The Ultimate Shopify vs WooCommerce Showdown: Which Should You Choose?

Are you caught in the Shopify vs WooCommerce debate? Trying to choose the best eCommerce platform for your online store?

Your quest ends here!

Shopify offers simplicity for everyone and is a great option for new store owners.

WooCommerce is a seasoned player with strength and flexibility on its side.

Shopify currently powers over 2.3 million live stores, while WooCommerce is used on over 3.5 million eCommerce websites.

Numbers alone don’t justify what they are capable of.

So which platform works best for your online store? Let’s get straight to it and start our comparison.

We’re going to discuss:

• How each platform deals with eCommerce
• The starting investment you’ll need to get started
• How easy each platform is to start and manage
• Scalability, customer support and more
• Our opinion to help you make an informed decision

To make this comparison as informative as possible, we’ll add another shining star of eCommerce, SureCart.

Shopify vs WooCommerce: Overview

Shopify: A hosted eCommerce solution

WooCommerce: A self-hosted eCommerce plugin

SureCart: A hybrid eCommerce plugin

Shopify, WooCommerce and SureCart are three of the popular eCommerce platforms for building online stores.

Each approaches eCommerce in its own distinct way.

Shopify Basics

Here’s what Shopify is about:

• A hosted eCommerce platform where you don’t need to worry about setting up a website before building an online store
• Allows integration with other apps through an extensive app store
• Popular payment methods are available out of the box
• Costs increase as a result of growth, including monthly fees and premium extensions

Shopify was founded by Tobias Lütke and Scott Lake in 2006 after they struggled to build an online store for snowboarding equipment.

Their goal was to simplify the process of setting up a store, selling products, and accepting payments.

Shopify is a hosted solution. Everything is handled by Shopify servers, which means you don’t have to worry about the technical details.

You don’t need to find hosting space, register a domain, or integrate payment methods separately. Everything is conveniently available in one place.

This makes it a great option for beginners who want to quickly set up a store without having to learn a lot of new things.

WooCommerce Basics

Here’s what WooCommerce is about:

• Self-hosted open source plugin that requires you to set up a WordPress site first
• It’s your responsibility to manage store performance
• Integrates with a wide variety of services through plugins
• WooCommerce is free to use, but high traffic stores may need premium web hosting, caching, security plugins, and more
• Adding popular payment methods requires extensions

WooCommerce is a self-hosted, open source plugin for WordPress. It was developed by WooThemes in 2011 and later acquired by Automattic (company backing WordPress) in 2015.

When you add WooCommerce to your WordPress website, it transforms it into a fully functioning online store.

Unlike Shopify, you’re responsible for hosting, domain registration, and the speed and efficiency of your WordPress site.

Using WooCommerce requires a bit of technical skill. However, the benefit is that you have complete control over your website.

You can sell any type of product and customize your online store to suit your tastes with no restrictions.

SureCart Basics

Here’s what SureCart is about:

• A headless eCommerce plugin that requires you to set up a WordPress site first
• SureCart servers are responsible for store performance
• A number of advanced eCommerce features are included by default
• Automate key store tasks using SureTriggers
• Integrates seamlessly with most LMS plugins
• Reasonably priced and scalable
• The most popular payment methods are available out of the box

In 2018, Adam Preiser, the founder of SureCart, recognized that existing eCommerce platforms were not meeting current needs.

A year later, he launched SureCart with a team of top WordPress experts.

SureCart is a modern solution that addresses many common challenges faced by eCommerce users.

It’s incredibly user-friendly for beginners, keeps your website lightweight, and lets you customize your store exactly how you want.

SureCart achieves this by managing transactions on secure servers while the store interface is hosted on your WordPress website.

With SureCart, you don’t have to worry about performance, technical skills, or integrations.

Everything works smoothly through built-in solutions.

We’re going to dive a little deeper into these three platforms and explain which of them is best for your business.

