You’re probably already researching the tools available to help you launch your own ecommerce shop if you are thinking of it.
Ecommerce has become a popular business option for entrepreneurs today as the world embraces the convenience and benefits of online shopping. Selling your products online is a great way to save money on real estate.
Many vendors are creating solutions to simplify mobile selling in the digital age. Shopify and WordPress are great for creating online selling websites. Shopify and WordPress are well-known brands in the world of ecommerce. They have a reputation for simplicity, flexibility and outstanding performance.
If you have used these tools before, then you may be asking why we compare them. Shopify is an ecommerce platform while WordPress can be used by businesses to build any type of website they want, including blogs and publications.
We’re doing this Shopify comparison to WordPress today because both options are valuable choices for business owners who want to create sales-friendly websites.
Let’s take a closer look at each option.
Shopify vs WordPress – An Overview
It’s important to understand the differences between Shopify and WordPress before we begin the comparison process.
Shopify is a top web application designed to assist merchants in designing and building reliable online shops. Shopify is the best ecommerce platform. It can provide you with a domain, access to PayPal and your own ecommerce plugin. Shopify’s name is the key – it’s all in helping people shop. Shopify offers a variety of templates that you can customize to meet your branding and individual needs. There are many Shopify plans to fit every budget.
Shopify’s core idea is that you don’t need any technical or design skills to create a website for selling products. Shopify allows you to edit HTML and CSS if necessary. This means that you may be able to use your coding skills to make Shopify more useful. Shopify is easy to use and you can create your own Shopify store with very little learning curve. In no time, you’ll be guiding your customers through the checkout process.
Shopify is a hosted solution. Shopify’s servers will provide all functionality. There’s no need to install software or buy web hosting. Everything you need to create your store is included in the box. Shopify is a SaaS platform, meaning that you don’t need to own the software but can pay a monthly subscription to have access.
What about WordPress?
First, you should know that there are two kinds of WordPress. WordPress.org and WordPress.com. You host the.org version yourself, while the.com version is hosted by another company. The hosted WordPress.com tool is similar to Shopify. It’s a SaaS service that you pay a monthly fee for. This is a more complete solution that allows you to create and manage a variety of websites.
WordPress.org, on the other hand is an ecommerce software or website-building program that you can install onto your web server. You can customize this open-source solution as many times as you wish. WordPress.org is a flexible platform that can be customized to your liking, especially if you have coding experience.
The WordPress.org solution can be installed on your server free of cost, but hosting costs will apply so it is not free to all. WordPress hosting solutions can be found easily. You also get many amazing features with your WordPress website. WordPress includes access to WooCommerce, an ecommerce plugin. You also have all the tools to create your own checkout and storefront. Plugins make it easy to access all the features of ecommerce.
WordPress is extremely extensible. WordPress plugins are available for almost any purpose, and there are many free themes and add-ons. The web hosting service can be used for everything, from product reviews to inventory management.
This comparison will focus on the self-hosted version of Shopify vs WordPress.
Shopify vs WordPress – Pricing and Value
There are many things to take into consideration when comparing Shopify vs WordPress. These include ease-of-use and customer support as well as theme and feature options. The cost of a piece or software is an important first consideration for any business.
Shopify offers 5 pricing options.
You must first have:
Basic Shopify: All you need to launch a new business starting at $29 per month
Shopify: Shopify’s complete experience starting at $79 per month
Advanced Shopify: High-tech features for scaling businesses starting at $299 per month
Shopify recently introduced two new pricing options: Shopify Plus – which has a negotiable price based on a quote – and Shopify Lite which starts at $9 per monthly. Shopify Plus is Shopify’s most expensive version. Keep that in mind as you review your options. Shopify offers a 14-day free trial that allows you to test most of its features before purchasing.
Shopify offers many features and products that will help you understand the benefits of Shopify. You need a hosting and storefront provider that will allow you to manage unlimited products.
Like most website builders, the amount of features that you get will depend on how much money you pay. The Lite plan allows you to add a Shopify button to your website and sell via Facebook – however, there is no standalone store. The Phone Support service is not available for Basic packages or higher.
Shopify is an affordable platform to create your ecommerce website. This is especially true if you stick to the lower tiers. The Plus and advanced packages can be very costly, especially if you go too fast.
Let’s now take a look at WordPress.
Because there are many variables, it is difficult to predict how much a self-hosted WordPress website will cost your business. Although the software is free to download, the final cost of your ecommerce strategy depends on:
You can choose the themes and designs that you like. Some themes have a higher price, while others are more affordable. A professional designer will also charge more.
Hosting – There are many hosting companies that offer hosting. Many of these come with a variety of pricing options.
