WooCommerce and Shopify are two ecommerce giants competing for dominance over the profitable ecommerce panorama. Nonetheless, we predict Shopify comes out on prime for its ease of use, high-quality free themes and templates, reliability, and clear pricing. Regardless, WooCommerce is a noteworthy contender and scores excessive factors for its low boundaries to entry, seamless WordPress integration, cost-effectiveness, and distinctive customization. 

We’ll soar straight to our head-to-head comparability so you may resolve which platform is worthy of internet hosting your on-line retailer.

WooCommerce vs. Shopify

We ranked WooCommerce as the most effective ecommerce plugin. It permits you to remodel an current WordPress website into a totally functioning on-line retailer. You’ll be capable to obtain safe funds, handle stock and tax, deal with delivery, and way more. Contemplating that WordPress doesn’t include any native ecommerce options, WooCommerce will prevent the difficulty of migrating to a special platform or constructing your website from scratch.

However, we charge Shopify as the most effective ecommerce platform for most individuals. Not like WooCommerce, Shopify is a purpose-built ecommerce platform with all of the options you might want to run a profitable on-line enterprise. For instance, Shopify helps multi-channel gross sales, in-person gross sales, and drop delivery. You additionally get helpful options for managing your small business, together with an easy-to-use web site builder, delivery administration options, and advertising and marketing instruments.   

WooCommerce is free to put in and arrange. Shopify provides a three-day free trial.

Extra High Ecommerce Platforms and Software program

We put our staff to work testing 20 totally different ecommerce platforms. We in contrast pricing, options, plan limitations, and supported enterprise fashions to curate our prime record. See all of our prime picks to search out out what else is available on the market.

The place WooCommerce Shines

WooCommerce has many robust factors. Right here’s what’s nice in regards to the plugin:

Open-Supply: WooCommerce is a best choice for budget-conscious entrepreneurs. It’s open-source software program, that means that it’s free to put in. Its flexibility permits you to preserve prices down, which is essential for brand spanking new companies.

WooCommerce additionally provides free storefront themes, fundamental delivery choices, cost gateways, and extensions out-of-the-box. You additionally select your net host and area registration service, excellent for worth purchasing. Conserving prices to a minimal is simple with WooCommerce.

Full Customization: WooCommerce provides quite a few customization choices for novices and superior customers alike. For instance, you may customise your pages utilizing a devoted plugin, the in-built WordPress editor, FTP to entry Theme Recordsdata, configuring WooCommerce Template information, or making a plugin from scratch.

You too can customise just about any a part of your retailer, together with the shop content material, retailer id, themes, homepage format and design, checkout, and tax and billing settings. It’s straightforward to create a novel on-line storefront that stands out amongst related shops hosted on WooCommerce. There’s additionally a superb alternative to ship a novel purchasing expertise.

Countless Plugins: WooCommerce has an intensive and lively group of builders. There are at the very least 50,000 WooCommerce plugins to select from. The platform makes scaling your small business easy.

For instance, there are devoted plugins for conversion optimization, geo-targeted banners, search engine marketing (search engine marketing), analytics, e mail advertising and marketing, and anything you may consider. There are additionally many free plugins, and the paid ones are fairly priced.

Deep Integration with WordPress: WordPress is the world’s hottest CMS and boasts of powering 43% of the web. WooCommerce is purpose-built for WordPress, so it’s an apparent alternative for WordPress customers who wish to transition to ecommerce. As well as, WordPress has inherent benefits, together with ease of use, low value, common computerized updates, and easy set up and setup.

WooCommerce is constructed on WordPress, so it’s intuitive to make use of together with your current WordPress website. The 2 platforms are a match made in heaven. Briefly, you don’t want to decide on a special CMS on your on-line retailer if you have already got an current WordPress web site.

Optimized for Search Engines: The WooCommerce code is optimized for search engine marketing out of the field. You additionally get built-in optimization options, resembling customizing URLs and including titles and Meta descriptions to product pages. The plugin additionally helps third-party search engine marketing instruments like The search engine marketing Framework and Yoast search engine marketing.

Search engine visibility is essential to on-line enterprise success. WooCommerce makes it straightforward to garner natural site visitors for inexperienced entrepreneurs. As well as, there are much more optimization choices for individuals proficient with on-line advertising and marketing.