Shopify Is Gaining Market Share

Shopify and WooCommerce are in a close competition. Both platforms offer many features and have strong support systems.

While the slight difference in market share shouldn’t be the main factor in your decision, it’s useful to understand their popularity.

In April 2023, WooCommerce was used on 23% of the top 1 million eCommerce sites, slightly ahead of Shopify with a 21% share.

However, by 2024, Shopify has become more popular, with 23% market share in the same category. WooCommerce’s market share has decreased to 15%.

This could be due to several factors like simplicity, user-friendliness, affordability, and features.

We’ll discuss these factors soon.

First, here’s another interesting trend to consider:

According to Google Trends, over the past 5 years, people have consistently searched for Shopify more than WooCommerce.

This is a useful measure of just how the market is shifting.

Our Points of Comparison

We will compare these three eCommerce platforms using the following categories:

• Price and running costs — The initial costs of setting up the shop and the long-term costs of running and maintaining the store.
• Ease of setup — The time and expertise needed to set a store up and keep it running.
• Usability — How easy is it to use the platform both at the start and over time.
• Payment methods and types — The number of supported payment options and types available to each platform.
• Updates and support — How easy it is to ask for help from the support team and how often bugs are fixed and updated.
• Scalability — Your business is bound to grow, is the platform ready to adapt to it? And at what cost.
• User support and future-proofing — Nothing stays the same forever, so what is the future for these platforms?

By now, we have a pretty good idea of how each approaches eCommerce and where they stand in the market.

Now let’s get into the details.

Pricing: Shopify vs. WooCommerce

Primarily they are of two types of costs involved in running an online store, upfront and running costs.

Shopify Costs More Due To Fixed and Transaction Fees

Shopify starts with a fixed monthly cost starting at $25/month. If you’re just starting, that’s more than enough.

The basic monthly plan lets you add unlimited products, create discount codes, and access their 24/7 support.

Later on, you can upgrade to their $65 or $399 per month plans, which offer more features.

All plans include everything you need for an eCommerce store — domain, site builder, blog, SSL certificates, and more.

Of course, you still need to put in the time to build your shop, but all the tools are there for you.

Now, let’s talk about the running costs.

To accept payments, Shopify charges 2.9% + 30¢ for every online credit card sale.

If you use other payment channels or your own merchant account, Shopify offers a flat 2% fee.

With the advanced plan at $399 per month, this fee can be reduced to 0.6%.

You may also need addons to make your shop work smoothly. These are optional but should be factored into your costs.

If you’re just starting out, these prices might seem reasonable.

But as your business grows and you start selling hundreds or thousands of products per month, they will soon add up.

This is an important consideration to keep in mind.

Changing platforms is always an option if you feel that the cost is eating away at your profits. You can move from Shopify to WooCommerce in just two steps.

WooCommerce Offers a Cheaper Start

WooCommerce (Woo) is a different story. It’s free to use from the get-go.

The plugin is free and open source so it’s cheaper to start.

You will have to factor in running costs though.

You’ll need your own web hosting, SSL certificate, domain name, and a WooCommerce optimized WordPress theme.

Here’s a breakdown of typical costs:

• WordPress hosting – $10-20 per month
• Domain name – $10-20 per year
• SSL certificate – Free – Up to $49 per year
• WooCommerce theme – Free – $47 per year

We recommend Hostinger for hosting and domain names since they are reliable and have a lot of money-saving bundles.

Most good hosts like Hostinger now offer a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate.

Some hosts also offer free domain name registration for the first year.

As you can see, you can create an affordable eCommerce website for not more than less than Shopify costs.

There are also optional premium addons available for WooCommerce. As with anything WordPress, there are also lots of free alternatives.

Another important thing to note is that WooCommerce does not charge a transaction fee for every purchase.

The only other cost that you need to worry about is the payment processing fee by merchants.

SureCart Has the Simplest Pricing plan

SureCart is a free WordPress eCommerce plugin with optional premium plans.

