WooCommerce vs Shopify: Which is Better For Your Online Store

From the resource library of andolasoft.inc | web and mobile app development company 1
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Are you thinking about starting your own ecommerce store or want to upgrade
your existing ecommerce to a newer more dynamic platform then WooCommerce or
Shopify are the two best options you have at your disposal.
WooCommerce and Shopify are the two most popular and biggest ecommerce
platforms existing today. Together they enjoy nearly 80% of all ecommerce stores in
the world.
As per market share WooCommerce is the most popular and the easiest-to-use
ecommerce platform but Shopify is not to be ignored as it provides many features
that are on-par or in some areas surpass WooCommerce.
Today, in this blog we are going to weigh WooCommerce and Shopify, listing out
their offerings across various categories so that you can make an informed choice
when opting for an ecommerce platform for your next website.
WooCommerce vs Shopify – Side-by-Side Comparison
WooCommerce Shopify
Number of users 6.5 million users 4.4 million users
Market share 64.39% in ecommerce
platforms
15.60% in ecommerce
platforms
Number of Themes 5562 free and paid
themes
133 free and paid themes
Plugins and extensions 700+ WooCommerce
extensions
8000+ applications for
Shopify store

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Cost WooCommerce is free to
use but customers pay for
hosting, domain name,
and extensions.
Three pricing plans - Basic
($39/mo); Shopify
($105/mo); Advanced
($399/mo)
Free Trial Length WooCommerce is a free
and open-source software
14 days free trial, no
credit card required
Hosting Hosting is not included Hosting is included
Blog Best in class blog content
creation
Limited blogging features
Mobile Version Depends on the theme Yes
Email Newsletter Yes, but using a plugin Yes
Help and Support An active community
publishes help content on
forums and blogs. Support
from theme and plugin
editors
Support over phone, chat,
email, documentation,
forum
Sales Commissions No From 0.5% to 2%
Storage Space Depends on Server size Unlimited
An Overview (WooCommerce Vs Shopify)
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is an open-source platform which is a plugin for WordPress to turn
any WordPress site into an ecommerce store.
It was launched in 2011 where WooCommerce quickly gained popularity in the
eCommerce industry and has since then become world’s most popular eCommerce
solution with over 6 million users and counting.

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The CMS (Content Management System) provides easy-to-use content addition
features to store owners. This open-source platform comes with tons of advanced
features and unlimited customization options; making it a great option for first-time
store owners who want to set-up their online store with-in a budget and want to be
able to scale-up or down when needed.
Shopify
Unlike WooCommerce, Shopify is not an open-source platform but provides tons of
powerful features to meet various needs such as payment gateways, dropshipping,
blogging, website security, SEO optimization, marketplace connection and more.
Shopify charges a monthly fee to set-up its store: Basic ($39/mo); Shopify
($105/mo); Advanced ($399/mo). Compared to WooCommerce, Shopify is much
easier to set-up and is easier for beginners to build an online store from scratch.
Note:Both Shopify and WooCommerce feature
easy store setup and don't require coding skills.
New users can easily set-up a basic store but for
store customization you would need to hire
WooCommerce Development Company or
Shopify development agency.

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Ease of Use (Winner: Shopify)
WooCommerce (4/5)
• WooCommerce has a steeper
learning curve; creating a basic
ecommerce site is not biggie but to
develop a professional looking
online site with all its bells and
whistles you will need the help of a
professional.
• Because WooCommerce is an open-
source platform a number of editors
from around the world develop
plugins and extensions for the store
which can be cumbersome if you are
new to WooCommerce.
Shopify (4.5/5)
• Shopify is the easiest-to-use of the
two ecommerce platforms. Once you
become familiar with the
ecommerce platform it becomes
fairly easier for new users to get
things around in Shopify.
• Moreover, Shopify is a hosted
ecommerce platform which means it
takes care of a ton of technicalities
for you. A few aspects of ecommerce
hosting such as domain name,
hosting, and security (SSL)
certificates are taken care of by
Shopify.
• With Shopify you don’t have to
install, manage or update any
software so there is no worry about
security and backups.

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Store Build Time & Themes
WooCommerce (3.5/5)
If you start from scratch or build on your own, WooCommerce can be challenging to
set-up. Its basic store set-up has an amateur storefront which may not be everyone’s
cup of tea.
To create a truly stunning online store you would need to buy themes, integrate SEO
plugins, payment gateways, and other additional functional modules to improve your
site features and capabilities.
Although it’s easier to begin with, getting a fully-functional eCommerce store on your
own using WooCommerce is rather difficult. But store owners have a ton of creative
control when using WooCommerce.
WooCommerce’s entry theme is fully responsive on mobile devices but to make your
online store truly stand-out you need to put in hours of coding for customization.
Shopify (4.5/5)
Shopify is the best option for store owners who want to make their ecommerce store
live faster and quicker.
Unlike setting up a store with WordPress the process is not manual and there is no
dependency on external agencies like hosting providers, and data servers to manage
your store.

