WooCommerce vs Shopify Comparison: Which is the Better?

To put it simply, WooCommerce and Shopify are two of the most popular and simple-to-use eCommerce platforms on the market. Both WooCommerce and Shopify have a number of advantages and could be an ideal platform for you to use for creating an online business. The great part is that you can do it without the assistance of expert designers and/or developers.

In this article, we will give you information about WooCommerce vs Shopify Comparison to help you decide what eCommerce platform is suitable for you.

WooCommerce vs Shopify Overview

WooCommerce is a WordPress-based open-source eCommerce platform. As a result, you’ll have the most capable content management system (CMS) for running an online store. You may personalize every part of your store and create custom extensions because of its open-source nature.

Let’s take a look at the WooCommerce Review to learn more about this fantastic platform.

Shopify is a hosted eCommerce platform that allows you to build an online store without having to worry about technical knowledge; everything is included in the Shopify package, including hosting, security, and domain registration. You only need to purchase the Shopify package, and you can immediately begin monetizing it.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Pros and Cons

WooCommerce pros and cons

Shopify pros and cons

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Ease of Use

Woocommerce ease of use

Because WooCommerce isn’t a hosted platform, you’ll need to take care of things like installing, managing updates, backing up your data, and ensuring that your store is secure. Because you must first install WordPress, setting up WooCommerce is extremely difficult.

When WooCommerce is started, the on-screen setup process appears; to launch your store, you must complete five stages. We strongly advise you to utilize a reputable WordPress hosting service that will handle the entire setup process for you, including hosting, domain registration, and WordPress installation, because those processes do require some web-related knowledge.

Shopify ease of use

The biggest benefit of Shopify is that it has an integrated online store, so practically everything is intuitive. Setting up and managing stores on Shopify is a breeze, thanks to its user-friendly interface.

To get started with Shopify, go to Shopify.com, sign up, follow the simple set-up instructions, and then begin selling. Shopify is made for all types of business owners, including those with no technical experience.

As you can see, Shopify has a clear advantage over WooCommerce in terms of ease of use. WooCommerce is designed for web developers and techies, but Shopify is designed for beginners with no technical knowledge.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Design

WooCommerce design

Storefront, WooCommerce’s default theme, is fully responsive on mobile devices. It also has a sleek and modern design. The number of hours you’re willing to put in, as well as your technical skill level, determine how nice your design looks on WooCommerce.

The sky appears to be the limit when designers create new WooCommerce themes. For example, ThemeForest has over 1,000 different eCommerce themes to choose from.

Shopify design

You can choose from over 70 free and premium themes in Shopify’s theme store. However, when differences are taken into account, the true figure is well above 100. Because Shopify is a specialist eCommerce platform, its themes are incredibly polished and tailored to help you sell.

The premium themes begin at $140. While this may appear to be a large sum, it is a one-time payment that you should consider an investment in your business. It will pay for itself if it helps you produce more money (we’ll go over pricing later). There are plenty of free themes to start with if you’re on a low budget.

When it comes to design, WooCommerce has a significant advantage over Shopify. Themes on Shopify are fantastic, but they’re limited to what’s available in the Shopify Theme Store. Because WooCommerce is open source, a plethora of developers sell (or give away) fantastic WooCommerce themes for a variety of industries and purposes.

learn more:

Shopify Themes overview

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Features

WooCommerce features

WordPress is well-known for allowing third-party developers to create a variety of extensions and plugins as open-source software. WooCommerce capitalizes on this by providing a plethora of intriguing and engaging upgrades. You’ll be able to simply alter aesthetics, sell on Facebook, improve email marketing strategies, understand user behavior, and pretty much anything else.

What you’ll find inside WooCommerce is as follows:

Sell physical products, digital products (including software and apps), plus it’s also good for affiliate marketing Payments via PayPal and Stripe built-in (plus a range of other gateways available for an extra fee) Adjustable shipping rates and taxes Unlimited number of products and product categories Stock levels control Mobile-friendly structure Complete control over your data Current WordPress theme Literally hundreds of plugins (extensions) available A free Facebook ad and Facebook stores extension

Shopify features

Although you’ll almost certainly need to install apps to get the most out of the platform, Shopify has a lot more free possibilities. Shopify provides you with the following features right away:

Unlimited products Unlimited file storage Automatic fraud analysis Embedded Oberlo integration Manual order creation Discount codes Blog module Free SSL certificate Mobile commerce optimization Editable HTML and CSS Credit card payments Multiple languages Adjustable shipping rates and taxes Customer profiles Dropshipping capabilities SEO-ready site structure …

In comparison, WooCommerce charges $500-600 for some of these free capabilities, such as CSV uploads, shipping choices, and bookings. Everything Shopify has to offer is designed to make your online store more practical and user-friendly. WooCommerce is a very feature-rich platform that doesn’t lack any specific eCommerce features. It is, however, still an add-on to WordPress, making the configuration more difficult.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Prices

Shopify offers a free trial that lasts for 3 days. After that, you can start a paid trial for just $1 per month. Furthermore, both Shopify and WooCommerce provide enterprise-level pricing that is only available by the quote and is only appropriate for large organizations.

In our value for money investigation, Shopify received a 3.5/5 rating, while WooCommerce received a 4.4/5 rating.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Integrations and Plugins

WooCommerce integrations and plugins

When it comes to syncing your shop with Amazon, eBay, and social media sites like Facebook, WooCommerce is the way to go. With free extensions recognized by the platform, you may manage your channels from your WordPress dashboard. Unfortunately, Google Shopping is not included in the list.