Like WooCommerce, you’ll need web hosting, a domain, SSL certificate and a theme.

The plugin promises to have a free plan forever. You can enjoy features like unlimited products, subscription payments, donations, and real tax calculation, all for free.

SureCart also offers premium plans that come with useful extra features.

There are currently two premium plans available:

Grow

The Grow plan costs $29 per month and includes all the features available in the free version. You also get advanced subscriptions, free trials, auto payment recovery, advanced checkout forms, Zapier integration, standard email support, file storage, webhooks, and a custom email address.

Scale

The Scale plan has all the features of the startup plan plus 10 GB of storage, unlimited recovered carts, unlimited team members, an affiliate program, support for more currencies and a whole lot more.

The Scale plan is available for $59 per month.

THE WINNER 🏆
With all things considered, SureCart is a clear winner, especially for beginners. It has a free version with added features and no transaction fees. It also has extensive features making it a great choice. WooCommerce comes a close second though. It’s also free and comes with plenty of features to get you started. Prices soon increase though, which is why it isn’t our winner

Setting Up: Shopify Vs WooCommerce

Not everyone who wants to start an online shop has expert skills. Although it’s not rocket science, the number of setup steps can be a little overwhelming.

We’ll compare these three platforms from the perspective of a total beginner.

How easy are they to set up and keep running?

Setting Up Shopify Is the Easiest

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Shopify is as easy as signing up, paying, and building your store.

Shopify guides you throughout the process of building your site.

After signing up, all you need to do is type in the information required (name, domain and other details).

Once done, you’ll then get to choose a design and then you’re good to go.

If you want to test it before diving in, Shopify offers a free 3-day trial.

WooCommerce Requires a Little Knowledge

WooCommerce is open-source and needs its own WordPress installation to work.

Even though setting up WooCommerce on its own is relatively simple, the prep work needed is something to think about.

Once you get to WooCommerce, there is a setup wizard that helps you prepare your store for selling.

On top of the prep work that’s needed, setting up products and payment methods may look overwhelming — especially to those who have no experience with WordPress.

The good news is that there is plenty of documentation available to help you out. Not to mention countless YouTube videos.

To simplify things for beginners, WooCommerce can automatically install several plugins for you when setting up.

These plugins help with essential functions like payments, shipping, product listing, and promotion.

Keep in mind that the more plugins WooCommerce requires, the more effort is needed to keep everything running smoothly.

It Doesn’t Get Easier Than SureCart

SureCart is a modern and robust eCommerce plugin designed to simplify your life.

It’s easy to set up on your website without needing extra plugins for essential functions like payments, multiple pricing options, or shipping.

It’s similar to WooCommerce but much more intuitive.

After following the setup wizard, you’ll see a clean and user-friendly interface to manage your online store.

For example, if you want to add coupons, you can easily do so from the menu on the left.

Although SureCart is relatively new, it’s not lacking in performance.

It’s an incredibly powerful and flexible eCommerce solution capable of building any type of online store.

THE WINNER 🏆
Shopify wins here! It requires minimal clicks to set up a store and publish your first product. However it’s missing advanced customization.. With WooCommerce, there’s a bit of work to fully operate your store. We think SureCart is a middle ground between the two. It’s easier to set up than WooCommerce and offers more advanced customization than Shopify.

Usability: Shopify vs. WooCommerce

One of the key factors you’re likely considering is the user-friendliness of the eCommerce plugin you want to use.

Shopify Needs No Experience

After the initial guided setup, maintaining and working on your Shopify store is as easy as can be.

From managing inventory to redesigning your shop, it’s a breeze.

When you want to change your site design, a simple drag and drop interface is your friend.

The builder itself is a straightforward drag and drop interface. You’ll see prefabricated structures and sections for you to choose from.

However, there are limits to what you can do, especially when you’re just starting out.

It’s extremely helpful to those who have no experience with building websites.

