"WooCommerce is free." "Shopify costs $39/month." If you've read any Shopify vs WooCommerce comparison, you've seen these numbers. And they're both completely wrong—or at least dangerously misleading.

Here's the uncomfortable truth that most comparison articles won't tell you: The platform fee is the smallest part of your ecommerce costs. Whether you pay $0 or $39/month for your base platform is almost irrelevant when you're spending $500-$2000/month on everything else.

I've built, migrated, and maintained stores on both platforms for over 8 years. I've seen WooCommerce stores that cost $50/month to run, and I've seen WooCommerce stores that cost $2,500/month. Same with Shopify. The platform itself isn't the determining factor—it's how you use it, what you need, and what you're willing to manage yourself.

This guide will give you the complete picture. After 5,000+ words of honest analysis, you'll know exactly what each platform will cost YOU based on your specific situation—not some generic "Shopify costs this, WooCommerce costs that" nonsense.

1. The 7 Cost Buckets Most Comparisons Miss

Before we compare anything, let's establish the actual cost categories for running an ecommerce store. These apply to BOTH platforms:

Bucket 1: Platform/Software Fees

This is what most comparisons focus on exclusively. For Shopify, it's the monthly subscription ($39-$399). For WooCommerce, it's technically $0 since the plugin is free.

Reality check: This is usually 5-15% of your total ecommerce operating costs. Obsessing over this number is like choosing a restaurant based on the price of water.

Bucket 2: Hosting & Infrastructure

Shopify: Included in your subscription. Shopify handles all servers, CDN, SSL, and scaling. You pay nothing extra regardless of traffic.

WooCommerce: You need to buy hosting separately. Options range from $5/month shared hosting (terrible for ecommerce) to $500+/month managed WordPress hosting (necessary for serious stores).

Bucket 3: Plugins/Apps & Extensions

Both platforms require additional tools to get full functionality. Reviews, email popups, upsells, subscriptions, inventory management—none of this is included in the base platform.

Shopify App Store: ~8,000 apps. Most charge monthly fees ($5-$500/month each). Average store uses 6-12 apps.

WooCommerce Extensions: ~1,500+ official extensions plus thousands of third-party plugins. Mix of one-time purchases ($49-$299) and subscriptions ($99-$299/year).

Bucket 4: Payment Processing

Every sale has a processing fee. This is often the single largest ongoing cost for both platforms.

Shopify Payments: 2.4-2.9% + 30¢ depending on plan. Use third-party processors and add 0.5-2% extra fee.

WooCommerce: Stripe/PayPal typically 2.9% + 30¢. No platform surcharge for external processors.

Bucket 5: Development & Customization

Unless you're using 100% out-of-the-box functionality (and you won't be), you'll need developer help.

Shopify developers: $75-$200/hour. Liquid + React for Hydrogen. Smaller pool of specialized developers.

WordPress/WooCommerce developers: $50-$150/hour. PHP + JavaScript. Much larger pool, widely available.

Bucket 6: Maintenance & Support

Ongoing care: updates, security patches, bug fixes, optimization.

Shopify: Mostly handled by Shopify. You update apps and themes. 24/7 support included.

WooCommerce: 100% your responsibility. WordPress core, theme, every plugin—you manage it all. Support from individual plugin developers (quality varies wildly).

Bucket 7: Security & Compliance

PCI compliance, SSL certificates, malware scanning, backups, fraud protection.

Shopify: All included. Level 1 PCI compliant out of the box. Fraud analysis built in.

WooCommerce: SSL often included with quality hosting. PCI compliance is your responsibility. Need security plugins ($100-300/year) and backup services ($50-100/year).

2. Year 1 Cost Breakdown: Real Numbers

Let's get specific. Here's what you'll actually pay in your first year for a store processing 50-500 orders/month:

Breaking Down the Shopify Numbers

Platform Fee ($468/year): Shopify Basic at $39/month. Non-negotiable.

Hosting ($0): Shopify includes unlimited bandwidth, global CDN, and automatic scaling. During your Black Friday sale when traffic spikes 10x, you pay nothing extra.

Essential Apps ($1,200-$3,600/year): This is where Shopify gets expensive. A typical store needs:

• Reviews app (Loox, Judge.me): $10-$50/month
• Email popup (Privy, Klaviyo forms): $0-$30/month
• Upsell/Cross-sell: $20-$50/month
• Shipping/fulfillment: $0-$50/month
• SEO tools: $0-$80/month
• Subscriptions (if applicable): $50-$100/month

Conservative estimate: $100-$300/month in apps.

Breaking Down the WooCommerce Numbers

Platform Fee ($0): WooCommerce is free. WordPress is free.

