Shopify vs WooCommerce: Which Should You Build Your Store On?

Choose ShopifyShopifyStore platformsShopify is a hosted ecommerce platform for building and running an online store, with checkout, payments and an app store for add-ons. Paid from $39/mo, 3-day trial.Click for Scout's full analysis if you want a hosted store where checkout, hosting and updates are handled for you for a fixed monthly fee. Choose WooCommerceWooCommerceStore platformsWooCommerce is a free, open-source ecommerce plugin that turns a WordPress site into an online store. Free plan, paid from $0/mo.Click for Scout's full analysis if you already run WordPress or want to own and control your store's code and data, and you are comfortable paying for hosting and looking after the site yourself.

Quick comparison

The real difference: rented vs owned

ShopifyShopifyStore platformsShopify is a hosted ecommerce platform for building and running an online store, with checkout, payments and an app store for add-ons. Paid from $39/mo, 3-day trial.Click for Scout's full analysis is a subscription. You pay a monthly plan fee, Shopify hosts the store, runs checkout and keeps the software up to date. You add features with apps from the Shopify App Store.

WooCommerceWooCommerceStore platformsWooCommerce is a free, open-source ecommerce plugin that turns a WordPress site into an online store. Free plan, paid from $0/mo.Click for Scout's full analysis is software you install on a WordPress site. WooCommerce's pricing page describes it as "Free, with no monthly subscription" with a $0 platform fee. The trade is that you need somewhere to host it, you pick and pay for extensions one by one, and you are responsible for keeping WordPress, WooCommerce and the extensions working together.

Neither is cheaper in every case. Shopify's costs are easier to predict. WooCommerce's costs depend almost entirely on the hosting and extensions you choose.

Shopify

Pricing. From Shopify's pricing page (US prices, checked November 2026):

• Basic: $39/month, or $29/month billed yearly. Online card rate 2.9% + 30¢. No additional staff accounts.
• Grow: $105/month, or $79/month billed yearly. Online card rate 2.7% + 30¢. 5 additional staff accounts.
• Advanced: $399/month, or $299/month billed yearly. Online card rate 2.5% + 30¢. 15 additional staff accounts.
• Plus: from $2,300/month. Online card rate 2.25% + 30¢. Unlimited staff accounts and up to 200 inventory locations.

Basic, Grow and Advanced all include 10 inventory locations. In-person card rates run from 2.6% + 10¢ on Basic to 2.3% + 10¢ on Plus.

The third-party payment fee. If you take payments through a provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify charges an extra fee on each sale: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. This is the line most new store owners miss. If you plan to use another processor, budget for it or check whether Shopify Payments is available in your country.

Trial. Shopify's pricing page offers 3 days free, then $1/month for 3 months, and its FAQ says the trial does not need a credit card.

Good fit if: you want to launch quickly, do not want to manage servers, plugins or security updates, and are happy to pay a monthly fee for that. Apps cover most extra needs.

Watch out for: there is no free plan, app subscriptions add to the monthly bill, and the third-party payment fee applies if you do not use Shopify Payments.

WooCommerce

Pricing. WooCommerce's own pricing page lays out the costs this way:

• Software: "Free, with no monthly subscription," with a $0 platform fee and a 0% revenue share. Hosting, extensions and payment fees are separate.
• Hosting: "$25 – $350/month for most stores, but scales with traffic and performance needs."
• Extensions: "$29 – $299/year per extension," bought one at a time.
• Payments: about 2.50–2.90% + 30¢ per transaction with WooPayments. WooCommerce says WooPayments has no monthly fee, and other processors carry only their own processing fees.

WooCommerce's pricing page does not list theme or domain costs, so we have not included them.

Features. WooCommerce lists unlimited product variants, WooPayments for cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and buy-now-pay-later, in-person sales with Tap to Pay and card readers, and a marketplace of paid extensions such as WooCommerce Subscriptions.

Good fit if: your business already runs on WordPress, you want content and store in one place, or you want full control over your code, data and hosting choices. It also suits stores with someone technical on hand, in-house or hired.

Watch out for: the "free" label covers the software only. Hosting is a monthly cost that rises with traffic, each extension renews yearly, and you are responsible for updates, compatibility between plugins, and backups. If nobody on your team wants that job, the savings can disappear into developer time.

