How to choose Shopify website vs wordpress

If you’re considering starting an online store, you may be wondering whether Shopify or WordPress would be the better choice for your e-commerce needs. With the popularity of online shopping on the rise, e-commerce has become an attractive business opportunity for entrepreneurs. Selling your products online eliminates the need for expensive real estate and allows you to reach a broader audience.
Shopify and WordPress are two of the leading e-commerce platforms available, each with its own set of pros and cons. Choosing the right platform is the main factor for the long life of your business. In this article, we’ll provide you with a comprehensive comparison of Shopify website vs WordPress, and help you determine which one is right for your e-commerce site. Whether you should use Shopify or WordPress will depend on a variety of factors, including your budget, technical expertise, and desired features.

Comparison of Shopify website vs WordPress & WooCommerce

It’s crucial to discuss the fundamentals and emphasize what makes these platforms unique before we begin our detailed comparison of the two most widely used eCommerce platforms on the internet.

What is Shopify?

You can easily create an online store, collect payments, and manage your inventory from a single platform with Shopify, an all-in-one eCommerce solution. Moreover, you can manage an eCommerce site without having to deal with technical issues, such as web hosting, security, caching, etc.

Shopify was built on the idea that everyone should be able to construct a website where they can sell goods, regardless of their level of design or technical proficiency. However, It allows you to alter things like CSS and HTML if you wish to, so if you have coding abilities, they might be helpful. Moreover, With a relatively short learning curve, you can quickly set up your own Shopify website and start accepting payments. You’ll be guiding customers through the checkout in no time.

Shopify is a fully hosted service, meaning that all of your capabilities are provided by their servers. This eliminates the need to purchase web hosting or install software. Essentially, everything you need to start your online store is already at your fingertips. However, it’s important to note that Shopify is a SaaS (Software as a Service) product, which means that you don’t actually own a copy of the program. Instead, you can access it for a monthly fee.

What is WordPress?

When it comes to WordPress, there are two versions to be aware of: WordPress.org and WordPress.com. With the former, you host the tool yourself, while the latter is hosted by a separate company and requires a monthly fee, similar to Shopify. WordPress.com is also a SaaS product, providing an all-inclusive approach to creating and managing various websites. Whether you choose Shopify or WordPress, understanding the differences between these hosting options is key to making the right choice for your business.

You will install WordPress.org on your own web server as e-commerce or website-building software. You can alter this open-source program as much as you want. WordPress.org is a very adaptable platform that is simple to use and customize, especially if you have experience with coding.

The WordPress.org solution is 100% free to download and install on your server, but there are fees associated with hosting that solution. WordPress hosting options are, nevertheless, quite accessible. Additionally, your WordPress website comes with a tonne of amazing features, like an Open-source eCommerce plugin for WordPress called WooCommerce. You can utilize the most effective content management system (CMS) to operate an online business thanks to this. WooCommerce is open-source, so you can quickly add custom extensions and modify any element of your business.
Your needs and degree of skill are the only factors that should be considered while deciding between the two platforms.

Shopify website vs WordPress: Pricing and Value

In our comparison of Shopify and WordPress, we’d like to start by discussing cost. Which offers more value for money—Shopify or WordPress, you may be wondering. Cost is frequently the most crucial factor for owners of eCommerce websites. You must analyze the startup costs while also taking into account the varying costs for additional services and software.

Shopify has unveiled new pricing options, including Shopify Plus, which has a quotable, negotiated price, and Shopify Lite, which has a starting price of $9 per month. When comparing your alternatives, take in mind that Shopify Plus is the most expensive version of the platform. With a 14-day free trial, the majority of Shopify’s features can also be used before you decide to purchase them. Now take a look at the pricing table.

Pros+

• Each of these subscriptions includes a web server and an SSL certificate.
• It will include a subdomain with the Shopify brand on it, such as https://your-store.myshopify.com.
• A new online store can be launched using the tools included in the basic plan.
• Unlimited items, 2 user accounts, unrestricted file storage, and more are all available.
• However, depending on the plan you select, the additional transaction costs charged for other payment methods range from 0.5% to 2%.

cons-

• If you wish to utilize your own.com domain name in addition to Shopify pricing plans, you’ll need to buy it individually.
• A regular.com domain name costs an average of $14 per year plus an extra fee for each transaction.
• If you want to use Shopify Payments, each transaction will cost you 30 cents and a credit card fee ranging from 2.4% to 2.9%. additional details.
  To advance your Shopify store, you will need additional third-party tools and add-ons, which are not included in this pricing.
• These expenses will start to increase as your business expands, and before long you’ll be paying far more than the basic plan.