Integrations – Business owners often need many plugins and integrations to run their businesses. Some of your plugins might be expensive if that is the case.
A WordPress build can be expensive because it requires more programming knowledge than the self-hosted version. Shopify versus WordPress: If you are going to require professional assistance, you will need to add the cost for a skilled developer.
Hosting is the one thing you will always have to pay for when building an ecommerce website with WordPress. Decide whether you want a shared-hosting provider or a managed hosting provider. Although managed hosting is often more secure and quicker, it can be expensive. However, shared hosting can be a good option for large corporate projects.
A WordPress ecommerce website may cost you an average of:
Hosting (managed) annual hosting: $350 per year
One-off Premium Theme: $150
Integrations with Ecommerce: $180 per Year
Plugins: $100
Part-time developer guidance: $500-$2000
Shopify is a bit cheaper depending on how you build your WordPress store.
When choosing the right platform for you, remember to consider your payment options. You will need to have low transaction fees, regardless of whether you accept credit card payments or Paypal payments. Shopify Transaction Fees start at $29 per Month with the Shopify Basic Plan. This plan charges 2.9% and 30c for each online transaction. The Shopify main plan is $79 per month and costs 2.6% plus 30 cents per transaction.
Alternately, transaction fees charged by WordPress depend on which ecommerce platform you use.
Shopify vs WordPress – Features and Ease to Use
We have spent a lot time discussing the price and value of Shopify vs. WordPress. There’s more to an eCommerce site-building tool that its cost.
It’s time to examine what each provider can offer to you in order to design and transform your website.
Any ecommerce solution will require some learning if you are new to online selling. You’ll need to decide which plan is best for you, whether you choose a WordPress website with wordpress hosting or the shopify plan.
Shopify is an ecommerce website tool that was designed for one purpose only. Shopify was created for online store creation and transaction management. You’re dealing with a specialist.
Registering for Shopify is necessary to get started. However, it doesn’t take too long. Shopify is available for free for 14-days if you aren’t sure if it’s right for you. You can test both Shopify vs Woocommerce or WordPress hosting with the free trial.
Shopify offers a variety of tools to make your digital store more efficient. Shopify offers flexible settings, discounts, coupon codes, and payment delivery systems. You can also import data from CSV files or email marketing tools.
Shopify also gives you access to a large marketplace, which allows you to find the additional functionality you need to make your store stand apart. You can search for marketing and SEO tools as well as inventory management services. Social media buttons and product sourcing solutions are also available. Integrations are available with accounting software if you need to track your taxes. Shopify is easy to use, and you don’t need any coding skills. Shopify has one of the easiest shopping carts and payment gateways available. You can also start accepting credit card payments within minutes.
Shopify’s flexibility as an ecommerce storebuilder is amazing. It’s also very easy to use. Even if you have never worked with code before, Shopify can still help you create a decent online store.
Shopify is a great website builder. You don’t need any technical skills to create your store. If you feel you need more help, there are many knowledgebase materials and guides available.
What does WordPress do from a feature perspective?
WordPress was not designed to create online shops like Shopify. WordPress is meant to make any type of website online. This tool does this by providing you with a variety of tools and plugins that can transform your website.
There are many options for ecommerce website design. These include WP Ecommerce and WooCommerce. WooCommerce and related plugins offer many valuable features and settings for online stores that are comparable to separate website builders. These plugins include shipping and payment options, SEO and web design settings. There are also a variety of niche templates that you can browse.
Apart from the plugins that are available for your online shop, you will also need to install additional plugins just like you would for Shopify. You can keep your website in good condition with plugins such as Yoast SEO Services and interlinking Services. You will slow down your site if you have too many plugins.
WordPress is a great tool for ecommerce professionals to build attractive online stores. However, you will need to have some programming experience to get the best out of the various features. It will be difficult for newbies to master all functions. This could mean that your business may take longer to go live.
WordPress is one the most simple CMS systems available, but there are still some challenges. You will need to have a basic understanding of HTML and a place where you can host your website. It will be difficult for new digital users to decide where and how to host your site.
There are many resources and guides available online to help you get started with WordPress. This is a good thing. There are entire webinars and videos dedicated to showing people how to use WordPress to create a self-hosted website. You will not only learn how to use WordPress but also gain valuable developer and design skills.
WordPress is still not better than Shopify, despite all its many benefits. WordPress gives you a content management platform that you can use for any type of website. Your WordPress website can be used as an ecommerce solution or a blog platform.
Shopify is the best choice if you want simplicity. WordPress may offer more flexibility than Shopify, but if your site is purely an ecommerce site, you won’t need the extra features. WordPress is better than Shopify for site building, but Shopify wins eCommerce.
