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Reviewed
Reviewed
Updated: Feb 12, 2024, 4:08am
Starting an online store can boost your business’s profits to the next level. But finding the right platform to build your website can feel like an immense hurdle. Both Shopify and WordPress are two major e-commerce website builders, so how do they stack up against one another? We’re comparing Shopify vs. WordPress, so you can see which solution better meets your needs.
Shopify is an all-in-one e-commerce platform offering everything from an online store editor to domains and hosting. However, you can also take Shopify into the real world with an integrated point-of-sale (POS) system. And you can sync up online and in-person sales with built-in inventory and order management features.
WordPress, on the other hand, is one of the web’s most popular content management systems. It doesn’t come preloaded with as many features as Shopify, but that’s because you can add them in with plugins or manual coding. In this way, WordPress lets you completely customize your site’s design with unique shopping workflows.
Shopify is best for businesses that want to hit the ground running. Because it’s designed specifically for online storefronts, you’ll have all the tools you need at your disposal without too much tinkering. Everything is built into the system, so we also like it for businesses that don’t have a designer or coder on staff.
WordPress, in contrast, makes more sense for businesses that want to take customization into their own hands. For example, if you want your website to be more than just a selling tool, WordPress gives you more flexibility with additional templates and features.
Starting Price
$5 per month
Transaction Fees
Up to 5%
Storage
Unlimited
$5 per month
$5 per month
Up to 5%
Up to 5%
Unlimited
Unlimited
Starting your online store is easy with Shopify. Once you sign up, you can get your site up and running in just a few minutes. It’s easy to offer discount codes or automatically send out abandoned cart recovery emails. You also get unlimited products, up to 15 staff accounts and 24/7 support. Managing taxes or transactions in local currencies is also simple with Shopify’s intuitive tools.
But we really like Shopify because it’s much more than just an online store. It also lets you track inventory across 1,000 locations, creates automated sales reports and syncs your orders across various online marketplaces. And the in-person POS features let you sell your wares at markets, pop-ups or even your own retail store.
Learn more: Read our Shopify review.
Starting price
$0
Transaction Fees
Up to 10%
Storage
1GB to 50GB
$0
$0
Up to 10%
Up to 10%
1GB to 50GB
1GB to 50GB
WordPress is a fully customizable site builder that lets you create your online store from scratch. If that sounds daunting, you can choose the Entrepreneur plan, which is automatically set up with WooCommerce to make getting your site up and running far easier. It gives you access to pre-built store themes, unlimited products and inventory management.
We also like the included dynamic product upsell feature, which uses cross-sell product recommendations to increase your revenue. Back-in-stock notifications, custom marketing automation and bulk discounts are just a few of the other features you can take advantage of with a WordPress/WooCommerce setup.
Learn more: Read our WordPress review.
To really compare Shopify vs. WordPress, it helps to take a look at their stats. See how they stack up in some of the most important categories for small business owners.
Both Shopify and WordPress have a fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents for online credit card transactions. To put that in perspective, if a customer made a $100 purchase, you’d pay $3.20 in fees.
Where these two companies differ is in-person fees. Shopify’s is 2.7%, while WordPress’ is 2.6% plus 10 cents. For purchases under $100, Shopify will be cheaper. But, if you sell high-priced goods, WordPress’ fees might help you come out ahead.
Both Shopify and WordPress let you upload unlimited products to your website. On Shopify, you can also turn off inventory tracking for certain products, which is helpful if you’re selling non-physical products, such as a digital file.
While you’re not limited by the number of products on WordPress, keep in mind you only have up to 50GB of storage. If you have a lot of product files and documentation, you might max out your space quickly.
Shopify offers unlimited storage and bandwidth, which is great if you want to load up your product listings with large image files. Keep in mind, it does limit the max file size to 20MB.
WordPress only offers up to 50GB of storage. You can add on more storage in 50GB and 100GB allotments, but even then, you can only have a total of 200GB of storage per account.
You can choose from over 8,000 apps in the Shopify store. These include marketplace integrations, social media connections, subscription management, design customizations and more.
WordPress with WooCommerce offers 820 specific e-commerce extensions. However, there are nearly 60,000 free plugins available from WordPress itself, though many of these won’t be relevant for online shops.
Both companies have no phone support, which isn’t great if you need a quick answer. However, they both offer 24/7 live chat and email support. With WordPress, you get email support starting with the Starter plan and live chat support starting with the Explorer plan and up. Shopify includes live chat and email support on all plans.
WordPress plans range from free to $70 a month with monthly billing or free to $45 a month wil annual billing. Realistically, though, any business serious about selling will need the $70 Entrepreneur plan. If you want to deal with installing plugins for every functionality you need, you might be able to get by with the $40 per month Creator plan. There is also the $18 per month Explorer plan and $9 per month Starter plan, but these just aren’t powerful enough for serious businesses.
Likewise, Shopify has a $5 per month Starter plan appropriate for selling products at events and through social media. But most users will want at least a Basic plan that costs $39 a month. You can also opt for the Shopify or Advanced plans for more features (costing $105 per month and $399 per month, respectively).
Both Shopify and WordPress have mixed customer reviews. On Trustpilot, Shopify currently has 1.6 stars, with many customers complaining about billing issues and problems with getting help from customer services. WordPress fares slightly better with 2.1 stars, with the most common complaints being about accounts being canceled or suspended with little to no notice.
That said, both companies have 4.4 stars on G2. Customers praise the sleek user-friendly interface on Shopify as well as the variety of available templates. For WordPress, standout remarks center around its versatility when creating responsive and mobile-friendly sites.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to see Shopify and WooCommerce (as a WordPress plugin) on our list of the best e-commerce platforms. They also made our list of the best Wix alternatives. Even with all those accolades, they still might not be the right fit for you. Check out these competitors to see if they’re a better fit.
Both Shopify and WordPress can help you build a beautiful and powerful online store that’ll have your customers swooning. That said, they’re completely different beasts. At the end of the day, which service is right for you depends on your specific needs.
Shopify is best for:
WordPress is best for:
It depends on your needs. Shopify is great if you’re looking to get off the ground quickly. But, if you want to take your time building a completely customized e-commerce experience, WordPress might be better.
Both Shopify and WordPress come with built-in features to help you maximize SEO. That said, WordPress does offer more in-depth SEO plugins that can let you optimize your user experience, manage your metadata and even include HTML markup for your website’s structure.
It is possible to install the Shopify plugin on WordPress sites—it currently costs $5 a month. This is a great feature for businesses that don’t have a primary focus on online sales or only sell a couple of products. For businesses that want a full online storefront, choosing either Shopify or WordPress with WooCommerce is a better idea.
Kristy Snyder is a freelance writer and editor with 12 years of experience, currently contributing to the Forbes Advisor Small Business vertical. She uses her experience managing her own successful small business to write articles about software, small business tools, loans, credit cards and online banking. Kristy’s work also appears in Newsweek and Fortune, focusing on personal finance.
