As a web design company, we work with clients on their Shopify and WordPress websites. Both platforms are popular, but they serve different purposes and have different pros and cons depending on your needs. Below is a quick visual comparison and below that a more detailed review. Hopefully they will help you decide on which option will work best for your business.
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Comparison |
Shopify | WordPress |
| Function | Shopify is primarily designed for creating and managing online stores. It provides a suite of tools to handle everything from product listings and inventory management to payment processing and order fulfillment. | WordPress is a highly flexible content management system (CMS) that can be used to create not only e-commerce websites but also blogs, business websites, portfolios, and more. Out of the box, WordPress offers the tools needed to design and set up your website. |
| Ease of Use | Shopify is known for its user-friendly interface and streamlined setup process. You don’t need extensive technical knowledge to get started, making it suitable for beginners. | While the initial setup and basic usage is user-friendly, diving deeper into WordPress’s capabilities might require a learning curve, especially if you’re not familiar with web development. You may want to consider contracting with a web design company to get your website established. |
| Hosting & Security | Shopify is a fully hosted platform, which means that they handle hosting, security, and maintenance for you. This can be a big advantage for those who don’t want to deal with technical aspects. | WordPress is not fully hosted. You’ll need to arrange your own hosting and handle security measures, which might be overwhelming for some users. Look for hosting companies that offer WordPress Managed options and your hosting will be as secure as Shopify options. |
| Themes & Plugins/Apps | Shopify has a store of apps and plugins that allow you to add various functionalities to your store, such as social media integration, email marketing, and more. Basic templates in Shopify can be restricting on options and more advanced templates may be a learning curve on how to use as can different plugins/apps. Most apps and plugins will work with all themes. | WordPress boasts a vast ecosystem of plugins and themes. While WooCommerce (a WordPress plugin) can turn your site into an ecommerce platform, you can customize your website’s functionality extensively using plugins. With WordPress, you have more control over design and functionality. You can create highly customized websites, but this might require more technical expertise depending on the plugins and themes you choose. Be careful with plugins as some of them will not work with certain themes. |
| Scalability | Shopify can handle stores of various sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises, making it suitable for growth. | WordPress is open-source software, which means you have complete control over your website’s code and can modify it to your needs and can scale to any size of website or business. |
| Cost | The cost for Shopify represents that you are hosting your website with them AND that you are using their tools, apps, and plugins to run your website. If you want a more custom theme that is not in their “free” options, they do not come cheap! Most plugins/apps cost an extra fee too. Final point – although you own the domain (if you have a custom domain and not a myshopify one) you never OWN your website. If you decide to move away from Shopify, you cannot export your website to be used somewhere else. | With WordPress, you need to purchase both a domain and hosting. As mentioned before a managed WordPress option is best and on average starts at around $15 a month. WordPress is completely free to use, and you can install very easily via your hosting company. There is a vast portfolio of themes and plugins for you to use on your website, but you can also purchase themes and plugins for one off costs – typically themes are around $50 and plugins $10. This is a one-off cost and will usually come with theme/plugin support for a year. If you are not highly technical, you may consider using a web design company such as The Little Web Design Shop, to design your website for you. We offer websites starting at $395.00 for a basic one pager.
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In summary, if you’re primarily focused on setting up an online store and want a user-friendly experience with less technical involvement, Shopify might be a better choice. On the other hand, if you need more versatility, control over your website’s code, and don’t mind handling technical aspects or potentially hiring a developer, WordPress with WooCommerce could be a great fit. Your choice should be based on your specific goals, technical comfort level, and desired level of customization.
About the Author
Alyson Stasek is the owner of The Little Web Design Shop, LLC based in Mount Olive, Mississippi. The Web Design Shop works with small businesses to help them with their online identity, website, social media, marketing, and search engine optimization.
Essentially, The Web Design Shop helps small businesses to grow, succeed and to develop an online identity and brand that will take them into the future. This can include helping right from the beginning and the initial concept for a company. Services include designing of a logo, writing a business plan, domain & hosting purchases, email, and set up social media accounts, in addition to web design, development and marketing support.
The road is long, and full of distractions and hazards. Let The Little Web Design Shop help guide you and support you.
www.WebDesignShop.us | Office 601 667 0009 | info@WebDesignShop.us
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