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WordPress vs Shopify – Comparing the Two Industry-best Ecommerce Platforms

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The Ultimate Shopify vs. WordPress Comparison Guide

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.

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WordPress vs Shopify

Shopify

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

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.

Shopify

Pros Cons
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.

WordPress

Pros Cons
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

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:

  • Web hosting
  • Software installation
  • Data security
  • Technical upgrades and maintenance

WordPress

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

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.

WordPress

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:

  • 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.
  • You need to set up things like hosting, and a domain name separately.

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

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

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
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

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.

  • Basic Shopify – $29/month
  • Shopify – $79/month
  • Advanced Shopify – $299/month

Some of the major payment methods that Shopify supports include:

  • Credit/Debit cards
  • PayPal
  • Stripe
  • Square
  • Amazon Pay
  • Apple Pay
  • Own Payment Gateway – Shopify Payments

WordPress

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:

  • WooCommerce – Credit/Debit cards, PayPal, Stripe, Square, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay
  • Ecwid – Credit/Debit cards, PayPal, Stripe, Square, Apple Pay
  • WP eCommerce – Credit/Debit cards, PayPal, Stripe, Square

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

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.

WordPress

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

WordPress hosting costs

Monthly costs range from $5 – $100

  • Self-hosted shared hosting: $5 – $20
  • Fully managed hosting: $30 – $100
WordPress tutorials and courses costs

Monthly Costs ranges from &0 to $50+

  • Time is taken to learn basics: A few hours
  • Time is taken to learn WordPress: Weeks
WordPress theme costs

One-time Cost: &0 to $5,000+

  • Basic templates: $35 – $50
  • Premium templates: $80 – $200
  • Template alterations: $300 – $1,000
  • Bespoke design: $5,000 – $10,000+
WordPress plugin costs

One-Time Cost: $50 – $500
and/or
Monthly costs ranges from $5 – $150

  • Payment Software:
  • One-time cost: $100 – $500
  • Monthly cost: $30 – $80
  • Membership Gateway Software:
  • One-time cost: $100 – $300
  • Monthly cost: $50-$150
  • Email Marketing Software:
  • Monthly cost: $5 – $99

Shopify

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
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.
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What is WordPress/WooCommerce Used for?


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.

What is the Shopify Ecommerce Platform Used for?


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.

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Shopify or WordPress – Which Platform is a Better Choice?


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.

Frequently Asked Questions


No! Shopify offers a web hosting service that is provided as part of the monthly fee that you pay to use the eCommerce platform. With WordPress, you need to source your own hosting separately as it is only a self-hosted platform.
There are many hosting services that specifically cater to WordPress users. Bluehost is one of the best WordPress hosting service providers that come with features like one-click installs and automated updates.
Yes, you can use a Shopify plugin that allows you to use a Shopify theme on your WordPress site and gives you eCommerce functionality. You can also connect your WordPress site to Facebook and receive 24/7 support, all for just $9/month.
Have More Questions Related to Shopify or Wix? Feel Free to Ask Our Experts Right Away!
Generally, your choice of eCommerce plugin depends on the requirements of your online store. The best eCommerce plugin for WordPress is WooCommerce. This powerful plugin has been built by the same company that created WordPress, has plenty of useful features, is free to use, and does not charge its own transaction fees.
Have More Questions in Your Mind? We’re Ready to Answer All Your Questions!