Every week, someone asks me: Shopify or WooCommerce? My answer is always the same: it depends on one specific question that most comparison articles never ask. Get the answer to that question right, and the platform decision becomes obvious. Get it wrong, and you'll be rebuilding your store within two years.
The Core Difference in One Sentence
Shopify is a hosted, all-in-one platform — you pay a monthly subscription and they handle hosting, security, updates, and infrastructure. Everything works out of the box. WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns a WordPress site into a store — you own and manage everything, including hosting, updates, backups, and security.
Shopify: Best For Most Small Business Owners
If you're launching your first online store, or migrating from a bad platform, Shopify is almost always the right choice. It's faster to launch, easier to manage without technical skills, and comes with better built-in support for shipping, payments, and inventory management.
- Monthly cost: $39–$105/month, includes hosting and SSL
- Payment processing: Shopify Payments (no transaction fees) or 100+ gateway options
- App ecosystem: 8,000+ apps covering virtually any feature
- Technical maintenance: None — Shopify handles everything
- Best for: Product businesses, first stores, non-technical owners
A professional Shopify store can typically be built and launched in 2–3 weeks from brief to live, including product listings and payment setup.
WooCommerce: Best For Flexibility and Existing WordPress Sites
WooCommerce makes sense when you already run a WordPress site and want to add a store, when you need custom functionality beyond what Shopify's app ecosystem provides, or when you have a developer relationship and are comfortable managing a WordPress environment long-term.
- Platform cost: Free (but quality hosting, security, and premium plugins add £50–£150/month)
- Flexibility: Virtually unlimited — any feature is possible with the right development
- Ongoing maintenance: Regular WordPress updates, plugin updates, backups, and security patches required
- Technical requirement: Higher — expect to hire a developer for anything non-standard
- Best for: Existing WordPress sites, complex requirements, developer-maintained projects
A professional WooCommerce build typically takes 3–5 weeks depending on the level of customisation required.
The "Free" Myth About WooCommerce
WooCommerce's "free" label is one of the most misleading things in e-commerce. Add quality managed WordPress hosting (£30–£80/month), a security plugin (£80/year), a backup plugin (£40/year), the WooCommerce extensions you'll inevitably need, and the developer time for the problems that will arise — and WooCommerce's total cost of ownership often exceeds Shopify's within the first year.
My Recommendation for 90% of Small Businesses
Start with Shopify. It's faster, more predictable, and has the lowest ongoing management overhead. You can always migrate to WooCommerce if you genuinely outgrow Shopify's limitations — but the vast majority of small businesses never do. Not sure which is right for your specific situation? Book a free call and I'll give you a direct recommendation based on your products and goals.
- Shopify: faster launch, less technical overhead, predictable monthly cost
- WooCommerce: more flexible, better for existing WordPress sites, higher maintenance burden
- WooCommerce is not truly free once you include hosting, plugins, and developer time
- Ask "who manages this in 12 months?" — that question decides the platform
- For 90% of small businesses launching a first store: start with Shopify