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In a nutshell Shopify will let you get your store live quicker than WooCommerce.
When you have limited technical skills, Shopify is the best option.
Shopify theme stores have over 100+ free and paid themes to choose from.
Moreover, Shopify themes are very polished - created with the latest design trends in
mind.
Plugins & Integrations
WooCommerce (4.5/5)
Installing apps and plugins enables you to add more features to your store. On both
platforms you can install apps to add extra functionality such as payment integration,
SEO optimization, marketing metrics, social media and more.
Being an open-source platform WooCommerce relies on plugins to improve store
features and there are over 50,000+ different plugins across various categories to
choose from.
This enables you to build a bespoke website without any limitation. And if you hire a
professional WooCommerce development agency you can bring your wildest
ecommerce ideas to reality.
Shopify (3.5/5)
Shopify is a paid platform which suggests the brand has its own set of guidelines for
plugins which is why there are only 1200+ free and paid apps in contrast to
WooCommerce’s 50,000+ different plugins.

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With Shopify, you can integrate marketing features such as email marketing, social
media integrations, store locator features, drop shipping, analytics, and marketing
plugins.
Payment & Transactions
SEO Optimization
WooCommerce (4.5/5):
When it comes to payment
integration WooCommerce offers
the best support hands-down. It
has support for over 50 extensions
in payment processors and
gateways such as Stripe, PayPal,
Authorize.Net, Cryptoniq, and
more.
WooCommerce supports all
popular payment methods such as
credit cards, bank transfer, Apple
Pay etc.
Shopify (4/5):
Shopify supports major payment
methods such as Shopify
Payments, PayPal, Stripe,
Authorize.Net, Opayo, Verifone,
WorldPay, Klarna, Square etc.
WooCommerc
e (4.5/5)
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the key to attracting new
customers and is a must needed feature in any ecommerce
platform. When it comes to WooCommerce it offers the most
comprehensive SEO optimization capabilities than Shopify.
With WooCommerce you can install plugins to optimise store URLs,
optimise meta titles and descriptions, enable breadcrumbs, add
product descriptions, images, tags and more.
Shopify (4/5)
Shopify offers multiple SEO optimization features but not to the
extent WooCommerce provides. With Shopify you can optimize
store links, remove duplicate URLs, set-up store blog, and page
redirects.

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Data Security
WooCommerce (3.5/5)
Providing high-level security to your customers is an important aspect of being a
trust-worthy eCommerce store as you will not only be processing customer’s money
but also holding their personal information.
When it comes to security Shopify offers better security features with built in SSL
certificate and PCI-DSS compliance.
WooCommerce is not automatically PCI-DSS compliant and doesn’t have its own SSL.
Shopify (4.5/5)
Shopify takes care of store security for you because it’s a hosted platform. Shopify
has built-in SSL (Secure Socket Layer) providing security while processing customer’s
payment and personal information.
Shopify is also PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliant
and there is no additional effort required from store owners to set up any other
security features.
Pricing
WooCommerce (4.8/5)
WooCommerce is free to use where store owners have to pay only for hosting and
other plugins and themes they install to improve website performance.

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Because WooCommerce is free to use it offers a wider scope of store customization
options.
Shopify (4/5)
Shopify offers only a 3-day trial and three pricing plans.
● Basic ($39/mo) - $1/month for the first 3 months
● Shopify ($105/mo) - $1/month for the first 3 months
● Advanced ($399/mo) - $1/month for the first 3 months
● Get 10% discount on annual plans
Final Thoughts
When we weigh in all the features they both stack-up close to one another. So, which
ecommerce platform really is the best option for? The answer is it depends on your
business niche!
If you want a ton of customization options cost-effectively WooCommerce is the best
solution for you. The platform itself is free to begin with but to avail advanced store
features you need to hire a professional WooCommerce development agency. Who
can set-up a powerful ecommerce store and can customise it as per your business
requirement.
On the other hand, Shopify doesn’t provide much customization option but you can
set-up a trend-setting ecommerce store in a few clicks. Shopify provides built-in
hosting, and payment gateway integration which makes it easier for store-owners,
who don’t have coding skills, to set-up and make their online store go live in a few
days if not hours.

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Andolasoft is a leading WooCommerce development agency providing custom
ecommerce development solutions to global customers. If you are looking for an
ecommerce development partner we can collaborate to bring your ideas to reality
using the latest open-source technology.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Which is Better For Your Online Store

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