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E-commerceApr 28, 2026

Shopify vs WooCommerce

Which platform to choose for your online store based on product type, budget and scale.

Shopify vs WooCommerce

Shopify and WooCommerce are the two most-used e-commerce platforms. Together they cover over 50 % of online stores worldwide, but they tackle the problem from very different angles. Shopify is a turnkey SaaS; WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that you self-host. This comparison digs into cost, scalability, and the cases where one clearly wins.

Real cost over 12 months

Calculating subscription, hosting, domain, theme, apps and gateway:

  • Shopify Basic ($29/month): ~430 €/year + 2 % per transaction if you don't use Shopify Payments.
  • Shopify Advanced ($299/month): ~3,500 €/year for high-volume stores.
  • WooCommerce: 200 €-500 € hosting + 0 €-300 € premium plugins + 0 € base software. Total ~500-800 €/year.
  • Gateway: Stripe or Redsys charges 1.4-2.9 % + 0.25 € per transaction on both.

Scalability and performance

If your store grows, this matters:

  • Shopify: the platform scales on its own. 100 visits or 100,000, equally fast.
  • WooCommerce: depends on hosting. Up to 50,000 visits/month works with a 30 €/month VPS. Beyond that, you need managed hosting (Kinsta, WP Engine) at 100 €-300 €/month.
  • Product ceiling: Shopify easily handles 100,000 SKUs. WooCommerce with good hosting too, but queries slow down faster.

Customisation and ecosystem

Here things change depending on how far you want to go:

  1. Shopify: 8,000+ apps in the App Store. Mostly plug-and-play, but good apps cost $10-100/month and stack up.
  2. WooCommerce: 6,000+ extensions + any WordPress plugin. More freedom and strong free plugins.
  3. Design: Shopify offers polished but limited themes; WooCommerce offers total freedom with a good developer.
  4. Code: Shopify uses Liquid (proprietary language). WooCommerce is standard PHP — you find developers anywhere.

Payment gateways and fees

Watch out — this can eat your margin:

  • Shopify Payments (white-label Stripe): 1.5-1.9 % in Spain. If you use another gateway, Shopify adds +0.5-2 % as a penalty.
  • WooCommerce: zero extra platform fee. You pay only Stripe, Redsys or PayPal directly.
  • Real difference on a store doing 100k€/year: ~1,500-2,000 € extra Shopify keeps.

Shopify is the iPhone of e-commerce: simple, reliable, controlled. WooCommerce is Android: more freedom, more responsibility, better price if you know what you're doing.

What to pick based on your case

  • Small store (< 100 products, < 50 orders/month): Shopify for simplicity.
  • Medium store with extensive catalog and standard B2C: both work, Shopify spares you technical headaches.
  • Store with content (SEO blog + e-commerce): WooCommerce for native WordPress integration.
  • Store with complex products (infinite variants, B2B, ERP integrations): WooCommerce for flexibility.
  • High-volume store (> 10,000 €/month) with a non-technical team: Shopify for operational stability.

At Tuagenciaweb we build stores on both platforms. If you're unsure, we offer a free initial consultation to recommend the one that saves you more money in your case. Tell us what you sell.