Now let’s take a look at WordPress.

The cost of a self-hosted WordPress eCommerce website for your company is difficult to predict with any degree of certainty because there are so many different factors at play. The software to create a WordPress site can be downloaded without cost, but the ultimate cost of your e-commerce plan will depend on factors like:

1:Integrations

• To manage their stores, many business owners use a variety of integrations and plugins. If that applies to you, some of your plugins can be expensive.

2:Themes

• You must pay a fee for some themes and skilled designers, depending on the themes and designs you select.

3:Hosting

• A wide variety of businesses offer to host, and many offer a selection of price options.

WordPress, on the other hand, can be used without cost. But don’t let that fool you, once it’s up and running, it’s far from free.
Here, you can see how much everything will cost you to set up and how soon anything that appears to be free might cost you several hundred dollars.

WordPress Website Hosting Prices	Monthly Costs: Between $5 – $100 Self-hosted shared hosting: $5 – $20 Fully managed hosting: $20 – $150
WordPress plugin Price	Plugin One-Time Price: $50 – $1000 Monthly Costs: $5 – $150 Membership Gateway Software: $100 – $300 (one-time) $50-$150 (monthly cost) Email Marketing Software: $5 – $99 (monthly Price) Payment Software: $100 – $500 (one-time) $30 – $80 (monthly cost)
Prices for WordPress themes	One-time Cost: free to $5,000+ Basic Templates: $35 – $50 Premium Templates: $50 – $500 Template Alterations: $100 – $1,000 Custom Design: $1,000 – $10,000+
The price of WordPress Tutorials & Courses	Time to Learn Basics: A few hours Time to Learn WordPress: Weeks Monthly Costs: free to $200+

The fact that you can frequently find free alternatives to premium themes and paid addons is a definite benefit of using WooCommerce. By just investing in the tools and plugins that you actually require, you can also keep your expenses under control.
With so many free themes and add-ons available, WooCommerce is definitely the most affordable option.

WordPress vs Shopify: Apps and Plugins

Users on both Shopify and WordPress use third-party apps to add the functionality they need. Both of them have their own app stores with, More than 7,500 apps are available in the Shopify App Store that you may utilize to increase the functionality of your website.

It’s reasonable to assume that Shopify users need considerably fewer apps than WordPress users do. This is so because the platform already has e-commerce functionality and takes care of all necessary programming, security, and technological upkeep.

The selection of WordPress plugins, in comparison, exceeds 50,000.

WordPress users are more dependent on plugins to make the website functionalities they need. And if you can’t code, managing many of these plugins can be challenging. Additionally, some plugins require technical modification to have them play properly together because they don’t function well together.

Shopify website vs WordPress: Themes and Design

Shopify offers 64 premium themes in the range of $120 to $180 other than that 8 free themes. Additionally, Theme Forest offers 1,200 Shopify themes created by different developers.
The themes from Shopify are pre-configured for sales. These themes are responsive and mobile-optimized, which means they adjust to the size of the device being used to see them. Additionally, Shopify’s theme editor is quite simple to use. So, you can customize it to look precisely how you want without having to know any code or technical terms.

Additionally, Shopify assistance is available around the clock 24/7 in case you ever run into problems.

WordPress themes

WordPress offers more than 8,000 theme options, of which 50% have e-commerce features.
To get WordPress themes to function the way you want, they often need a lot of tinkering and editing. Because of this, you’ll need either some basic coding knowledge to maintain them on your own or money to pay a web designer.

It’s very important to keep in mind that most WordPress themes are created by outside developers, so if you need customization of your needs, you’ll contact the theme creator.

Shopify website vs WordPress: Dropshipping Options

Well, so up until this point, we’ve largely discussed the fundamentals that you’ll take into account when comparing the Shopify website vs WordPress. A vital component, dropshipping options, is still missing.

Although dropshipping won’t be appealing to everyone, it is a simple option for individuals who wish to avoid handling and stocking their own products. Dropshipping significantly lowers the cost of operating an online store by having a merchant handle the shipping portion of your sales process for you.

The simplest choice is typically to choose a plugin tool, which is true for both Shopify and WordPress.
The most well-known dropshipping service for Shopify is Oberlo. Finding things to sell, adding them to a Shopify store, and starting to sell right away are all made possible.
WordPress makes use of plugins for dropshipping, such as Airdropship, just like Shopify does.
There is no cap on the number of products you can list or orders you can place each month with this one-time cost plugin, which enables you to select the ideal merchants to finish your sales.

