What the two actually are

Shopify is a hosted service: the store runs on its servers, you pay it a monthly plan, and updates, security and hosting are its job. WooCommerce is free software added to a WordPress site: the files are yours and sit on hosting you choose, and so do the updates, the backups and the extensions — some free, some paid.

Neither is better in the abstract. One trades control for simplicity, the other simplicity for control.

When Shopify is the right call

Shopify fits a first store when most of these are true:

  • You want to open soon and would rather not think about servers, updates or security.
  • Your catalogue is simple: physical products, a few variants, standard shipping.
  • You accept a monthly plan billed by Shopify, whose price depends on the plan you pick, plus the fees of the payment processor on each sale.
  • You will manage products and orders yourself, often from a phone, and want that to be easy.

When WooCommerce is the right call

WooCommerce fits when most of these are true:

  • You already have a WordPress site, with content and traffic you want to keep under one roof.
  • You need a feature a specific extension provides — a particular booking, pricing or membership rule — or an integration with software you already run.
  • You want to own the files and move them wherever you like.
  • You accept that hosting, updates and backups are a running task, yours or ours.

What each costs with us

The Store Starter is $1,990: up to fifty products, payments, shipping and sales tax set up, a theme matched to your brand, and training. On WooCommerce it adds $290 once for the installation and $79/mo for hosting and updates, because there is no platform doing that part.

  • More products: $290 for up to one hundred, $690 for up to five hundred, $1,190 for up to a thousand. Above that, the store is quoted.
  • Products entered for you, with their photos and variants: $10 each.
  • Moving from another store, under five hundred products: $690, plus the migration tool at cost if one is needed.
  • Live shipping rates or local delivery: $290. Automatic sales tax: $190. Subscriptions: $590. A second language: $490. Abandoned-cart and welcome e-mails: $290.
  • Running the store afterwards is optional: Store Care is $99/mo a month, Store Care Plus $199/mo.

Not in the price, on either platform: the Shopify plan, paid extensions, payment processing fees, the domain name, and your product photos.

What the market charges

In September 2026 we compared published prices. A basic Shopify store, under a hundred products, ran from $500 to $2,500; a basic WooCommerce store from $1,500 to $8,000. Monthly upkeep ran from $50 to $200 for a small Shopify store and from $99 to $429 on WooCommerce. A store coded from scratch started around $8,000, which is why we quote one rather than estimate it.

What a first store needs, whatever you pick

The platform is the smaller decision. These take longer, and you can start on them today:

  • Products with a clear photo, a short description, a price and a stock quantity — in a spreadsheet if you have one.
  • Shipping rules: what you ship, where, at what price, and whether you offer local pickup.
  • Sales tax: in Florida, goods are taxed and the rate depends on the county of delivery; the store can compute it automatically.
  • A refund policy, terms of sale and a privacy page.
  • A business e-mail address for order confirmations, and a bank account for payouts.

How to decide in ten minutes

Answer three questions. Do you have a WordPress site today? Do you need a feature only an extension provides? Do you want to look after hosting and updates? Three times no: Shopify. A yes to one of the first two: WooCommerce. A yes only to the third: either, and the choice is a matter of taste. If you are still unsure after that, a short call settles it, and the quote names the platform.