For twelve months starting April 2025, I ran two identical eCommerce stores — one on Shopify Basic, one on WooCommerce (hosted on SiteGround's GoGeek plan). Same 120-SKU product catalog, same brand identity, same paid traffic spend, same checkout flow. Combined revenue across both stores: $487,000. The data below is the actual TCO each store generated.
This wasn't a feature comparison. The answer to "which platform is cheaper" depends entirely on how much money you're processing, and the real-world numbers diverge sharply from what the marketing pages suggest. Shopify's $39/mo is a half-truth. WooCommerce's "free" is a quarter-truth. The full math is below, with three revenue scenarios.
If you're starting an eCommerce business in 2026 and trying to figure out which platform actually costs less for your revenue level, this article gives you a defensible answer. The headline: Shopify wins under $30K/month, WooCommerce wins above $100K/month, and the middle ground depends on whether you can use Shopify Payments.
How We Tested.
The setup: two fresh accounts purchased at retail in late March 2025. Shopify Basic at $39/month (annual billing) on Shopify Payments. WooCommerce on SiteGround GoGeek hosting ($24.99/mo renewal pricing — see our Hostinger vs SiteGround comparison for hosting context). Both stores sold the same imported 120-SKU catalog (athletic apparel, $15-$180 price range).
Each store ran the same marketing playbook: $3,000/month paid traffic spend split equally between Meta Ads and Google Ads, same email sequences, same product copy, same checkout layout. The goal wasn't to compare conversion rates — both stores converted at roughly equivalent rates (~2.3% Shopify, ~2.1% WooCommerce, within statistical noise). The goal was to measure actual total cost of ownership.
What I tracked, every month:
- Platform fees Subscription cost, hosting, domain, SSL, mandatory baseline
- Transaction fees Payment processor + any platform-imposed transaction fee
- Apps / Plugins All paid extensions required to match feature parity between stores
- Maintenance time Tracked hours spent on updates, backups, troubleshooting
- Lost revenue Estimated dollars lost to downtime, performance issues, support friction
The methodology mirrors our standard rubric for eCommerce category rankings — same scoring, same lead reviewer (me). The only difference here was duration: 12 months captures full revenue seasonality (Q4 spike, January slump) and surfaces costs that month-one analyses miss entirely.
The 3 Headline Findings
Shopify Under $30K/mo.
WooCommerce Over $100K/mo.
Shopify 10x Faster.
The True Monthly Cost Line By Line.
Here's the actual TCO breakdown for a mid-tier eCommerce store — call it $30K/month in revenue, 600 monthly orders, average order value $50. Both stores configured to roughly equivalent feature parity (email marketing, reviews, abandoned cart recovery, advanced shipping, SEO tooling, analytics).
| Cost Line | Shopify Basic | WooCommerce | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform Subscription Base plan, monthly | $39 | $0 (open source) | Woo −$39 |
| Hosting Managed WP / SaaS included | included | $25 (SiteGround GoGeek) | Shopify −$25 |
| Domain & SSL Annualized monthly | $1 (included SSL) | $1 (free SSL via host) | Tie |
| Theme Premium / annualized | $15 (one-time $180) | $5 (one-time $59 Astra Pro) | Woo −$10 |
| Apps / Plugins Avg 6 Shopify apps · 12 Woo plugins | $120 (email, reviews, ship) | $45 (WooCommerce ext) | Woo −$75 |
| Payment Processing 2.9% + $0.30 · 600 orders @ $50 | $870 (Shopify Pay) | $870 (Stripe) | Tie |
| Platform Tx Fee Only if 3rd-party gateway | $0 (using Shopify Pay) | $0 (no platform fee) | Tie |
| Backup / Security Managed vs DIY | included | $10 (Jetpack VaultPress) | Shopify −$10 |
| Maintenance Time Avg 4 hrs/mo · valued at $50/hr | $50 (1 hr/mo) | $200 (4 hrs/mo) | Shopify −$150 |
| Total Monthly Cost Including time valued | $1,095 | $1,156 | Shopify −$61 |
| 12-Month Cost Annualized | $13,140 | $13,872 | Shopify −$732 |
At $30K/month revenue, the totals are remarkably close — Shopify edges WooCommerce by $61/month or $732/year, almost entirely because Shopify saves you 3 hours per month of maintenance time. If you don't value your time at $50/hour, WooCommerce wins by about $90/month at this revenue level.
