The fundamental difference
Shopify is a hosted SaaS platform: you pay a monthly fee and Shopify handles hosting, security, updates and performance. WooCommerce is a free open-source plugin for WordPress: the software is free, but you run it on your own hosting and are responsible for updates, security and backups.
| Shopify | WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Hosted SaaS | Open-source plugin (WordPress) |
| Hosting & maintenance | Included | Your responsibility |
| Cost | Transparent monthly fee | Hosting + plugins + maintenance |
| Flexibility | Standardized (apps, headless) | Highly customizable |
| Ideal for | Launch fast & scale | Full control, WordPress users |
Costs, honestly calculated
The monthly Shopify fee is transparent. With WooCommerce, costs spread across several items:
- Hosting (more expensive as traffic grows)
- Premium plugins for features Shopify includes
- Maintenance, updates and security patches
- Developer time for issues or extensions
Maintenance, security & performance
With Shopify, maintenance and security are included: practically no outages from outdated plugins. With WooCommerce you have full control but also full responsibility: a forgotten update or incompatible plugin can take the store down.
Flexibility & ownership
WooCommerce wins on maximum customizability: full access to code and database, no platform lock-in. Shopify is deliberately more standardized: easier to run, but deeper changes are more constrained (solvable via apps, checkout extensions and headless with Hydrogen).
Which platform fits you?
Choose Shopify if you want to launch fast, administer little and scale reliably. Choose WooCommerce if you need maximum control, already use WordPress and have the technical know-how (or an agency).
Both can be connected to your accounting, for example by connecting Shopify to sevdesk or Lexware Office and creating invoices automatically.
Switching from WooCommerce to Shopify
A switch is very doable: products, customers and orders are migrated, and clean 301 redirects preserve your SEO. We cover what matters for migration and setup on the services page.