Shopify vs WordPress – Templates
We now move on to making your website look great with Shopify or WordPress. Even if you have the most beautiful domain, paypal payments access, and even an SSL certificate, your website won’t sell.
A website is more than its appearance. Anyone who has ever visited a poorly designed website and then hit the back button immediately will understand that good design is crucial to the success of a business owner.
Shopify and WordPress offer a variety of ways to improve the look of your website. The easiest way to upgrade your online storefront is with free themes. Shopify has a wide range of templates available, including premium and free options that can be customized to meet a variety of needs. These templates are all professionally designed and can be edited easily. The models are also responsive, just as you would expect of any site builder these day.
There are so many attractive themes available that you can be sure your website will look great when it goes live. If you don’t love the templates that Shopify offers, there are many other templates that can be purchased from premium sellers.
Shopify’s templates may be attractive, but they are nothing compared to the vast array of WordPress options. WordPress is the most widely used CMS in the world. This has led to many themes and templates being created over the years. There are literally thousands to choose from. Take this image search as an example:
However, not every template that you can find for WordPress is suitable for your ecommerce website. It could take you days to search through all the options for a WordPress theme. It’s important to note that not all themes will work with every tool in the app store. It is important to ensure that your WordPress theme works with your WooCommerce plugin and any other tools you may have.
Not all themes are as elegant and modern as you would like. Shopify themes are easier to customize and use because they are designed for non-technical users. But, it’s not difficult to create the perfect WordPress template.
WordPress wins the battle for customization options. You should make sure you are choosing a secure template from a trusted source to ensure your site’s security.
Shopify and WordPress both offer premium themes as well as free options. Free themes are great for beginners but premium themes are more appealing to professionals.
Ecommerce and Selling Tools
A range of features are essential to build and manage online stores. We’ll be focusing on Shopify and WordPress hosting specifically for ecommerce.
Once you have found the right shopify theme for you, you can start adding unlimited products to your shopify application.
Both Shopify and WordPress have lots to offer in this area. Let’s look at some of the features you can expect from each competitor.
Shopify offers all the features you’d expect from an ecommerce tool. Logging in to Shopify will take you straight to the dashboard, where you can upload email details and product information.
Shopify users can:
Effectively organize, track, and manage their inventory
Incorporate detailed product descriptions, images, pricing, and pricing details
Personal customer accounts can be set up for clients. This allows them to share their personal information and receive personalized suggestions about which products they should buy.
These tools allow users to organize their categories and find what they are looking for quickly.
A feature called “Abandoned Cart” that integrates with your email marketing tools to track down lost sales.
You have the ability to create other blogs and web pages that will enhance and positively affect your online presence.
There are more than 70 payment processors available, plus the option to calculate multi-currency processes.
To increase brand awareness and reputation, add additional blogs and webpages.
Tracking customer and order details to assist you in following up on your orders
Multiple login options are available for staff to delegate responsibilities.
WordPress plugins will determine the features you have access to for ecommerce. Most people will choose WooCommerce as their preferred plugin. WooCommerce has many of the same features that Shopify, such as the ability to sell physical and digital products.
WooCommerce also allows you to create custom customer accounts for each user and offer additional incentives for affiliate sales. You can also segment products and create product groups in a transparent and flexible environment. This makes it easier to track them.
Some other handy features include:
Geo-location tools allow you to track customers’ addresses and automatically send packages to the correct address at the right moment.
Pricing options and shipping options with local delivery and collection options.
Automated email templates that send messages to customers at different points during the buying cycle, including when they abandon carts.
You can create coupons and discounts so that you can offer more deals to your customers.
You can use product reviews to allow customers to review your products and increase your reputation
There are many analytical tools available, including integrations with Google Analytics to track traffic levels and growth trends.
Because of the nature of the functionality that WordPress offers for ecommerce, it is difficult to decide which Shopify is better. Shopify is the best option, but you should still be able find something similar in the app store. WordPress is one of the most flexible hosting options, with so many ecommerce plugins to choose from.
Shopify vs. WordPress – SEO and Content
Search Engine Optimization is a crucial part of maintaining a website that works smoothly. Search Engine Optimization is essential for any business website. Without high visibility in search results, sales and traffic will be difficult. Paid advertising can be used to increase sales but SEO is the best way to keep your results going over the long-term.
Your strategy for talking to search engines is crucial to long-term growth, no matter if you are building your website using BigCommerce, Wix or Shopify. This will allow customers to search for a variety of products on your website, which could help you improve your reputation.
How can Shopify and WordPress help you improve your SEO strategy.
Shopify’s SEO features are simple, but reliable. SSL can be used to protect your site and show Google that you are worthy to appear at the top of search results. 301 redirects and XML sitemaps can be created automatically if a page does not work or a name is changed.
