{"id":325,"date":"2021-10-14T14:44:56","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T14:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.falconstack.com\/?p=325"},"modified":"2021-10-30T09:19:05","modified_gmt":"2021-10-30T09:19:05","slug":"woocommerce-vs-shopify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/falconstack.com\/blog\/woocommerce-vs-shopify\/","title":{"rendered":"WooCommerce vs. Shopify: Which eCommerce Solution Should you Choose in 2022?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to WooCommerce<\/strong> vs Shopify<\/strong>! This article will look at the main differences between WordPress and Shopify’s popular platforms and help you make the best choice for your next eCommerce website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have built several websites with Shopify and WordPress (WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, etc.) in the past. Therefore, we will give you clear advice<\/strong> on which one you should go for based on your technical skills, budget, knowledge of eCommerce, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike some other articles, this content is not sponsored<\/strong>, and we are not using affiliate links<\/strong>; everything that follows is our take on the question. We hope this information will be valuable to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are Shopify and WordPress?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Shopify
Shopify.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shopify is a platform that was made for the sole purpose of creating eCommerce websites<\/strong>. Many say that one advantage of Shopify over WordPress is that you can create your online shop without any technical skills whatsoever. This is true but doesn’t necessarily mean that it does not apply to WordPress as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is possible to set up a WordPress website with a premium theme and minimal efforts<\/strong> (no coding required). It is worth noting that WordPress needs to be installed on a web server, and although it isn’t complicated, not everyone is comfortable doing this. Many hosting services, though, can handle this for you in one click.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shopify is a SaaS (Software as a Service), billed monthly until canceled, and just like most of these services, it includes hosting<\/strong> (on Shopify’s servers). There’s no extra server cost, and you don’t have to worry about any of it, which is good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WordPress.org\"
WordPress.org<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

WordPress, as said above, is a framework that you can download from wordpress.org and install on your own server. It is free, open-source<\/strong> and highly flexible<\/strong>. You can make any website with WordPress, period. WooCommerce is an eCommerce add-on that will turn your WordPress site into a full-featured online store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article will not cover the SaaS part of WordPress (wordpress.com) and will focus on the self-hosted option instead. The idea is to compare a full-featured SaaS platform like Shopify to a tailor-made eCommerce site<\/strong>, which WordPress is excellent for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who are Shopify’s and WordPress’ users?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Shopify is more straightforward<\/strong> to use than WordPress, and many of its users are people with little to no technical skills<\/strong>. Shopify’s approach to eCommerce websites is user-friendly and doesn’t require any coding; we could go a bit further here and say that it doesn’t require anything at all, apart from an idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WordPress store owners can be literally anyone, from beginners to advanced developers. WordPress is deeply adaptable, and there are many different ways you can use it when building a website. Note that for this precise reason, WordPress generally requires more configuration<\/strong> than Shopify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing to understand here is that regardless of their target audiences and actual users, Shopify and WordPress can both be used to quickly create eCommerce stores with no programming skills, as well as more complex and customized websites. You can hire developers to build themes for both platforms, leveraging their extensive APIs and communities. Note that there are considerably more developers building for WordPress<\/strong> than for Shopify and that the latter will generally cost you more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shopify currently empowers over 1.7 million merchants with online stores and has processed 5.1 billion dollars in sales in 2020 (this info is from Shopify).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WordPress WooCommerce (the most common way to sell products with WordPress) powers over 4.4 million websites worldwide. The WooCommerce plugin has been downloaded over 123 million times since its initial release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WordPress (all sites together) is used on an estimated 64 million websites, over 30% of all websites worldwide. This number makes it a safer bet with a huge community and a virtually unlimited number of resources online to help you achieve what you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although SaaS products can fail and disappear, Shopify is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms<\/strong> and is here to stay. Many businesses rely on this platform, and they are right. It has proven to be reliable and is a healthy company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much do Shopify and WooCommerce cost?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The cost of a Shopify store is usually seen as lower than a WordPress website. I personally don’t think it’s true. Both platforms have paid themes, plugins<\/strong>, and as mentioned earlier in this article, you can hire developers to make your own template with both. Please keep reading to find out why a Shopify store might cost you the same (or more) than its WordPress counterpart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shopify plans<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Here are the most common Shopify plans:<\/p>\n\n\n\n