Shopify vs WooCommerce: Which Is Better? (Comparison)

Ok. So you are up for setting up your first ecommerce site to supercharge your retail business. First, good luck on your venture.

Now that your are reading this, it is easy to guess you’ve learned that you can create your own eStore with little money and next to nil technical knowledge, all by yourself.

But let’s face it. You have been Googling around for hours to find that one wizard that makes creating an eStore sound so painless. But then, you end up learning that there are tens of such magic wands all over the web being recommended by all kinds of people. And you go like …..

While there are numerous eCommerce platforms helping us create eStores, there are two authorities in the niche – WooCommerce and Shopify.

You might have bumped into these two eCommerce platforms more often than the others, and figured that these two compete neck to neck.  In this exclusive post, you will uncover which one of these two is perfect for your needs.

Also see: The 5 Best eCommerce Platforms (Compared with Pros and Cons)

Shopify vs. WooCommerce – The eCommerce Tug of War

Let’s go through the criteria for being a reliable eCommerce platform, and gauge Shopify and WooCommerce against them.

Shopify vs WooCommerce comparision
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Battle of Shopify Vs. WooCommerce

 

While we do this, I suggest you to be open and not perceive one of the two services to be useless. Because, what does not work for you may work for many others.

Remember? We already declared Shopify and WooCommerce to be the best of the lot. So choosing one of these depends on your requirement & limitations.

Let’s get started and see if Shopify succeeds to simplify your business or WooCommerce manages to Woo you away.

Ease of Creating /managing the eStore

This is perhaps the biggest USP of all the eCommerce platforms out there. If this promise is not met, the service ends way behind in the league.

Using both Shopify and WooCommerce is easy peasy. With either service, you can build an eCommerce website with no acquaintance of coding/programming what so ever.

The backend’s user interface is intuitive and takes just a bit of time to figure out how to perform basic tasks like creating site’s basic pages (contact, privacy policy, etc), listing products, checking/fulfilling orders, etc. To further make it easy, both brands have well-laid documentation (read: user manuals) that cover every technical doubt one might get.

Furthermore, Shopify and WooCommerce, both have a ginormous clientele leading to content rich forums which come handy.

Quick setup walkthrough for Shopify and WooCommerce

WooCommerce being a mega-plugin for the WordPress CMS, requires you to setup a WordPress website, host it, power it with WooCommerce and then setup the eStore. Witnessing the success of WordPress, we can say that it is not hard passing these steps with little guidance.

On the other hand, Shopify is a self-hosted CMS created specifically to make eStores. This means, no hassle of finding a web host, installing CMS, and setting it up. All you need to do is sign up for the service and manage the eStore. This is perfect for anyone who have zero technical skills like someone mother or sister who want to set up an e-commerce site.

Winner: If you judge ease of setup with the number of steps involved, then Shopify is your winner. Else, we can call it even.

Find out: Best WooCommerce hosting

WooCommerce Vs. Shopify: Who offers better features?

Both the platforms are comprehensively enabled to be eCommerce platforms. There is nothing pertaining to eStores that can’t be made possible with Shopify and WooCommerce.

Both the platforms allow further extension of the basic functionality through Plugins (for WordPress/WooCommerce) and Apps (for Shopify).

Since WooCommerce is in itself a plugin for WordPress, one can use other eCommerce related plugins alongside. WooThemes (the creator of WooCmmerce) themselves have come up with many useful eCommerce plugins that go well with WooCommerce eStores. Apart from that WordPress is filled with many plugins from other developers.

However, Shopify apps are specific to Shopify stores and vice versa. One considerable fact is that Shopify apps are highly trustable as they are meticulously tested by the Shopify team.

Winner: We can call it even again.

Aesthetic

The beauty and minimalism of the eStore can get you a long way with generating, retaining and converting leads.

Both the eCommerce giants have 100s of great looking customizable, responsive free and premium themes that fit multiple niches. Manipulation of themes is also possible so you can customize them at code level.

Winner: Both.

SEO Compliance

This is a huge factor that can make or break your online business. Search engines are great lead generators if you optimize your eStore to its best.

