If you are looking to sell online, which platform is best for you? Shopify and WooCommerce are both E-Commerce giants. The live sites on Shopify are around 820,702 in number. With 70,393,293 downloads, WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce platform for building an online store.
Both platforms power a large number of businesses. The selection between the two platforms is not an easy choice to make. However, there are certain points that you can take into consideration while making your decision.
As both platforms are equally good so this factor or comparison does not contribute much at the time of selection and will depend on your personal preferences.
Shopify is an all-in-one package where you can build and publish your online store, whereas WooCommerce is a plugin that works with your WordPress website to convert it to an online store. You can also create WooCommerce Cloud Store on third party e-commerce platforms like Shopify.
Shopify is a hosted E-Commerce solution with many advantages making it easy for you to create an online store without worrying about maintenance, updates and security measures. 24/7 support is definitely worth considering. It provides easy integration to multiple social channels.
WooCommerce is an open source E-Commerce plugin built to leverage the most powerful Content Management System (CMS) to use it as an online store and can be heavily customized to your needs.
For both platforms you would need subject matter tech and design team to design and develop your online E-Commerce platform. And to help you decide, here is a detailed WooCommerce and Shopify comparison on some key factors:
- Initial Cost
Shopify has a fixed pricing ranging from $29 to $299 per month depending on the features and there is no hidden charges. On the other hand, WooCommerce is free initially and you will incur a cost at the time of hosting, domain purchase, and security installation. In both options, third-party tools and add-ons pricing is not included in the initial cost that you will need to uplift and customize your store.
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Ease of Use & Time to Build
There is initial round of hassle involved in setting up WooCommerce platform, it makes it little complicated as compared to Shopify which is much easier to get started.
Being a hosted platform, Shopify is easier to use with a drag and drop interface. You will not need to install and update the software and it helps you manage the store.
With WooCommerce, you will need to do the work yourself. It is a far more technical platform which requires a certain amount of knowledge to use and comes with a learning curve.
You don’t need to know coding with Shopify and being easy means less time consuming as compared to WooCommerce. -
Design, Themes & Scalability
Both WooCommerce and Shopify provides a professional look and feel for your online store. WooCommerce gives you unlimited number of design and customization options, whereas Shopify has a limited number of themes.
Shopify limits your control and you can only use the design and development tools provided by Shopify and has complete access over your data. However, WooCommerce is highly flexible and you have complete control over your data. Any level of customization can be achieved with WooCommerce. It has huge pool of themes available which can be customized as per your needs. It offers more style and color to your outlook of the ecommerce platform.Shopify is scalable as your business grows online and easily handle the growth without worrying you. You just to upgrade your Shopify plans. WooCommerce has plenty of options to manage the growth and it will be your responsibility. You will have full control over the resources in WooCommerce.
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Security
As Shopify is a hosted platform, it comes with a built-in security whereas WooCommerce being a self-hosted platform requires the security to be handled by you or your hosting provider.
Shopify covers all security measures for you whereas in WooCommerce it all lies in your hands. -
Payment Methods
WooCommerce and Shopify both offer more than 100 payment gateway choices (either built-in or through integration). However, Shopify charges 2% fee per transaction when you use a third-party gateway unless you subscribe to an advanced plan or use Shopify own payment option. WooCommerce doesn’t charge any fee on the transactions and only the charges from the payment gateway providers will apply. -
SEO
Both are robust platforms when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and make sure your products reach to the right audience. They provide a wide range of apps and integrations to boost the store. -
Customer Support
There is always help on hand with Shopify as it provides 24/7 support over phone, live chat, and email. WooCommerce does not provide phone support and you will have to find the solutions to your problems on your own with the available information.
WooCommerce offers a 30-day money-back guarantee while Shopify offers a free trial. It is the matter of your choice, the both platforms are equally good and provide everything that one is looking for an online business to be a success.
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