Shopify vs. WooCommerce: Which One is Best in 2020?
Written By: ShaneWebGuy on June 23, 2020
If you are launching an eCommerce website and want to sell physical products or digital products, you need a solid game plan and an e-commerce solution that works as hard as you.
Today we are going to compare two popular e-commerce solutions that have been in the market since the early 2000s – Shopify and WooCommerce.
What Makes a Good eCommerce Platform?
Shopify
WooCommerce
Cost Comparison Between WooCommerce & Shopify
User-Friendliness Between WooCommerce & Shopify
Versatile Payment Solutions Between WooCommerce & Shopify
Comprehensive Integration Between WooCommerce & Shopify
Scalability Between WooCommerce & Shopify
Summary
What Makes a Good eCommerce Platform?
Several determinants can help you in settling down with any e-commerce solution:
Cost – This refers to the initial cost needed to establish your e-commerce store for the first time. This also applies to the cost of migrating to another solution or platform if you already have an existing e-commerce platform but would like to try another solution because you are not getting the results that you need.
User-Friendliness – The e-commerce solution should be easy to understand and use, even if the user has no prior experience with similar tech.
Versatile Payment Solutions – The platform should accept multiple types of payments such as Stripe, Paypal, bitcoin, and the like.
Comprehensive Integration – The user should be able to integrate the platform with third-party tools like plug-ins to make the website more functional and to ensure that the user can expand his business the way he wants.
Scalability – The eCommerce platform/solution should be able to scale as the business does.
Shopify
Shopify is an eCommerce platform that provides a host of features and benefits for old-timers and beginners alike. To date, the platform boasts 218 million registered buyers from more than 170 countries, and it enjoys an agglomerated 40+ million visits in the last year alone. 81% of Shopify traffic comes from a combination of mobile devices, and the average conversion rate for this platform is 1.5%. We should probably also mention here that much of Shopify’s traffic is not from paid campaigns, but from good old organic traffic (93%).
WooCommerce
While WooCommerce can help you establish an eCommerce website, it is not identical to Shopify. WooCommerce is a WordPress plug-in that helps transform a regular WordPress website into a fully-functioning eCommerce website. The company WooCommerce made its first appearance in 2011 and was eventually acquired by WordPress’ mother company.
WooCommerce holds the distinction of powering almost the majority of all eCommerce websites in the United States and Canada. The plug-in has an estimated 27 million downloads as of this writing and several million active users. In terms of breadth, WooCommerce has an advantage over Shopify.
Cost Comparison Between WooCommerce & Shopify
It’s easy to start a website on Shopify. Their Basic Shopify plan costs $13/month, while standard Shopify is $54/month. Advanced Shopify will cost you a cool $107/month. With Advanced Shopify, you gain access to an advanced report builder (for more extensive e-commerce operations) and third-party calculated shipping rates.
Transaction fees are also lowest with Advanced Shopify at 0.5% per sale. With the previous tier, the transaction fees are at 1.0%, with the Basic Shopify Plan at 2.0%. You also get SSL, a domain name (or you can connect your own) plus web hosting from Shopify.
WooCommerce is a plug-in, so it doesn’t come with any hosting, SSL, or a domain name. You will have to acquire these on your own. Web hosting typically costs $7.99+ per month, while an SSL Certificate might cost you around $69.99. The cost of domain names varies per company, but we’re sure you can get one for about $14/month.
If you don’t want to be bothered by individually acquiring these pre-requisites for a viable eCommerce website, you can always sign up for a WordPress plus WooCommerce plan to get a package. Bluehost is officially tied with WordPress, and they offer various plans for new customers. As of this writing, you can get hosting, SSL, and a domain name for your eCommerce website for about $7.
Winner: Tie. There are cost-effective options for both sides.
User-Friendliness Between WooCommerce & Shopify
Shopify was designed for people who don’t know anything about web design or web development. It is an integrated e-commerce solution that takes care of everything for you.
Everything is guided from start to finish – and this would justify the monthly cost of using the integrated solution. Shopify will walk you through each phase of building your eCommerce platform, and you can launch your new website any time you like.