For more experienced users, this may be a drawback due to the lack of customization and personalization available.

On a more positive note, you have a lot of freedom in how you structure your store and categorize products

The usually tedious part of uploading products, managing inventory, setting up sales and discounts is a walk in the park.

Shopify also provides numerous extensions and addons to assist with day-to-day running of the store and to add features.

The good thing about Shopify is that it’s fairly easy to delegate tasks. That’s where the staff accounts come in handy.

Instead of sharing your login, you can simply add another person or organization to take care of your shop on your behalf.

Shopify is also ready to take care of your shipping and marketing concerns.

You can take advantage of Shopify’s own marketing options and capabilities. Or expand by using their available apps and addons.

Everything you need is all here.

If You Know WordPress You Know WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a little more tricky to manage on a day to day basis but it’s easy if you already know how WordPress works.

WooCommerce is so popular that even if you know nothing about it, you’ll always find advice and tutorials from experts.

WooCommerce works with a number of different extensions and third party plugins to give you what you want.

You can find compatible plugins on the WooCommerce website and on plugin marketplaces.

You can also customize your store however you like by using WooCommerce-compatible themes.

There are versatile themes like Astra that make site customization a breeze.

Astra has hundreds of professionally designed Starter Templates specifically for WooCommerce.

Fair warning, updating and adding features to your WordPress site can require attention. Make sure to always have backups at the ready.

On the plus side, you shouldn’t have any problems with running your shop. You get all the same features as Shopify simply by using a few well-chosen plugins.

WooCommerce is extremely widely used, they have forums, online groups, subreddits, and even YouTube channels dedicated to helping you solve all issues.

The flexibility of WooCommerce is often underestimated. With the right skills and experience, you can accomplish a lot with your WooCommerce store!

SureCart Takes Away the Pain

SureCart offers a fresh approach to selling with WordPress.

It tackles common issues found in both hosted and WordPress-based eCommerce stores.

Two key concerns it addresses are lack of control over data and site performance caused by too many plugins.

SureCart uses a headless approach to solve these problems.

In SureCart, backend management is completely separate from your WordPress website.

All your data is securely stored on SureCart servers, and you have full access to it through a secure API.

The storefront is hosted within your WordPress site so you can easily add and manage products.

This setup not only improves performance but also gives you greater control over your store.

Within the WordPress admin area, you can access a variety of features without needing extra plugins for most features.

For example, you can manage branding, abandoned checkout, notifications, subscriptions, and more directly from the SureCart settings area.

No need to install multiple plugins as it’s all built in.

One great thing about SureCart is how well it integrates with popular page builders like Spectra. It works smoothly with Astra too.

You can create a fully customizable eCommerce setup that aligns perfectly with your branding, without any additional costs.

With SureCart, you can easily use drag and drop functionality or tap into a vast library of pre-designed templates to personalize your store and make it uniquely yours.

A convenient time-saving feature is Astra’s Starter Templates designed specifically for SureCart.

Whether you’ve already installed SureCart or not, simply import a template after setting up WordPress and the Astra theme.

This instantly provides a professional-grade online store that’s preconfigured and ready to go.

Here are a few examples of store templates you can use:

Plant Store

Skin Cleanser Store

Cycle Shop

Cosmetics Store

Brand Store

SureCart is designed with users of all levels in mind and has a very gentle learning curve.

The plugin also has a dedicated YouTube channel with videos, tutorials, and news.

THE WINNER 🏆
Shopify offers a user-friendly interface that works well for beginners, but SureCart takes the lead with even more customization options.  With SureCart, you not only get a friendly interface but also complete control to customize your store exactly as you want.

Payment Methods and Solutions: Shopify vs. WooCommerce

Starting an online store means that you want to get paid, right?

Payments range from the very simple – receiving payments from a credit card, to the complex– memberships, recurring charges, taxes and EU VAT.

Shopify, WooCommerce and SureCart all have almost the same offers with a few unique quirks here and there.

