Do you want to open an online store? Are you trying to decide between WooCommerce and Shopify? These eCommerce platforms are two of the most popular choices, each with its advantages and disadvantages.
As a business owner, you must find an eCommerce platform that will meet your needs. For this reason, we’ve made a comparison of WooCommerce vs. Shopify to help you gain a better understanding of which option is right for you.
A Quick Overview
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that quickly turns any WordPress site into an online store. It’s free to install, but you will need to pay for hosting. The best WooCommerce hosting will come with WooCommerce pre-installed and offer PCI compliance and a free SSL certificate.
Shopify is a SAAS platform that you pay for monthly. The platform includes the creation of a website that is optimized for selling products and services. Furthermore, Shopify provides hosting, so you don’t need to worry about finding your own web host.
Related: The Future of Shopify: Trends and Predictions
Pros and Cons
WooCommerce Pros:
- Infinite customization: it’s open-source coding means you can customize your store to your heart’s content
- Scalable: you can increase the size of your store as much as you need
- Cost-effective: it’s free to install, and plugins and extensions are reasonably priced
WooCommerce Cons:
- Requires coding knowledge: to take full advantage of this feature, you will need some coding experience
Shopify Pros:
- Hosting: Shopify includes hosted software and security
- Requires no coding: you don’t need any coding knowledge to build your store
- 24/7 support: you can get help any time of day or night
- Multichannel integration: capable of selling on other channels like Amazon and Facebook
Shopify Cons:
- Transaction fees: Shopify charges a fee for each transaction
- Expensive apps: additional apps are quite costly
Ease of Use Comparison
WooCommerce has a steeper learning curve than Shopify. This is because you’re required to install, manage backups and security, and take care of updates. However, there are a lot of free plugins that will take care of these tasks for you. You also have to set up your own hosting. That being said, WooCommerce is completely customizable. If you have coding knowledge, you can make your store as unique as you want.
Shopify is a hosted software, so you don’t have to install, manage, or update any software. Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about security, backups, compatibility issues, or performance. Shopify also walks you through the entire process of your website. However, you can only use the design and development tools offered by Shopify, which means your customization options are limited.
Integrations and Add-Ons Comparison
Regardless of the robustness of your platform, you’re going to need third-party tools and services to grow your store. For example, you might want to add a lead generation tool or an analytics service.
WooCommerce comes with over 55,000 free plugins and a large number of paid plugins. These add-ons will let you add an analytics service or lead generation tool and almost any other feature you can think of. Furthermore, if you have the knowledge, you can create your own plugin.
Shopify’s API and app store offers thousands of free and paid apps that can do just about anything you can imagine. However, unlike WooCommerce, you cannot design your own app.
Cost Comparison
The cost of your eCommerce platform is an important consideration. Whatever you spend on the platform will take away from your profits. When looking at your online store’s cost, you need to consider the startup cost and the cost of any add-ons.
WooCommerce is free, but you will need to pay for a domain name, an SSL certificate, and a web host. Fortunately, many hosting providers include a free domain name and an SSL certificate, so you pay only one price. On average, WooCommerce hosting costs upwards of $7.99 per month. Additionally, you may have to pay for some plugins and integrations.
On the other hand, Shopify costs start at $29 per month for their basic plan. The next plan after the basic costs $79 per month, and the advanced plan costs $299 per month. All the plans come with a domain name, SSL certificate, and web hosting. Additionally, you may have to pay for add-ons and third-party tools.
Conclusion
Both Shopify and WooCommerce are powerful eCommerce platforms. Their differences mainly lie in their cost and ease of use. If you want a great deal of customization, you should go with WooCommerce, but Shopify is the ideal choice if you want an out-of-the-box solution. However, WooCommerce is significantly less expensive than Shopify, but you don’t have to find your own web host with Shopify. Therefore it really depends on your needs.
