Choose Shopify if you want a hosted store where the platform handles payments, security and updates, and your needs fit its themes and apps. Choose WooCommerce if your store needs custom rules, such as a delivery radius, multiple vendors or tax handling, or if it sits inside an existing WordPress site. I build on both, and the stores I have shipped on WooCommerce show where its flexibility pays off.
How do Shopify and WooCommerce differ?
Shopify is a hosted platform. You pay a monthly plan, Shopify runs the servers and checkout, and you extend it with apps and Liquid themes. WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin. You choose the hosting, extend it with plugins or custom code, and own everything, including the upkeep.
| Area | Shopify | WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting and security | Handled by Shopify | Your host, your updates, your backups |
| Running cost | Monthly plan plus apps | Hosting plus extensions plus maintenance |
| Checkout control | Customisable within Shopify's limits | Fully customisable, including custom fields and steps |
| Custom rules | Through apps, or a custom app | Plugins or custom PHP inside the store |
| Content and blog | Basic | Full WordPress, with any content structure |
| Multivendor | Through apps | Plugins such as WCFM |
| Upkeep | Low | Ongoing, best on a maintenance retainer |
| Ownership | Store lives on Shopify | You own code, data and hosting |
When is Shopify the better choice?
- You want to run the shop, not the software. No updates, no server, no backups to think about.
- Your needs fit the app store, such as standard shipping, reviews, email marketing and analytics.
- You sell through many channels and want them managed in one hosted admin.
My Shopify stores service covers store setup, theme customisation or a custom theme, payments, taxes and shipping zones, app integrations and GA4 with Tag Manager. I work with e-commerce partners for Liquid theme work and handle the integration, tracking and SEO side myself. Where a project needs a custom storefront, Shopify can be paired with a Next.js front end.
When is WooCommerce the better choice?
When the store's rules are its own. These are from stores I have built:
- Delivery by distance. Whitfield Service Station delivers within 10 miles of its forecourt, with a fallback to pickup or dine-in, through my own small plugin. Orders print in the kitchen through PrintNode.
- A marketplace. A UK grocery marketplace I built in 2025 runs vendor dashboards, commissions and memberships on WCFM, with orders and inventory syncing to Xero.
- Selling abroad. Wow Vastra has a GBP, USD, EUR and INR switcher and a free-format worldwide address at checkout.
- Odd stock and login rules. IPL Biologicals marks fertiliser SKUs above 1 kg out of stock by rule and lets customers log in with an SMS code.
- A store inside a bigger site. IPL's shop sits within a corporate site with careers, media and a knowledge centre.
Each of those is possible on Shopify through apps or custom development, but on WooCommerce they were a plugin or a few hooks inside a store I fully control.
How do you decide?
The hard problems are the same on both
Catalogue structure, checkout flow, delivery rules and conversion tracking decide whether a store works, whichever platform it runs on. Settle those before picking a platform.
What does each platform cost to change after launch?
This is the comparison most owners skip. A store is never finished, so price the changes you already expect.
- Rule changes. When Whitfield's owner moved from a distance-based delivery fee to a flat fee, it was a small edit in code I owned. On a hosted platform, the same change depends on whether the app you use supports it.
- Ongoing requests. IPL Biologicals keeps me on a monthly retainer for bulk price updates, stock rules, news posts and fixes such as restoring order emails after a mail provider change. A WooCommerce store needs someone in that role.
- App subscriptions. On Shopify, each feature that comes from an app usually carries its own monthly fee. Add them up across two years.
- Staff time. Good documentation lowers the cost of every change on both platforms. Whitfield's staff documentation covers price changes, reports, reprinting receipts, cancelling orders and hours.
Does the platform change conversion rates?
Not on its own. What changes them is the work inside the store. On Nortek LED, a WooCommerce build with attribute filters and checkout changes aimed at conversions, post-launch analytics reported a 20 percent uplift in conversion rate and 35 percent faster load times. That came from the catalogue filters, checkout and performance work, which you would need on either platform.
What should you list before choosing?
- 1
Your catalogue
How many products, which attributes and variations, and how products get added.
- 2
Your rules
Delivery, shipping zones, stock, age checks, opening hours, vendors.
- 3
Your integrations
Accounting, printing, CRM, marketplaces such as Amazon.
- 4
Your markets
Countries, currencies and address formats.
- 5
Who runs it
Whether you have a developer or retainer, or want the platform to handle upkeep.
With that list, the choice usually makes itself. My WooCommerce store build checklist covers the rest of the launch, and the free Project Scope Generator turns your notes into a feature list. I build stores through my WooCommerce stores and online ordering and Shopify services. Send me your list and I will reply with a recommendation.
