Shopify vs WooCommerce: which one your store should run on.
An honest comparison on cost, speed, security, upkeep and what you own, with sources, and when staying on WooCommerce is the right call. Prices as of October 2026, in US dollars.
The short answer
If you sell products and want the store to run without you maintaining it, Shopify. If the store is one part of a content-heavy WordPress site, needs control down to the code, or sells very little, WooCommerce can be the better call.
What each costs
| Shopify | WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | $39, $105 or $399 a month (Basic, Grow, Advanced); $29, $89 or $359 paid yearly | Free plugin |
| Hosting and security | Included | Yours; managed WooCommerce hosting from about $21 a month (Pressable) |
| Extensions | Apps, priced by each app | Yearly: Subscriptions $279, Bookings $249, Product Add-Ons $79 |
| Card payments | 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, less on higher plans; 0.2–2% extra on another payment provider | WooPayments 2.9% + 30¢; no platform fee on any provider |
Sources: Shopify pricing, Pressable, WooCommerce Subscriptions, Bookings, Product Add-Ons, WooPayments fees.
Speed
In September 2026, 76.2% of Shopify sites passed all three of Google’s Core Web Vitals on mobile, against 39.3% of WooCommerce sites. The gap is in loading: 87.7% of Shopify sites pass on largest paint against 43.5% of WooCommerce sites. WooCommerce sites do a little better on responsiveness, 91.4% against 86.7% (HTTP Archive).
Those are averages across hundreds of thousands of sites. Your store’s speed comes down to its theme and its apps, on either platform.
Security and upkeep
- Shopify is certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant, so stores on it are compliant by default, and it reports 99.9% uptime across its major services over the last 90 days, not counting apps and themes (Shopify).
- WooCommerce leaves PCI compliance to the store owner (WooCommerce), along with hosting, updates and backups. The WordPress ecosystem logged 11,334 new vulnerabilities in 2025, 91% of them in plugins (Patchstack).
What you own
On WooCommerce you own the site, the code and the data outright, and it’s open source. On Shopify you own your data and your theme’s code, and you can export your products, customers and orders, but the platform underneath is Shopify’s.
Where WooCommerce wins
- A store that’s one part of a larger WordPress site, with content that runs the business.
- Control down to the code, including checkout, without a Plus plan.
- No platform fee on whichever payment provider you choose.
- The lowest running cost for a store that sells very little.
What you give up moving to Shopify
- Product options: 3 options and 2,048 variants a product (Shopify).
- Customer passwords: they can’t be moved, so customers set new ones or sign in with a code (Shopify).
- Your URLs: products and collections live at fixed paths, so old addresses need redirects (Shopify).
- Checkout: customizing the checkout steps needs Shopify Plus (Shopify).
If you’re moving
We move WooCommerce stores to Shopify with a new theme, as one job: every URL redirected, the records counted, and the store checked before you switch. Book a call, and we’ll build a preview of your store on Shopify before it.
FAQ. Straight answers.
Is Shopify cheaper than WooCommerce?
Not always. WooCommerce’s plugin is free, but hosting, a theme and the extensions a store needs are paid every year, and security and updates are yours. Shopify’s plan covers hosting, security and checkout. Add up what your store actually uses on each.
Is Shopify faster than WooCommerce?
On average, yes: in September 2026, 76% of Shopify sites passed Google’s Core Web Vitals on mobile against 39% of WooCommerce sites (HTTP Archive). Your own store’s speed still comes down to its theme and apps.
Can I keep my URLs on Shopify?
Not all of them. Shopify fixes the /products/ and /collections/ paths, so other addresses get a 301 redirect each to the new one. Shopify allows up to 100,000 redirects.
Is WooCommerce secure if I keep it updated?
Updates matter most, because nearly all WordPress vulnerabilities are in plugins and themes, not the core. On WooCommerce, keeping them updated and staying PCI compliant are your job.