What it costs at two store sizes

These examples use only the prices each company publishes. They leave out apps, themes and extras unless stated.

Small store: $5,000 a month in online sales, 100 orders of $50, paid by card.

• ShopifyShopifyStore platformsShopify is a hosted ecommerce platform for building and running an online store, with checkout, payments and an app store for add-ons. Paid from $39/mo, 3-day trial.Click for Scout's full analysis Basic, billed monthly: $39 plan fee. Card processing at 2.9% + 30¢ is $145 + $30 = $175. Total: about $214/month before apps.
• WooCommerceWooCommerceStore platformsWooCommerce is a free, open-source ecommerce plugin that turns a WordPress site into an online store. Free plan, paid from $0/mo.Click for Scout's full analysis with WooPayments: hosting $25–$350 (WooCommerce's range for most stores). Processing at 2.5–2.9% + 30¢ is $155–$175. Total: roughly $180–$525/month before extensions. Each extension adds $29–$299 per year.

Growing store: $40,000 a month in online sales, 800 orders of $50.

• ShopifyShopifyStore platformsShopify is a hosted ecommerce platform for building and running an online store, with checkout, payments and an app store for add-ons. Paid from $39/mo, 3-day trial.Click for Scout's full analysis Grow, billed monthly: $105 plan fee. Card processing at 2.7% + 30¢ is $1,080 + $240 = $1,320. Total: about $1,425/month before apps. On Basic, processing alone would be $1,160 + $240 = $1,400, plus $39, so Grow's lower card rate roughly pays for itself at this volume.
• WooCommerceWooCommerceStore platformsWooCommerce is a free, open-source ecommerce plugin that turns a WordPress site into an online store. Free plan, paid from $0/mo.Click for Scout's full analysis with WooPayments: processing at 2.5–2.9% + 30¢ is $1,240–$1,400. Add hosting, which WooCommerce says scales with traffic. Total: roughly $1,265–$1,750/month before extensions.

At both sizes, card processing is the biggest line, not the plan fee. The platform fee is the smaller part of the decision; time spent running the store matters more.

Which one should you choose?

• Choose ShopifyShopifyStore platformsShopify is a hosted ecommerce platform for building and running an online store, with checkout, payments and an app store for add-ons. Paid from $39/mo, 3-day trial.Click for Scout's full analysis if you want the store hosted and maintained for you, you are launching your first store, or you sell mainly through ads and need checkout to just work.
• Choose WooCommerceWooCommerceStore platformsWooCommerce is a free, open-source ecommerce plugin that turns a WordPress site into an online store. Free plan, paid from $0/mo.Click for Scout's full analysis if you already have a WordPress site with traffic, you want content and store on one site, or you need control that a hosted platform does not give you.
• Choose Shopify if nobody on your team wants to handle plugin updates, hosting or backups.
• Choose WooCommerce if you have technical help and want to avoid a platform fee on sales through other payment providers.

Comparing other options too? See our roundup of the best ecommerce platform for small business, and if you settle on Shopify, our guide to Shopify page builders.

Common questions

Is WooCommerce really free? The WooCommerce software is free, with no monthly subscription and a $0 platform fee. WooCommerce's own pricing page says most stores pay $25–$350 a month for hosting and $29–$299 a year for each paid extension, plus payment processing.

Does Shopify charge transaction fees? If you use Shopify Payments you pay its card rates (2.9% + 30¢ online on Basic, lower on higher plans). If you use a different payment provider, Shopify adds a fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus.

Which is cheaper for a small store? It depends on your hosting. At the low end of WooCommerce's hosting range, a small WooCommerce store can cost less per month than Shopify Basic. At the higher end, or once you add several yearly extensions, Shopify can be cheaper. Card processing costs are similar on both.

Can I try Shopify before paying? Yes. Shopify offers 3 days free, then $1 a month for 3 months, and says no credit card is needed to start the trial.

Do I need WordPress to use WooCommerce? Yes. WooCommerce is a plugin that turns a WordPress site into an online store, so you need a WordPress site on hosting you choose.

How we put this together

We did not test either platform hands-on. Prices and features come from Shopify's pricing page and WooCommerce's own pricing and WooPayments pages, read in November 2026, plus our verified tool fact sheets checked on November 2, 2026. The cost examples use only those published prices; we did not estimate theme, domain or app costs. Prices change and vary by country, so confirm the numbers for your region before you sign up.