Shopify vs WooCommerce: Choosing the right platform

If you’re running an online store or planning to start one, at some point, you’ve probably considered Shopify vs WooCommerce. These are two of the most widely used ecommerce platforms, but they cater to slightly different audiences.

For small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in Europe, choosing between them isn’t just about features – it can affect costs, flexibility, and even which payment methods you can offer customers.

In this article, we’ll compare Shopify vs WooCommerce across key areas to help you choose the best for your business.

Cost effectiveness

Shopify is subscription-based, offering tiered plans starting from €22 per month and going up to €289 as you need more advanced features. They even offer a solution for enterprise customers for $2,300 per month. The platform is straightforward to use, but costs can increase over time – not only from monthly fees, but also from third-party apps and transaction fees if you use external payment gateways.

WooCommerce, by contrast, is free to install. Your costs depend on hosting, plugins, and themes, which gives you more flexibility in deciding where to spend. There are no mandatory upgrades, and you can keep expenses low if you’re willing to manage your own setup.

When it comes to costs in WooCommerce vs Shopify, for businesses focused on tight margins, WooCommerce can provide more control over long-term costs, while Shopify offers predictability and simplicity.

Payments and localisation

Payments are one of the most important aspects of ecommerce. While both platforms have their own built-in solutions, these may lack the payment methods locals use the most.

Shopify comes with Shopify Payments, which lets you accept major cards and digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay directly.

The integration is smooth and keeps everything under one roof, but it’s only available in certain countries. If your business operates outside those markets, you’ll need to connect a third-party provider, in which case, Shopify adds an extra transaction fee.

WooCommerce offers a similar service with WooPayments, developed in partnership with Stripe. It also supports cards and wallets, and like Shopify, availability varies by region.

The difference is that WooCommerce doesn’t penalise you for using alternatives – you can plug in whichever payment gateway makes sense for your customers, whether global or local.

This flexibility can be quite valuable. Customers in the Baltics and Poland often expect local payment methods such as direct bank transfers or BLIK in Poland. Montonio integrates with both, enabling you to bring these regional payment options alongside cards and wallets, giving businesses a way to offer familiar, trusted checkout experiences to their customers.

Customisation and control

Both Shopify and WooCommerce let you customise your store, but they approach it differently.

Shopify takes a more structured approach to customisation. You start with a theme and use the built-in drag-and-drop editor to rearrange sections, add blocks, and adjust layouts without touching code.

Every plan includes the same frontend editing options. The only real limitation is checkout customisation, which is reserved for Shopify Plus subscribers. The App Store covers most extra features one could need, and if it doesn't, developers can work with Shopify’s Liquid language and APIs to build a new one.

The main difference in customisation between WooCommerce and Shopify comes from building completely new flows or functionalities. It's generally easier and cheaper to build plugins for Wordpress than it is to build Shopify Apps. This is great if you have a very unique business model, as it can be quicker for your developer to build a plugin for that. WooCommerce also allows you to integrate any third-party service and use any payment gateway.

This freedom, however, comes with a significant responsibility. You are the one in charge of maintaining your site, ensuring all your plugins and themes are compatible, constantly updated, and secure. A conflict between plugins can break your site, and a lack of proper security measures can leave you vulnerable.

So, while both platforms cover the essentials, the choice comes down to how much control you want over the details versus how much you prefer things to “just work” out of the box.

Shipping solutions

Shipping is another area where the two platforms take different approaches.

Shopify includes built-in shipping features, such as label printing and discounted rates with certain carriers, though the availability of these services depends on where you’re located. For merchants in markets where Shopify Shipping isn’t fully supported, third-party apps are recommended to offer your customers a streamlined experience.

WooCommerce doesn’t come with shipping out of the box, but its plugin ecosystem makes it possible to integrate with virtually any carrier or logistics service. This gives you more flexibility in tailoring your shipping setup to local conditions, whether that means working with a regional courier or building more advanced shipping rules. The trade-off is that you’ll need to piece these tools together yourself.

For SMEs, the choice comes down to convenience versus flexibility: Shopify simplifies standard setups, while WooCommerce allows for a more customised approach to logistics. 

That said, offering local delivery options is key to meeting customer expectations in Europe. Products like Montonio Shipping make this easier on both platforms by connecting you to multiple carriers in one place and giving access to pre-negotiated rates – even if your own shipping volumes wouldn’t normally qualify for discounts.

Scalability

As your store grows, scalability becomes an important factor.

Shopify is designed to handle growth smoothly, with hosting, performance, and security all managed for you. If traffic spikes or order volumes increase, Shopify’s infrastructure takes care of it automatically. The trade-off is that access to more advanced features, like extra staff accounts, detailed reporting, or custom checkout options, usually requires moving up to higher-tier plans such as Advanced or Plus, which come at a significantly higher monthly cost.

WooCommerce scales in a more modular way. Since it runs on WordPress, your capacity depends on your hosting provider and the optimisations you put in place. Optimising your ecommerce store by adding caching, search, and database tuning can keep a WooCommerce store running efficiently even at high volumes, but these are things you or your developer need to manage.

On the flip side, you don’t need to jump to a more expensive “plan” to unlock features – you can add only what you need, when you need it.

In this WooCommerce vs Shopify battle, the difference comes down to predictability versus control: Shopify grows with you but locks advanced features behind higher tiers, while WooCommerce lets you scale on your own terms, provided you’re ready to handle the technical side.

Shopify vs WooCommerce: Which is right for you?

Both Shopify and WooCommerce are strong ecommerce platforms, but they serve different needs.

• Shopify is a great choice if you want a hosted solution that works out of the box, with predictable pricing and minimal technical upkeep. It’s built for merchants who’d rather focus on products and marketing than infrastructure.
• WooCommerce is better suited if you value flexibility and control. It gives you the freedom to customise every aspect of your store and scale at your own pace, though it comes with more responsibility for maintenance and setup.
  

For merchants in the Baltics and Poland, payments and shipping often tip the balance. This is where tools like Montonio come in – supporting both Shopify and WooCommerce with local payment methods and integrated shipping. That means whichever platform you choose, you can still offer your customers the local options they expect without adding unnecessary costs.

In the end, the right choice depends less on which platform is “better” and more on which one fits your way of working. If you want simplicity, Shopify is hard to beat. If you want freedom, WooCommerce gives you the keys.

With Montonio available on both, you don’t need to compromise on payments or delivery either way. Sign up today and offer your customers the checkout experience they deserve.