If you are starting a dropshipping business and are looking for the right store platform, you will probably end up comparing Shopify vs WooCommerce. Shopify and WooCommerce are both popular e-commerce platforms that are used by many dropshipping stores. In this article, we provide a deeper understanding of what each dropshipping platform has to offer and the features that could take your dropshipping business to the next level.
Features of a good dropshipping platform include automation, customization, SEO, affordability, and ease of use. So Shopify or WooCommerce, which one is the right choice for your dropshipping store?
Dropshipping: Shopify vs. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is considered better for dropshipping businesses because of its flexibility and scalability. Once business owners have a success case, they can easily copy that WooCommerce store into a new one. This makes it way easier to expand and scale.
Shopify is also a good platform for dropshipping and is often chosen by starting entrepreneurs. However, it has some disadvantages. For example, Shopify has a lock-in which makes it more difficult to move away from the platform. Shopify is also more expensive compared to WooCommerce. Shopify or WooCommerce? Read on to find out which is right for you or start a free trial of one of Woosa’s Dropshipping WooCommerce plugins to empower your business.
Shopify vs. Shopify: Product Overview
Shopify
Shopify was founded in 2006, and its headquarters are in Ontario, Canada. Because Shopify has been around for a while, it has adopted modern features, including a built-in checkout process and management system, meaning you can manage your orders and sales more efficiently.
The drawback of Shopify is that you have no control over the hosting. Another point to consider is that Shopify requires a subscription and takes a percentage up to 2.8% of your revenue.
Shopify also restricts the maximum number of products to 50,000 total and 1,000 daily. So when you scale up, the cost of using Shopify will increase. Even for designs, you need to pay extra in Shopify and every app you install requires an additional subscription fee.
On the other hand, WordPress and WooCommerce require more work and knowledge during the setup phase. Luckily, WooCommerce is more scalable and cheaper when you start to make revenue which makes it worth the hassle at the beginning.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce was launched in 2011 and is an open-source e-commerce plugin designed for WordPress. The plugin quickly became very popular for its simplicity and ease of use. WooCommerce is a free platform that is supported by a community of developers and maintained by WooCommerce itself.
WooCommerce allows store owners to easily create and manage their stores. It has gained popularity fast, due to its user-friendly interface and wide range of features. WooCommerce also has a built-in blog functionality that permits you to produce and manage your blogs. It is well-known for its outstanding performance on SEO.
WooCommerce has been around for a while and has seen a lot of changes and improvements since its foundation. With the growing popularity of Dropshipping, WooCommerce has proven itself to be a solid solution for store owners.
WooCommerce vs Shopify: Comparison
WooCommerce and Shopify are two of the best and most-used e-commerce platforms on the market, both with strengths and weaknesses. Here are some of the main differences:
- WooCommerce is a plugin that runs on WordPress and offers great flexibility and customization.
- Shopify is a standalone platform that is more straightforward to set up and use, but it comes with some limitations in terms of customization and it is more expensive than WooCommerce.
WooCommerce vs Shopify: Pricing
One of the most significant differences between the two dropshipping platforms is pricing.
Shopify
Shopify has several tiers of pricing, each with distinct features. For example, you would need to purchase the Advanced Shopify plan for gift cards, advanced reports, advanced report builder, and third-party calculated shipping features.
- Basic Shopify: $39 per month.
- Shopify: $105 per month.
- Advanced Shopify: $399 per month.
These prices are without premium themes and additional apps, which can be installed from the App Store. The price of Shopify can increase rapidly once more and more functionality.
WooCommerce
Both WordPress and WooCommerce are free to download. However, you will need a hosting plan to install your WooCommerce store on.
- WordPress Page Builder or theme: $29-$199 one-off payment.
- Plugins/extensions: from $25 each.
- Hosting server: $5-$25 per month.
With WooCommerce, it is important to keep in mind that there are numerous plugins to choose from, including free WordPress plugins such as Yoast SEO, but also paid options such as vidaXL Dropshipping for WooCommerce.