The place WooCommerce Falls Quick

WooCommerce definitely has many robust factors. But it surely falls brief in just a few areas. A few of the not-so-great issues in regards to the plugin embody:

Restricted Help Choices: Admittedly, WooCommerce provides intensive guides, tutorials, and documentation to resolve on a regular basis issues. Even chat help if you are going to buy premium themes or extensions from WooCommerce. Nonetheless, the help choices are restricted.

However, Shopify provides round the clock help by way of cellphone, e mail, stay chat, and Twitter. It’s possible you’ll want to rent a freelancer should you run into severe issues together with your WooCommerce retailer.

Handbook Upkeep: There’s numerous hands-on work required to launch and keep an internet retailer with WooCommerce. You’re liable for internet hosting and area registration. There’s additionally a steep studying curve when customizing your on-line retailer. The method may be overwhelming should you’re organising an ecommerce retailer for the primary time.

You additionally must manually improve your sources as your small business grows. Lastly, you might want to keep your web site’s safety, backups, and updates. Once more, Shopify upkeep is extra hands-off and higher fitted to novices.

The place Shopify Shines

Likewise, there are a lot of causes to decide on Shopify as your most well-liked ecommerce companion. A few of the finest issues in regards to the platform embody:

All-in-One Ecommerce Resolution: Not like WooCommerce, Shopify is a purpose-built ecommerce platform. You get all the things you might want to arrange and run an internet retailer out of the field. Shopify handles all the things from begin to end, from creating your web site, registering a site, internet hosting, or managing safety updates and backups.

You additionally get all of the gross sales options you want built-in and able to use immediately. For instance, Shopify provides deserted cart restoration as a regular function, however you’ll want an extension in WooCommerce. Equally, Shopify helps multi-channel promoting by default. However, once more, you’ll must pay for this performance in WooCommerce. Lastly, Shopify provides extra delivery instruments and options built-in to the platform.

Fast Construct Time: Shopify permits you to construct an internet retailer from scratch in only a few minutes. You get at the very least ten free themes to start out with. After that, you solely must populate the theme together with your content material.

Shopify’s design makes it splendid for non-technical customers. The platform guides you thru your complete course of of making your on-line retailer. Because of this, you’ve all the things you might want to take your retailer stay instantly.

Trendy Themes: Shopify provides quite a few themes to create your splendid retailer. The premium paid themes are trendy {and professional} and well worth the cash. You even have a handful of high-quality free themes to select from. All of the arduous work has already been achieved, so you can also make a superb retailer with zero technical expertise. 

WooCommerce provides extra management of themes and customization. However you want time and technical expertise to create an distinctive retailer. Shopify additionally curates its themes, so that you don’t must scroll by infinite choices to search out the most effective one.

Wonderful Safety: Shopify covers all of your safety wants. You robotically get an SSL certificates if you arrange store. As well as, the platform is PCI-DSS compliant by default, so there isn’t a lot to do besides create a powerful password. Shopify additionally has safety woven into its cost processing to ensure safe funds should you stick to the platform’s default Stripe-powered cost gateway.

It’s doable to get the identical stage of safety from WooCommerce. Nonetheless, there are numerous handbook configurations and third-party instruments concerned. Shopify has safety constructed into the platform.

Clear Pricing: Once more, Shopify comes with built-in ecommerce options. So the pricing is extra clear. You already know precisely how a lot you’re going to pay in a given month.

WooCommerce requires extra extensions and third-party apps to compete with Shopify’s fundamental options. This example implies that your prices can rapidly spiral as you scale your small business. It’s arduous to foretell your working prices with WooCommerce, particularly for a fast-growing firm.

The place Shopify Falls Quick

Shopify is way from excellent. There are just a few downsides you want to concentrate on. A few of the platform’s shortcomings embody:

Restricted Customization: Shopify’s ease of use can be its Achilles heel. In any case, hosted options are much less versatile, and Shopify isn’t an exception. You’re restricted primarily to what the platform permits.

As an example, you may solely use pre-approved add-ons and software program from Shopify apps. This limitation may be a problem when you might want to broaden the platform’s capabilities with third-party plugins or customized software program. WooCommerce is way extra versatile on this regard.

