Both are powerful solutions that can help you achieve your eCommerce goals, but despite having the same goal (to help you set up an online store), there are some pretty important differences between them.
Some people say Shopify is a much better solution, while others swear that WooCommerce is immeasurably more customizable and functional.
So which platform is better? So what do you define as “better”? There is no direct answer to this question because it all depends on what you want to get out of your store.
So let's take a closer look at WooCommerce and Shopify and see how they compare to each other.
WordPress Plugin vs Fully Hosted Software Comparison
Technically speaking, WooCommerce and Shopify are two completely different types of software. The former is a plugin that can turn any WordPress website into a full-fledged eCommerce store.
This means that you will need to set up a website and handle all the hosting and security yourself before you can open your store.
Shopify, on the other hand, is a fully hosted eCommerce platform list of malaysia cell phone numbers that handles all the technical aspects for you.
Which One Is More User Friendly?
This is probably the most important question for people looking for an easy to start eCommerce suite.
If you have no previous experience with website building, Shopify is definitely the platform to go for. In fact, you don’t need any coding knowledge at all to use Shopify to its full potential and it’s pretty easy to learn.
Plus, since Shopify handles all the technical work on its own, the time it takes to launch your new online store is much shorter.
While both Shopify and WooCommerce offer excellent support and come with numerous guides and tutorials, WooCommerce is much more demanding in terms of technical knowledge.
If you don't have this knowledge yet, it will definitely take some time to acquire it.
So Shopify definitely wins in terms of user-friendliness, and setting up a Shopify store is much faster than a WooCommerce-powered store.
Personalization
Both Shopify and WooCommerce allow you to completely customize the look of your store and take advantage of templates and offersheadless tradeabilities.
The difference lies in the quality and quantity of these templates. For example, Shopify only has around 100Premium Themesprices start at $140. There are also many free themes to choose from, but expect lower functionality and quality.
WooCommerce on the other hand can convert anythingWordPress templateturn it into a functional online store. But there are also countless WooCommerce-specific themes available in the thousands.
You can get these templates for as little as $29 or even completely free. Before purchasing a theme, remember that quantity does not always translate into quality.
You need to make sure that it comes with all the functionality you are looking for, otherwise you will have to spend a lot of time (or money) fixing broken features or adding missing ones.
But thanks to the open-source nature of WordPress (which WooCommerce runs on), you can edit these themes almost limitlessly.
If you know the code, you can do this pretty freely, or you can take advantage of the many drag-and-drop page builders developed for WordPress to do it in a simple interface. These editors work exactly as they sound: just click on the elements you need to change and make your edits.
So with WooCommerce you have much more control over every little element of your eCommerce store, which means you can get much more flexibility and optimization from it. At the same time, finding a high-quality template for Shopify will be much easier and you will spend much less time customizing it.
What do you want from your store: full control over the store or a quick and painless setup? With WooCommerce you can create a robust, highly functional website, while Shopify lets you start selling directly within hours,It definitely works for all types of businesses..
Plugin Compatibility
In terms of basic features available right out of the box (we’ll discuss these a bit later), Shopify is way ahead of WooCommerce. However, both platforms offer numerous add-ons (both free and paid) that can span all areas of your eCommerce store:houses,Sticky Floating Contact Form, AndCoupon X.
While the basic version of WooCommerce is a bit limited compared to Shopify, you can find over 50,000 different plugins for it across various marketplaces. Shopify alone has over a thousand.
So if you’re looking for powerful functionality out of the box, Shopify wins in this category, but you can expand your WooCommerce store even further thanks to the endless amount of custom add-ons.
Built-in Features
Now let's take a look at some of the features you can get from the base product.
By default, Shopify includes:abandoned shopping cart recoveryFunctionality that allows users to complete an unfinished order without having to start over. This is something you need to install a plugin for in order to use WooCommerce.
Shopify also integrates with a variety of sales platforms from the start:Amazon, Ebay, Instagram and Facebook. You can also connect it to other tools (for example,Google Sheetswith other programs)third party integration software.
However, with WooCommerce, you will need to pay an additional fee to integrate your store with Amazon, Ebay, and Instagram (Facebook is free).
When it comes to shipping, both platforms allow you to ship your products internationally for free, but Shopify still edges out WooCommerce thanks to its partnerships with different shipping carriers, including DHL Express, UPS, USPS, and Canada Post.
And finally, Shopify integrates with all the most popular social media platforms by default, while the stock version of WooCommerce only lets you advertise on Facebook for free — again, you’ll have to pay extra if you want to use other social media channels.
Payment options
Both Shopify and WooCommerce allow you to use over a hundred different payment gateways for transactions. But there’s a slight catch.
If you use any third-party gateways, Shopify charges an additional fee. This fee is 2% for each transaction and can be waived if you choose Shopify Payments, Shopify's own gateway.
However, WooCommerce does not charge any extra fees regardless of the payment gateway you choose.
Built-in Security
I mentioned earlier that since Shopify is a fully hosted platform, it comes with all the necessary security features by default.
