Woocommerce or Shopify, which one is better?
WooCommerce and Shopify; A battle between two of the largest online retailers. Shopify is home to hundreds of thousands of online stores. However, WooCommece claims to be the world’s most popular online shopping platform. Which is the one that wins? Shopify is the most preferred option among the two. It’s not just reliable, strong, safe, and easy to use, but also offers stunning templates and amazing customer support. It’s not to deny that WooCommerce isn’t a great choice for you. It has its advantages, however. The e-commerce plugin is smart and can transform any WordPress website into an effective online store. Additionally, it’s an open-source platform, which means it’s easy to install. It runs on Bluehost, the best host for WordPress websites. In the next few minutes, we’ll help you determine which of the two will be most appropriate for your company. Check out the following article to learn more!

SHOPIFY
Shopify is ideal If you’re someone who needs continuous support and enjoys things like the security that is taken care of and all the features you might require from Shopify, Then this is the best platform for you… If you’re looking for a way to get your website up and running within a short amount of time and have limited knowledge of technology and desire modern, sleek templates that are simple to modify, Shopify is our recommendation for you!

Ease of Use
WooCommerce is a much more complicated platform and will require a certain amount of expertise or willingness to take the time to learn. Shopify is, however, accessible to every person and doesn’t require a background in coding to get the most benefit from it. There’s no doubt about the fact that WooCommerce can be more challenging to master than Shopify, and also, based on our experiences, Shopify is easier to learn for the average user. Shopify is a hosting platform for an eCommerce platform. It is a platform that handles the technical aspects of the running of your shop. From your domain name to hosting (where the content of your website will be kept online) to a certificate for security (SSL) certification, Shopify has you all covered. Furthermore, with Shopify, it is not necessary to go through the stress of installing, managing, or re-upgrading any software. It’s not necessary to worry about security or backups. You also don’t need to be concerned about security. However, with WooCommerce it is necessary to perform some work, like sourcing your hosting provider and security.

Build Time
Shopify is more efficient in its time to build. Shopify’s top features are built into the themes and only require the capability of being filled with content. It’s user-friendly. In general, the process of setting up Shopify is significantly faster. Shopify is a lot quicker than WooCommerce when building an online store and working your way through. Clearly and concisely, Shopify will let you start your store quicker than WooCommerce. If you’re starting from scratch or aren’t sure of your technical skills, Shopify is the ideal option. The process of getting the store operational is simpler and quicker. Hands are kept in place when you’re setting up an online store. You can alter the look by choosing and changing the themes. Contrary to the method of setting up a store on WordPress, it’s not a manual process and Shopify will store everything you require in one place. WooCommerce is more suited to people who do not want to boost sales immediately. The creation of stores using WooCommerce will be an artistic endeavor in comparison to Shopify. You’ll have plenty of options for creativity, and you can make a site completely yours. The wizard that WooCommerce uses to set up the site will provide basic information, but it’s unable to answer more complicated questions. It demands a greater level of technical expertise from the user and leaves users with a lot of tasks to be completed. We recommend Shopify for people who are just beginning to sell online and wish to establish an online presence quickly. It’s a platform with powerful e-commerce features and an easy setup.

Design and Themes
Shopify has a high chance of winning the contest this year. The themes are cleaner and more refined than WooCommerce’s. Furthermore, you’re capable of using codes to change the appearance that you can apply to your Shopify themes in the way you’d prefer. On the other side, WooCommerce offers unlimited customization; however, the themes are sometimes outdated. Shopify’s theme store has more than 70 free and paid themes that you can choose from. If you add variations, the real number is more than 100. Shopify’s themes are exceptionally refined, and it’s an exclusive platform for e-commerce. It’s specifically designed to help you sell. Some theme costs $140 to $340. Even though this could seem pricey, it’s a one-time expense that is worth considering as a way to invest in your company. If it could increase your earnings, it’s logical for you to put money into it. If you’re on a tight budget, there are plenty of themes that are free for you to start with. The first WooCommerce theme, Storefront, is mobile-friendly. It also features a beautiful and modern layout. The way your design will appear on WooCommerce is dependent on how long you’re willing and able to commit to as well as your technical abilities. Designers are coming up with fresh WooCommerce themes; the sky is the limit. ThemeForest is one of them. It is home to more than 1,000 specific themes for online sales, which you can browse. The variety of WooCommerce’s products is incredible, but Shopify’s offerings are more carefully selected. The Shopify designers have taken the time to select which themes will be best suited to your business. Remember that choosing an excellent theme is just one element of the WooCommerce versus Shopify battle. It’s also about being able to change the theme.

