Shopify vs WooCommerce (2026): Costs, Features and Which to Choose

Shopify and WooCommerce are two of the most popular ways to build an online store, and they work in very different ways. Shopify is a hosted platform with a monthly plan, while WooCommerce is free, open-source software that runs on your own WordPress website. This guide compares their costs, payment fees and features as of 8 November 2026, using Shopify’s pricing page and WooCommerce’s official pages, so you can pick the right one for your store.

Shopify vs WooCommerce: the key difference

Shopify gives you everything in one subscription. Shopify’s pricing page says hosting is included, with unlimited bandwidth and a free TLS/SSL security certificate for your domains. You can connect a domain you already own or buy a new one. Shopify runs the servers and software, and you pay a monthly fee plus payment processing.

WooCommerce is a plugin for WordPress. WooCommerce says it is “free to download and free to modify”, and the WordPress.org plugin page lists more than 7 million active installations. You need your own WordPress site and hosting, and you choose and maintain the themes and extensions yourself. In return, you get more control: WooCommerce says store owners keep full ownership of their content and data and can export it to another platform.

How much does Shopify cost?

As of 8 November 2026, Shopify’s US pricing page lists four plans:

Plan	Billed yearly	Billed monthly	Online card rate (Shopify Payments)	In-person card rate	Extra fee with a third-party payment provider	Staff accounts
Basic	US$29/mo	US$39/mo	2.9% + 30¢	2.6% + 10¢	2%	No additional staff
Grow	US$79/mo	US$105/mo	2.7% + 30¢	2.5% + 10¢	1%	5 additional
Advanced	US$299/mo	US$399/mo	2.5% + 30¢	2.4% + 10¢	0.6%	15 additional
Plus	From US$2,300/mo	Not listed	2.25% + 30¢	2.3% + 10¢	0.2%	Unlimited

Shopify was showing a trial offer of three days free, then US$1 a month for three months. The extra transaction fee is the cost to watch: if you use another payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds that percentage on top of the provider’s own charges.

How much does WooCommerce cost?

The WooCommerce software costs nothing. Your real costs come from:

• Hosting. WooCommerce does not publish a hosting price, because you choose your own host. Its download page suggests picking one based on cost, scalability and features.
• Payments. WooPayments, WooCommerce’s own payment service, says there are no setup costs or monthly fees; fees are taken from each payment instead. WooCommerce publishes per-country card rates on its WooPayments fees page, so check the rate for your country there. In the US, instant payouts cost 1.5% of the payout amount. The WordPress.org listing says WooCommerce works with more than 100 payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal and Square.
• Extensions and themes. WooCommerce says the plugin is free but offers paid commercial upgrades and support. Paid extensions are sold on the WooCommerce Marketplace.
• Your time or a developer’s. You are responsible for updates, backups and security.

Shopify vs WooCommerce comparison table

	Shopify	WooCommerce
Software cost	From US$29/mo (Basic, yearly)	Free
Hosting	Included, unlimited bandwidth	You pay a host
SSL certificate	Free, included	Depends on your host
Payment fees	Shopify Payments rates by plan; extra 0.2%–2% with third-party providers	Depends on gateway; WooPayments has no monthly fee
Technical skill needed	Low	Medium (WordPress, hosting, plugins)
Data ownership and export	Hosted by Shopify	Full ownership, can export
Customisation	Themes and App Store	Open source: hooks, filters, REST API, webhooks, CLI
Server requirements	None for you	WordPress 7.0+, PHP 7.4+ (8.0+ recommended), MySQL 5.5.5+ or MariaDB 10.1+

Shopify pros and cons

Pros

• Quick to set up, with hosting, security and updates handled for you.
• Clear published plan prices and card rates.
• One company to contact when something breaks.

Cons

• Monthly fees grow as you move up plans, and Basic has no additional staff accounts.
• Extra transaction fees if you do not use Shopify Payments.
• Less control over the underlying code and hosting.

WooCommerce pros and cons

Pros

• Free, open-source software with full ownership of your store and data.
• Deep customisation through the WordPress ecosystem and developer tools.
• A wide choice of payment gateways, with no platform-level transaction fee mentioned on WooCommerce’s pages.

Cons

• You manage hosting, updates, backups and security yourself.
• Costs are less predictable, because hosting, themes and extensions are priced separately.
• Server requirements mean you need a host that meets them.

Which should you choose?

1. Choose Shopify if you want to start selling quickly, do not want to manage servers, and are happy to pay a monthly fee for convenience.
2. Choose WooCommerce if you already run a WordPress site, want full control and data ownership, or have a developer to help.
3. Do the maths for your sales. On Shopify, compare the plan fee against the lower card rates on higher plans. On WooCommerce, add up hosting, extensions and gateway fees.

Shopify’s own results show how much the platform is growing; see our report on Shopify’s Q3 2026 earnings. For another hosted alternative, read our coverage of Commerce.com (BigCommerce) Q3 results.

How to get started

Shopify:

1. Sign up on Shopify and start the trial.
2. Pick a theme and add your products.
3. Set up Shopify Payments or another provider, connect your domain and launch.

WooCommerce:

1. Get WordPress hosting that meets WooCommerce’s server requirements.
2. In your WordPress admin, install and activate WooCommerce. WooCommerce’s download page also explains a manual install: upload the woocommerce folder to wp-content/plugins and activate it from the Plugins menu.
3. Add products, choose a payment gateway such as WooPayments, and launch.