Shopify or WooCommerce, which is right for you? Shopify and WooCommerce are two of the most popular e-commerce platforms today. But, how do you know which one is right for your business? In this post, we will be comparing both platforms on what they can provide for you.
Shopify
Shopify’s goal is to make e-commerce easy for everyone. It is a complete e-commerce solution that provides everything you need on one platform. At this moment, there are six hundred thousand active Shopify stores and over fifty-five billion dollars in sales.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a free open-source plugin for WordPress. It is also one of the most customizable e-commerce platforms. WooCommerce is managed on GitHub and is mainly made for developers. Today, WooCommerce powers over 30% of online stores and has been downloaded over fifteen million times.
Pricing
Pricing is a main factor to consider when starting an e-commerce business. Pricing for these two e-commerce platforms are extremely different.
Firstly, Shopify allows you to try out Shopify for free for 14 days. After the 14 days, you will have the option to choose between three monthly accounts. They are Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify. Each plan includes a domain name, SSL certificate, and web hosting.
WooCommerce is a little different when it comes to pricing. As mentioned earlier, WooCommerce is a free plugin. Unlike Shopify, you will need to already have a domain name, SSL certificate and an installation of WordPress. If you were to calculate the cost of these three items, it could be cheaper to use WooCommerce than Shopify. Even though many plugins are free, there are still plugins that you may need to purchase depending on your specific requirements. This makes it hard to accurately estimate the total cost of WooCommerce.
Benefits/Features
Shopify:
- No design skills needed
- Drag-and drop store builder
- Designed for mobile (all themes are responsive)
- Tons of themes
- Everything in one place
- Manage unlimited products
- Fulfill orders in a single step
- Track sales
- Add new channels
- Shopify handles
- Marketing (social media and email)
- Payments
- Secure checkouts
- Shipping
- Blogging platform available
- Built-in analytics system
- Physical and digital products
- Credit card payments
- Unlimited file storage
- 24/7 support
- Automatic fraud analysis
- Easy to use
- Controls store and website
WooCommerce:
- Made for developers
- Open development
- More than 400 extensions
- Uses tools you already know
- Multiple themes to pick from
- Unrestricted customization
- Product ratings and reviews
- Unlimited products
- Physical and digital products
- One-click refunds
- Payments via Paypal and Stripe built in
- Works with many off-the-shelf WordPress themes
- Tons of plugins available
- Complete control over site
Use Shopify if
- New to e-commerce and don’t have a site
- Not tech savvy
- Want something that is hassle-free
Use WooCommerce if
- Already have a WordPress site
- Require custom features and functionalities for online store
- You want more designs and extensions available
- Want full control and know what you are doing
Overall, when choosing between Shopify or WooCommerce, you need to look at what you want to include in your e-commerce store. If you want a something easy to manage and design, pick Shopify. If you are tech savvy and want full control over your store, go with WooCommerce.
Happy selling!
