Shopify vs WooCommerce: which platform should you choose?
Shopify vs WooCommerce compared on cost, ownership, flexibility, integrations, SEO, checkout and upkeep – who each platform suits and how to switch.
In short
Choose by situation, not by platform name. Shopify suits you if you want a hosted platform with less technical upkeep and accept the monthly subscription, app costs and platform limits. WooCommerce suits you if you want to own the code, hosting and data, need flexibility or already have WordPress content. A headless or custom build is for when your catalogue, integrations or speed and design needs outgrow both.
Key takeaways
- Shopify costs a monthly subscription plus apps; the WooCommerce plugin is free, but you pay for hosting, paid extensions and upkeep.
- With a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an extra fee – €200 a month on the Basic plan in our €10,000-a-month example.
- Extensions for Shopify's checkout steps are available only on Shopify Plus; a WooCommerce checkout can be changed like any other part of the site.
- Both can rank well in search – content and technical health matter more than the platform's name.
- Switching platforms is possible but needs a URL map and 301 redirects to keep your search traffic.
The two platforms in brief
- Shopify
- A SaaS (software as a service) ecommerce platform. Shopify looks after hosting, security updates and the checkout; you pay a monthly subscription and choose themes and apps from its ecosystem.
- WooCommerce
- An open-source ecommerce plugin for a WordPress website. The plugin itself is free, but it runs on a server you choose, and updates, backups and security are handled by you or your partner.
- Headless store
- A setup in which the part of the store shoppers see is separated from the ecommerce engine: for example, WooCommerce manages products and orders while a separately built site renders the pages. Design and speed no longer depend on a theme's limits, but the system becomes more complex.
All three are good ways to sell online. The question is not which one is “better” but who is responsible for what, how much freedom you need, and what each month will cost after launch – not just the launch itself. Facts first; the criteria for deciding are in “What to choose”.
The comparison at a glance
| Criterion | Shopify | WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Monthly subscription (Basic – €27/month billed monthly) | Plugin is free; you pay for hosting, paid extensions and development |
| Payment fees | Shopify Payments card rates by plan; an extra Shopify fee for other providers | Only your payment provider's rates |
| Hosting | Included in the subscription | Your own server, meeting WooCommerce's requirements |
| Ownership and data | You work under Shopify's terms; products export to CSV (image files not included) | The site, code and data are yours; built-in CSV import and export |
| Flexibility | Themes and apps within the platform's limits | Open source – almost anything can be changed |
| Integrations | Shopify app ecosystem | WordPress and WooCommerce extensions or custom development |
| SEO | Sitemap and canonical tags generated automatically | Full control over the server and structure, SEO plugins |
| Checkout | Extensions for the information, shipping and payment steps – Shopify Plus only | Customisable like any other part of the site |
| Maintenance | Shopify updates the platform; you look after the theme and apps | You or your partner update WordPress, plugins and the server |
| Growth | Larger plans, up to Shopify Plus | A stronger server, headless or a custom build |
Costs: subscription versus hosting
Shopify's costs are clear upfront: a monthly plan plus payment rates. The larger the plan, the lower the card rates through Shopify Payments. Shopify Payments is available in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia too.
€27 / €74 / €384
Monthly price of Shopify's Basic, Grow and Advanced plans billed monthly (€19, €56 and €289 billed yearly). Shopify Plus starts at €2,100/month. Prices vary by region and may change.
Source: Shopify, 20261
2% / 1% / 0.6%
Shopify's additional transaction fee when a third-party payment provider is used, on the Basic, Grow and Advanced plans (0.2% on Plus).
Source: Shopify, 20261
According to the Shopify Help Center, this fee applies to all third-party payment providers even when Shopify Payments is activated. The exceptions are PayPal and manual payments, provided Shopify Payments is active.