Restrictive Retailer Design: Shopify’s restricted customization extends to its retailer theme designs. Some themes allow you to customise with Liquid code snippets or add HTML. However there’s nonetheless a restrict to the modifications you may change.

WooCommerce is true to its open-source heritage. The platform provides intensive customizations, making it extra probably that you just’ll create a novel storefront. Shopify shops can look the identical, particularly should you don’t have coding expertise.

The Last Verdict on WooCommerce In comparison with Shopify

Let’s do a fast overview of WooCommerce vs. Shopify pricing earlier than deciding which platform takes the cake.

Shopify has three fastened pricing tiers. These embody: 

• Primary, which prices $39 per 30 days or $29 per 30 days billed yearly
• Shopify for $105 per 30 days or $79 per 30 days billed yearly
• Superior, which prices $399 per 30 days or $299 per 30 days billed yearly

The fastened pricing construction makes it simpler to handle and predict working prices. You’ll know precisely how a lot you might want to pay each month.

Plus, you can begin with the most cost effective plan and improve to unlock extra options as you scale your small business. The entry-level plan is reasonably priced for somebody beginning an internet retailer from scratch, with all of the supporting options you might want to succeed.

WooCommerce pricing construction is way extra versatile. The software program is free to put in and arrange. However, there are further prices earlier than you may take your retailer stay. These prices embody:

• Internet Internet hosting – $29 – $250 per 30 days
• Area identify – $10 – $20 per 12 months
• SSL Certificates – $20 – $70 per 12 months
• Extension charges – $0 – $100 per 30 days

These add-ons are the naked minimal you might want to launch your WooCommerce retailer. Shopify contains these necessities in all its pricing tiers.

The benefit of WooCommerce is you may decrease your prices by price-shopping. You resolve on the internet hosting supplier you’re snug with, so there’s wonderful potential for low setup prices. This flexibility is ideal should you’re on a good finances.

Nonetheless, many service suppliers have a low introductory value however a excessive renewal worth. As an example, you will get internet hosting from Bluehost for as little as $6.95 per 30 days. However the worth jumps to $13.99 per 30 days after the primary 12 months.

WooCommerce is doubtlessly cheaper than Shopify, at the very least to start with. However the further value begins so as to add up if you consider skilled paid themes, developer charges, and plugins and extensions to boost your retailer’s performance. Shopify could also be costlier out of the gate, however you get a lot of the ecommerce options and performance out of the field. 

That mentioned, Shopify is the most suitable choice for most individuals. There are a lot of issues to love, together with its clear pricing, fastidiously curated high-quality themes, ease of use, and vary of built-in ecommerce options and performance. In case you’re constructing an internet retailer from scratch, Shopify is the best way to go.

You don’t have to fret about net safety, area registration, internet hosting, and different technical facets of launching and managing an internet retailer. You additionally get devoted help and in-platform tutorials in case you get caught.

Nonetheless, there are specific circumstances the place WooCommerce is the higher choice. Its unequalled flexibility is enticing to skilled designers hoping to create a one-of-a-kind on-line purchasing expertise. It’s additionally cheaper than Shopify should you solely must promote a handful of comparable merchandise.

Lastly, WooCommerce is a wonderful choice when you have an current WordPress web site. You don’t must migrate platforms to start out promoting on-line. You’ll get entry to quite a few themes, plugins, and extensions to show your web site right into a fully-fledged on-line retailer.

Luckily, your choices aren’t restricted to WooCommerce and Shopify. We spent many months testing at the very least 20 ecommerce platforms and software program. We detailed the outcomes of our experiment in our compilation of the most effective ecommerce platforms and software program.

We additionally reviewed every platform to make it simpler so that you can select the most suitable choice. Our prime contenders embody:

• Bluehost – Finest for computerized WooCommerce retailer setup
• Shopify – Finest all-in-one ecommerce platform
• Wix – Finest ecommerce platform for rookies
• Squarespace – Finest portfolio-based ecommerce builder
• BigCommerce – Finest for multichannel gross sales
• Ecwid – Finest free purchasing cart extension
• WooCommerce – Finest ecommerce plugin for WordPress
• Shift4Shop – Finest ecommerce platform for builders
• Simple Digital Downloads – Finest WordPress plugin for digital merchandise
• Volusion – Finest ecommerce platform for big shops
• Magento – Finest enterprise ecommerce platform