WordPress and Shopify are unarguably the two major players in the eCommerce platform sphere. If you want to make the most out of your online store, you need a robust eCommerce platform to achieve this. In our Shopify vs WordPress comparison guide, we will evaluate both platforms to help you find which eCommerce platform fits your business model. We have dug deeply into WordPress and Shopify eCommerce platforms to help you learn what both have to offer.
Shopify is a well-known website builder that helps people with little to no technical knowledge build their websites easily. They only have to pay a monthly fee to the website builder platform to keep their websites running. Shopify is exclusively built for eCommerce stores, and so it’s only used for building online stores.
WordPress is quite different from Shopify. It comes in mainly two forms, WordPress.com and WordPress.org. While WordPress.com is a blogging platform that works like a website builder, allowing you to build your website easily, WordPress.org is self-hosted software that is more technically advanced. You can create any kind of website with WordPress.org including eCommerce stores. So, it’s this version that we are going to compare with Shopify.
Pros | Cons |
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Shopify is beginner-friendly, you don’t need to have strong coding or technical skills to use Shopify | You need to pay additional transaction fees (0.5% – 2% per transaction) unless you use Shopify Payments, Shopify’s own payment gateway |
You need to pay additional transaction fees (0.5% – 2% per transaction) unless you use Shopify Payments, Shopify’s own payment gateway | If you wish to change your theme, you will need to reformat your web content |
With Shopify, you don’t have to pay for hosting service or security separately | It’s still not as simple or as easy to use as a drag-and-drop platform, like Wix. |
Pros | Cons |
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More flexible and powerful platform allowing for full customization | You will need a decent level of technical knowledge to use the platform |
It comes with a new editor, ‘Gutenberg’, that makes it slightly easier to use | It can get very expensive, very quickly |
There are plenty of helpful resources online, both from professional developers and user forums | You will need to source things like web hosting (we recommend Bluehost), security, and a domain name yourself |
Shopify’s quick set-up process and flexible functionality enable you to start selling online quickly and efficiently. If you’re opting for Shopify hosted solution, you will have to worry very little about things like:
Although it takes a little more time to set up your eCommerce store using WordPress.org & WooCommerce, those who have experience in using WordPress.org experience would face a little problem in setting up. There are numerous hosting providers like Siteground, Bluehost, etc. that offer excellent WordPress.org and WooCommerce support.
While WordPress.com packages offer hosting based on data allowance, which becomes easy to set up hosting without strong technical knowledge, there will be a learning curve for installing the WooCommerce plugin. So, this is not as easy as Shopify.
Winner – Shopify
Shopify is the clear winner in the ease of use Shopify vs WordPress comparison. Unlike WordPress, neither you need to have any strong coding and technical knowledge, nor do you need to install additional software that enables you to sell online. Shopify comes with all the essential eCommerce needed to set up an online store.
Shopify is a rapid solution to create an online store. It’s a website builder that is exclusively built to help you make an eCommerce store.
Shopify is not an ideal option if you don’t want to sell online. So if you want to build a personal or business website, and value your time, then you should opt for Wix or Squarespace.
With WordPress, you can build both eCommerce and non-eCommerce websites. However, it takes a lot of time to set up for two main reasons:
Winner – Shopify
When comparing Shopify vs WordPress in terms of build time, Shopify is the clear winner. All the eCommerce tools you need are built-in, which saves you a lot of time otherwise you’ll have to spend your precious time deciding on which eCommerce plugin to use on WordPress. Besides, Shopify also sorts out web hosting and security.
Shopify offers 70 themes for you to choose from. While 10 of these themes are free, the other 60+ themes are paid with prices starting from $140. This sounds a little expensive, however, it is a one-off investment that helps you bring your website to life.
Most importantly, every theme is mobile responsive, which means your website will run flawlessly on multiple devices.
WordPress offers more than 1,000 themes, specifically designed for eCommerce. There are also several themes that plugins either provide themselves or that are designed by third-party developers.
With such a wide range of options to choose from, WordPress themes are far better than others. However, not all are mobile-friendly, and the themes that are not designed by WordPress may not be compatible with the platform when updates are released.Therefore, you should always choose WordPress’ own eCommerce-specific themes so that you can customize them as you want. If you have good knowledge of coding, you get full control over your site’s look and feel.
Winner – Tie
Both Shopify and WordPress offer mobile-responsive and customizable themes. While Shopify’s themes are out-of-the-box, but with a limited choice and customization, WordPress’ themes vary in quality and offer limitless customization opportunities.
Shopify | wordpress | |
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Easily add Shopify product images, details, and descriptions | Sell both digital and physical products | |
Effective inventory management | A geo-location tool to automatically detect customer’s address and ensure accuracy when it comes to tax and shipping calculations | |
Personal customer account set up | Clear, flexible product segmentation | |
A category organizer to helps customers easily find what they are looking for. | Sell affiliate products | |
Abandoned cart recovery; send email reminders to customers who abandon your cart before checking out | Built-in inventory management to track stock levels | |
Add additional pages and blogs to your site increase your brand awareness | Customer account creation | |
70+ different Shopify payments processors along with the ability for multi-currency process calculations | Add shipping variants | |
Customer and order detail tracking | Automated e-mail templates | |
Multiple user logins | Coupons and discount codes | |
Discount codes | The product review and rating function | |
Multi-channel integration | Extensive analytical tools | |
Built-in blogging option | ||
Product sorting and filtering | ||
Multilingual support | ||
Save favorite products | ||
Winner – Tie | ||
Both Shopify and WordPress offer mobile-responsive and customizable themes. While Shopify’s themes are out-of-the-box, but with a limited choice and customization, WordPress’ themes vary in quality and offer limitless customization opportunities. |
Shopify supports 100+ different payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, Square, Amazon Pay, and Apple Pay.
