Shopify vs WooCommerce: Which Should You Use in 2026?
Shopify vs WooCommerce compared: costs, hosting, payments, apps, ownership and effort. A plain guide to which ecommerce platform suits your store in 2026.
Mythex Team · · 5 min read
Choose Shopify if you want to start selling quickly without managing hosting, updates or security, and you're happy to pay a monthly fee for that. Choose WooCommerce if you already use WordPress, want full control over your site, code and data, or need customisations a hosted platform won't allow, and you're comfortable managing more of the technical side yourself. Both are serious, proven ways to run an online store. The real difference is who does the work of running the platform: Shopify, or you.
The short comparison
| Shopify | WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Hosted ecommerce platform | Free, open-source ecommerce plugin for WordPress |
| Platform cost (as of Sept 2026) | Monthly plan: Basic, Grow, Advanced, Plus. Prices vary by country | Free, no monthly subscription |
| Hosting | Included | You choose and pay a host (WooCommerce estimates $25–$350/month for most stores) |
| Extensions | Shopify App Store, 21,000+ apps | WooCommerce Marketplace, 1,000+ extensions ($29–$299/year each, WooCommerce estimates) |
| Payments | Shopify Payments where available; extra fee for third-party providers | WooPayments or your own processor; WooCommerce says there's no platform fee or revenue share |
| In-person selling | Shopify POS | Integrates with your existing POS |
| AI | Sidekick assistant; AI store builder | None listed on WooCommerce's own pages we checked |
| Ownership | Your data, on Shopify's platform | You own the site, code and data |
| Effort | Low: Shopify runs the platform | Higher: you run WordPress, hosting and updates |
All facts are from each vendor's own website as of September 2026.
Shopify: the hosted route
Shopify is a hosted ecommerce platform. You pay a monthly plan fee and Shopify runs the software, hosting and checkout.
As of September 2026:
- Plans: Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus, with a discount for yearly billing and a free trial offer. The prices we saw were localised, so check the page for your country.
- Staff accounts: none on Basic, up to 5 on Grow, up to 15 on Advanced and unlimited on Plus.
- Payments: Shopify Payments is only available in certain countries. If you use a third-party payment provider instead, Shopify charges an additional transaction fee, which is lower on higher plans.
- Apps and themes: prebuilt themes, and an app store Shopify says has 21,000+ commerce apps.
- AI: Sidekick, which Shopify calls a commerce AI built into the admin, and the option to build a store with AI.
- Channels: Shopify says you can sell online and in person (with Shopify POS), on social and across AI channels.
Where Shopify shines: speed to launch, reliability you don't manage, and a large ecosystem. If you want to spend your time on products and marketing rather than servers, it's the safer default.
Where it costs you: the monthly fee rises with plan level, apps often add their own subscriptions, and the third-party payment fee matters if you can't or don't want to use Shopify Payments. You also work within Shopify's platform rules.
WooCommerce: the open-source route
WooCommerce is a free, open-source ecommerce plugin for WordPress. You install it on a WordPress site, on hosting you choose.
As of September 2026, WooCommerce's pricing page says:
- Core platform: free, with no monthly subscription and no revenue share.
- Hosting: you choose a provider; it estimates $25–$350 a month for most stores, scaling with traffic.
- Extensions: add à la carte; it estimates $29–$299 a year per extension.
- Payments: pick your processor, and pay only that processor's fees. WooPayments is its own option.
- The free core includes unlimited products, orders and APIs.
Its product page says you fully own your site, code and data, lists more than 1,000 extensions in the WooCommerce Marketplace, and mentions a mobile app for managing your store.
Where WooCommerce shines: control. You can change almost anything, move hosts whenever you like, and keep your content alongside a WordPress blog or site. If you already run WordPress, adding a store is a natural step.
Where it costs you: time and responsibility. Someone has to choose good hosting, keep WordPress, themes and plugins updated, handle backups and security, and troubleshoot when two extensions conflict. Costs are spread across several vendors, so they're harder to predict.
Cost: how to compare fairly
Neither platform is "cheaper" in general. Build a simple estimate for your own store:
- Platform: Shopify's plan fee for your country, or $0 for WooCommerce.
- Hosting: included in Shopify; a host's fee for WooCommerce.
- Apps or extensions: list the ones you'd actually need (reviews, subscriptions, shipping rules) and price them on each side.
- Payment processing: your processor's rate on each, plus Shopify's third-party fee if it applies to you.
- Theme and developer help: one-off and ongoing.
- Your time: WooCommerce usually needs more of it, or a developer's.
Our guide to what a payment gateway is explains the processing fees you'll see on both.
Who each suits
Shopify suits you if:
- You're launching your first store and want to sell this week.
- You don't have (or want) a developer on call.
- You want in-person selling with the same system.
- You'd rather pay a predictable monthly fee than manage hosting.
WooCommerce suits you if:
- You already run a WordPress site with content that drives your traffic.
- You need custom behaviour that a hosted platform can't do.
- You want to own the full stack and be free to move hosts.
- You or someone on your team is comfortable with WordPress.
A third option: a custom store or catalogue
Some "stores" aren't classic retail: a made-to-order product with a custom quote step, a catalogue where customers request availability, or a members-only shop. In those cases a small custom app can fit better than bending a store platform.
Mythex is an AI app builder: you describe the app in chat, an agent writes the code and shows a live preview, and you publish it. A product grid, detail pages and a cart are a quick first version, with products in a Postgres database. Checkout needs a payment provider you connect, such as Stripe, because Mythex has no built-in payments. If you need tax handling, shipping rules and fulfilment on day one, Shopify or WooCommerce is the better choice. See the store use case and how to build an online store.
Verdict
- Most new stores: Shopify. Less to manage, faster to launch.
- WordPress sites and teams that want control: WooCommerce.
- Unusual buying flows: consider a custom build.
If neither fits, our Shopify alternatives guide covers BigCommerce, Squarespace, Wix, Square Online and Ecwid, and WordPress alternatives covers the WordPress side.
How we compared
We compared the publicly stated features and pricing on Shopify's and WooCommerce's own websites as of September 2026. We did not do hands-on testing, and we left out anything we couldn't confirm on their own pages. Shopify's prices are localised, so we described its plans without quoting numbers; WooCommerce's cost ranges are its own estimates. Mythex facts come from our product documentation. Check both pricing pages before you decide.
Questions
Is WooCommerce cheaper than Shopify?
The WooCommerce plugin is free, but you pay for hosting, a domain, any paid extensions and payment processing. WooCommerce's own pricing page estimates hosting at $25 to $350 a month for most stores and extensions at $29 to $299 a year each. Shopify charges a monthly plan fee instead, with hosting included. Which is cheaper depends on your store.
Is Shopify easier than WooCommerce?
For most beginners, yes. Shopify is a hosted service, so there's no server, WordPress install or plugin updates to manage. WooCommerce gives you more control in exchange for more responsibility.
Do I own my store on Shopify?
You own your business, products and customer data, but the store runs on Shopify's platform. WooCommerce says you fully own your site, code and data because it runs on WordPress on hosting you choose.
Does Shopify charge transaction fees?
Shopify's pricing page says it charges an extra transaction fee when you use a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, with a lower fee on higher plans. Shopify Payments is only available in certain countries, so check what applies where you're based.
Can I switch from WooCommerce to Shopify later, or the other way?
Yes, moving between them is common, but plan it: export products, customers and orders, rebuild the design, and set up redirects from old URLs so you keep search traffic.