Shopify vs WooCommerce: which should you choose for your online store?

The platform is the software your store runs on: where you add products, where orders arrive, how payments, shipping and taxes connect. For small and mid-sized stores, the choice usually comes down to Shopify or WooCommerce. Below is what each costs, what fees it takes and when each one fits. Prices are US prices, as published in October 2026.

The comparison at a glance

What each costs per month

Shopify has three main plans. Basic costs $39 a month, or $29 a month billed annually; Grow $105 or $79; Advanced $399 or $299. Products are unlimited, and hosting and SSL are included. Many features come from apps in the Shopify App Store, and many apps have their own monthly fee.

WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress. You pay for hosting, the domain, possibly a premium theme and paid extensions. WooCommerce's own pricing page puts hosting at $25–$350 a month for most stores and paid extensions at $29–$299 a year each.

A small WooCommerce store on good shared hosting with a few paid extensions often ends up costing about the same per month as Shopify Basic. The difference is less the bill than who does the upkeep.

Transaction fees

Every payment provider takes a fee on each card payment. The question is whether the platform takes something on top:

• Shopify Payments on Basic charges 2.9% plus 30¢ per online card payment in the US (2.7% on Grow, 2.5% on Advanced), and Shopify takes nothing extra. If you use another provider, Shopify adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced, on top of that provider's own fee.
• WooCommerce takes nothing. WooPayments, its own option, charges around 2.5⁠–⁠2.9% plus 30¢; with Stripe, PayPal or another provider you pay only their fee.

On $20,000 of monthly sales, Shopify's 2% is $400 a month, more than ten times the Basic subscription. If you're on Shopify, use Shopify Payments where it's available, or move to a plan with a lower fee.

Updates and security

On Shopify, the platform updates and secures itself. On WooCommerce, WordPress, the theme and every plugin need regular updates, and that's your job or someone you pay. Patchstack, a WordPress security company, counted 11,334 new vulnerabilities in 2025, 42% more than in 2024; 91% were in plugins, and 46% had no fix available when they were made public.

That doesn't make WooCommerce unsafe, but a WooCommerce store needs someone who updates it and keeps backups. What that involves and costs: Website maintenance cost. If it does get hacked: Website hacked: what to do.

Shipping, taxes and selling abroad

• Shopify has shipping labels, tax calculation and selling in several currencies and languages built in, plus apps for anything else.
• WooCommerce handles all of it through extensions: shipping carriers, tax services, multi-currency and translation plugins. More choice, more pieces to keep updated.

For a store that sells in several countries, Shopify's built-in tools save setup time. For a store that sells locally with unusual shipping or pricing rules, WooCommerce's flexibility can matter more.

Can you switch later?

Yes, with some work. Products, customers and orders can usually be exported to CSV files and imported on the other platform. What matters for Google is URLs: every product and category must redirect from its old address to the new one, or you lose the rankings you've earned. The steps are the same as in a redesign: Website redesign without losing SEO.

When to choose each

• Shopify: you want the store to run without technical upkeep, you sell in several countries or currencies, or you'd rather pay a subscription than manage hosting.
• WooCommerce: you want no subscription or platform fees, you already have a WordPress site, you want full control, and someone will keep it updated.
• A custom-built store: you sell something platforms handle badly (configurators, subscriptions with custom rules, per-customer pricing), you need a deep ERP integration, or speed is a priority. Code vs WordPress, in detail: WordPress vs custom website.

At Manvro we build stores on WooCommerce, on Shopify or in custom code, from €499, and recommend the platform by what you sell and who will run the store. We connect card payments, shipping and invoicing, and the store and accounts are in your company's name. Details on our online store page.