It also comes with its own payment gateway, Shopify Payments, which supports multi-currency payments. If you’re using Shopify Payments, you won’t be charged any extra transaction fee.
However, if you’re using other payment gateways, you need to pay charges ranging from 0.5% to 2% per transaction, based on the Shopify pricing plan you choose.
Some of the major payment methods that Shopify supports include:
Just like its eCommerce features, WordPress’s payment options are also provided through its plugins. WooCommerce, WP eCommerce, and Ecwid, all these three plugins cover almost all popular payment gateways. You also won’t be charged anything more except for each one’s own transaction fee.
Some of the major payment methods supported by WooCommerce, WP eCommerce, and Ecwid include:
Winner – Tie
It’s again a tie between Shopify vs WordPress. While Shopify is the best option in terms of payment options, you will have to pay extra charges if you use other payment gateways other than Shopify Payments. No WordPress plugin can match Shopify for payment methods; however, there are no additional charges.
Shopify allows you to add specific meta titles and meta descriptions, and customize your URLs and site structure so that search engines can understand and crawl easily.
In WordPress, SEO is done through plugins like Yoast which can either be used for free, or for $69 to leverage its advanced features.
Winner – Shopify
Here also, Shopify wins for its SEO tools. It not only offers built-in SEO capabilities but also allows you to install SEO specific apps if you need more advanced features.
Both WordPress and Shopify release their own routine updates. While using Shopify, all this will happen automatically, you need to constantly keep an eye on WordPress.
WordPress’s main software, plugins, and themes can update at different times. However, if you’re not using WordPress themes and plugins, you may face issues. You can save yourself from all these hassles; you can use a hosting provider like Bluehost that will take care of updates for you.
The same goes for your website security as well. Shopify’s every plan come with an SSL certificate that protects you and your visitors’ data. With WordPress, you will have to research well and pay individually.
Winner – Shopify
Shopify again beats WordPress in this round. Both Shopify and WordPress do their best to make their software perfect so updates are important. However, you need to keep an eye on WordPress’s updates, while Shopify does it automatically.
Shopify offers 24/7 customer support by chat, email, and phone so you can get help any time, through your preferred method.
WordPress, on the other hand, only offers forum-based support through its website. You may or may not get an instant answer, depending on your question, so if you’re stuck with an urgent question you could be in problem for a while.
However, there are lots of forums and blogs that cover all WordPress and WooCommerce topics, so you can find an answer to almost all your questions online. This means you need to spend more time searching for the answers and filtering the relevant advice from the outdated.
Winner – Shopify
Shopify wins this round as well. Although there aren’t as many resources online as WordPress, Shopify offers dedicated help through its 24/7 customer support service. The number of ways you can avail of Shopify’s customer support is what makes it the clear winner.
WordPress hosting costs |
Monthly costs range from $5 – $100
|
WordPress tutorials and courses costs |
Monthly Costs ranges from &0 to $50+
|
WordPress theme costs |
One-time Cost: &0 to $5,000+
|
WordPress plugin costs |
One-Time Cost: $50 – $500
|
Shopify Pricing Plans | Shopify Basic | Shopify | Advanced Shopify |
---|---|---|---|
Monthly | $29.00 | $79.00 | $299.00 |
1-Year $/month | $26.10 | $71.10 | $269.10 |
Savings (%) | 10% | 10% | 10% |
2-Years $/month | $23.20 | $63.20 | $239.20 |
Savings (%) | 20% | 20% | 20% |
Winner – Shopify |
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Although WordPress is technically free to use, Shopify is very affordable. Shopify’s pricing plans range from $29/month – $299/month and offers everything needed for an eCommerce store. WordPress, on the other hand, is free to use, however, you will incur the cost of web hosting, themes, and plugins, all separately. |
If you’re just planning to create a blog or startup website, and do not have an immediate need for eCommerce, then the WordPress platform is the best choice for you. There are many reliable hosting companies that can help you install a basic WordPress blog website as a part of their cheapest hosting plans.
If you’re already using WordPress, then you can install the WooCommerce plugin on your site to turn your site into an eCommerce platform rather than choosing Shopify. This is because the additional setup will be comparatively straightforward and you would also have the required hosting provider in place for WordPress.org.
If you have limited technical knowledge and want to simply get online quickly and start selling online, then Shopify is the right option for you. Shopify offers an extensive number of templates, high-end security, comprehensive support, and simple out-of-the-box features to get started without any technical knowledge or coding skills.
Always remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for eCommerce businesses. The Shopify vs WordPress comparison comes down to your needs and preferences. If you want an eCommerce store that is quick and easy to set up, with 24/7 customer support, then Shopify beats WordPress.
If you’re looking for more scalability and flexibility, then WordPress along with WooCommerce gives you more control over your website’s functionality. Moreover, if you’re already using WordPress, there’s no need to move your content to a different platform or combine two different sites into one. However, setting up a WordPress/WooCommerce store takes more effort and technical knowledge to do it correctly.
If you don’t have an in-house web development team and don’t want to spend your precious time learning WordPress/WooCommerce, then our expert eCommerce developers can help. We offer a wide range of eCommerce web development services to help you build your online store and start selling online. Contact us today with your project requirements and we will send you a free quotation highlighting everything we can do to help you grow your eCommerce business.