WordPress vs Shopify: Which Online Store Platform Is Better?

Are you planning to start an online store but unsure which platform to choose? With so many options available, it can be overwhelming to narrow down the choices. The two most popular platforms are WordPress website vs Shopify, but which one is better for your business needs? Where will your shop grow the most?

Both have their own unique strengths and weaknesses when it comes to building an online store. While WP is known for its flexibility and customization options, Shopify offers a more streamlined and user-friendly experience.

Choosing the right platform is crucial to the success of your online store, as it can impact everything from user experience to SEO. In this article, ProCoders will compare WordPress store vs Shopify side by side to help you make an informed decision on which platform is best suited for your business needs.

Features	WordPress	Shopify
Ease of Use	Moderate	Easy
Customization	High	Moderate
E-commerce Features	Requires plugins	Built-in
Payment Gateways	Requires plugins	Built-in
Hosting	Self-hosted	Hosted
Cost	Free	Starting at $29/month
Abandoned Cart Recovery	Requires plugins	Built-in
Inventory Management	Requires plugins	Built-in

Shopify eCommerce Pros and Cons

With the rise of online shopping and the growing importance of eCommerce, choosing the right platform is essential to help your business thrive. Shopify has become a popular choice among online entrepreneurs, thanks to its user-friendly interface and range of features. Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of using this platform to help you understand the difference between Shopify and WordPress for your eCommerce business.

Pros

• Ease of Use – The platform is very intuitive and user-friendly, making it ideal for beginners and experts alike.
• Pricing – Shopify offers a range of pricing plans, so you can easily find the right plan for your business without overspending.
• Template Design – There are also many templates to choose from, so you can create a professional-looking website without having to hire a web designer.
• Blogging Options – Shopify allows you to easily integrate a blog into your eCommerce website, which can help attract more visitors and improve SEO.
• Ecommerce Tools – With Shopify, you have access to a range of eCommerce tools, such as abandoned cart recovery, product reviews, and more, to help you grow your business.
• Payment Options – Shopify supports a wide range of payment options, including credit cards, PayPal, and third-party providers, making it easy for customers to make a purchase.
• SEO Options – Shopify has built-in SEO features, such as meta descriptions and title tags, which can help improve your website’s visibility and ranking in search engines.
• Performance and Security – Shopify has a strong infrastructure and security measures in place to ensure that your website performs well and is protected from threats.
• Multilingual Options – The provider allows you to create a multilingual website, so you can easily reach customers in different countries and regions.
• Multiple Sites – With Shopify, you can manage multiple websites from a single account, making it easy to expand your business.
• Marketing Tools – Shopify provides numerous marketing tools, such as email campaigns, social media integration, and more, to help you promote your business.
• Mobile Apps & Plugins – The provider has a range of mobile apps and plugins that can help you manage your store from anywhere, making it ideal for on-the-go entrepreneurs.
• Dropshipping – Shopify allows you to easily set up a dropshipping business, so you can sell products without having to keep inventory.
• Help and Support – Shopify provides 24/7 customer support, including live chat, email, and phone service.

Cons

• Customization – Shopify’s templates are limited in terms of customization, which can make it difficult for businesses who want to create unique, personalized sites.
• Transaction Fees – Shopify charges a transaction fee for online orders made through third-party payment providers, which can add up and eat into profits.
• Data Ownership – When using Shopify, businesses must agree to Shopify’s terms and allow the company access to their data, including customer information and sales data.
• Restricted Features – Not all features are available in all pricing plans, meaning that some stores may have to pay more to unlock certain functions.
• Limited Blogging – If we were to compare Shopify blog vs WordPress blog, WP would win. While Shopify does offer blogging options, they are limited compared to dedicated blogging platforms, which can make it difficult to create a robust content marketing strategy.
• Lack of Control – As Shopify is a hosted platform, businesses give up some control over their website and are reliant on the provider to maintain their website’s uptime and security.
• Payment Limitations – Shopify’s payment options are limited in some countries, which can make it difficult for globally-set stores.
• Data Migration – If a business wants to switch to a different eCommerce platform, migrating data from Shopify may be difficult and time-consuming. 

