WooCommerce vs Shopify: A feature-by-feature comparability

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The net has develop into a spot for small, medium and enormous companies to compete on virtually equal footing. That is particularly pushed by ecommerce platforms which have made it doable for anybody to arrange and handle on-line companies no matter their programming background or entry to important capital. 

Immediately, Shopify is among the hottest software program providers in ecommerce. It’s finest recognized for its web site builder and built-in gross sales instruments. However in the event you’re in search of good ecommerce options, WooCommerce is certainly one of many finest Shopify options to think about. 

WordPress’ WooCommerce vs Shopify is a generally debated topic however there isn’t any universally accepted best option between the 2. The appropriate resolution relies on the distinctive wants of what you are promoting, and this complete comparability ought to provide help to make the fitting choice.

Whether or not you select WooCommerce or Shopify, Omnisend allows you to generate gross sales and nurture your clients on autopilot. Begin free.

WooCommerce vs Shopify

Among the many high a million ecommerce web sites primarily based on site visitors, Shopify holds a market share of 20% however WooCommerce Checkout is the main platform at 29%. The truth is, WooCommerce is the main ecommerce platform on your entire internet. That is undoubtedly pushed by the recognition of WordPress, the open-source content material administration system it’s constructed for. 

Nonetheless, when you think about solely the high ten thousand on-line shops, WooCommerce drops considerably to an 8% market share whereas Shopify retains 19%. 

The one cheap conclusion is that there are bigger and extra energetic companies on Shopify than on WooCommerce.

Though adoption charges provide help to respect the worth of every platform, it shouldn’t be the first foundation of your choice. You need to select both WooCommerce or Shopify primarily based on options and distinctive choices that can provide help to maximize the potential of your on-line enterprise.

In-depth WooCommerce vs Shopify comparability

Beneath is a Shopify vs WooCommerce analysis of essentially the most essential issues for ecommerce shops. Establish which components are necessary to you after which see which platform will ship in your necessities. 

Web site builder options

Woocommerce website

Whether or not you select Shopify or WooCommerce, you may construct an ecommerce retailer and course of funds. You may as well fulfill orders and run advertising campaigns on the identical platform. However every platform handles these options in a different way.

Constructing a web based retailer is mostly simpler on Shopify. When you’ve chosen a theme, a lot of the work is already achieved. All you’ll have to do is populate your retailer with all of the services or products you need to supply.

However, WooCommerce requires extra work. Other than choosing and establishing your personal internet hosting plan, constructing on WooCommerce sometimes includes extra customization to make sure that your retailer has the design and performance it’s essential run what you are promoting. On a extra constructive be aware, this enables for extra inventive freedom, higher branding, and a purchasing expertise that’s personalized to your viewers.

Fee processing options

Shopify payment options and providers

Shopify plans include a built-in fee processor whereas WooCommerce websites could be built-in with an extension like WooCommerce Funds. Each allow you to simply accept all kinds of fee varieties, together with bank cards, debit playing cards, Apple Pay, and a number of other native fee choices. 

Each Shopify Funds and WooCommerce Funds cost pay-as-you-go charges. Charges are comparable between the 2, which is a $0.30 flat price + 2.9% per transaction. The place WooCommerce differs is a further 1% cost for non-US playing cards and one other 1% cost for forex conversion every time a non-USD fee is made.

Shopify doesn’t have any further charges. The truth is, your retailer’s transactions could be subjected to decrease charges relying on the Shopify plan you choose. Though the flat price per transaction stays at $0.30, the variable price is lowered to 2.6% for the usual Shopify plan and even decrease to 2.4% for the Superior plan.

Delivery options

Woocommerce shipping features
Supply

Order achievement options are built-in on Shopify. On WooCommerce, you may use extensions like WooCommerce Delivery. Each will allow you to print labels and handle your entire course of on the identical admin panel as your web site. Moreover, each platforms will allow you to ship orders via DHL Categorical and USPS. Shopify gives the extra choice of UPS shipments.

Other than comfort, operating your order achievement course of via your ecommerce platform offers you entry to decrease courier charges. WooCommerce guarantees a reduction of as much as 67% on transport whereas transport reductions go as much as 88% on Shopify.