WooCommerce users have access to WordPress’s massive plugin repository, which offers over 58,000 free and premium plugins covering all of your logistical, technical, and marketing needs as a WordPress plugin. WooCommerce also has 592 extensions that are specially developed for eCommerce.

Shopify integrations and plugins

You can sync your online store with your social media store to create shoppable posts on Instagram, Facebook, and Google with a few simple clicks. Shopify, on the other hand, excels at this, especially if you plan to use Pinterest.

Shopify has 5899 apps and extensions, which were created by Shopify’s in-house team as well as third-party developers. Inventory management, orders & shipping, sales & conversion, and other categories are among the many apps available on its shop. All of these extensions help you keep track of your eStore and create more traffic and revenue.

learn more:

Shopify Apps overview

WooCommerce vs Shopify: SEO Options

WooCommerce SEO options

WordPress is basically a content management system, and SEO professionals consider it to be one of the most dependable solutions accessible. Content and meta information may be easily added and edited to ensure that pages have a good chance of ranking for specific keywords.

WooCommerce makes use of what’s already in WordPress, as well as what’s available through third-party plugins such as the aforementioned Yoast SEO, or the Yoast-dedicated version of the Yoast plugin for WooCommerce.

Shopify SEO options

Shopify, on the other hand, has certain SEO constraints. Shopify users, in fact, are unable to fully alter their URLs. This is due to Shopify’s restrictive URL structure, which prevents you from changing some elements of your store’s URLs. Furthermore, creating sub-categories on this site is pretty tough.

Finally, because WooCommerce is built on top of WordPress, it provides you with additional SEO-specific choices overall. The main issue is that the speed of your site is mostly determined by the hosting you choose. As a result, Shopify wins the SEO category. You won’t have to bother about optimization very much, and your speeds will always be excellent.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Payment Gateways

WooCommerce payment gateways

WooCommerce’s default payment processors are PayPal and Stripe, both of which have been thoroughly tested. The majority of WooCommerce online stores should be able to use any of the two options right away. If you wish to try another service, WooCommerce is more than eager to let you do so; it also has add-ons that support all of the major payment processors.

WooCommerce includes payment gateway compatibility for a variety of regional and less popular payment services. Because there is no barrier to entry, any payment company can create and support WooCommerce add-ons. Your payment gateway or bank will only charge you transaction costs.

Shopify payment gateways

Shopify has over 100 payment gateways to select from, but you’ll have to pay a transaction cost of 0.5-2 percent depending on the monthly plan you choose; the higher the plan, the lower the transaction charge you’ll have to pay.

Shopify also has its own payment processor, Shopify Payments, which is completely free and simple to use. You no longer need to go via a third-party supplier to be approved for a merchant account before you can process payments using Shopify Payments. Your funds will be immediately linked with your sales and inventory once you’ve finished setting up Shopify Payments.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Security

WooCommerce security

With WooCommerce, you’re in charge of the majority of the security. To defend your site, you’ll need to get your own SSL certificate, setup your site security plugins, use two-factor authentication, be PCI compliant, and do a few other things on your own.

Shopify security

On the other side, Shopify handles all updates and security concerns in the background. This platform comes with a free SSL certificate, which encrypts all data exchanged between you and your clients. The Shopify system is also hosted on a Level 1 PCI certified server, which is required to accept credit and debit card information.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Dropshipping

WooCommerce dropshipping

WooCommerce is a popular platform for dropshipping businesses. Dropshippers can pay for WooCommerce plugins that allow them to import products fast, process orders from their website, and more. The majority of these apps have similar features. DropshipMe, on the other hand, stands out from the throng, with over 8000 active installations.

Shopify dropshipping

Shopify now has integration tools for a number of popular dropshipping marketplaces. Dropified and Oberlo are two of the most well-known of these. You will greatly benefit from Shopify’s extensive features to expand your dropshipping business, regardless of whatever app you use for your Shopify store.

Learn more: Shopify Dropshipping

If you’re still undecided about which platform to utilize for your dropshipping business, check out our Shopify vs WooCommerce for Dropshipping comparison.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Customer Support

WooCommerce customer support

The issue of WooCommerce support is a little more complicated. First and foremost, WooCommerce is a completely free WordPress plugin. This means you’ll be able to obtain help from the WordPress forums. At the same time, the WooCommerce team makes it possible for anyone to create a free user account on WooCommerce.com and receive support there.

Shopify customer support

There’s also the question of technical assistance. Shopify is known for its excellent customer service. Each client has access to a customer adviser 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if they have any concerns or questions (via email, open chat, phone call). Aside from that, you’ll have access to a comprehensive knowledge library that answers some of the most often asked topics and provides solutions to problems.

Overall, WooCommerce is ideal for customers who prefer to conduct their own research online rather than speak with a sales representative. Finally, I must hand over the support round to Shopify. Nothing beats having access to a support person at all hours of the day or night.

Conclusion

We have come a long way to compare and contrast WooCommerce with Shopify. It’s time to reach a decision.

If you want a solution with useful SEO capabilities, WooCommerce is the way to go. Also, if you want more help with your design, don’t mind tinkering, or your major marketing plan is to drive traffic through content for search engines, then choose WooCommerce.

If you’re new to eCommerce or don’t want to deal with technical nuances, Shopify is the way to go. Also, if you want to test the waters and try out a few products, Shopify is the way to go.

However, before making the final decision, we recommend you spend some more time looking further into our thorough WooCommerce analysis as well as our detailed Shopify review. We hope you find this topic about WooCommerce vs Shopify Comparison helpful!