Overall, the platform is easy to use and offers plenty of features for eStores in various niches. It’s affordable and little to no tech knowledge is required to create a website. With multiple benefits of Shopify over WordPress, many companies opt for the first. After all, over 6,500,000 customers (including historical) were/are using the platform.

The question is, should you omit Shopify for WordPress? Let’s evaluate WPs perks and drawbacks and find out.

WordPress with WooCommerce Pros and Cons

WordPress is a popular platform for creating websites, and WooCommerce is a plugin that adds eCommerce functionality to WP sites. Together, they offer a user-friendly way to sell products online if you hire eCommerce developer with experience.

Here, ProCoders will explore the benefits and limitations of this popular eCommerce solution to help you decide whether to use Shopify vs WordPress for eCommerce.

Pros

• Flexibility – WordPress is extremely flexible and customizable, making it easy for businesses to create unique and personalized websites that meet their specific needs.
• Large Community – WP has a large and active community of developers and users who create plugins and themes, offer support, and contribute to the platform’s ongoing development.
• SEO-Friendly – WordPress has built-in features that make it easy to optimize a website for search engines, which can help improve its visibility and ranking in search results.
• Control – As a self-hosted platform, WP gives businesses full control over their website, including the ability to access and modify the underlying code and data.
• Integrations – WordPress integrates with a wide range of tools and services, such as Google Analytics and social media platforms, making it easy for businesses to manage and analyze their website’s performance.

Cons

• Complexity – compare Shopify and WordPress and you’ll see how the latter is more flexible but also complex, which can make it difficult for beginners to use and understand.
• Security – WP is the most popular platform, which makes it a target for hackers and other security threats. Businesses must take additional steps to secure their website, such as using strong passwords and implementing security plugins.
• Maintenance – WordPress websites require regular maintenance, including updates to plugins, themes, and the core platform, which can be time-consuming and sometimes result in compatibility issues.
• Learning Curve – Because WordPress is customizable, it can take some time to learn how to use it effectively, especially for businesses who want to create a highly-customized website.
• Shopify vs WordPress Costs – While WordPress site cost is generally affordable, additional expense can quickly add up, such as purchasing a premium theme or plugin, and hiring developers for custom coding or website designs.

43.2% of all the websites worldwide use WordPress as their content management system. It leaves you fully in control and offers a myriad of customization options. Depending on your needs and resources, it can become the best eStore platform choice.

So is WordPress better than Shopify? Or is it the other way around? How to pick the right home for your eStore?

How to Choose Between WordPress and Shopify

Statistics	WordPress	Shopify
Market share	39.7%	5,6%
Number of websites	455 million	1.7 million
E-commerce market share	1.4%	21.8%
Average monthly cost	$20-$100	$29-$299
Number of themes	8,000+	80+
Number of plugins	55,000+	6,000+
Developer community	Large	Moderate
Mobile responsiveness	Depends on theme	Built-in
SEO friendliness	Good	Good

Overall, if you want an easy-to-use platform with robust eCommerce features and minimal technical know-how, Shopify might be the better choice. It has a larger eCommerce market share, built-in mobile responsiveness, and great SEO capabilities. Its intuitive interface makes Shopify easier than WordPress.

WP, however, could be a good option if you require a custom user experience and can invest in development, getting more flexibility and customization. It hosts over 450 million websites, which proves its benefits and has more than 55,000 plugins to enrich your store with.

Now that we’ve learned the difference between WordPress and Shopify, it’s time to decide what platform is the right chariot for your shop. The final choice depends on your needs and goals, budget and resources, and more specific factors, but we can leave you without an algorithm.

Factor 1: Control

If maximum control over the website, your and customer data, etc. is a top priority for your business, WordPress can become the most suitable choice. And if you don’t need full control and want the store establishment to go easily, use Shopify better than WordPress.