WooCommerce vs Shopify: SEO
SEO is essential for all dropshipping stores. It will help you to improve your store’s visibility on search engines and increase traffic and sales. SEO also contributes to a positive brand image for your store, increasing customer loyalty and sales.
Shopify
When it comes to SEO optimization, Shopify offers limited functionality to improve products, pages and blog posts. Purchasing a specialized app is the only way to create and optimize SEO content for Shopify. However, these apps are again limited when we look at optimizing individual pages and the prices start from $19 per month on top of your Shopify subscription.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce has no default functionality for SEO, but the structure is written for search engines. Since WordPress started as a platform for blog websites, the SEO performance of WordPress and WooCommerce has been outstanding. Besides, SEO optimization plugins to enhance the functionality to optimize are free to download and use.
Check out our blog post: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to SEO for Dropshipping Stores.
WooCommerce vs Shopify: Ease of use
Having a dropshipping business that works as smooth as possible can be the difference between success and failure. Selecting a platform that helps you work optimally and saves you precious time is a key consideration for all dropshipping businesses.
Shopify
Shopify is pretty easy to use as it is a hosted platform. It is user-friendly and has features, templates, and apps available to help businesses get started quickly. There is also a great support desk available.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is built on top of WordPress and is also incredibly easy to use. WooCommerce usually takes a bit more time for initial setup. However, its adaptability is impressive once you are up and running. WooCommerce gives you much more customization options and flexibility.
Shopify vs WooCommerce: Features
Both dropshipping platforms offer a wide range of features to help you run your business more efficiently. Here are a few of the top features of both WooCommerce and Shopify:
| Shopify | WooCommerce | |
| Set up | Shopify Is a subscription-based service and an out-of-the-box solution. | WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin. It simply requires a WordPress installation to run, but is free to download. |
| SEO | No SEO included. | SEO tools. |
| Customer Support | 24/7 email, chat, and phone support. | Ticket support, forum support, and lots of blogs online. Besides, companies like Woosa offer dedicated support for WooCommerce stores. |
| Customizable | Closed platform – you can only modify your store to the extent that Shopify allows. | Open source – you can change your store freely. There are no limitations. |
| Themes and designs | More than 50 store designs are available, some of which are free. | Thousands of store designs are available with WordPress themes and page builders. |
| Hosting | Included | No hosting is included. |
| SSL Cert | Free SSL certificate. | Free SSL certificate via the hosting provider. |
| Payment Gateways | Accepts all well-known payment gateways, such as Stripe, Shopify Payments, etc. | Accepts all well-known payment gateways, such as: Stripe, Mollie, Adyen, WooCommerce Payments and many more. |
| Multi-lingual | Native support for multiple languages. | With WooCommerce third-party plugin, multiple languages are supported on your store. |
FAQS
Do you have to pay for hosting with WooCommerce or Shopify?
Hosting is only applicable for WooCommerce since Shopify includes hosting. The price for hosting for WooCommerce varies from $5 to $150 per month. This depends on how big your store is and how many traffic your store has.
Can you migrate your store between Shopify and WooCommerce?
Yes, you can migrate your store from Shopify to WooCommerce with a bit of technical knowledge. Do you want help with that? Contact our team to discuss the possibilities.
Which platform is more scalable, Shopify or WooCommerce?
WooCommerce is more scalable than Shopify, partly because a greater community of developers builds custom plugins and features. WooCommerce can also handle more orders and transactions than Shopify, giving you more potential for growth. Last but not least, WooCommerce is open-source and therefore easier to expand.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you now have a clear idea of what Shopify and WooCommerce offer for your dropshipping business. Although both Shopify and WooCommerce offer great features if you are looking for a well-rounded, easy-to-use, affordable, and more adaptable platform, WooCommerce is the best choice.
Join the Woosa Community for more tips from our experts and fellow WooCommerce dropshipping stores.
