Shopify vs WooCommerce: which one is right for your brand?

Before you read on: we build every store on Shopify, so you know where we stand. That's exactly why I want this comparison to be honest. WooCommerce is a good platform, and for some brands it's the better one. The question is which one fits how you want to work.

I didn't start in web design. I started in product, helping shape payment experiences for drivers at Uber. One thing it taught me is that the tool is the easy part. What really moves the needle is who you're building for, and what they need to see before they say yes. Both Shopify and WooCommerce can run a beautiful store. The difference is how much of your week goes into the platform instead of into the brand.

What is the real difference between Shopify and WooCommerce?

Shopify is a service. You rent a complete store system: the software, the servers it runs on, the checkout, the security and the updates all come from one company, for one monthly price. You choose a theme, add your products and sell. Whether you call it a Shopify webshop or a Shopify website, it's the same system.

WooCommerce is software you own. It's a free, open-source plugin that turns a WordPress website into a store. You choose where it's hosted, which theme and extensions you add, and you can change almost anything in the code. That freedom comes with the job of keeping it all updated, secure and fast.

So the real question isn't "which one is better". It's "do I want to rent a store that's looked after, or own one I look after myself?"

Want the full picture of each?

We explain each platform on its own in

What is Shopify and how does it work?

and

What is WooCommerce?

. This article is only about choosing between them.

Shopify vs WooCommerce, side by side

Shopify vs WooCommerce: what does each one cost?

WooCommerce is often called free, and the plugin is. The store around it isn't. Shopify looks more expensive at first, because everything is in one monthly bill. Here are the usual costs, side by side:

Shopify prices from shopify.com/nl/prijzen, excluding BTW (checked October 2026). WooPayments iDEAL fee from woocommerce.com; extension prices from the WooCommerce Marketplace range; hosting from TransIP's regular price (checked October 2026). Shopify charges an extra 2% on Basic if you use another payment provider instead of Shopify Payments.

For a new brand, the monthly totals often end up closer than people expect. The bigger difference is the time. Every hour spent updating plugins or fixing a conflict after an update is an hour not spent on your products, photos or customers. We broke down every Shopify cost in How much does a Shopify store cost in 2026?

Running it day to day

This is where the two feel most different.

• With Shopify, you log in, add products, check orders and change your homepage. Updates happen in the background. If something breaks on Shopify's side, Shopify fixes it. You can't break the server, because you don't have one.

• With WooCommerce, you do the same things in WordPress, plus the upkeep: WordPress, WooCommerce, the theme and every plugin get their own updates, and they don't always agree with each other. Backups and security are your job, or your host's, depending on what you pay for.

Neither is hard if it's set up well. The question is who's on call when the store is down on a Saturday morning in December.

Design and flexibility

Both can look exactly like your brand. The way you get there is different:

• Shopify works with themes. A good theme gets you far, and custom sections, metafields and code take you the rest of the way. The checkout follows Shopify's layout: you set your logo, colors and fonts, and it behaves like a checkout shoppers already trust.

• WooCommerce lets you change everything, including the checkout and how the store works underneath. That's a real advantage for unusual products or business rules, as long as someone can build and maintain it.

In our work, "I need more freedom" usually means "my current theme doesn't show my brand well". That's a design problem, and it's solvable on both platforms. True technical limits on Shopify are rarer than people think, but they exist, and a good partner will tell you when you hit one.

Shopify vs WooCommerce for SEO

Both can rank well. Google doesn't prefer one platform. It prefers fast pages with clear, useful content.

• WooCommerce sits on WordPress, which is excellent for content: long articles, categories, full control over every URL and many SEO plugins.

• Shopify handles the technical basics for you, like a sitemap, fast hosting and clean product pages. Its URLs follow a fixed pattern (/products/ and /collections/), which you can't change, and which doesn't stop stores from ranking.

If your Google traffic comes mostly from a large blog, take that seriously before you move. If it comes mostly from your brand name and your products, Shopify is rarely a step back.

Selling in the Netherlands: both have what you need

Good to know in the Netherlands

Both platforms support iDEAL, which Dutch shoppers expect at checkout, and both can show prices with BTW and handle EU VAT when you sell abroad. Both connect to the usual Dutch tools, like Sendcloud, MyParcel and PostNL for shipping, and Moneybird or e-Boekhouden for accounting, through apps or plugins. Shopify Payments also offers Bancontact for Belgian shoppers. On either platform, your store must show your KVK number and explain the 14-day right to cancel.

For a store that sells mostly in the Netherlands and Belgium, the platform choice rarely comes down to payments or shipping. It comes down to everything else in this article.

TOOL: PLATFORM QUIZ

When is each one the right choice?

You want to spend your time on products and customers, not on servers and updates. Your products are the heart of the business. You'd like one monthly cost and a checkout shoppers already trust. You plan to sell in more countries or languages.

Your business runs on a large WordPress site with content that ranks well. You have a developer or a technical person on the team. Your products or rules need deep changes to how the store works. You want to own every part of the code.

And sometimes the honest answer is "stay where you are". If your WooCommerce store is fast, looked after and selling well, moving costs money and attention you could spend elsewhere. A platform move makes sense when the platform is in the way, not because another one is popular.

Moving from WooCommerce to Shopify

If you do decide to move, it's one of the most common migrations, and it's very doable. What moves with you:

• Products, with their images, variants and descriptions.

• Customers, so they can keep buying from you.

• Order history, so you can still look up what someone bought.

• Your Google rankings, through 301 redirects from every old page to its new address.

• Your blog, which can move to Shopify, or stay on WordPress on its own address.

What most founders worry about is Google, which is why every old page gets a 301 redirect to its new address, so the rankings you've built come with you. And the store isn't just copied over: it's rebuilt properly on Shopify. A move is also the best moment to fix what wasn't working, instead of carrying it over.

Before you move, write down

Your top 20 pages in Google Search Console, your monthly orders, and every plugin you use and why. That list becomes the plan: what has to keep working on day one, and what can go.

NOT A TOOL