The two ways to open an online store
Shopify and WordPress + WooCommerce are the two dominant routes to ecommerce. They're fundamentally different bets:
- Shopify — a hosted platform: you rent the store, they own the infrastructure
- WordPress + WooCommerce — self-hosted: you own everything, you pick the hosting
This is the ecommerce version of the WordPress vs site builders question — except the stakes (your revenue) are higher.
Cost: the long game
| | WordPress + WooCommerce | Shopify | | --- | --- | --- | | Setup | Hosting ~$5/mo + free WooCommerce | $39/mo (Basic) or $29/mo annual | | Transaction fees | 0% (your gateway decides) | 2.9% + 30¢ (Shopify Payments), +0.5–2% otherwise | | Themes/plugins | Free + paid options | $20–40/mo apps, $100s for themes | | Your data | Fully yours, portable | Inside Shopify |
The hidden Shopify math: transaction fees. On $10k/month of sales with Shopify Payments, that's ~$320/mo in fees alone — versus $5/mo hosting on WooCommerce. Over a year, a serious store pays for itself in the comparison.
Control and lock-in
WordPress + WooCommerce:
- Every plugin, theme, and checkout tweak is possible
- You own the database and can migrate hosts freely
- Extend with payment gateways, subscriptions, multi-vendor, anything
Shopify:
- Fast, reliable, beautifully maintained — you never touch servers
- You're limited to the app store and theme constraints
- Your store lives on Shopify; leaving means rebuilding on a platform that exports only basic data
Performance and SEO
- WooCommerce speed is your responsibility — with good WooCommerce hosting (sub-200ms TTFB) you can beat Shopify on load time.
- Shopify — reliable by default, but you can't tune the server, and TTFB is typically 300–500ms.
- SEO — WordPress gives full technical control (schema, redirects, speed). Shopify is fine for basics but restricts advanced optimization.
For content-heavy or SEO-driven stores, WordPress is the stronger long-term play.
The best of both: Shopify-style managed WooCommerce
If you love WooCommerce's control but want Shopify's "it just works" feel, managed WordPress hosting is the middle ground:
- Cloudways — Redis, staging, 124ms TTFB from ~$14/mo. Read the Cloudways review
- Kinsta — premium managed with WooCommerce tuning from $35/mo. Read the Kinsta review
- Hostinger Business — budget managed from ~$5/mo. Read the Hostinger review
See managed WordPress hosting for what the convenience layer includes.
The verdict
Choose WordPress + WooCommerce if:
- You want no transaction fees and full control
- You're planning to grow and scale
- SEO and content marketing are part of the strategy
- You're comfortable with ~an hour a month of maintenance
Choose Shopify if:
- You want a store live this weekend with zero server thinking
- You're happy to pay fees for convenience
- Your catalog is simple and you don't need heavy customization
For most serious sellers, WordPress + WooCommerce on good hosting is cheaper and more flexible — the transaction fees alone usually decide it.
Frequently asked questions
Is WooCommerce cheaper than Shopify? Yes, dramatically at volume — $5/mo hosting + 0% transaction fees versus $39/mo + 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction. For a $10k/mo store, WooCommerce saves roughly $300+/mo.
Can I migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce? Yes — plugins (like the Cart2Cart service) import products, customers, and orders. Design and apps don't transfer. Our migration guide covers the move.
Which is faster, WooCommerce or Shopify? With proper WooCommerce hosting you can beat Shopify — 200ms TTFB versus Shopify's typical 300–500ms. Shopify is more consistent out of the box; WooCommerce has the higher ceiling.
What hosting do I need for WooCommerce? 2+ CPU cores, 2GB+ RAM, NVMe, and server-side caching (Redis or LiteSpeed). Cloudways and Kinsta handle this out of the box. See WooCommerce hosting requirements.
Is Shopify good for SEO? Decent basics, limited advanced control. WordPress offers full schema, redirect, and speed control — a real advantage for content-heavy stores.