So you want to open an ecommerce website? The next question is – where do you do that?
The two biggest platforms are Shopify and WordPress (with WooCommerce). But what is the difference? Is one more expensive than the other?
There are some major differences between how the platforms work.
Shopify is a dedicated ecommerce platform built for that purpose. They’re not meant to host regular websites (it wouldn’t make sense), and they provide a complete integrated platform for ecommerce.
WooCommerce is an ecommerce extension built on top of WordPress. WordPress is the worlds most used Content Management Platform and there are almost 50mio websites hosted on WordPress.
What do we recommend? This certainly depends on the purpose and content if your site. If your site is a pure shop-only website, you can use either. It might be quicker to get started with Shopify, but it also carries a monthly cost, which can add up if you need several modules. If you’re running a site with a mix of content and ecommerce, you absolutely need to do it on WooCommerce.
If you’re selling subscription services, it tends to get more complicated. Those are available on Shopify, but are somewhat expensive, and due to Shopify’s integrated platform, they are built externally. This means you are no longer using the Shopify platform entirely, and it can get a tad messy from our point of view. This can be solved easier on WooCommerce, but it does require additional modules, but has not extra transaction cost.
Shopify advantages:
- Integrated platform
- Great themes (costs between $100-$500)
- Good statistics
- Payment systems provided
WooCommerce advantages
- Complete control over everything
- Cheaper to get started
- If your website has both regular content and ecommerce you can do a lot more
So unfortunately the answer to “What do we recommend” is – it depends. As much as we hate that answer ourselves, it really does. We do lean towards shopify for ecommerce, since the backend is easier to manage for most non-tech people, and the whole interface feels a lot more streamlined, but it depends on what your goals are for your site.