Sales Features
Shopify has more selling capabilities than WooCommerce. The fact that features are built-in and available for use can make Shopify easier to access; essential features such as the ability to recover abandoned carts are essential for any business of any size, and that’s only one aspect WooCommerce isn’t able to provide. Both platforms offer the features needed to set up a profitable online store. If you’re trying to sell items on the internet or start an online business of modest size, neither will let you fall short. The only area where WooCommerce is different from Shopify is in Shopify’s distinguishing feature is the feature set that is provided as standard.

Abandoned Cart Recovery
One thing that Shopify provides as standard, which WooCommerce does not, is abandoned cart recovery. When deciding between WooCommerce and Shopify, this feature is essential since it allows customers to finish an abandoned purchase without filling in their information again. The shopping cart also receives a friendly email, reminding customers to complete the purchase. A cart that has been abandoned is similar to a leak in your pipeline so that sales don’t get lost in the shuffle!

Multichannel Selling
Both platforms allow you to sell via Amazon, eBay, Instagram, and Facebook. The only difference is that WooCommerce will require you to pay $79 for the installation of all of them, excluding Facebook, which is completely free to set up. With Shopify, it’s not going to cost you a dime to integrate your shop with these channels.

Shipping
Offering a seamless experience for shipping can be a huge boost to your company’s reputation. Shopify and WooCommerce permit you to provide complimentary shipping and sell internationally. However, Shopify will go the extra mile through its partnerships with USPS, DHL Express, and UPS, saving you the time and expense of finding the courier of your choice. In the simplest terms, Shopify comes with numerous eCommerce tools built in. Sign up for Basic Shopify and you’ll get incredible features that will help you sell, such as • Abandoned cart Recovery • Discount coupons • Unlimited products • Blog and Website • More than 100 payment options

Marketing Tools
Shopify offers greater marketing tools. Shopify provides a vast array of marketing options, like multichannel selling, that allow you to expose your company to millions of social media customers. Contrary to this, WooCommerce relies on plugins to power its marketing instruments. To be successful in any business, it must grow. Tools for marketing can help your business achieve that by connecting your brand to new customers and clients. Which platform will let you speak the loudest about your company?

Email Marketing
With Shopify, it is possible to run many email campaigns by using applications like Seguno and Constant Contact. WooCommerce also relies on plugins to run its email marketing features and integrates with MailChimp, which allows you to create personalized email marketing campaigns effortlessly.

Social Media Integrations
Shopify offers multichannel sales, which allows you to connect your shop with Facebook, Amazon, eBay, and Pinterest and advertise on these platforms. This lets your business reach out to a vast online market at no cost. WooCommerce allows you to connect your store to Amazon, eBay, and Instagram for $79; however, you can also post ads on Facebook for free.

Security
Shopify is more secure and has more features. Shopify is hosted, which means that security is handled for you. Shopify is equipped with an SSL certificate and is PCI-DSS certified. With WooCommerce, you’ll need to find SSL and configure PCI-DSS conformance yourself. Every website’s security should be a top priority. This is especially crucial for stores on the internet since you’re not just processing customers’ funds but also keeping their personal information. With Shopify security, your site’s security is taken care of for you. Since it’s a hosted e-commerce service, Shopify is in charge of dealing with any security breach and ensures your site is protected from hackers. WooCommerce, however, operates with WordPress and therefore is self-hosted. The actual plugin does not have built-in security features. Therefore, any security concerns need to be managed either by you or your hosting service provider.

WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the best choice when you value personalization above all else, and you’re willing to do the extra work to create the store you’ve always desired. You must be knowledgeable about the technical aspects… If you’re hoping to create a massive online store that sells in a variety of locations, then WooCommerce is the solution!

Payment Options and Transaction Fees
WooCommerce offers more payment options and lower transaction costs. Since it doesn’t charge transaction fees, WooCommerce beats out this competition. Unless you use Shopify Payments, you’ll need to pay more for Shopify, which is what gives WooCommerce the advantage—making it the best choice for shops that sell in large quantities. If you sell online, it is essential to provide a way for buyers to purchase. Each of WooCommerce and Shopify provides you with a selection of more than 100 payment options. These can be inbuilt or added via integrations. The most common are:
- Stripe
- PayPal
- Cards for debit and credit
- Apple Pay
- Square Different payment processors offer different transaction costs.
Check the fees first before making a decision. Shopify, for instance, charges the same amount per transaction if you make use of a third-party payment gateway. You can reduce the amount by upgrading to a more sophisticated Shopify plan, or you can get out of them all together with Shopify Payouts, which is Shopify’s own decision. One of the major advantages of WooCommerce is that, unlike Shopify and other payment processors, it does not charge transaction fees when you use a third-party payment service (i.e., it’s not working with WooCommerce Payments). With WooCommerce, the bank fees remain in place, and so will the charges of an online payment service (like PayPal). If you’re selling an enormous quantity of goods, WooCommerce makes more sense. It also attracts sellers who prefer to have merchant accounts they want to use.