Advertising options

cart abandonment features
Supply

Deserted cart restoration workflows are one of the crucial efficient methods to drive gross sales. This function is built-in on Shopify. On WooCommerce, you may run comparable workflows via plugins like Omnisend, which may also be used for a lot of different automated workflows like reactivation, birthday greetings, welcome emails, and extra.

Given that inbuilt advertising options are restricted for each, you may anticipate to require using third-party apps not solely on WooCommerce however on Shopify as effectively. However, such plugins are sometimes way more highly effective and feature-filled, permitting you to run refined advertising campaigns on the identical platform you utilize to handle your on-line retailer.

Pricing

WooCommerce is an open-source platform that works with WordPress. As such, it’s technically free to make use of. This offers you the liberty of controlling your prices by including solely the providers you really need. The issue with that is prices can rapidly pile up in the event you aren’t capable of foresee all of your necessities.

Shopify pricing plans

In contrast to WooCommerce, Shopify is a subscription product. You’ll want to pick out a plan and decide to month-to-month funds as a way to construct and preserve your on-line retailer. It gives a Primary plan at $29 per thirty days and an upgraded Shopify plan at $79 per thirty days

For companies that want extra superior options like the flexibility to handle extra stock places, present entry to extra employees members, and generate extra detailed stories, Shopify additionally gives an Superior plan for $299 per thirty days

Other than these commonplace choices, Shopify Plus is offered for enterprises with massive gross sales volumes. It is a personalized, all-in-one resolution that comes at a month-to-month price of at the least $2,000 per thirty days. 

However earlier than you dismiss Shopify due to its subscription pricing, be sure to think about the price of all of the add-on providers you’ll have to get a WooCommerce website operating the way in which you want it to.

For instance, each Shopify plan allows you to promote your merchandise on different channels like Amazon and eBay at no further price. On WooCommerce, you’ll have to combine a plugin like Codisto, which might price you an additional $29 to $499 per thirty days relying in your gross sales quantity.

Ease of use

Each WooCommerce overview mentions how a lot freedom you get from having a primary open-source platform after which constructing on that utilizing solely the extensions it’s essential meet the distinctive wants of your retailer. However though this platform gives higher customization and design flexibility, it’s that very same freedom that makes it harder to make use of for the common consumer.

On WooCommerce, you’ll must plan for each function you want, combine each, and make sure that each plugin is operating on the newest model always. You’ll additionally want to pick out your personal internet host, make sure that your plan can deal with your web site’s exercise, and in addition make sure that it could actually scale up together with what you are promoting development.

In distinction, Shopify is an all-in-one service. Your subscription already contains internet hosting, which suggests a lot of the technical work of constructing and working a web based retailer is already taken care of for you. Moreover, Shopify’s web site builder is extra intuitive. Though customization choices could be restricted in comparison with WooCommerce, it’s usually simpler and quicker to arrange on-line shops on Shopify than on WooCommerce.

It’s value noting that Shopify wins the WooCommerce vs Shopify ease of use contest solely within the improvement stage. In the event you’re eager on constructing your retailer your self and also you don’t have any programming expertise, you may need a greater expertise on Shopify. 

However in the event you’re getting an expert to construct your ecommerce retailer for you, that doesn’t make a lot of a distinction. Each Shopify and WooCommerce could be set as much as make easy work of sustaining your web site and managing what you are promoting.

Apps, plugins and integrations

Constructing your on-line retailer on the WooCommerce platform will make you extra reliant on apps and third-party integrations than in the event you have been to get a Shopify subscription. Even so, there are considerably fewer apps on the WooCommerce Extensions Retailer than on the Shopify App Retailer.

Woocommerce extensions

There are over 740 extensions obtainable for WooCommerce websites and 87 of them are developed by WooCommerce itself. Of all these extensions, solely 40 are free to make use of however a number of are thought of important WooCoomerce plugins for any sort of ecommerce retailer. 

In distinction, the Shopify App Retailer has over 7,000 plugins obtainable and over 850 of them are free. Among the finest Shopify apps are essential to gross sales optimization and order achievement. 

