If you’re planning to start an online store, choosing the right platform is critical. Two popular e-commerce platforms are WordPress and Shopify. While both platforms offer features that allow you to create an online store, they have different strengths and weaknesses. In this blog post, we’ll compare WordPress and Shopify to help you decide which platform is right for your business.
WordPress
WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) that powers over 40% of all websites on the internet. It is a free, open-source platform that allows you to create any type of website, including an online store. WordPress is known for its flexibility, as it offers a wide range of customization options.
WordPress has two options for creating an online store: WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads (EDD). WooCommerce is a free, open-source plugin that allows you to create a fully functional online store. It is the most popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress, with over 5 million active installs. WooCommerce is easy to use and offers a wide range of customization options. You can choose from a variety of themes and extensions to customize your online store.
EDD is another e-commerce plugin for WordPress that specializes in selling digital products. It is also free and open source. EDD is easy to use and comes with features like discount codes, payment gateways, and customer management. EDD is a good option if you’re selling digital products like ebooks, music, or software.
Shopify
Shopify is an all-in-one e-commerce platform that allows you to create an online store without any technical knowledge. It is a subscription-based platform, which means you pay a monthly fee to use it. Shopify is known for its ease of use and offers a wide range of features to help you create a successful online store.
Shopify offers a wide range of themes and extensions to customize your online store. It also offers a drag-and-drop website builder, which makes it easy to create a website without any technical knowledge. Shopify offers a wide range of payment gateways, including its own payment gateway, Shopify Payments.
WordPress vs. Shopify
Now that we’ve covered the basics of WordPress and Shopify, let’s compare the two platforms in more detail.
Ease of Use
Shopify is known for its ease of use. It is a turnkey solution that allows you to create an online store without any technical knowledge. Shopify offers a drag-and-drop website builder, which makes it easy to create a website. Shopify also offers 24/7 customer support, which is helpful if you have any questions or problems.
WordPress, on the other hand, requires more technical knowledge. While WordPress is easy to use for basic tasks like creating a blog post or page, creating an online store requires more technical knowledge. You’ll need to install and configure a plugin like WooCommerce or EDD to create an online store. While WordPress offers more customization options than Shopify, it requires more technical knowledge to take advantage of them.
Cost
WordPress is free to use, but you’ll need to pay for hosting, a domain name, and an SSL certificate. Hosting can cost anywhere from a few dollars a month to hundreds of dollars a month, depending on the size of your online store. A domain name costs around $10-$20 per year, and an SSL certificate costs around $50-$100 per year.
Shopify is a subscription-based platform, which means you pay a monthly fee to use it. Shopify offers a range of plans, starting from $29 per month for the basic plan. The more advanced plans offer more features and lower transaction fees. Shopify also charges a transaction fee on each sale, which ranges from 2.4% to 2.9% + 30ยข, depending on the plan you choose.
Customization
WordPress offers more customization options than Shopify. With WordPress