Shopify vs WooCommerce: what a small store really pays

This comparison is for a small store choosing between a hosted platform, Shopify, and WooCommerce, free software that runs on WordPress and your own hosting. We read each platform's own pages on 29 October 2026 and recorded what they state. Prices are in US dollars, exclude tax and describe a store based in the United States; Shopify Payments and WooPayments are offered only in certain countries and their rates differ elsewhere. Sums marked as our arithmetic are calculated by us for stated, illustrative scenarios. They are not averages of real stores. We did not test either platform and make no claim about sales, conversion or growth.

Shopify is one bill that includes hosting, so it suits an owner who wants to sell rather than maintain a website. WooCommerce has no subscription, but a WooCommerce store is not free: hosting, a domain, payment fees and any paid extensions are bought separately, and keeping the site updated, backed up and secure is the owner's job. Which one costs less depends on the hosting you choose, the extensions you need and what the upkeep is worth to you, not on the price of the software.

Assumptions, all ours: a US store selling online only; every order paid by a domestic US card; no refunds or disputes; Shopify Payments on Shopify and WooPayments on WooCommerce; tax, domain, extensions and apps left out. The three levels are 40 orders at an average of $50 ($2,000 of sales a month), 100 orders at $60 ($6,000) and 250 orders at $80 ($20,000). They are examples for arithmetic, not averages of real stores. Card cost is the rate times sales plus 30c per order.

How to read it: at these rates the card cost is the same on both platforms, so the difference is the monthly platform line. With the cheapest hosting WooCommerce is $14 a month below Shopify Basic pay-monthly, or $4 below it billed yearly; with hosting at the top of the range it is $311 above. These totals leave out the domain, paid extensions, apps and the time spent on upkeep, none of which the platforms price.

On Shopify, orders paid through a gateway other than Shopify Payments, Shop Pay or a manual method carry a transaction fee on top of the gateway's own fee: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced. Our arithmetic for that platform fee alone at the three sales levels: $40, $20 and $12 at $2,000; $120, $60 and $36 at $6,000; $400, $200 and $120 at $20,000. PayPal is exempt when Shopify Payments is the primary provider. The rules change when a third-party provider is your main card processor and Shopify Payments runs alongside it: card payments handled by the third-party provider carry the transaction fee above, while transactions Shopify Payments still processes, such as Shop Pay and local payment methods, are charged at the standard Shopify Payments rate plus a 1.25% premium. Shopify Payments rates vary by plan and market, so we give no single total for that mix. WooCommerce lists no extra fee for third-party gateways, but the gateway's own rates apply and were not read here.

Our arithmetic on upgrading: Grow costs $66 a month more than Basic pay-monthly ($50 billed yearly) and cuts the third-party fee by one percentage point, so it pays for itself from $6,600 of monthly sales processed by the third-party provider ($5,000 billed yearly). With Shopify Payments the card rate falls by 0.2 percentage points, which breaks even at $33,000 of monthly sales.

Shopify Payments is offered in 41 countries and WooPayments in 38. A store based elsewhere needs another provider, and the US rates in this article should not be applied to it. WooPayments fees also differ by country and card: for US accounts the table adds 1.5% for international cards, 1% for currency conversion and $15 per dispute. A US store that lets Shopify manage its sales tax cannot use third-party payment providers until tax is set to self-directed.

On Shopify the platform hosts the store. On WooCommerce the owner picks a host and is responsible for keeping WordPress, the theme and every extension updated, for backups and for security, either by doing it or by paying a managed host or a developer. WooCommerce lists recommended hosts but does not state their prices, and neither platform prices the owner's time.

Already on one platform and thinking of switching? What a CSV moves and what you rebuild covers the move in both directions.

• Shopify subscriptions are non-refundable; a store can be paused or deactivated to stop charges.
• The introductory offer is 3 days free, then $1 a month for 3 months on most plans; the page does not say which billing option it covers, and the standard monthly price follows.
• App prices are set by each app and billed separately from the subscription.
• WooCommerce extensions are priced per year; the catalogue mentions a 30-day money-back guarantee and does not describe renewal terms.
• Not stated: domain prices, Shopify Payments fees for international cards and disputes, and hosting prices beyond WooCommerce's range.