Speed being one of the most important user-friendly factors (therefore important for search too), let’s talk a bit about that first. The speed of the store depends primarily on the performance of the web host. Shopify has dedicated servers catering only to Shopify eStores. But with WordPress, you may choose a variety of hosts all of which can be either fast of slow. Both the platforms allow image optimization that further caters to speeding of the store.

The other SEO factors like defining title tags, alt tags, meta tags and descriptions is made possible by both.

Also having an SSL is great for SEO. It tells the search engines that your website is secure for the users. Shopify provides the SSL certification for all its stores in every plan. However, with WordPress, you’ll have to shell out extra cash with your host to include an SSL certification. Even though you get up to date SEO option on both the platform, the only thing is; you need to hire an SEO expert for WordPress site, as it requires a lot of plugins & configuration. You can see a list of such plugins here & this video will give you a perspective on what a plugin configuration meant.

Winner: Shopify Wins the SEO Battle

Support

The concept of using  CMS itself indicates that the end user are technically naive. This calls for a strong customer support team that can address issues in no time. Only then can the webmaster be solely bothered about products, sales and scaling up his business.

WooThemes has a reputation of good support; so does Shopify.

Both have great communities that actively participate in the respective forums, and both have well-developed documentation.

Both are prompt to address our issues. However, Shopify has an edge as it also makes live chat available. The other great thing about Shopify is that its support is not confined to teaching how to use the platform and addressing customer tickets.

Shopify takes support to the next level with its eCommerce university where one gets to learn a lot from eCommerce specialists from the industry. It also showcases success stories that provide the much needed inspirational nudge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Vpj7xddQM

To sum it up, WooCommerce is not bad, but no support can beat that of Shopify.

Winner: Shopify.

Pricing

Shopify has five plans with the basic starting at $14/month. This plan is not quite advisable unless it is a very small eStore. The costliest plan called Shopify Plus, which can be tailor-made for a large eCommerce website can get over $200/month. Below are the interim plans. Apart from these, Shopify charges around 2.5% per transaction.

Shopify pricing
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Pricing chart of Shopify

 

WooCommerce on the other hand is a free plugin that can convert a WordPress website into an eStore. But the term free can’t be taken for granted. It only means that the plugin is free. You’ll have to pay for hosting the website. And a trustworthy hosting plan with an SSL can definitely not be the cheapest. Also, WooCommerce will need you to install some extra plugins in order to have a full-fledged eStore. These plugins may incur further costs if you choose the premium ones. Thus, it can be cheaper than that of Shopify or much more costly.

Winner: WooCommerce (But this depends on which host and plugins you choose)

My Take: WooCommerce Vs. Shopify

Both the platforms are good to get your eStore up and running. Which one you choose majorly comes down to one thing. The amount you wish to spend. If you are ok spending the extra cash to get your hands off the technical aspects and have great support, Shopify can be the best pick.

But if you are confident that you can manage a WordPress site with the WooCommerce plugin installed, and try to save some cash WooCommerce is your deal.

Another factor that can determine the choice is the nature of your business. If your’s is a blog with few products to be sold, WordPress is ideal. But if you are more into commerce and the blog is just a topping, then Shopify is the one.

Hope I could help you understand both the eCommerce platforms better. We will come up with more useful eCommerce posts. Meanwhile, do tell us how do you like it?

Here are a few hand-picked guides for you to read next:

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22 thoughts on “Shopify vs WooCommerce: Which Is Better? (Comparison)”

  1. Amy

    both platforms are good in their own level… Many prefer shopify because it is a hosted platform and you just need a few clicks to install and set up your own online store, but i personally prefer woocommerce… I feel woocommerce as it provides to scope to huge customisation since the whole platform is under your control and in your own server.

  2. Jigar Shah

    I know at the end Shopify will win…! Undoubtedly, it’s better option between of them. But I would like to say that WooCommerce is also the popular and promising option for the WP E-Commerce Store owners.

    The simple reason behind it that it’s free and it comes with vast customization options. We can get superb flexibility through WooCommerce.

