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When starting an online business, many decisions have to be made regarding operations, marketing, and logistics. Among these decisions, choosing an online platform may be the most important because it connects all these other ecommerce details together.
Your choice of ecommerce platform also dictates how much direct platform control and how much scalability you have for your business. Two platforms worth considering are WooCommerce, a self-hosted, open-source option with lots of flexibility, and Shopify, an all-in-one, hosted, SaaS solution.
This article will provide a neutral, detailed comparison of WooCommerce vs. Shopify, analyzing key factors such as ownership, ease of use, cost structure, and scalability to help you choose the ideal ecommerce platform for your business.
WooCommerce is an open-source plugin for WordPress that is self-hosted, meaning that the user controls the hosting environment, code, and database.
WooCommerce requires more technical maintenance including updates, security, and backups. Also, it relies on the user for performance optimization.
Developers, technically proficient users, content-driven businesses, and users that prioritize full ownership of their platform comprise the ideal users for WooCommerce.
Shopify is a fully hosted and managed SaaS platform offering an all-in-one solution that handles security, hosting, and core updates automatically.
With Shopify, the online store owner has less control over the underlying code and database. You can expect monthly subscription fees and transaction fees (unless you are using Shopify Payments).
Shopify is ideal for beginners, businesses that prioritize stability and ease of management, and users without technical skills.
Business owners have two great options to consider for their ecommerce platform. WooCommerce is flexible, developer-friendly and offers platform control. Shopify is simple and stable, offering an all-in-one platform for hassle-free business management.
When deciding on the right platform for your business, a big determiner should be what budget is available for development versus subscription fees. Also consider whether you require ultimate control over your platform (WooCommerce) or if you just need guaranteed technical simplicity (Shopify).
Have a clear understanding of your available technical skills and what kind of business model you have in place before committing to either of these worthy ecommerce platforms.
Whichever ecommerce platform you choose, Pressable’s managed WordPress hosting offers a good fit for your online business. Flexible, fast, low-maintenance, secure—it delivers what you need so you can focus on growing your business instead of managing the infrastructure. Leave that to our experts who understand WordPress.
Pressable—part of the Automattic family that also includes WordPress.com, WordPress VIP, and WooCommerce—is staffed by WordPress experts with the skills and knowledge to effectively manage your WordPress site. If you’re thinking about switching to managed WordPress hosting, schedule a demo to see how Pressable can support your continued optimization and growth.
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