WooCommerce has no platform fee, so you only pay your payment provider's rates. Stripe's standard rate in Lithuania for a standard EEA card, for example, is 1.5% + €0.25. Other lines appear instead: hosting, paid extension licences, and developer or partner time to keep the system updated.
| Setup | Platform | Payment fees | Total per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Basic + Shopify Payments (1.8% + €0.25) | €27 | €180 + €50 = €230 | ≈ €257 |
| Shopify Basic + Stripe (1.5% + €0.25) | €27 + 2% Shopify fee (€200) | €150 + €50 = €200 | ≈ €427 |
| WooCommerce + Stripe (1.5% + €0.25) | €0 (hosting and maintenance extra) | €150 + €50 = €200 | ≈ €200 + hosting and maintenance |
Methodology
- Date
- Sample
- One model month: 200 orders of €50, all standard EEA cards
- Criteria
- Shopify Basic plan billed monthly and Shopify's additional transaction fee – from Shopify's public pricing page
- Stripe's standard rate in Lithuania – from Stripe's public pricing page
- Payment fees = a percentage of sales + a fixed amount per order
- Limitations
- Hosting, apps, paid extensions, development and maintenance are not included. Prices vary by region and may change.
None of this includes building the store itself. What goes into that price, and why two “similar” stores can cost different amounts, is broken down in how much an online store costs to build. Over time it also matters that on Shopify each extra feature is often another app subscription, whereas in WooCommerce or a custom build it can be developed once.
Ownership and data
WooCommerce's makers stress that the site, code and data are yours. The store runs on your server, and products can be imported, exported and bulk-updated with the built-in CSV tool.
A Shopify store runs on Shopify's infrastructure and under its terms. Products can be exported to a CSV file, but the export does not include the image files themselves – only their URLs – so images must remain publicly accessible when you move them.
Flexibility and integrations
In the Shopify ecosystem, many features are added with apps, often without any development. That is fast, but every app is another subscription and another supplier you depend on. If the feature you need doesn't fit what the platform allows, you end up looking for workarounds.
WooCommerce's open source lets you change almost anything: product logic, pricing rules, integrations with accounting or warehouse systems. The price of that freedom is responsibility: every plugin and every piece of custom code has to be kept updated and tested.
SEO: the platform is not the deciding factor
Shopify automatically generates a sitemap.xml with your products, collections, pages and blog posts, and sets canonical tags automatically. That is a solid baseline you don't have to configure.
WooCommerce on WordPress gives you full control: URL structure, server settings, speed, structured data. But that control has to be configured and maintained – otherwise the freedom becomes a source of errors.
Either way, rankings depend more on your product and category content, mobile speed and technical health than on the platform's name. If your store is already live but barely visible in search, check the content and technical health first – that is SEO work, not a platform switch.
The checkout
Shopify's checkout is tested and maintained by the platform, so it works reliably from day one. The flip side is limited customisation: Shopify's documentation states that extensions for the information, shipping and payment steps are available only to stores on the Shopify Plus plan.
A WooCommerce checkout is part of your own site, so fields, steps and logic can be adapted to your process. That matters if you need, for example, company details fields for business buyers or a non-standard delivery choice.
The purchase-path mistakes that cost sales on any platform are covered in the ecommerce mistakes that cost sales.
Maintenance and growth
With Shopify there is no server, platform update or security patch to think about – that is part of the subscription. Your responsibility is the theme, the apps and the content.
WooCommerce needs looking after: WordPress, plugins and the server must be kept up to date, with backups and monitoring. WooCommerce recommends PHP 8.3 or later, MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6 or later, HTTPS and a WordPress memory limit of at least 256 MB. Our website maintenance plans start from €149/mo and cover updates, daily backups, monitoring and a monthly report.
As a store grows, Shopify offers larger plans up to Shopify Plus. A WooCommerce store grows onto a stronger server, and when a standard setup is no longer enough, moves to headless WooCommerce or a custom build.
What to choose: a decision by situation
Choose Shopify if…
- you want a hosted platform and don't want to look after servers, platform updates or security patches yourself;
- your processes are standard and the features you need exist as Shopify apps;
- the monthly subscription and app fees fit your budget, and you will take payments through Shopify Payments (otherwise an extra transaction fee applies);
- you don't need to change the checkout steps beyond what your plan allows.
