Shopify vs WooCommerce in 2026: What a Growing Store Really Pays, and Who Maintains It

Key takeaways

• Choose Shopify when you want the store to run itself. Hosting, checkout, security and the platform updates are included, so your team sells instead of maintaining software.
• Choose WooCommerce when the store lives inside a WordPress site, or you want control. You own the files and the data and pick your own host and payment provider. In return, you maintain the stack or pay someone to.
• Both makers publish a cost model that favours themselves. Shopify's comparison page says its total cost of ownership is 36% better, based on a study it commissioned. WooCommerce's page shows its own scenarios coming out cheaper. Treat both as marketing, and build your own sheet.
• Shopify's fees come in layers. On 16 October 2026 the plans are $19, $49 and $299 a month on yearly billing, with an extra 2%, 1% or 0.6% on sales taken through an outside payment provider, depending on the plan.
• WooCommerce is free software, not a free store. You still pay for hosting, a domain, a theme, extensions, payment fees and the person who updates it.
• The question that settles most cases is who maintains it. If nobody will, choose Shopify.

A note before you read: we build both

Amariq designs and builds online stores. We work on Shopify and on WordPress, and our ecommerce development service chooses the platform by catalogue size, integrations and who runs the store. We have a commercial interest in building on either, so weigh this as a studio's view. Prices come from each maker's own pages on the date shown, and every claim from a seller is named as one.

What each one is

Shopify is a hosted commerce platform. You pay a monthly plan, and it includes hosting, checkout, a theme editor, a free SSL certificate and an app store. Shopify says there are no setup fees on any plan, and that card processing fees depend on your plan.

WooCommerce is a free, open-source plugin that adds a shop to a WordPress site. You choose a host, install WordPress and WooCommerce, pick a theme and add extensions for what you need. Shopify's comparison page describes it as a plugin, and WooCommerce's page calls it open source with full control over your data.

Which one fits your situation

What it costs, from the makers' own pages

Prices were read on 16 October 2026 in US dollars.

Shopify also lists an introductory offer on its pricing page: a 3-day free trial, then $1 a month for the first 3 months on most plans. Check whether it applies to your country before you plan around it.

The fee layer

Shopify's pricing page lists a fee on sales taken through a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. On $100,000 of yearly sales through an outside provider, that is $2,000 on Basic, $1,000 on Grow, $600 on Advanced and $200 on Plus. Using Shopify Payments avoids that fee, and its card rates depend on your plan and your country.

WooCommerce adds no platform fee of its own. WooPayments says there is no setup cost or monthly fee. The WooCommerce comparison page uses 2.9% plus $0.30 per card payment for WooPayments, while its fees page lists different card rates in different regional tables, so read the table for your country. If you use PayPal or Stripe, their own rates apply on both platforms.

The claims on both sides

Independent coverage is also dated. Forbes Advisor's comparison, dated 21 April 2026, describes Shopify's base plan as $39 a month, while Shopify's pricing page shows $25 a month, or $19 on yearly billing, for Basic today. Read the maker's page the day you decide.

A cost sheet to fill in yourself

Both makers' models change with the store, so write down your own. Put a number against each line for the next 24 months:

When both columns are full, compare the two-year totals and the hours your team will spend. A lower monthly bill that needs ten hours a month from you is not cheaper.

Maintenance, in plain terms

On Shopify, the platform updates itself, and your upkeep is mostly products, content and apps. A bloated app list slows a store down, so we audit apps and clean up scripts as part of a Shopify build.

On WooCommerce, you maintain WordPress, WooCommerce, the theme and each extension, plus the PHP version on the server. Each update is small, but a missed one is how stores get hacked or break at checkout. If nobody owns that job, choose Shopify, or choose WooCommerce and pay for care, which our website maintenance cost guide shows studios price from about $50 to $900 a month. Our guide to the signs a website needs a redesign shows how to check a site's PHP version and update health.

Where each one wins

Shopify wins on speed to launch, fewer moving parts, a managed checkout, built-in point of sale and a theme editor your team can use. Our Shopify builds use Online Store 2.0 sections, so headlines, images and product blocks stay editable by your team after handover, and a theme build typically takes three to seven weeks from an approved design.

WooCommerce wins on control, ownership of data, custom product logic, no platform fee and living inside a WordPress content site. If your business is a blog or content brand that also sells, it keeps everything in one place. Shopify also has a plugin to sell on a WordPress site, which is worth knowing if you want Shopify's checkout inside your existing site.

Neither wins on the offer. A store with weak product pages and slow delivery will not sell better on a different platform. Our guide to landing page structure covers the page-level work.

If you decide to move

Moving a store means moving products, customers, orders and every URL that ranks. Export the catalogue, rebuild the product pages, redirect old URLs to the new ones and test checkout, tax and shipping end to end before you switch the domain. Our Webflow migration page explains the redirect map approach we use on any platform change, and the Wix vs Webflow guide shows the same steps for another source platform.

How we choose with a client

At Amariq, the first call is about your catalogue, your integrations and who will run the store. We recommend a platform from that, and an ecommerce build usually takes five to ten weeks, with milestones and a delivery date agreed before work starts. If the site is not mainly a shop, our Webflow vs WordPress guide covers the wider platform choice, and our Shopify development and WordPress development pages describe the builds. If you choose WordPress, Elementor vs Divi vs a custom theme covers the editing layer.

Frequently asked questions

Is Shopify or WooCommerce better?

Neither is better for every store. Shopify is better when you want hosting, checkout and updates managed for you. WooCommerce is better when the shop lives inside a WordPress site, or you want control over hosting and data. Decide using who maintains the store and what it must do.

Is WooCommerce really free?

The plugin is free. A working store still needs hosting, a domain, a theme, extensions, payment processing and someone to apply updates. WooPayments adds no setup cost or monthly fee, and its card rates depend on your country. Count all of it, not just the plugin.

How much does Shopify take from a $100 sale?

The plan fee is separate from the sale. On each sale you pay a card processing rate set by your plan and country, plus an extra 2%, 1%, 0.6% or 0.2% only if you use an outside payment provider on Basic, Grow, Advanced or Plus. On $100, that outside-provider fee is $2 on Basic.

Which is cheaper for a small store?

It depends on the stack. Shopify Basic is $19 a month on yearly billing and includes hosting. WooCommerce is free software but needs hosting and the rest. Compare two-year totals and the hours your team spends, using the cost sheet above.

Which is better for SEO?

Both can rank. WooCommerce sits inside WordPress, which has mature SEO tooling and content features, and Shopify gives clean product and collection pages with a built-in blog. Rankings come from product content, links, speed and clean URLs, so a weak store on either platform will not rank.

Can I move from WooCommerce to Shopify, or the other way?

Yes. Export products and customers, rebuild the pages on the new platform, keep URLs where you can, redirect the ones that change and test checkout before you switch the domain. Compare Search Console before and after.

Which is better for a store with a physical shop?

Shopify lists POS Pro at $89 a month per location, which puts in-person and online sales in one system. WooCommerce can take in-person payments through WooPayments, and its fees page lists in-person card rates and a monthly fee per card reader. Compare the full cost for your setup.

Do I need a developer for either?

Shopify can be run by a non-technical team after a good build, with a handover of the theme editor. WooCommerce usually needs developer help for setup and updates. Both need a developer for custom features.

What if my store is mostly content with a few products?

Look at WooCommerce on WordPress, or a Webflow site with ecommerce, depending on who edits and how large the catalogue is. Our Webflow vs WordPress guide covers the content-site side of that decision.