Shopify vs WooCommerce mostly comes down to how much of the shop you want to own and look after. Shopify is the quicker start if you want a shop running soon with little to maintain. WooCommerce suits shops that want their own site, freedom over their pages and no platform fee on top of their payment fees. We build on WordPress, so you might expect us to favour it. We’ll say plainly when Shopify is the better choice.
Prices and fees below are as they stood in June 2026. Both platforms change them from time to time, so check their pricing pages before you decide.
1. The short answer
When Shopify is the better choice
- You want to start selling quickly, without thinking about hosting, updates or security. Hosting comes with every Shopify plan.
- You’re happy to pay a monthly subscription for that.
- You want a big library of add-ons you can switch on in a few clicks. Shopify’s app store has thousands.
- You also sell in person, and want tills and stock that work with your online shop. Shopify offers point-of-sale tools for that.
When WooCommerce is the better choice
- You want the shop to be your own website, on hosting you choose.
- You want freedom over how your product, category and information pages look and work.
- You’d rather not pay a platform fee on top of your payment provider’s fees.
- You want the shop, your blog and the rest of your website in one place.
- You’re happy for someone, you or a studio, to keep WordPress and its plugins up to date.
2. What each one costs to run
Plans, hosting and apps
Shopify charges a monthly plan. In June 2026 its UK plans started at £25 a month for Basic, or £19 a month if you paid yearly, and went up from there. Hosting is included. Paid apps come on top, and they add up if you need several.
WooCommerce itself is free to download and use, with no monthly subscription. You pay for hosting, any paid extensions (WooCommerce’s own pricing page gave $29 to $299 a year per extension) and whoever builds and looks after the shop. Either way, if you hire someone to design and build it, that’s a cost of its own.
Payment and transaction fees
Every shop pays card fees to whoever processes its payments. On Shopify, if you use Shopify Payments, you pay its card rates with no extra transaction fee. If you use a different payment provider, Shopify adds its own fee on top of that provider’s: in June 2026 it was 2% of each sale on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced.
WooCommerce adds no platform fee of its own: you pay your payment provider’s fees and nothing on top.
3. Who owns the shop
A subscription vs your own site
WooCommerce is open-source software that runs on your own WordPress site. The site, the products and the customer data sit on hosting you choose, and you can take it to another host if you need to. Shopify is a hosted subscription: you pay monthly, and the shop runs on Shopify’s platform. Neither is wrong. It’s a question of how much you want to depend on one company.
Whatever you choose, make sure the shop is in your name. Our clients have always owned their sites outright, with the logins and a short guide at handover.
Moving later
You can export your products from either platform as a spreadsheet (CSV) file, so you’re never completely locked in. But moving a shop is still a project: the design has to be rebuilt, and old page addresses need redirecting. More on that below.
4. Products, pages and content
Product and category pages
Both handle the essentials well: product pages, categories, variations like size and colour, stock levels and sale prices. The difference is how far you can go. On WooCommerce, a developer can shape any page however your products need. Shopify themes can be customised too, though bigger changes usually mean an app or a developer who knows Shopify’s own theme code.
Blog and information pages
If your shop sells on advice as much as on price, with buying guides, care instructions or a blog, WordPress is built for that kind of content. Shopify has a blog and pages as well, but they’re simpler. For a shop that’s mostly products, that may be all you need.
5. SEO on each platform
Structure and URLs
Both platforms can rank well. Neither one gets a shop to the top of Google on its own. What matters is the shop itself: product and category pages with real descriptions, a clear structure and sensible page addresses. Before you choose, check how much control you’ll have over page addresses, titles, descriptions and the way your categories are organised. Our guide to website structure explains why that matters.
Speed
Shopify looks after the hosting, so much of the speed side is handled for you. On WooCommerce, speed depends on your hosting, your theme and your plugins, so choose them carefully. Our post on WordPress plugins for performance is a good place to start.
6. Running it day to day
Adding products and running offers yourself
On both, you can add products, change prices and run a sale from a dashboard, without calling a developer. On a WooCommerce shop that’s all done in WordPress, alongside the rest of your website.
Updates and security
Shopify looks after its own platform, including updates and security. On WooCommerce, WordPress, WooCommerce and your plugins all need regular updates, and the site needs backups. Either you, your host or your studio has to do it, so agree who before launch.
7. Moving from Shopify to WooCommerce
What moves across, and what doesn’t
Shopify lets you export your products and your customer list as CSV files, and WooCommerce has a built-in tool for importing products. The design and any apps don’t come across, so they’re rebuilt on the new site. Check what else you need to bring over, like order history and reviews, before you start, because not everything comes across in a simple export.
Keeping your Google traffic: redirects
Page addresses usually change when you move platforms. Every old product and category address needs a redirect to its new equivalent, so people following old links, and Google, land on the right page rather than a missing one. This is the step that protects the traffic you’ve already built, so don’t skip it.
WordPress vs Shopify: which we’d choose for your shop
We build on WordPress, and for a shop that wants its own site, room for good content and no platform fee, WooCommerce is what we’d recommend. That’s what we used for a sneaker shop in Cyprus that had been on Shopify before, and for a group of beauty salons whose website includes an online shop.
But if you want to start selling quickly, you’re happy to pay monthly, and you’d rather not think about hosting or updates at all, Shopify is a good choice, and we’d tell you so.
If you’re weighing up platforms for a site that isn’t mainly a shop, our guide on how to choose the best CMS covers the wider options. And if you’d like to talk through your shop, have a look at our ecommerce web design work and our web design packages.
You can email us at hello@thesocialbay.co.uk, fill in our start a project form, or call or message us on 07441 918230.
Frequently asked questions about Shopify and WooCommerce
Is WooCommerce free?
The WooCommerce plugin is free to download and use, with no monthly subscription and no platform fee. You still pay for hosting, any paid extensions, your payment provider’s fees and the build.
Does Shopify charge transaction fees?
Only if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments. In June 2026 that extra fee was 2% of each sale on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced, on top of the provider’s own fees. With Shopify Payments you pay its card rates instead: on Basic, the standard online rate was 2% plus 25p, so about 65p on a £20 sale.
Is WooCommerce better than Shopify?
Neither is better for every shop. WooCommerce is better if you want to own the shop, shape it freely and avoid platform fees. Shopify is better if you want to start quickly and have the platform look after hosting, updates and security.
Is Shopify or WooCommerce better for SEO?
Both can rank well. The difference comes from the shop: useful product and category pages, a clear structure and a fast site. WooCommerce gives you more control over the details; Shopify handles more of it for you.
Can I move my shop from Shopify to WooCommerce?
Yes. Your products can be exported from Shopify as a CSV file and imported into WooCommerce with its built-in tool, and your customer list can be exported too. Customers and order history usually need a migration tool or a developer to bring across. The design is rebuilt, and every old page address needs a redirect to protect your Google traffic.