The downside of using a platform like Shopify is it will limit what you can do with your website. Since the company has preconfigured what users may or may not need on their website, you are faced with a fixed number of options each time you log in.
In contrast, WooCommerce is not an integrated eCommerce platform. That means the rest of your website must be manually developed, secured, and backed up if something happens.
These tasks will be left to the web developer or the user (business owner) if he doesn’t have a web developer on the team. On the other hand, WooCommerce offers unique spaces for customization. There are over fifty thousand WordPress plug-ins available on the website, and each one can help to improve the page experience on your website.
If you are anxious about not knowing how to code manually, plug-ins like Beaver Builder are not free. Still, they will significantly improve the ease of use of WooCommerce and WordPress as you build your e-commerce platform from the ground up. Please take note that WooCommerce does have walkthroughs, but they are basic walkthroughs that do not compare to the intuitive drag and drop system that Shopify offers.
Winner: Shopify wins in terms of user-friendliness.
Versatile Payment Solutions Between WooCommerce & Shopify
By default, WooCommerce accepts Stripe and PayPal payments. You can expand the line-up of payment processors by adding more plug-ins to your WordPress website.
In contrast, Shopify offers Shopify Payments, Authorize.net, Amazon Payments, First Data, Stripe, and 2Checkout by default. In terms of versatility, Shopify trumps WooCommerce because it has long established a vast network of payment processors and merchant processors.
The downside of it all for using Shopify is they charge a percentage per transaction. This is not the same fee that merchant processors charge when you use a credit card or PayPal. You will have to figure in these additional costs when selling. WooCommerce does not charge extra fees, but the bank, card, and other payment processing charges still apply when you open up additional payment gateways.
If you have a merchant account from a dedicated payment processor, you will likely save a lot of money by using WooCommerce instead of Shopify. If you value a broader mix of payment options for your customers, then Shopify is more convenient.
Winner: Tie. Shopify is more convenient, but you are billed for each transaction separately. WooCommerce needs a manual set-up, but you will save more if you have a dedicated merchant account.
Comprehensive Integration Between WooCommerce & Shopify
No matter how beautiful your eCommerce website is, you will eventually need to integrate third-party add-ons to your site. Shopify has an App Store that has hundreds of free-to-access and paid applications to enhance your website.
The App Store is geared toward e-commerce, so the app ecosystem is healthy and focused. If you think of a feature that seems to be missing from the standard Shopify environment, you will probably find it in the App Store.
WooCommerce is a plug-in, much like all the other plug-ins used in WordPress. It is also open-source, which gives it an edge over privately developed Web software.
There are more add-ons and integrative elements available for WooCommerce than Shopify precisely because it came from the open-source community. You can hire a developer to create a plug-in that does exactly what you have in mind. Blueprint what you had in mind and discuss it with the developer. A skilled developer should understand how to bring the concept to life through a WordPress plug-in.
Winner: WooCommerce’s open-source origins provide an edge and access to many more possible integrations than what the Shopify App Store can ever offer.
Scalability Between WooCommerce & Shopify
In the beginning, there is a struggle to get an e-commerce store launched. When the sales start rolling in, and the operations become more complex than the first three months of selling, you start feeling the growing pains.
Shopify takes care of all the small details, so if you need more bandwidth, storage, and stuff like that, it will provide what you need – for a price. Your monthly costs will eventually increase as you scale your operations.
With WooCommerce, your basic WordPress plus WooCommerce plan will eventually run out of gas. This is a fact of life when eCommerce platforms gain popularity and become more prosperous.
Yes, you will also have to pay more for hosting and other features. However, you will have better control of the monthly costs, and you will only have to pay for additional features that you need, instead of paying for a preconfigured package.
Winner: WooCommerce provides more control to the user when you need to scale up.
Summary
The e-commerce solution best suited for your needs will depend on several factors. Understanding supported payment gateways, shipping requirements, and general check-out flow is an excellent place to start. I start any E-commerce project with an e-commerce questionnaire form to gather the needed requirements before starting. Contact me with any questions you have or if you would like a free quote.
