Shopify vs WooCommerce: Which Should You Choose?

Shopify. You can have a store live in under an hour with no technical knowledge. WooCommerce requires a WordPress site, hosting, domain, and configuration before you can even install the plugin.

The WooCommerce plugin is free, but running a store requires paid WordPress hosting (from ~$5-30/month), a domain (~$15/year), and likely paid plugins for key features like subscriptions or product variations. Total costs are comparable to Shopify.

WooCommerce with Stripe has no platform transaction fees — just Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢. Shopify charges 2% additional transaction fees on the Basic plan if you do not use Shopify Payments. Using Shopify Payments removes these fees.

WooCommerce handles large catalogues well with proper hosting. Shopify also scales well — the key difference is Shopify's hosting scales automatically while WooCommerce requires you to manage hosting performance.