Shopify vs WooCommerce
By Sebastiaan Smits ·
Published October 8, 2026 · Updated October 8, 2026
Shopify is a hosted platform with a monthly plan, a large app store and a fast launch. WooCommerce is a free open-source plugin for WordPress where the merchant owns the code and also owns hosting, security and updates. Teams without technical help choose Shopify; content-led stores with WordPress skills choose WooCommerce.
Side by side
 Shopify |  WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Hosted ecommerce with the largest app ecosystem | Open-source store plugin for WordPress |
| Best for | Direct-to-consumer brands of any size | Content-led stores on WordPress |
| Headquarters | Canada | United States |
| Pricing model | Monthly plan + payment fees | Open source + paid extensions |
| Pricing | Published monthly plans from Basic through Grow and Advanced, with Shopify Plus listed from €2,100 a month; an extra fee of 2% down to 0.2% applies to orders not taken through Shopify Payments. | Core plugin free; costs come from hosting, yearly extension subscriptions, themes and developer time. |
| Free option | Free trial | Open source |
| Place in our ecommerce platforms ranking | #4 of 11 | #5 of 11 |
| Website | shopify.com | woocommerce.com |
Both are reviewed in full in Best Ecommerce Platforms in 2026. Position in that ranking can be paid for; the wording of a review or of this comparison cannot. Placement disclosure.
Which one to choose
Choose Shopify if
you want to be selling within days, have no developer on call, and accept a monthly plan plus fees in exchange for someone else running the platform.
Shopify, #4 in the ranking · Visit Shopify →
Choose WooCommerce if
your site already runs on WordPress, content drives your sales, and you want to choose your own gateway, host and code.
WooCommerce, #5 in the ranking · Visit WooCommerce →
Where they differ
Cost structure
WooCommerce core is free, and its pricing page puts typical hosting at $25 to $350 a month and extensions at $29 to $299 a year each, with WooPayments around 2.5% to 2.9% plus 30 cents. Shopify's page, shown in euros for the region we fetched it from, lists Basic at 21 a month, Grow at 59 and Advanced at 289 billed annually, and Plus from 2,100. WooCommerce can cost less at low volume, but its bill is spread across hosting, extensions and developer time. We could not total either for a given store.
Edge: even
Launch and day-to-day running
Shopify hosts the store, so a polished one goes live in days and nobody patches a server. With WooCommerce, performance and security fall to the merchant, cheap shared hosting struggles as orders grow, and our notes say there is no single vendor to call when plugins conflict. For a business without technical help, Shopify is the lower-effort option.
Edge: Shopify
Payment gateway freedom
Shopify lists an extra fee on orders taken through a third-party payment provider: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. WooCommerce's page says it adds no fees for third-party payment solutions and takes 0% revenue share. A merchant tied to its own processor pays less on WooCommerce.
Edge: WooCommerce
Ownership and customization
WooCommerce gives the merchant every line of code and every row of data, and URLs and checkout can be changed freely by a developer. Shopify limits deep checkout customization to Plus and fixes URL folders such as /products/ and /collections/, which frustrates SEO teams and migrations. For control over code and data, WooCommerce is ahead.
Edge: WooCommerce
Content-led selling
WooCommerce lives inside WordPress, so editorial pages and products share one system, which suits a publisher with a shop. Shopify has a blog but is a store first, and the checkout, Shop Pay and Markets for international selling are strong for pure direct-to-consumer brands. Which one wins depends on whether the business is a publisher or a brand.
Edge: even
Tally: Shopify 1, WooCommerce 2, even 2.
When neither fits
Neither fits a wholesaler with complex price lists or a company needing deep B2B catalogs on standard plans. BigCommerce and Shopware are stronger there. A very small seller who only needs a simple shop may prefer Ecwid.
See BigCommerce, Shopware and Ecwid by Lightspeed among the 11 products in Best Ecommerce Platforms in 2026.
Questions and answers
Is WooCommerce really free?
The core plugin is free to download and use, with no platform fee or revenue share according to its pricing page. Costs come from hosting ($25 to $350 a month on that page), extensions ($29 to $299 a year each) and payment processing.
How much does Shopify cost?
The page we fetched, shown in euros, lists Basic at 21, Grow at 59 and Advanced at 289 a month billed annually, or 28, 78 and 384 billed monthly, with Plus from 2,100. It advertised a 3-day free trial followed by 1 a month for three months. US dollar prices may differ and we did not check them.
Does Shopify charge extra for other payment gateways?
Yes. The page lists 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus for orders not taken through Shopify Payments.
Can I move from WooCommerce to Shopify later?
We did not verify the vendors' migration tooling. Our category notes warn that Shopify's fixed URL folders can complicate migrations for SEO teams.
Sources
Prices, plan limits and product facts on this page were checked against the vendors' own pages on October 8, 2026. Vendors change both without notice, so treat the figures as of that date.
- Shopify pricing page: Plan prices in euros, the trial offer, third-party gateway fees and Shopify Payments card rates
- WooCommerce pricing page: Free core plugin, hosting and extension cost ranges, WooPayments rate and the absence of revenue share