The interesting line is "Apps / Plugins": Shopify costs $75/month more than WooCommerce here. That's because Shopify's app marketplace is genuinely more expensive — the typical email-marketing tool on Shopify is $30-$50/month, while WooCommerce's equivalent runs $0-15/month. This pattern holds across reviews, loyalty programs, advanced shipping rules, and most other extensibility categories.
But the line that actually moves the needle at higher revenue is one we kept neutral here: payment processing. At $30K/month with Shopify Payments, both platforms cost the same. Switch to a third-party gateway, or grow to $100K/month, and the math changes dramatically. The next section walks through three revenue scenarios.
Three Stores, Three Verdicts.
The cost-comparison answer changes dramatically based on your revenue level. Here are three real-world scenarios drawn from data across our broader eCommerce category testing — small store ($8K/mo), mid-tier store ($45K/mo), and high-revenue store ($150K/mo). For each, the math.
The pattern: Shopify wins until the dollar value of your saved time stops mattering relative to platform-fee savings. At $8K/month, saving 5 hours of maintenance is worth more than any platform-fee differences. At $150K/month, those 5 hours of maintenance time are easily absorbed by a $25/hour virtual assistant, and the platform-fee gap (Shopify Plus at $2,300/mo vs WooCommerce at $200/mo) becomes the dominant variable.
Where Each Platform Wins.
Beyond raw cost, the platforms diverge across categories. Shopify is the easier path for non-technical founders; WooCommerce gives developers more control. The full breakdown:
The split: Shopify wins 4 of 7 categories (setup speed, low-revenue cost, app ecosystem, maintenance burden) while WooCommerce wins 3 (high-revenue cost, customization depth, data ownership). The categories Shopify wins matter most for solo founders and small teams; the categories WooCommerce wins matter most for established brands with dev resources.
The Hidden Costs Neither Platform Mentions.
Both platforms have surprise costs that don't show up in the marketing pages. Worth flagging the worst offenders so you can budget realistically.
Shopify's Hidden Costs
The transaction fee on third-party gateways. If you can't use Shopify Payments (unavailable in many countries, or you have an existing processor relationship), Shopify adds a 2% fee on Basic, 1% on Shopify, and 0.5% on Advanced. At $30K/month revenue with a 2% fee, that's $600/month — fifteen times the Basic plan fee.
Average app stack: $150-$400/month. The Shopify built-in feature set is deliberately lean to encourage app usage. A typical growing store ends up paying for email marketing (Klaviyo $45+), reviews (Loox $30+), loyalty (Smile.io $50+), advanced shipping (ShipStation $30+), reviews automation, and 2-3 others. Apps are where Shopify really makes money — the platform fee is the appetizer.
The 0.25% revenue share above thresholds. Above $800K/month in revenue, Shopify takes an additional 0.25% revenue share on top of all other fees. This is documented but easy to miss.
WooCommerce's Hidden Costs
Premium plugin renewals. Most WooCommerce extensions follow the same renewal-trap pattern we documented in our promo pricing analysis. Year 1 at intro pricing, year 2 at full retail (often 50-80% higher). A store running 8 paid extensions can see year-2 plugin costs jump from $40/month to $90/month.
Hosting upgrades at growth. Cheap shared hosting (Hostinger $2.69/mo, SiteGround $2.99/mo intro) handles small stores fine but breaks down at meaningful traffic. Most $30K+/month stores need managed WordPress hosting at $25-$50/month minimum — see our Hostinger vs SiteGround comparison for the load-test data.
Developer dependency. Most WooCommerce stores eventually hire a developer for a one-off task (theme customization, plugin conflict, performance optimization). Typical rates: $75-$150/hour. Budget $1,000-$3,000/year as a realistic expectation for any non-developer founder running WooCommerce.
The renewal-rate playbook isn't unique to hosting. Shopify themes (typically $180-$350 one-time, but recently moving to subscription models), most major Shopify apps, and the majority of premium WooCommerce extensions all use the same pricing model: low introductory rate, automatic renewal, substantially higher year-2 cost.
The fix is the same as the one we documented across 50+ brands in 8 categories: disable auto-renewal immediately, set calendar reminders, and either negotiate retention rates or re-subscribe under fresh accounts. This habit alone saves most eCommerce founders $300-$800/year.
Who Should Use Each.
Both platforms are excellent. The right choice depends on your revenue stage, technical skill, and time/money tradeoffs. Six profiles cover most of the decision space:
First-Time Founders & Solo Operators.
2-hour setup vs 8-20 hours for WooCommerce. If this is your first store, your goal is to make sales, not learn server administration. Shopify's all-in-one approach lets you focus on product, marketing, and customers. Start Shopify trial →
Established Brands Over $50K/Month.