We’ve broken them down for you.

Shopify Offers Native Payment Solutions

Shopify takes care of payments for you.

Shopify offers its own payment solutions (appropriately named Shopify Payments) if you simply want your customers to pay using their credit card.

But you have to consider the per-transaction fee we mentioned earlier.

Using Shopify Payments eliminates the need to sign up with additional merchant accounts like Stripe or Authorize.net.

You will have to pay card rates at 2.5% + $0,30 though.

If you choose to use external payment gateways, Shopify charges a 2% transaction fee.

This fee can be reduced to 0.6% if you opt for the $399 per month plan.

Shopify collects the shipping and payment information of your customers once they pay. This way, they can check out faster next time.

Shopify itself also allows you to make use of other payment methods such as:

• Apple Pay
• PayPal
• Amazon Pay
• Google Pay
• Cryptocurrency

Be careful with setting this up and test them thoroughly as they can be finicky.

It’s also important to consider where you’re selling to when setting up your payment providers.

Different countries may have different options available. Conveniently Shopify offers a list of available payment gateways per country.

WooCommerce Depends on Addons

WooCommerce offers the same flexibility, but you’ll need to use extensions.

Right off the bat, you’re offered the option to accept payments via COD or bank transfer. Paypal is also a built-in option since it’s used almost universally.

With Paypal, you can already accept credit card payments and is one of the easiest options to use.

There are dozens of other payment gateways available. Just look for the ones you need, sign up and use the appropriate extension in WooCommerce.

Here are some of the top payment gateways available with WooCommerce:

• PayPal
• Stripe
• Square
• Amazon Pay
• Authorize.Net
• Sofort Uberweisung
• 2Checkout
• Alipay

As you can see, wherever you are in the world and wherever you’re selling to, you’re covered.

The only downside is that you will need to consider charges from each individual payment processor.

WooCommerce on its own costs nothing but payment processors may charge you around 2% per transaction.

You can also set up memberships, discounts, and other features from WooCommerce or the payment gateways.

SureCart Doesn’t Need Additional Plugins

SureCart supports payment gateways Stripe, PayPal, Mollie.

With Stripe you can use 13+ payment methods in over 45 countries.

What’s cool about SureCart is that you don’t need an external plugin for payments.

The payment page gives you everything you need to enable the desired payment method.

Choose your method, link your account to SureCart and you’re ready to do business!

THE WINNER 🏆
It’s a win for SureCart! The flexibility and payment solutions offered by each are quite similar, although they are implemented differently.  Shopify and SureCart have native payment method integration which is a convenience.  However, with SureCart you only pay transaction charges to the payment processor. SureCart charges nothing.

Updates and Support: Shopify vs. WooCommerce

For most of us, one of the most important things is to find help when you need it.

Fortunately, all platforms offer great customer support.

Shopify Has Responsive Chat Support

Not only does Shopify offer an extensive library of FAQs, but their support is also quite literally award-winning.

Part of their selling point is that you’ll be able to find the help that you need when you need it.

They offer four convenient ways of getting answers:

• 24/7 Chat support
• Phone (only with Plus plan)
• Knowledge base
• Social platforms

Whatever the method, you’re sure to find the help you need. But of course, the quickest way is to chat with them.

For Basic and Shopify plans, you’ll have standard web chat support. Priority chat support is available with Advanced and Plus plans.

You also have the option to hire a Shopify Expert in case you need more hands-on assistance.

All options are available from your Shopify dashboard.

The only limitation is that they do not support third-party apps and integrations.

You’re on Your Own With WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the most popular and widely used platform in the eCommerce space. But you’ll need to find most answers on your own.

You’re sure to find extensive and community-driven FAQs and documentation anywhere online.

WooCommerce itself does not have many support avenues since it is self-hosted.

Have a server issue? Check with your hosting provider.

If you are having issues with plugins or extensions, you’ll need to contact the developers.

A little self-help and reading will go a long way.