Factor 2: Technical Knowledge

Tech knowledgeability is important when comparing WordPress vs Shopify for eCommerce. If you have technical skills or your business has a team that can develop a website (and all of this fits into your budget), WooCommerce is the way to go. However, if you don’t have time or skills to build a site and don’t want to hire CMS developers to do it for you, the Shopify platform will be much easier.

Factor 3: Customization

While Shopify offers some customization options, if you want maximum uniqueness in your user experience, WordPress almost takes off the limit on what you can do to your site. Again, this may take more time and skills, but if it’s your priority, you know what to do.

Factor 4: User-Friendliness

In case user-friendliness is on your list of must-haves, then it’s definitely Shopify. You can start your own store in less than an hour (without adding products, researching the audience, and applying marketing). WP will take more time as it’s more confusing for a new user.

Factor 5: Built-In eCommerce

WordPress offers a lot of plugins and customization options, but if you need built-in eComm, Shopify is your choice. It has everything to start selling ASAP.

Keep in mind, please, that each business and each case is unique, so this is only an algorithm that may give you a nudge in the right direction. To make an informed decision, you need professional help. Gladly, ProCoders can assist you in picking the right platform!

How Procoders Can Assist to Choose Between Shopify and WordPress and Deliver an eCommerce Store?

Your decision will impact the success of your eStore. We understand that based on the experience of our partners. That’s why this stage is so important, and oftentimes, without expertise in the industry, people may opt for the wrong platform.

For cases like this, when you’re in doubt and not sure about the needs, current and future, of your store, we have Discovery Phase services.

Our practicing professionals will study your idea and any materials, plans, etc. that you have, aligning them with the technical requirements of such a project. We look into your priorities and choose the right platform your store will fit in perfectly, finding its audience quickly, and bringing you first revenue ASAP.

As a result, you get information about what’s best for the project, including the platform, budget, timeframe, the developers you’ll need, and more. 

You can also get familiar with our Shopify developers, as well as WordPress and WooCommerce experts!

After that, as your web development outsourcing guide, we can select the right engineers from our team to set up a user-friendly, speedy eStore that will help you start selling within the first month!

Additional Materials: Best Plugins for Both WordPress and Shopify

We’ve compiled lists of the most useful plugins of both worlds to make it easier to create a shop in a shorter time and provide it with more functionality. You can always count on ProCoders when the choice of a plugin becomes tough. Out of a dozen, there’s a couple essential for your business.

Let us detect them for you.

Popular Plugins	WordPress	Shopify
SEO Optimization	Yoast SEO, All-in-One SEO Pack, Rank Math	SEO manager
Page Builders	Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi	PageFly, Shogun
Contact Forms	WPForms, Gravity Forms, Contact Form 7	Contact Form, Form Builder
Security	Woldfence, Sucuri, iThemes Security	Shopify Security
E-commerce	WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress	Shopify E-commerce, Bold Apps
Analytics	Google Analytics Dashboard for WP, MonsterInsights, Jetack	Google Analytics, Lucky Orange
Social Media	Shared Counts, Revive Old Post, Social Pug	Social Rabbit, Instafeed
Backup and Restore	UpdraftPlus, BackupBuddy, Duplicator	Rewind Backups, Backup & Restore Pro

Conclusion

Ultimately, the decision of which platform to use for your online store comes down to your business needs and preferences. Shopify is great for companies that want an easy-to-use platform with a range of features, but WordPress offers more flexibility and control. 

Consider factors such as pricing, features, and ease of use before making a final decision. Additionally, think about your website’s long-term goals and the level of maintenance you are comfortable with. If you’re still in doubt after days of consideration, ProCoders can help you to finally make an informed decision through our Discovery Phase.

And no matter which platform you choose, we can help you create a website that meets your requirements, addresses your needs, and helps you achieve success. With our experienced team of web developers, we can provide custom solutions for any project and ensure your website is optimized for search engines and user experience. 

So don’t hesitate – contact us today to get started on creating the perfect online store for your business!