Choose WooCommerce if…
- you want the site, code, server and data to be yours, with no platform fee on your sales;
- you need non-standard product or pricing logic or a customisable checkout, such as fields for business buyers;
- you already have a WordPress site with content you want to keep in one system;
- you have someone to handle updates, backups and monitoring.
Choose a headless or custom build if…
- the catalogue is large and your product or pricing rules don't fit a platform's standard logic;
- the store must exchange data with several systems and ready-made extensions or apps are no longer enough;
- your speed or design requirements no longer fit within a theme.
Questions to answer before you choose
- How many products and variants will you have in a year?
- Which systems must the store exchange data with?
- Which payment provider will you use, and what will its fees cost together with any platform fees?
- Who will maintain the store after launch, and what will that cost each month?
- What will you do if you need to change platform in a few years?
If you are switching platforms
Moving from Shopify to WooCommerce or the other way round is possible, but it is not a single click. Both platforms let you move products with CSV files, while order history, customer accounts, images and URL structure need a plan of their own.
Migration plan
- List every old URL (from the sitemap, analytics and Search Console) and map each one to its new address.
- Set up permanent server-side redirects (301 or 308) from the old URLs straight to the new ones, without chains.
- Move the products, images and content; check prices, variants and stock.
- Test the whole purchase journey with the real payment and shipping settings before launch.
- After launch, submit the new sitemap in Search Console and monitor indexing.
Google recommends keeping redirects in place for at least a year and warns that rankings may fluctuate while a site is recrawled and reindexed after a significant change; for a medium-sized site this can take a few weeks or more.
How we see it
For a new store, an online store built on WooCommerce or as a custom solution starts from €2,490 – with up to 100 products set up or imported, payments and shipping. For a Shopify store, we set out the scope and price in a proposal based on your situation. Either way, price, scope and timeline are in writing before any work starts.
If your store is already live but sells poorly, switching platform is not always the first step. Start with a free assessment of the purchase path – that is how our conversion optimisation begins; any further work is priced by scope and confirmed in writing.
Tell us about your store: how many products you have, which systems it must exchange data with, and who will maintain it. We will tell you which platform fits your case and why – or why you don't need to switch.
Frequently asked questions
Does Oxtren build Shopify stores?
Yes. We build and maintain Shopify and WooCommerce stores, as well as headless and custom solutions, so we recommend a platform based on your situation rather than on what we happen to know best. Building our own Shopify app, Hesio, means we also know the platform from an app developer's side.
Is WooCommerce really free?
The plugin itself is free, with no monthly platform fee. You pay for hosting, the domain, any paid extensions or themes, your payment provider's rates, and the work to build and maintain the store.
Does Shopify work in Lithuania?
Yes. Shopify Payments is officially supported in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. You can use other payment providers too, but Shopify then charges an additional transaction fee depending on your plan.
Which platform is better for SEO?
Neither on its own. Shopify generates the sitemap and canonical tags automatically; WooCommerce gives you more control. Rankings depend mostly on content, speed and technical health.
Can I move from Shopify to WooCommerce later?
Yes. Products can be moved with CSV files, and search traffic preserved with a URL map and 301 redirects. Order history, customers and images need a plan of their own, so treat the migration as a project in its own right.
What should I choose if the store has many integrations?
Usually WooCommerce or a custom build, because integrations can be developed directly rather than depending on what a platform's app ecosystem allows. The list of systems the store must exchange data with gives the definitive answer.
Sources and methodology
- ShopifyShopify pricingaccessed
- Shopify Help CenterThird-party payment providersaccessed
- Shopify Help CenterShopify Payments supported countriesaccessed
- Shopify Help CenterExporting productsaccessed
- Shopify Help CenterFinding and submitting your sitemapaccessed
- Shopify Help CenterInternational SEO for marketsaccessed
- Shopify.devCheckout UI extensionsaccessed
- WooCommerceWooCommerce – the open-source ecommerce platformaccessed
- WooCommerceServer recommendations for hosting WooCommerceaccessed
- WooCommerceProduct CSV importer and exporteraccessed
- StripeStripe pricing (Lithuania)accessed
- Google Search CentralSite moves with URL changesaccessed