WooCommerce vs. Shopify

Which E-Commerce Solution Is Right For You?

Not all e-commerce businesses are the same and choosing the right e-commerce solution is important. To some, the choice is abundantly clear. To most, the battle between the two most popular e-commerce solutions continues. WooCommerce and Shopify offer user-friendly tools and integrations for shop owners looking to build their online presence. However, one option remains the clear winner. But, which will it be and why?

Today, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of WooCommerce versus Shopify. By the end, you’ll understand the key differences between the two e-commerce solutions and hopefully have a clear answer on which option will provide you with the features and functionality you need.

Before choosing an e-commerce solution, start by asking yourself the following questions:

• Does your shop have a brick-and-mortar location?
• Does your business provide dropshipping solutions?
• Have you already chosen your payment processor?
• Will you accept all major credit and debit cards as payment methods?
• Are you a direct-to-consumer e-commerce store?
• Will you offer shippable products, digital products, or both to your customers?
• Will you offer subscription options to your customers?
• Which shipping provider will you use?
• Will you offer pay-as-you-go options or payment plans to your customers?
• Will you provide an Account Management Portal for your customers to track orders and update payment methods?

Now that you’ve answered the fundamental questions any e-commerce business owner should be able to answer, it’s time to learn more about WooCommerce and Shopify.

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is an open-source e-commerce platform and plugin for WordPress that allows users to create and manage online stores.

Number of active stores using WooCommerce

WooCommerce powers over five million active storefronts globally. That’s slightly more than Shopify’s 4.6 million active subscribers. Both platforms are growing year-over-year with WooCommerce still taking the reigns.

WooCommerce TrustPilot ratings and reviews

WooCommerce’s TrustScore on the popular review platform TrustPilot is 1.9 out of 5 with 99 total customer reviews. The chief complaint among its users is a lack of customer service and poor response times.

Advantages over Shopify

Ability to Customize

WooCommerce is more customizable than Shopify. It allows users to edit the source code, integrate with any tools, and fully own the source code, plugin licenses, and designs.

Better SEO

WooCommerce is built on WordPress, the most popular content management system and blogging platform that powers over 30% of the world’s websites. As a result, it has better native SEO features and more robust SEO capabilities than Shopify.

Online Scalability

WooCommerce is designed to scale with your business, while Shopify may become more expensive as you grow. Additionally, you’ll need to upgrade your plan on Shopify to allow for proper server scaling and to account for spikes in traffic, which WooCommerce is automatically scaled with no additional configuration required.

Lower Overall Costs

WooCommerce is a free and open-source platform and plugin for WordPress, and WordPress itself is free. So, the only thing you can expect to pay for with WooCommerce is your domain registration and web hosting.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a cloud-based e-commerce platform that allows Shop owners to sell products online and in person.

Number of active shops using Shopify

Shopify powers over 4.6 million e-commerce stores globally, slightly less than WooCommerce’s current market share, but growing year-over-year.

Shopify TrustPilot ratings and reviews

Shopify’s TrustScore on the popular review platform TrustPilot is 1.4 out of 5. This is slightly lower than WooCommerce’s TrustScore of 1.9. Customer complaints relate to poor customer service, slow response times, and issues regarding site integrations.

Advantages over WooCommerce

Ease-of-Use

Shopify has a very easy-to-use interface. Non-technical shop owners will find that Shopify provides a seamless sign-up and website creation experience. The barrier-to-entry is low compared to WooCommerce. To create a website, Shopify users can choose between an existing template or hire a developer to build a custom template. Apps can be added to any site to create more robust functionality, though the monthly price can increase quickly if you’re not careful.

Built-In Shipping Options

Shopify offers built-in shipping features to make it easy for users to ship products to customers. While WooCommerce’s shipping options are flexible, they require a bit more technical expertise to set up. With Shopify, customers can ship products using dynamic shipping which calculates live shipping rates and discounts in real-time. WooCommerce requires one or more extensions to accomplish the same out-of-box convenience.

Integrated POS and Inventory Management

Shopify’s standout feature is its seamless integration with the Shopify POS Kit making inventory management and payment processing seamless between your e-commerce store and retail locations. WooCommerce doesn’t offer this option and while a solution can be created, it requires developer knowledge.

Built-Security

As a closed platform, Shopify prioritizes compliance with frameworks like PCI, SOC 1, 2, 3, and GDPR, while WooCommerce lacks out-of-the-box compliance. However, WordPress can easily be as secure as Shopify if properly configured.

Winner

So, which is the better choice: WooCommerce or Shopify?

If you have physical storefronts, Shopify may be the better option. Managing inventory between your e-commerce store and in-person location is seamless with Shopify’s POS kit. Shopify’s barrier to entry is also lower for newbies and non-technical shop owners.

If website customization and online scalability are important to you, WooCommerce may be the better option. WooCommerce can be customized to accommodate any POS or existing inventory management system. With WooCommerce, site owners maintain full control of source code and IP whereas Shopify is difficult to break away from.

Both WooCommerce and Shopify allow for simple product management. Analytics and metrics are available out-of-the-box on both platforms.