Shopify apps

Shopify apps outnumber WooCommerce extensions not solely in whole however in each class. For instance, there are 903 customer support apps for Shopify whereas there are solely 20 for WooCommerce. Moreover, there are solely 151 WooCommerce extensions for advertising whereas Shopify gives over 1,400 apps on this class.

Though Shopify undoubtedly has extra integrations obtainable than WooCommerce, the extra common providers are, fortunately, obtainable on each. For instance, you may run omnichannel campaigns and automate your advertising via Omnisend, which is offered each as a WooCommerce plugin and a Shopify app.

Themes & templates

Themes are one other necessity that may contribute considerably to the whole price of constructing your ecommerce retailer. Think about in search of a theme you need to use earlier than you decide to both Shopify or WooCommerce. Relying on the character of what you are promoting, these can vary from free to a number of hundred {dollars}.

Shopify themes

The Shopify Themes retailer has about 80 choices to select from however solely 10 are free to make use of. Premium choices can price anyplace from $150 to $350, however that buys you professionally designed templates which can be straightforward to populate and customise. 

In addition they have built-in options that can assist with engagement and gross sales technology. In the event you can’t discover what you want, you may all the time undergo theme marketplaces like Template Monster and Themeforest.

Themes for WordPress and Woocommerce

WooCommerce has considerably extra themes and templates to select from. The WooCommerce Theme Retailer itself solely has 42 themes obtainable however all are created by the corporate itself, so that you could be assured of every one’s performance. In the event you don’t discover what you need there, you may as well undergo over 1,600 free WordPress themes designed particularly for ecommerce. 

Like Shopify, WooCommerce templates are additionally obtainable in theme marketplaces. Though the finest WooCommerce themes could be fairly costly, you’ll discover some which can be free to make use of or at the least inexpensive at lower than $50.

Safety

Shopify security features

By way of built-in security measures, there isn’t any Shopify vs WooCommerce contest. Shopify is the clear winner on this regard. Each Shopify subscription is already hosted and the platform meets all of the security measures wanted to guard towards fraud and information theft. 

Among the many most important security measures of an ecommerce website are PCI-DSS Compliance and an SSL Certificates. Shopify has each whereas WooCommerce has neither.

PCI-DSS stands for Fee Card Trade Knowledge Safety Customary. Constructing your retailer on Shopify ensures that your retailer is compliant with the stringent requirements required to course of debit and bank cards safely. Shopify can be topic to annual compliance checks, so web sites constructed on the platform are all the time lined by the newest cybersecurity applied sciences.

However, an SSL (Safe Sockets Layer) certificates protects your web site from cybercriminals by encrypting communication between browsers and your server. Net browsers present a padlock icon beside the URL of any web site with an SSL certificates. Digital savvy customers keep away from web sites that don’t have this, so it’s also important for maximizing gross sales.

However though WooCommerce doesn’t have these security measures out of the field, you may make sure that your web site is simply as secure. For an SSL certificates, you’ll simply want to pick out a internet hosting plan that ensures this. For PCI-DSS compliance, WooCommerce supplies a complete information.

Wrap up

WooCommerce vs Shopify isn’t about which is one of the best platform general however which is healthier suited to satisfy the distinctive wants of what you are promoting. Earlier than you resolve between the 2, it helps to have a transparent image of what you need your on-line retailer to seem like, the way you need it to work, and what it’s essential preserve it.

Being tied to Shopify’s month-to-month subscription charges might sound daunting, however it gives an all-in-one resolution with very little customization required to get your retailer up and operating. It additionally has highly effective gross sales, advertising, and operations administration instruments each constructed into the platform or obtainable as plugins

In distinction, constructing your ecommerce retailer on WooCommerce includes extra work and would require you to be extra reliant on extensions and third-party providers. However when you have the endurance, data, and assets to plan and put together every little thing you want, WooCommerce could be inexpensive. The flexibility it gives may also be higher for branding and optimizing buyer experiences.

Whether or not WooCommerce or Shopify is finest for what you are promoting, use Omnisend to drive gross sales on autopilot.

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