WooCommerce is incredibly simple to use and logical in how it works. There will be very few issues you won’t be able to work out.

WooCommerce does regularly update to keep up with WordPress changes. Not to mention keeping compatibility with hosting requirements, plugins, and themes.

It’s not necessarily a hard thing, but WooCommerce updates tend to need more attention since there’s a lot at stake.

So backing up your data regularly is definitely a good idea!

SureCart Has a Team To Assist

SureCart offers top-notch support if you need it.

The team offers extensive documentation, FAQs and video tutorials to support you with anything you need.

SureCart also has a vibrant community for discussing the most common issues.

Unlike WooCommerce, SureCart offers dedicated support from a team that is available via chat and email to address problems whenever you need help.

THE WINNER 🏆
It’s a tie between Shopify and SureCart. When it comes to customer support and updates, Shopify and SureCart win by a landslide.  The mere fact that they both offer 24/7 support is indicative of how easy it is to get the help that you need.

Scalability: Shopify vs. WooCommerce

All three eCommerce platforms handle scalability differently.

Growing With Shopify Is Effortless

As Shopify is hosted, it handles most of the technical side for you.

Shopify wants you to focus on your shop as much as possible instead of worrying about other things.

The more you expand, the more features you may need. But it’s as easy as upgrading your plan.

It doesn’t matter how many products you have or how many changes you make in the long run. Shopify can handle the load.

The more you grow, the more Shopify costs, but hopefully, the profit you’re making offsets that.

Growth With WooCommerce Means You Handle Everything

You need a more hands-on approach to expand your store with WooCommerce,

Since it’s self-hosted, the only limitations with expansion depend on the capabilities of your web host.

Thankfully, most hosts offer a wide range of hosting solutions to provide more resources as you need them.

You can also manage the way your shop works by optimizing the content, images, and by using available plugins.

These, of course, will increase the cost of running your website but that’s to be expected.

SureCart Shares Your Load As You Grow

We’ve mentioned earlier that SureCart is a completely new way to do eCommerce.

Thanks to its headless architecture, the heavy lifting is done by the SureCart servers.

Your website hosts the storefront, so should never be put under pressure when you scale up.

Even with increased traffic and sales, SureCart’s higher-tier plan remains affordable, allowing you to maximize your profits without breaking the bank.

The free and two different premium plans make it simpler for you to decide on what you want.

You can let your plan grow as your business grows with SureCart.

THE WINNER 🏆
SureCart wins! While Shopify offers seamless growth, costs can add up quickly as you expand.  SureCart offers two straightforward premium plans that won’t break the bank and the headless architecture means you don’t have to scale up hosting as you scale up sales.

Which Is the Best eCommerce Platform?

Choosing between Shopify vs WooCommerce vs SureCart is a tough decision.

If you want to build and manage your own website, choose SureCart or WooCommerce.

We think SureCart is a great choice. The free plan lets you quickly set up a website to sell digital goods and products.

You don’t need to worry about dealing with multiple plugins or performance issues.

As your business grows, you can bank on SureCart’s resources. Even their pricing is pretty straightforward.

Need help with setting up a store with SureCart? Here’s a detailed tutorial for you.

If you want to start simple without worrying too much about limited customization, Shopify is ideal.

Setting up your shop is easy, and you have virtually unlimited scalability.

Shopify also offers excellent support and ease of use, though it may be more expensive in the long run.

For more experienced users, WooCommerce is a great bet.

The flexibility, scalability, and cost savings you would get are the most significant benefit.

The fact that it’s self-hosted means that you have all the control with what you want. At the same time you are also responsible for its overall performance.

In the end, you won’t be sorry if you use any of these platforms. Each has its pros and cons but all deliver the features you need.

If we were setting up a new store, we would use SureCart. It’s easy to use, powerful, flexible and has a new way of doing things that provides lots of flexibility.

Which platform do you think suits you best? Share your thoughts in the comments below.