Both the Shopify website and WordPress provide plugins to help you assist your dropshipping experience, So it’s a tie position for both platforms. Ultimately, your decision between Shopify and WordPress for dropshipping purposes will depend on which plugins you like the best.

When to use Shopify over wordpress?

Shopify stands out as a customized eCommerce solution for everyone. Everyone here refers to those who may lack technical or website construction expertise but yet want to be able to develop a killer online business on their own.
Working with Shopify has several advantages, but the biggest one is how quickly you can get going and start serving your first clients.

You don’t need to have any coding or website-building abilities, and even if you did, you wouldn’t need to be completely educated about the various aspects of the eCommerce industry. You can set up items like inventory, taxes, shipping preferences, and other things with Shopify. In other words, it fixes every last annoying problem with the company.
Second, Shopify is also a reasonably priced option. You need to budget $29 per month to get going. However, you get access to a lot of site designs and customization options for that price.

Briefly, Summing Up When to Use Shopify

You can choose Shopify if you match with one of the following options:

1. Firstly, (Use Shopify) If you don’t have a website and need to quickly create a high-caliber eCommerce business.
2. Secondly, If you don’t know how to design, code, or develop a website and don’t want to hire someone to put up an eCommerce store for you.
3. (Select Shopify) If you want to combine your offline, on-location store with your internet store.
4. If you need a great eCommerce platform with customer support available, (choose Shopify).

If any of the above describes your needs, go for Shopify.

When to Use WordPress Over Shopify?

WordPress is a powerhouse. It’s a robust website platform, capable of making all kinds of websites.

However, there is a catch. I should mention a few more catches here we go.
Software exists in the form of WordPress. In other words, you can obtain it for free, but you’ll need to install it yourself on a web server, set it up, and then use it to establish a website.
WordPress’ primary function out of the box is as a blogging platform. It offers absolutely no eCommerce functionalities. Those are accessible through plugins. like the well-liked WooCommerce.
To manage certain common options like SEO and social networking, you need a lot of other plugins in addition to the eCommerce plugin. To make your eCommerce store appear distinctive and creative, you also need a nice-looking and brandable theme design.

All of this suggests that WordPress might be an option for a user who is a little more tech-savvy. You must feel at ease manually modifying PHP files, establishing an FTP connection to your server, and spending a day in a settings panel.

The above WooCommerce plugin is a fantastic eCommerce plugin, so there. It offers every feature you could possibly need, including shopping carts, product catalogs, online payments, coupons, and more. What’s most significant is that the plugin is free.

Briefly, sum up When to Use WordPress?

You can choose the wordpress if you match with one of the following options:

1. Firstly, (Use WordPress) If you already have a WordPress website and are comfortable using the user interface. For instance, there is no additional learning curve with WooCommerce because it uses the same admin panel organization for your products and orders.
2. Secondly, If you already have a WordPress website and want to cut costs by forgoing further investment in a new eCommerce platform (choose wordpress).
3. (Use WordPress) If you occasionally feel comfortable working with source code.
4. If you can manage without any immediate customer support go for (WordPress).

If any of the above describes you, go for WordPress.

Wrapping up: Shopify website vs wordpress comparison

Choose WordPress and the WooCommerce plugin if you’re an expert web developer who wants total control over every aspect of your website. Your website’s hosting, maintenance, and security will all be your responsibility, but you can customize and optimize every part to your heart’s content. Use WordPress.com to establish a simple personal project, such as one for testing, sharing your thoughts, a hobby website, etc. You don’t need to worry about any maintenance, the setup is simple, and you can get started for free.

In considering the significance of customer support, one might underestimate its impact on a business. Yet, it’s crucial to recognize that we’re discussing the vitality of your business. Imagine a scenario where an unforeseen event causes your site to go offline for an entire day – this not only translates to a substantial financial and reputational setback but also introduces an unwarranted level of stress. The choice between platforms ultimately hinges on your budget and skill level.

For the ecommercefix team, Shopify emerges as the superior choice for e-commerce websites. It offers a comprehensive solution, all neatly packaged into a user-friendly dashboard. The repercussions of platform selection extend far beyond the initial setup; they influence the potential for success and growth.

This Shopify website vs. WordPress comparison aims to elucidate the key distinctions between these industry giants. While both Shopify and WordPress boast exceptional features, the decision-making process rests on aligning the platform with your business needs. We invite you to share your thoughts on this comparison and inquire about any business-related queries you may have. Your feedback is valuable, and we are here to address any questions you may have about optimizing your business strategy.