A year of WooCommerce, where the money goes
2,369.60 euro a year, of which the plugin 0 euro
- Upkeep 1,440 euro
- Hosting 360 euro
- Card payments 276 euro
- Extensions 200 euro
- Bancontact 93.60 euro
Per year, the same store40 orders of 50 euro a month
- WooCommerce with upkeep2,369.60 euro
- WooCommerce without upkeep929.60 euro
- Shopify Basic, no apps681.60 euro
Free as in yours
WooCommerce turns a WordPress site into a store. You may use, change and extend the plugin without a licence, and WooCommerce takes no share of your revenue. That is the difference with Shopify, where you pay a monthly plan and, with another payment provider, an extra transaction fee; see is Shopify free. How the two compare is in Shopify or WooCommerce.
But a plugin is not yet a store. What comes on top:
| Item | What it is | What it costs | Avoidable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting | The server your store runs on | 25 to 350 dollars a month for most stores, says WooCommerce | No, but cheaper with little traffic |
| Domain | Your address | A yearly fee at your registrar | No |
| Theme | How the store looks | Free to a one-off price | Yes, with a free theme |
| Extensions | Subscriptions, bookings, product options | 29 to 299 dollars a year each | Partly |
| Payments | Cards and local methods | Per transaction at your provider | No |
| Upkeep | Updates, backups, a check after each update | Your own time or a maintenance contract | No |
Payment providers such as Stripe or Mollie plug in for free and charge per transaction, with no monthly fee on their standard plans. In the EU that is typically a percentage plus a fixed amount per card payment, and a fixed fee for local methods (Mollie charges 0.39 euro for a Bancontact payment in Belgium).
Upkeep decides the bill
Leave upkeep out and WooCommerce is cheaper than Shopify Basic in that example. Count it, at what your hours are worth or what someone charges, and free becomes the most expensive option. That upkeep is not optional. WordPress, WooCommerce and every extension get updates, often for a security hole; a store you do not update is an open door to customer data. How to keep it safe is in is WordPress safe. Pick hosting made for WordPress too: a slow checkout costs sales, and why WordPress stores slow down is in why is WordPress so slow. Measure your product and checkout pages with the website speed test.
What you get back for that work: everything is yours. Your data, code and integrations live on your own server, and you can extend the store however you like. With Shopify you buy the opposite: convenience, inside the limits of the platform.
Who WooCommerce is cheapest for
- Choose WooCommerce ifyou already run WordPress, have someone who maintains it, and want control over your data and integrations.
- Choose Shopify ifyou want to sell fast without hosting or updates, and accept fees per order.
- Choose a European platform ifyour data must stay in Europe; see Shopify alternatives in Europe.
- Choose custom ifthe store must link to your stock, planning or accounting, or your order flow does not fit a standard store.
Whatever the platform, getting found depends on your product pages: see ecommerce SEO. Selling to EU consumers, your checkout needs the withdrawal button, and invoicing businesses in Belgium needs Peppol, see which software for Peppol.
Hosting and moving
Can I run WooCommerce on cheap shared hosting?
For a small store with little traffic it works, but shared hosting slows down once checkout and search filters get heavier. Measure first; moving to better hosting can come later.
Can I move from WooCommerce to Shopify, or the other way?
Yes. Products, customers and orders come along as an export; design and integrations are rebuilt, with redirects for your old URLs.