Hosting ($360-$1,200/year): This is critical. Here's what different hosting levels get you:

• $30/month (Bluehost, SiteGround basic): Works for <100 orders/month. Will crash under traffic spikes. No staging environment. Limited support.
• $50-$100/month (Managed WordPress like Cloudways, Kinsta): Proper performance, staging, automatic backups. Minimum for serious ecommerce.
• $200+/month (WP Engine, Pressidium): Enterprise-grade. Necessary for 500+ daily visitors.

Essential Plugins ($400-$1,500/year): WooCommerce extensions are often one-time purchases OR annual subscriptions:

• WooCommerce Subscriptions: $249/year
• Advanced shipping/tax: $79-$199/year
• Reviews plugin: $0-$99 one-time
• Security (Wordfence, Sucuri): $100-$200/year
• Backups (UpdraftPlus Premium): $70/year
• Performance (WP Rocket): $59/year

Initial Development ($1,000-$5,000): WooCommerce requires more initial setup. Payment gateway configuration, shipping zones, tax setup, theme customization—it's more hands-on. Shopify is more plug-and-play.

3. Year 2+ Ongoing Costs

Year 1 includes setup costs. Year 2 and beyond is where the real TCO picture emerges:

4. The Hidden Costs Nobody Talks About

Beyond the obvious costs, there are expenses that sneak up on store owners:

Hidden Cost #1: Plugin Conflicts

WooCommerce: When you update WordPress, a plugin breaks. When you update a plugin, another plugin conflicts. This is a constant cycle. Each incident costs $100-$500 to diagnose and fix.

Shopify: App conflicts exist but are rarer. Shopify's ecosystem is more controlled.

Hidden Cost #2: Performance Degradation

WooCommerce: Without active optimization, WooCommerce sites slow down over time. Database bloat, plugin overhead, unoptimized images—it accumulates. Expect to pay for performance audits ($300-$1,000) periodically.

Shopify: Performance is generally consistent. Shopify controls the infrastructure.

Hidden Cost #3: Security Incidents

WooCommerce: WordPress is the most attacked CMS in the world. Even with security plugins, incidents happen. Cleaning a hacked site: $200-$1,000. Lost sales during downtime: varies wildly.

Shopify: Security is Shopify's problem. They have a dedicated security team. You're unlikely to experience a platform-level breach.

Hidden Cost #4: Platform Updates & Migration

WooCommerce: Major WooCommerce updates sometimes break things. PHP version upgrades require testing. WordPress 6.x to 7.x migrations will require attention.

Shopify: Updates happen automatically. Rarely break anything. No action required from you.

Hidden Cost #5: Scaling Prep

WooCommerce: If you 10x your traffic, you need to 10x your hosting. This isn't automatic. Server upgrades, caching configuration, CDN setup—all require work.

Shopify: Scales automatically. Kylie Cosmetics crashed a Shopify competitor during a launch but never crashed Shopify.

5. Cost Traps That Will Wreck Your Budget

Whether you choose Shopify or WooCommerce, avoid these traps:

Trap #1: The "Free" Plugin Trap (WooCommerce)

Free plugins are tempting. But they come with hidden costs:

• No support: When it breaks, you're on your own (or paying a developer)
• Security risk: Unmaintained plugins are vulnerability magnets
• Performance overhead: Poorly coded free plugins slow your site
• Feature limitations: You'll outgrow it and need to migrate data

Better approach: Budget $500-$1,000/year for premium plugins. The support and quality are worth it.

Trap #2: The App Stacking Trap (Shopify)

Every Shopify app solves one problem. Before you know it, you have 20 apps:

• Cost bloat: $10/month × 20 apps = $200/month
• Performance death: Each app adds JavaScript. 20 apps = 6-second load time
• Conflicts: Apps don't always play nice together

Better approach: Hire a developer to build custom solutions. $2,000 for a feature beats $50/month forever.

Trap #3: The Cheap Hosting Trap (WooCommerce)

$3/month hosting sounds great until:

• Your site crashes during a sale
• Page load time hits 8 seconds
• You get hacked and have no backups
• Support takes 48 hours to respond

Reality: Serious WooCommerce hosting starts at $30/month minimum. $50-$100/month is optimal for most stores.

Trap #4: The DIY Development Trap (Both)

"I'll customize it myself" leads to:

• Broken code that a real developer has to fix
• Security vulnerabilities from copy-pasted snippets
• Weeks of your time worth thousands of dollars
• A mess that costs more to untangle than starting fresh

Better approach: Pay for quality development upfront. It's cheaper in the long run.

Trap #5: The Feature Envy Trap (Both)

"Competitor X has a fancy feature, so we need it too."