Yoast is not available for Shopify sites. However, there are many SEO plugins that perform similar functions. Advanced shopify editing is also available to help you implement your own SEO strategies.
Shopify’s main drawback for SEO is the difficulty of creating clean URLs. This is because Shopify always displays /pages/ before the pages you want.
Google prefers simple URL structures, as you can see in the Google Search Console.
However, SEO is more than just URLs. You won’t lose your chance of ranking if your URLs aren’t as good as they could be.
This company is a great choice for SEO, especially if you use Yoast, one of the most widely used SEO tools.
Yoast WordPress plugin analyzes your content from an SEO perspective and then provides step-by-step guidance to help you improve your ranking. Yoast for WordPress also allows you to create SEO-enhanced websitemaps and canonical URLs in order to avoid duplicate content.
WordPress also makes it easier to create simple URLs that are easy to remember for your website.
Another great bonus?
You can host WordPress websites on any server. This allows you to choose something super-fast, reliable and easy to use. Shopify’s shared hosting isn’t restrictive, so you can grow your business without worrying about losing access to the bandwidth and support you need.
Guidance and Customer Support
When you are investing in a new tool, it is easy to forget about customer support and guidance. It is easy to assume that you will be able to use the system quickly so it won’t take much for you to need customer support. It’s still a good idea to have access to assistance if you need it.
Shopify is a top ecommerce website builder for customer support. Support is included in the price of a plan. Customers on the Shopify Lite plan do not have access to email or phone support. You will only receive chat and email support if you are on the Lite plan. This is sufficient to provide the basic assistance you require.
Shopify has a helpful help center as well as a variety of community forums you can use to find answers to your questions. Overall, the service is very easy to use with all of the support options.
What about WordPress?
Unfortunately, WordPress is a self-hosted platform so you won’t get much support.
There is support, but it is often provided via WordPress forums or customer sites. A WordPress developer will provide you with more detailed support.
The positive side is that a lot of WordPress functionality will be provided through plugins and add-ons. This means you won’t have to rely on third-party vendors for assistance. It may be a good idea to search for plugins from vendors that have a track record of providing customer support when you are looking to expand your WordPress ecommerce website.
Which Should You Choose?
There are many options available today for ecommerce. Each solution has its own basic plan. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking at Wix or Bigcommerce, WordPress, Shopify, or any combination of them, it’s important to assess your requirements. Shopify and WordPress both come with a free SSL certificate as well as a variety of add-ons.
Shopify does offer a variety of coding options and Shopify payments. However, WordPress is all about creating flexible websites.
Both Shopify and WordPress have much to offer business owners who want to create and manage their own ecommerce sites. Both tools have their pros and cons, so there is no one-size fits all solution to creating the best eCommerce experience.
Our experiences with Shopify and WordPress gave us insight into who is the best suited for each platform. WordPress is the best platform for you if you are looking to create a blog or startup website that has ecommerce functionality. Shopify, on the other hand is an option if you are looking for a tool that can deliver ecommerce functionality and offers support throughout the process.
Both tools have a lot to offer, including a variety of powerful features and templates. Shopify offers a free trial that will help you get started. The WordPress software is completely free. You just need to pay for hosting and the plugins once you are ready to go.
Shopify is a better choice than WordPress for the following reasons:
Shopify is simpler to set up and use than WordPress for beginners. Shopify has its own Shopify payment solution.
Hosting is part of the product and not managed separately.
Shopify comes standard with many features that can be sourced separately for WordPress.
You can minimize the technical aspects of managing your site.
Shopify is less likely to be hacked than WordPress, which is more popular and thus more frequently targeted.
Your website’s security is in large part up to Shopify. You will need to ensure your security using WordPress.
Shopify is better than WordPress for users who need simple and fast performance.
Shopify provides a better customer experience, including support and guidance for existing and new users.
You can try the product free of charge for 14 days.
These are the best reasons to choose WordPress over Shopify:
It is open-source software and can be downloaded for free.
WordPress can be used to build any type of website. This makes it more flexible than Shopify.
WordPress offers a more advanced system for content management that includes content versioning and archiving.
A wide range of WordPress plugins are available, both premium and non-premium. This allows you to choose the features and functionality that you require. Shopify does not offer plugins, but they do have a limited number.
WordPress offers many options for ecommerce strategies.
WordPress offers a wider range of product options and variants than Shopify.
SEO in WordPress is usually a lot easier when you have access to Yoast’s leading plugin.
WordPress offers more control than Shopify over your marketing and content strategies. Shopify can be difficult to use for content creation.
WordPress is better than Shopify when it comes to multi-site projects and multi-language stores that must be spread around the globe.
