Shopify vs WooCommerce - Which is Better & Why

Want to start your own eCommerce business? Great! But how exactly shall you do it? Which eCommerce platform will work the best for your online shop? If you’ve done some research, you probably came across Shopify and WooCommerce. But which one of these two is better? Well, you’re in the right place because in this article that’s exactly what we’re going to discuss. We’ll also give you some Shopify and WooCommerce alternatives, in case you want to try something else too. So let’s waste none of your time and get straight to the:

Shopify vs WooCommerce Comparison

We’ll start our comparison with Shopify! Here are some of the advantages of Shopify over WooCommerce:

• Easy to use: Shopify comes with a hosting server and utmost security, which makes it easy even for a complete beginner to create an online shop. And the most important part is that you can build a brilliant store without using even a line of code. WooCommerce, on the other hand, is not that beginner-friendly. It requires at least some basic coding knowledge.
• Quick website building: Because Shopify is so easy to figure out, it also enables very quick website development. Overall, compared to WooCommerce, it helps you push live your website way faster!
• Great themes and design features: Shopify has an extensive library of beautiful themes which instantly make your website look more stylish. WooCommerce, although it does not offer that, still allows you to create a beautiful website as it offers more customization. However, if you don’t know coding much, you can’t really benefit from WooCommerce’s great customization freedom.

Now let’s move on to WooCommerce, and understand why it is such a popular choice among eCommerce owners:

• Integration and plugins: WooCommerce offers more than 55,000 plugins in its plugin directory. This is mainly because it is an open-source platform with thousands of supporters and developers in its community, many of which actively contribute to the platform. Shopify really cannot compete with WooCommerce here!
• SEO optimization: Every website owner wants its website to rank high on SERPs. Who doesn’t want to see its eCommerce on the first page of Google search results, right? Well, for that your website needs to be SEO optimized. And that’s where WooCommerce is such a great choice! The platform is code-optimized for the SEO and has a bunch of SEO plugins to make your website even more SEO-friendly.
• Pricing plans: Shopify is way too costly, especially if you’re just starting out. WooCommerce, on the other hand, offers decent pricing plans which are convenient for eCommerce businesses of any stage. First of all, it is easy to install, and most of its extensions have reasonable prices, meaning that you can build a good functioning web store with low cost.

Quick Summary

If you have no knowledge of coding, but still want to build a quick and beautiful website on your own, go with Shopify. If you do have a basic coding knowledge and are looking for a more customizable, SEO-friendly and affordable solution, WooCommerce is a better choice.

Some Shopify and WooCommerce Alternatives

What if you don’t like either of these platforms? No worries! There are a lot of other eCommerce platforms out there that can work well for your business. Here are some of the best alternatives:

• Wix
• Magento 
• BigCommerce

What if you are already using one of the platforms and want to transfer to the other? Here’s how to do it:

Shopify WooCommerce Migration

Here are some of the ways you can go with Shopify to WooCommerce migration.

• Do it manually
• Hire an expert
• Try the Cart2Cart extension

If you want to transfer WooCommerce to Shopify, you really can do it on your own by:

• Exporting all your data from WooCommerce
• Importing your data to Shopify
• Reviewing all the data you’ve imported

And that’s it! For a more detailed guide, make sure you check this blog post.

We hope our blog post will help you choose between Shopify and WooCommerce! Let us know which platform eventually worked the best for you and why.

Updated: 20 January, 2023