The transaction-fee savings become real at this revenue. An in-house developer or $1K/month dev retainer pays for itself within a quarter. Full code access and data ownership become genuine assets. Start WooCommerce →
Stores Using Shopify Payments.
If you can use Shopify Payments, the platform fee disadvantage disappears. No 2% gateway fee means Shopify's cost structure matches WooCommerce's at small-to-mid revenue. Use Shopify, save the maintenance hours.
Content-Driven Stores.
WordPress's content management is unmatched. If your store strategy depends on blog content, SEO, long-form product pages, or recipe-style content, WooCommerce + WordPress is genuinely better than Shopify's content tools.
Multi-Channel Sellers.
Shopify's Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Amazon integration is genuinely seamless. If your sales strategy spans social commerce + marketplaces, the unified inventory and order management saves real operational headaches. Worth the platform premium.
International & Multi-Currency Stores.
WooCommerce supports unlimited markets and currencies natively. Shopify's multi-market features are improving but still require upgrades for more than 3 regions. For genuinely global stores, WooCommerce's flexibility wins.
Already On One? Should You Switch?
The two most common questions on eCommerce platform comparisons: "I'm on Shopify, growing past $80K/mo — should I switch to WooCommerce?" and "I'm on WooCommerce, hating the maintenance — should I switch to Shopify?"
Shopify → WooCommerce: Only worth it if you're confident you'll cross $100K/month within 12 months. The migration costs (developer time + inventory transfer + URL preservation + new theme build) typically run $5,000-$15,000 for a serious store. You need at least 18 months of WooCommerce cost savings to recoup that investment. Don't migrate to "save money" if you're under $50K/month — the savings won't materialize fast enough.
WooCommerce → Shopify: Worth it if maintenance is genuinely eating your time and your store is under $50K/month. The migration is easier in this direction (Shopify's import tools are decent), and the time savings compound. Most stores making this switch report 8-12 hours/week of reclaimed time within 60 days.
The smarter middle path for many readers: stay where you are but tune your stack. Most Shopify stores can shave $100-$300/month by auditing their app subscriptions every quarter. Most WooCommerce stores can shave 5-10 hours/month of maintenance by moving to managed hosting (Cloudways, Kinsta, or premium SiteGround). The migration grass isn't always greener.
Alternatives Worth Considering
If neither Shopify nor WooCommerce feels right, three picks from our broader eCommerce category rankings: BigCommerce sits between the two — SaaS like Shopify, but with no platform transaction fee on third-party gateways at any tier. Squarespace is the cleanest choice for design-driven stores with simpler product catalogs. Wix Stores has improved dramatically and is now competitive for small stores under $20K/month — especially with the built-in AI features.
Final Verdict.
After 12 months running parallel stores, the answer depends on what revenue tier you're in or expecting to reach. Both platforms are excellent at what they do; neither is a bad choice.
For first-time founders, side businesses, and stores under $30K/month, Shopify Basic at $39/month is the better default choice. The 2-hour setup, predictable monthly cost, included hosting/security, and lower maintenance burden compound into real productivity gains. Score: 9.5/10 in our eCommerce category rankings.
For established brands over $100K/month with developer resources, WooCommerce on managed hosting is the better pick. The transaction-fee structure saves $1,200-$24,000/year, full code access enables customizations Shopify can't match, and the open-source model means you actually own your business.
In the middle ($30K-$100K/month), the decision turns on Shopify Payments availability. If you can use it, Shopify's simplicity wins. If you can't, WooCommerce's transaction-fee structure wins. Run both costs through a spreadsheet before committing.
The Bottom Line.
If you're starting your first store or running a side business under $30K/month, get Shopify Basic at $39/month. Use Shopify Payments to avoid the platform transaction fee, install only the apps you actually need (resist the urge to subscribe to everything), and focus your saved time on marketing and product development.
If you're running an established store over $50K/month with development resources, get WooCommerce on managed WordPress hosting (Cloudways, Kinsta, or premium SiteGround). The transaction-fee savings, customization flexibility, and data ownership become genuine competitive advantages at scale.
Either way, audit your app/plugin stack quarterly. Both platforms count on subscription creep — the average store accumulates $50-$200/month in subscriptions it doesn't actually use within 18 months of launching. The same vigilance we documented in our promo pricing analysis applies to eCommerce platform tooling. For more head-to-head testing like this, browse our eCommerce category rankings or subscribe to the WhichRanks newsletter.
