify pricing

Shopify’s pricing is more clear cut than that of WooCommerce, since it’s divided into set price packages (which all include web hosting). The packages are:

• Shopify Starter for £5 per month
• Shopify Basic for £19 per month (paying for one year upfront)
• Shopify Advanced for £259 per month (paying for one year upfront)
• Shopify Plus for $2,000+ per month (it’s charged in US dollars, don’t ask us why)

There are options to pay monthly for each plan, but they’re considerably more expensive.

These costs are based on the monthly costs of an annual plan – if you decide to pay monthly, the bill could go up 50% depending on the plan you choose, which is worth bearing in mind.

Considering its all-encompassing nature (which helped it become one of the best overall ecommerce platforms in the UK), Shopify packs a punch, especially for medium to large businesses, which can benefit from the features available on its top tiers, despite their sizable price tags.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Which one has the best free plan?

WooCommerce is a free plugin, whereas Shopify doesn’t offer any of its features for free. While lacking a free plan, Shopify offers a 3-day free trial and your first month of premium for just £1.

Best for website features: Shopify

Shopify takes this one mainly because, unlike WooCommerce, you can build and host a website there. Being a plugin, WooCommerce websites are actually WordPress ones and their hosting is handled by third-party companies (BlueHost is their recommended choice), which is a technicality worth mentioning. For its ability to set up shop wholesale with less faff, Shopify’s a clear winner.

Best for sales features: Shopify

While WooCommerce does have more payment options (it offers or integrates with five major payment platforms: Amazon, Stripe, Square, PayPal and Apple Pay), Shopify’s ability to set up shop pretty much anywhere more than compensates for the three payment platforms it currently works with (Stripe, Square and PayPal). With Shopify, you can also sell directly through social media, so it wins this one too.

Best for design functionaties: Shopify

Design-wise, Shopify’s greatest asset is the fact that it allows you to have a slick website even if you’re the most code-averse of business owners. The templates look pristine and highly customisable. WooCommerce’s customisation, while extensive, will require more time and effort. As far as we can tell, it’s third time lucky for Shopify.

Best for value for money: WooCommerce

Compared to Shopify’s set price tiers, WooCommerce allows you to build a set-up which works for you while allowing for the spending to be very compartmentalised – and therefore more manageable. Also, it’s worth noting that Shopify charges payment fees of its own while WooCommerce doesn’t, which ended up hurting the former’s cost-benefit assessment. Therefore, WooCommerce wins in this category.

Best for help and support: WooCommerce

WooCommerce’s 24/7 live chat is a key pro of the platform, plus the knowledge centre is very thorough and provides a lot of answers – this comes in handy if you don’t feel like speaking to someone. Shopify also offers 24/7 support but not for all plans – Starter users don’t have access to it – and its knowledge centre doesn’t cover as much ground, so WooCommerce comes out triumphant here.

Best in customer score: Shopify

Beyond our own testing, we also reach out to fellow users of the platforms with a survey so we can compare our findings to that of an outside audience. Our research into this topic shows that users side with Shopify. Users highlighted that  WooCommerce was an intricate platform, with many customers saying they either required help from a dedicated professional to run it, or needed to set time aside to learn it for themselves. In the end, Shopify’s intuitive layout won over the clientele.

Best for ease of use: Tie

Both platforms score 3.5/5 in this category. Shopify allows for a relatively hassle-free start and you can make it work without coding knowledge. However, the design bit can be a bit clunky and overwhelming at times, which isn’t ideal.

WooCommerce’s set-up is not easy, requiring considerable time and effort. While usage gets progressively smoother, even fans of the platform note these growing pains.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: How do they compare to the competition?

According to our research, Shopify is the best overall among the platforms we looked into. Big Commerce, due to its focus on large scale orders and ultra detailed inventory features, is still the best choice for large businesses but, apart from these, Shopify covers you.

Wix and Squarespace are other massively popular alternatives that get high praise for their design and, like WooCommerce, it also appeals to self-starters. It’s Shopify’s inventory features that trump them all. It’s also worth mentioning Squarespace’s cheaper price tag beats Shopify and puts it close to WooCommerce in value for money.

How We Compared WooCommerce and Shopify