Plugins and Integrations
WooCommerce surpasses Shopify for plugins and apps. WooCommerce is an open-source program that depends on plugins to provide most of its functions. This is not surprising, which is the reason WooCommerce is so successful in this particular section.

SEO
WooCommerce is more SEO-friendly. A close victory is a narrow win for WooCommerce. With WooCommerce, you have access to an array of top SEO-related plugins. It also provides helpful SEO tutorials and suggestions. Shopify isn’t as extensive in its SEO applications to choose from, and this could be limiting in the future. Search engine optimization (SEO) will be essential in attracting customers to your online shelves. It’s all about one aspect: making sure that your store is listed high in the search results of Google. When customers type in terms that are related to your products, you want them to find you. In terms of SEO, WooCommerce vs Shopify is a difficult one to decide. Both are dependable e-commerce platforms and will aid you in making sure that your products are visible to the right customers. WooCommerce is developed using code that is optimized for SEO and is connected to WordPress together with an impressive selection of SEO plugins. You can dig into the depths and add in-depth meta descriptions and page titles to inform Google what your pages are about. Our top SEO features are the ability to personalize your URLs to let search engine users locate your website more quickly, as well as the great SEO guides and suggestions during the construction process. The two platforms, Shopify and WooCommerce, have integrations and apps that can help you grow your business. Yoast, WordPress’s SEO plugin, is extremely simple to use and provides great support. It’s almost like hiring your SEO expert! Additionally, WooCommerce offers a greater selection of SEO plugins than Shopify does. Shopify, however, offers a selection of SEO-related tools available on their App Store. We love its free SEO Booster that checks your store and provides solutions to issues that could cause performance issues. Shopify is also a great way for you to include basic SEO details for your shop. Titles and descriptions can be added to your products, images, and even pages.

Customer Support
WooCommerce provides customer service using Bluehost. Shopify offers great support, but it’s not as great as the support that WooCommerce offers. Do not forget that we’re in the process of comparing Shopify against WooCommerce, making this comparison an exact one to judge. Shopify offers support 24 hours a day through live chat, phone, and email. Add in the help of collections of tutorials, a community forum, and a wizard to set up your site, Shopify will do everything for customers. Indeed, Shopify scored a 3.8/5 in our research on customer support and was ranked second to Square. WooCommerce also includes 24-hour live chat and phone support as well as a comprehensive knowledge center that is filled with helpful details. Directly through WooCommerce, you can submit tickets for general assistance and browse a variety of setup instructions to help you set up the perfect store from the start time.

Pricing
WooCommerce is more price-to-value. WooCommerce is completely free to use and its extensions are priced at $39, while Shopify offers fixed-priced plans as well as more expensive applications. How much will Shopify and WooCommerce cost? How much does Shopify cost? Shopify has fixed pricing, but WooCommerce offers more flexibility. The prices for Shopify vary between $29 and $299 per month. You can unlock more advanced features such as professional reports when you upgrade. WooCommerce is completely free, but it comes with additional costs such as hosting, domain names, and security. The set pricing plans offered by Shopify allow you to easily monitor your expenditure. However, WooCommerce is open-source software, making it easy to install. But you’ll have to purchase it:
• Hosting ($35 – $50/month)
• Security ($0 – $200/year)
• Domain ($10 – PS20/year)
• Extension fees ($0 – $100/month)
It’s important to remember that the charges above are all included in the price of your Shopify plan. We’ll be comparing Shopify’s pricing plans with Bluehost’s pricing plans. Shopify provides 14 days of a free trial, and Bluehost provides a 30-day money-back guarantee in case you’re not completely satisfied. What’s more, both Shopify and WooCommerce offer business-level price plans that are only accessible via quotes and are only available to large companies. When we look at aspects such as price plans, software installation costs, and transaction costs, Shopify scored 3.0/5 in our value-for-money research area, and WooCommerce received 4.4/5.
Also, one of the advantages of WooCommerce is that you only pay once for SSL, plugins, and themes, but you do not have to pay a monthly fee for it, whereas Shopify has monthly fees ranging from $29 to $299, whereas WooCommerce has no charges and no monthly fees, which means that once your WooCommerce shop is fully set up and functioning, you will not lose any money, even if you do not make any sales. Even if you deactivate your store and intend to reactivate it later, you will still be charged $9 per month to keep the online store you created, which will be password protected.

CONCLUSION
We’ve unpacked all of the key differences between WooCommerce and Shopify, and you now have everything you need to select the best platform for you. Shopify and WooCommerce are both highly reliable platforms for e-commerce. It’s really up to the user to decide where they’ll feel most at ease and comfortable.