Are you new to eCommerce or an existing brand? With global eCommerce sales reaching $4.28 trillion, there’s never been a better time to launch an online store. Though, choosing the best platform for your eCommerce is not that easy.

There are plenty of other options available besides WooCommerce and Shopify, but that’s not what we’re here to discuss. WooCommerce and Shopify, these are two of the most popular and easy-to-use eCommerce platforms available on the market. Shopify powers over 1,000,000 online stores, while WooCommerce claims it’s the web’s most popular ecommerce platform. So now, who comes out on top?

Both have multiple strengths and can possibly be the perfect solution for your store. The best part is that you can make an online store with little or no help from a professional designer or developer. However, there are some significant differences between both platforms.

As a business owner, choosing the right platform that fits your business needs is very crucial for your business success. In this article, we’ll give you a brief overview of both the platforms and help you decide whether WooCommerce or Shopify is your best eCommerce partner.

Let’s get started!

What to look for when choosing an eCommerce Platform?

Many owners have difficulty choosing an eCommerce platform because they don’t know what to look for in one. There are a few things that you absolutely need to keep in mind when starting an online store. These key factors will help you decide which platform is better suited for your needs.

You want to ensure that your hard acquired customers stay with you, have a great customer experience, and continue to get value from your products.

1. • Budget - The first thing to consider when assessing each eCommerce platform is the price. Whether you’re just starting or an already established business moving online, you need to understand the full cost of each platform. With monthly fees, there are also processing costs or hosting costs associated. Go through all the details before choosing the one.
   • Ease of use - Depending on your skill level and time you have for maintaining your store, you need an eCommerce platform that not only allows you to easily create your online store but is also easy to maintain and manage.
   • Payment Methods - When you sell online, you need to add ways for your customers to pay. ECommerce platforms have multiple payment methods like PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Credit and Debit cards, etc. Different payment gateways come with different transaction fees. Make sure you check these first before choosing.
   • Third-party Integrations - You need a number of services and third party tools to integrate to grow your eCommerce business like email marketing tools and social media tools. It is important that the ecommerce platform you choose to integrate with these tools.
   • Scalability - Think of your eCommerce platform as your business partner that should be able to scale as your business grows rather than throw hurdles down your path. Understand how many customers the platform can handle simultaneously at peak traffic times.
   • Customizations - Looks matter the most in the website world. The user interface is an essential consideration for every ecommerce store since it creates the first and a very lasting impression on the visitors. Remember, choosing a great theme is about how much you can customize that theme.
   • Multilingual Support - The Internet has changed the way we do business. Having an ecommerce site that’s readable by thousands or even millions of online shoppers from around the world means you’re instantly increasing the number of visitors to your store.

WooCommerce vs Shopify

More than 1 Million merchants sell using the Shopify platform with almost 20% of the market. WooCommerce, meanwhile, powers 28% of all online stores on the internet and is used by nearly 94% of all WordPress eCommerce sites.

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is a customizable, open-source eCommerce platform built on WordPress. It makes creating and managing an online store simple, with reasonable levels of flexibility and several vital features such as inventory and tax management, secure payments and shipping integration.

What is Shopify?

Unlike WooCommerce, Shopify is not an open source platform but it offers a variety of features that caters to a range of different needs. Shopify is an all-in-one eCommerce solution that makes it easy for you to create an online store, accept payments, and manage your inventory, all from a single platform.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Comparison

The main difference between WooCommerce and Shopify is that Shopify is an all-in-one eCommerce solution designed to give you everything you need to get started online. On the contrary, if you’re looking for more customization options, WooCommerce is a self-hosted software for eCommerce. This means you have a lot of freedom to build everything into your store.

How fast can you build a store using WooCommerce and Shopify?

One most important consideration for many owners is how fast they want to build a store. So, in the battle of WooCommerce vs Shopify, which is easier to use?

WooCommerce requires you to do a lot more of the legwork for yourself. You need to manage your own content management system, which can be a little stressful if you’re not technically strong.

Whereas, in Shopify everything that you need already comes built-in and ready for you to access because it’s a hosted platform. And a hosted platform would take care of a lot of the technical aspects from your domain to SSL certificates to unlimited bandwidth. Plus all Shopify updates are automatic, so you'll receive the latest features immediately, without any hassle.

So basically, Shopify is a quicker and accessible option for beginners than WooCommerce. Though you can build a great store with WooCommerce but it will take more time in setup, hosting and more.

Does this make Shopify better than WooCommerce?

This purely depends on what type of experience you have with design and ecommerce. If you, or someone from your team have experience of these, then you can go ahead with WooCommerce, if not, then Shopify would be a better option.

But, If you want complete control over things like hosting, customization, security, and overall site maintenance, then WooCommerce is better. Also, WooCommerce has a larger community online and far more plugins and themes to choose from.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Conclusion

So now, which is the best platform for your business? The answer lies in the features you think you need for your eCommerce store. Once you have a clear idea of what you need and what’s best for your particular business model, your choice becomes obvious.

So, here are our recommendations based on what you expect from your eCommerce platform:

As you have probably concluded by now, Shopify and WooCommerce both are relatively similar when it comes to giving your eCommerce site what it needs, but they serve somewhat different roles in a similar marketplace.

We hope this article helped you compare the pros and cons of WooCommerce vs Shopify. What are your thoughts on the two platforms? What will you choose - WooCommerce or Shopify? We would love to hear from you and help you in any way possible.