    I am also one of WooCommerce developer and I know that Shopify is much better but WooCommerce is also the solid one. Thanks for the wonderful and informative post.

  3. Duryab Aziz

    Hi Preethi,,, Thanks for sharing such a nice… I was searching for the same that which one is better…. You have compared the best twos..

    Regards: Duryab Aziz

    1. Preethi Anusha

      Glad it helped you Aziz.

      1. nageshwrites

        I am a newbie author of Indian language books in both Print and Digital editions . I own a WordPress self hosted site. I want to sell my books as well as others of my friends through my website free of cost using plugins or whatever. Is woocommerce that solution or WP-ecommerce that type of a solution. Please let me know. Thanks in advance

  4. Nimesh Dev

    both of them are best……but none have multi seller or multi-vendor features…..can you please give me a bit info on this…

    1. Preethi Anusha

      Hi Nimesh Dev,

      Both WooCommerce and Shopify can be have the multi vendor feature with the Product Vendor plugin and the Multi vendor app respectively.

  5. Hemant

    Preethi – This is great comparison between Shopify vs Woocommerce. Well compiled article. Thanks for sharing. do you have much inside for BigCommerce also. if so, please share with us.

    Thanks.
    Hemant.

    1. Preethi Anusha

      Hi Hemant. I am happy you find this comparison good. BigCommerce is a great tool too. However it is falling short in the race lately and hence I just skipped it in this comparison.

  6. M.Jyothiprakash

    Great info Preethi whether to choose WooCommerce or Shopify.

  7. Hemant

    Preethi – what do you think about BigCommerce? My site(http://www.rangoutlet.com) is hosted and using BigCommerce platform. what is your recommondation? should i move it to shopify for better SEO? Please advise.
    Thanks.
    Hemant.

    1. Hemant

      Preethi – This is great comparison between Shopify vs Woocommerce. Well compiled article. Thanks for sharing. do you have much inside for BigCommerce also. if so, please share with us.

      Thanks.
      Hemant.

  8. Aayan

    But Still in shopify we cannot have full control over the codes on the website

    1. Preethi Anusha

      True Aayan. But then, that is the whole point of using a CMS. If one was pro in coding, he’d prefer to code an eStore instead of using a CMS. So rarely will anyone want to code in this case.

      1. Douglas Goddard

        I think that the “bias” answer could be more like, your correct and if you wanted to build a custom plugin with Shopify you’re out of luck. 50% of stores have something custom needed. With Woo it’s not an issue. With Shopify again, out of luck. Now the BIG question that was not answered above or mentioned. Do you actually own your store? Can you take it with you? Can you do anything you like with it? With Shopify all answer NO! With Woocommerce answer is Yes! And that SEO answer not really correct. With Woo, one free plugin and you’re on your way. You didn’t mention what Shopify does for SEO. BTW, if you’re not hiring a SEO pro you shooting yourself in the foot anyway.

  9. Arvind Kumar

    I, quite often have had to explain to clients on their choice between Shopify or Woocommerce. I am going to reference this article after this very moment. Very nicely done. Thanks a lot!

    1. Preethi Anusha

      You are welcome Arvind.

  10. Akshay

    Yep Shopify is better as we don’t have to host our website with other companies and sometimes those companies are not 100 % safe also . Plus Shopify also helps us in making facebook store so yeah shopify is a clear winner here .

    1. Preethi

      Yes Akshay. Shopify knows that eCommerce is largely affected by Facebook pages and helps us make the most of it.

  11. Francis Quarshie

    You have challenged me dear. I admire your courage. Writing on ShoutMeLoud is the best thing to do. I will soon follow suit. I was in a dilemma regarding the two but I am enlightened now. It is comprehensible but I still need you to recommend for me which one to use when I go eCommerce. Thank you.

  12. Jeramey

    Preethi,

    Thank you for this valuable and detailed information! I will definitely reference this in the future if I ever decide to partake in eCommerce.

    1. Preethi

      Glad to know it helped you Jeramey.

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