Result: Paying for features you don't need that don't move the needle.

Better approach: Focus on conversion rate optimization. A 0.5% conversion improvement matters more than a fancy product configurator.

6. When Shopify Wins (Being Honest)

I'll be straight with you—Shopify is the better choice in these scenarios:

✅ You Value Your Time Over Money

If your time is worth $100+/hour and you'd rather focus on marketing, product development, and growth than managing hosting and plugins, Shopify wins. The managed approach saves 5-15 hours/month.

✅ You're Non-Technical

Shopify's admin is genuinely easier. Adding products, managing orders, running reports—it all makes sense without training. WooCommerce's WordPress admin is more complex.

✅ You Need Reliability Over Everything

Shopify has 99.99% uptime. They handle updates, security, scaling. You never worry about your site going down during a sale.

✅ You're Growing Fast

Scaling from 100 to 10,000 orders/month? Shopify doesn't blink. WooCommerce requires hosting upgrades, caching optimization, database tuning.

✅ You Want Integrated POS

Shopify POS is excellent if you have retail locations. The online/offline inventory sync just works. WooCommerce POS solutions are janky comparisons.

✅ You're Starting from Zero

First-time store owner? Shopify gets you selling faster. The learning curve is gentler. You can always migrate later if needed.

7. When WooCommerce Wins (Being Fair)

WooCommerce has genuine advantages in specific scenarios:

✅ You Need Deep Customization

WooCommerce is open-source. You can modify literally anything. Need a custom checkout flow? Custom pricing logic? Integration with a obscure ERP? WooCommerce has no limits.

Shopify has limits. Their checkout is mostly locked down (unless you're on Plus). Certain customizations are impossible or require workarounds.

✅ You Have In-House Development

If you have PHP developers on staff, WooCommerce development is faster and cheaper. The WordPress/PHP ecosystem is massive. Finding developers is easier.

✅ You Need Content + Commerce

Running a content-heavy site with integrated ecommerce? WordPress is the world's best CMS. Shopify's blog is basic.

Example: A recipe site selling cooking equipment, a fitness blog selling programs, a media company selling merchandise.

✅ You're Bootstrapping on Extreme Budget

If you genuinely need to launch for under $1,000 total and can manage everything yourself, WooCommerce + cheap hosting is possible. Not recommended, but possible.

✅ You Hate Vendor Lock-In

With WooCommerce, you own everything. Your data, your code, your hosting. You can move hosts, modify core files, do whatever you want.

Shopify owns the platform. You rent access. If Shopify changes pricing or policies, you adapt or migrate.

✅ Complex B2B Requirements

WooCommerce has more mature B2B plugins for complex quote workflows, negotiated pricing, and approval processes. Shopify's B2B tools are improving but less flexible.

8. Real Scenario Comparisons

Let's look at specific business profiles and calculate real costs:

9. Your Decision Checklist

Answer these questions honestly:

10. Already on WooCommerce? Migration Considerations

If you're experiencing WooCommerce fatigue—slow site, constant maintenance, plugin conflicts—migration to Shopify is an option. Here's what to know:

Migration Costs

• DIY with apps: $50-$200 for migration apps. Works for small stores with simple data.
• Professional migration: $2,000-$10,000 depending on complexity. Includes data, design, and testing.
• Full redesign + migration: $10,000-$30,000. New theme, new store, optimized for Shopify.

What Migrates Easily

• Products (including variants, images, descriptions)
• Customers (email, name, address)
• Order history

What Needs Work

• Design (theme won't transfer—needs rebuild)
• URLs (need redirects for SEO)
• Plugin functionality (find equivalent Shopify apps)
• Custom functionality (rebuild in Liquid)

Timeline Reality

Plan for 4-8 weeks for a proper migration. Rush jobs cause problems. You need time for:

1. Data export and cleanup
2. Shopify setup and configuration
3. Theme development
4. Data import
5. Testing (critical)
6. URL redirects setup
7. DNS cutover
8. Post-launch monitoring

Conclusion: It's Not About Which Is "Better"

Shopify isn't better than WooCommerce. WooCommerce isn't better than Shopify. The right platform is the one that costs YOU less while meeting YOUR needs.

For most merchants doing 50-500 orders/month who don't have in-house developers: Shopify is the lower-TCO option when you account for time, maintenance, and opportunity cost.

For content-heavy businesses, those with complex customization needs, or shops with dedicated WordPress developers: WooCommerce can be more economical.

The numbers in this article are based on real stores I've built and maintained. Your mileage will vary based on your specific situation. But now you have the framework to calculate YOUR true Total Cost of Ownership—not just compare sticker prices.

Questions? Feel free to reach out or schedule a call to discuss your specific platform decision.