E-commerce has turned into the most accepted business-to-customer platform which allows you to display and sell your products to vast internet users.
When it comes to choosing an eCommerce platform, choices are endless. However, WooCommerce and Shopify are the two most popular platforms to create an online store. And people often get confused between them.
In this blog, we will compare different features of Shopify and WooCommerce and try to help you to decide which platform is better for you.
Read the full tutorial on Hostinger.
Installation
The installation procedure is the foremost thing to be considered before choosing an eCommerce platform. Let’s compare the installation procedure of both WooCommerce and Shopify.
WooCommerce Installation-
- WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin which means it needs to be installed into a fully functional WP website.
Procedure-
- To install the WooCommerce plugin, first, you need to login to your WP account and access WordPress dashboard.
- Then click on ‘Add New’ and search for WooCommerce plugin.
- Now click on ‘WooCommerce plugin and click on ‘Install’ and then ‘Activate’.
Next step is setting up ‘Setup Wizard’. The wizard will make you familiar with the different elements of the plugin, one by one in 5 steps. Follow these steps and your store is ready to run.
Now you can add your product and their descriptions easily.
Shopify Installation-
Unlike, WooCommerce, Shopify is a subscription-based service. It means it is readily available eCommerce platform.
To install Shopify online store, you just need to log on to their official site i.e. Shopify.com.
- On the right top, you will see “Get Started” button. Click on it.
- As soon as you click, a window will ask you to put information such email address, password, and a store name. As you can see in the following screenshot.
Fill the details and click on “Create your Store” button. Now Shopify will take you through the setup wizard. This wizard procedure will be followed by two steps where you have to add your personal information and your store information.
Now you have full access to the Shopify’s dashboard and you can easily customize your store. See the following screenshot.
Conclusion
Both WooCommerce and Shopify seems user-friendly in terms of installation. Even an inexperienced person who does not know web coding can easily install them.
Design
A good design is quite important for an online store. People simply don’t trust an online store that does not have the right aesthetic appeal.
WooCommerce Designs-
As you know WooCommerce is a plugin developed by WordPress developers, there are virtually unlimited design options for your conveyance. In short, you can play with all the themes that come with WordPress CMS.
Moreover, you can also look for 3rd party theme providers. There are thousands of available.
You can also go for premium WooCommerce themes. It may cost you somewhere around $59.
Shopify Designs-
Shopify theme store has 61 high-quality themes, of which 10 are free. All these template designs are mobile responsive and come with a variety of color options.
The designs of Shopify are created by professionals who are outsourced from state-of-the-art web designing agencies.
The paid templates available on Shopify costs approximately $150.
Conclusion
In comparison to Shopify, WooCommerce provides more theme options to their users. Moreover, the cost of the Premium theme of WooCommerce is quite cheaper than the official themes of Shopify.
Pricing
In the initial period, no one likes to go for the high-priced platform, especially when requirements are limited. Therefore, it is crucial to consider pricing before choosing an eCommerce platform.
Here is the price Comparision of both.
WooCommerce Pricing
As mentioned before, WooCommerce is a free e-commerce plugin from the world famous CMS, WordPress. And if you have running WP website, you can initiate your online store without paying a single dollar.
However, to create a WordPress website, you need a domain name, hosting service, WP theme, and SSL certification. And the cost of all these depends on your hosting provider and your requirements.
In short, with WooCommerce there is no fixed price. To reduce your cost, you have the liberty to go with different hosting providers and their plans.
Most leading hosting companies such as Hostinger, GoDaddy, SiteGround give free domain name, SSL certification with their premium packages. You can consider them as well.
Nevertheless, you can expect to spend $10/mo for a basic eCommerce store with WooCommerce.
Read the full tutorial on Hostinger.
Shopify Pricing
Unlike WooCommerce, options for hosting plans are limited with Shopify. Shopify offers 3 plans i.e. Basic Shopify ($29/mo.), Shopify ($79/mo.), and Advanced Shopify ($299/mo.) And you have to choose out of these plans only.
The ‘Basic Shopify’ is the cheapest plan that has been designed for startups while ‘Shopify’ plan is preferred by medium-level-business.
‘Advanced Shopify’ has some advanced features, usually preferred by the giant enterprises.
All 3 plans provide free Shopify subdomain and if you want to buy a custom domain, you will have to pay $14 extra.
Conclusion
Shopify has fixed plan options whereas WooCommerce gives you the liberty to reduce your price according to your needs. Although Shopify is readily available eCommerce platform yet it is quite expensive than WooCommerce.
SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of receiving organic traffic from search engines. Therefore, it is important that you choose an SEO friendly eCommerce platform.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin and WP is basically a content development platform, which is famous for various SEO capabilities.
And when you pair WooCommerce with it, you can easily perform a lot of SEO techniques such as edit body content, meta tag, alt tag, etc. It can help your online store to rank high in search engine rankings.
Shopify
Like WooCommerce, Shopify too provides various SEO features such as meta tags, image optimization, Alt tags, title tags, etc.
One point that is in favor of Shopify is the fact that all its plans come with free SSL certification.
Read the full tutorial on Hostinger.
Conclusion
In term of SEO, both platforms seem exceptionally great.
Final Words
Both WooCommerce and Shopify are future-ready platforms; both have multiple strengths.
Hopefully, this comparison will help you to pick the platform that you think best meets your requirements.