When it comes to building an eCommerce website, Shopify is clearly a better choice compared to WordPress. While WordPress has an eCommerce plan, it was originally designed to support bloggers and does not have solid support options for eCommerce sites. Shopify offers three unique plans for e-commerce use. It also offers better customer service, superior online store features, and more ways to sell products than WordPress.
WordPress vs. Shopify
WordPressis the most popular website building platform. It can be used to build any type of website, including blogs, membership sites, and online stores. It's free to use, SEO-optimized, and has thousands of downloadable plugins to help you manage and secure websites.Start a WordPress website for free.
Shopifyis a website building platform that focuses heavily on e-commerce. It helps users sell physical and digital products through their online store or personal store. It works equally well for new business owners, experienced entrepreneurs and e-commerce giants.To try Shopify for free, select Start Free Trial.
Flere Top E-commerce Website Builders
We have reviewed almost every e-commerce website in the last few years. To help you gain a thorough understanding of these platforms, we have compiled a list of the best. Learning Shopify and WordPress is a helpful first step, but learning all the top choices is even more helpful so you can make an informed buying decision.See all our best offers.
Where WordPress shines
Responsive Themes:WordPress offers thousands of website themes to choose from. Whether you want a free theme or a premium theme, you have more options than you could possibly need. Most themes are mobile responsive and run smoothly on any device. Themes can be added directly from WordPress or a third-party source.
Installing a new theme is easy. Searches can be filtered by layout, topic and features. For example, if you want to create an e-commerce website with a two-column layout that can be translated into any language, just create an advanced search for it. You will then be shown the results of your search with the appropriate filters.
If a subject catches your eye, select itMere infoto see its details. It displays information such as customer support availability, topic reviews, and downloads per day. In addition to the screenshots, most themes allow you to display them directly in the preview. This gives potential customers an even more in-depth experience before downloading. clickPick upwhen you are ready to install.
WordPress allows users to upload their own themes to their library. If a user wants to create their own theme, WordPress' Theme Developer Handbook gives them the guidance they need. Submitting an item gives users feedback from downloaders so they know what to improve. Users can earn money by charging a premium to download.
Open Source platform:Because WordPress is open source, anyone can share, modify, study and use its source code. Using existing code saves development costs and time. This is also beneficial when a user collaborates with an agency or third party to develop their website.
More than 30% of CMS-based websites worldwide use WordPress. The platform is supported by its huge community. These people ensure that the open source platform is secure and up-to-date. They are also committed to reaching out to new users by building local WordPress groups and hosting WordPress camps.
Plugins: WordPress offers a wide variety of free and paid plugins. There are over 55,000 of them that can be installed out of the box and make the operation of a website more efficient. Install WPForms to create contact forms. All-in-one SEO brings additional SEO tools to a website. MemberPress is perfect for building membership sites and online courses.
SEO: When it comes to search engine optimization, WordPress is one of the best website builders. WordPress has custom SEO components, constant Google indexing codes and encourages SEO best practices. Additionally, it has tons of SEO plugins like Yoast, All in One SEO, and Squirrly SEO that improve search engine optimization.
Blogging features:WordPress started out as blogging software, so it knows a thing or two about blogging. Even if a user's website is not primarily dedicated to blogging, WordPress has a detailed built-in blogging feature. This allows users to add a blog to their website without having to create a separate blog.
Where WordPress falls short
Constant updates: Keeping your website updated cannot be neglected. However, the consistency and number of required updates with WordPress can be annoying. Depending on the number of plugins installed, some users can expect updates almost daily. While this won't be a problem for some, it will certainly cause headaches for other users.
Heels: As one of the largest website builders in the world, WordPress has a huge attack surface for cybercriminals. While the open source format has its advantages, it comes with a higher risk of being hacked. In addition, reliance on third-party plugins creates more windows for intrusion by suspicious software.
Hacking and security risks can be significantly reduced with security plugins. Sucuri Security helps with blacklist monitoring, file integrity monitoring and security hardening. iThemes Security detects plugin vulnerabilities, weak passwords and outdated software. WP fail2ban protects users from brute force cyber attacks.
Hidden costs:On the surface, WordPress is free to use and the paid versions are relatively cheap. After purchasing web hosting, a theme, and the plugins they need, users can end up spending a lot more than expected. Many premium themes can enter the $100 price range. Some users need many plugins and some of them cost money.
E-commerce plan: To be fair, this is not the case with the WordPress eCommerce planThebad - actually it's pretty good. It integrates with WooCommerce, has tons of plugins, has a decent library of features including paid subscriptions and a PayPal button, and even allows users to create a fully customizable online store on their sites.
The problem here is that whatever WordPress does for e-commerce, Shopify does it either better, more advanced, or both. If you're specifically looking to build an eCommerce website, WordPress simply falls short compared to Shopify.
Where Shopify shines
Customer service: Shopify offers top-notch customer support. Its agents are available 24/7 and can be reached via email, live chat, Twitter or any of their four phone numbers. 24/7 support is essential to running an e-commerce business. With Shopify, users can quickly get answers to their questions.
Shopify provides users with a help forum, FAQ page and knowledge base, so it is not always necessary to contact support. The Help Center includes definitions, setting descriptions, and video tutorials to educate users. The help forums allow users to help each other find less easy solutions.
Payment options:Shopify offers several ways for customers to send you money. In addition to credit card payments, customers can also pay via PayPal, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, and even cryptocurrency. With Shop Pay, customers can save their payment and shipping information to make the payment process more efficient.
Shopify Payments can accept credit cards. Shopify also has over 100 third-party payment processors. With direct suppliers, customers enter their credit card information directly on the payment page. When using external providers, customers are redirected to another page where they can enter their payment information.
Abandoned Cart Recovery:If customers do not complete the purchase process, Shopify's abandoned cart recovery can be used to retarget the customer. They've already submitted their contact information so Shopify can send them automated emails. This setting can be adjusted so that emails are sent at specific time intervals after cart abandonment.
Sell physically or digitally: Shopify allows users to choose between selling digital and physical products. It has specific settings tailored to each type. For digital products, users can give them via email or via a downloadable link. For physical products, users can manage product fulfillment and shipping and create dropshipping stores.
Data Tracking:Shopify has analytics and reporting tools to help users keep track of how their business is doing. Analytics can be used to track real-time activity and provide useful customer insights. The reporting tools provide users with marketing, customer and sales information. Track statistics like daily website visitors and overall business growth.
Sales channels:Shopify users are not limited to selling through just one platform. With it, users can connect external sales channels to Shopify to keep track of customers, orders and products. External sales channels can be added or removed after downloading them from Shopify's App Store.
Third-party sales channels include Facebook, Amazon, Instagram, Messenger and Handshake. Business owners can embed Shopify's buy button to turn any website into an online store. Shopify Point of Sale (POS) can be used for personal selling. Shopify Plus allows products to be sold to other businesses through a wholesale channel.
Expert Marketplace:Building an e-commerce business alone or with a small team can be overwhelming. Fortunately, Shopify's Expert Marketplace allows users to get the help they need by hiring freelancers and third-party agencies. These professionals provide a variety of services including marketing, sales, content writing, troubleshooting, store fixtures and branding.
Intuitive discount function:Offering discounts can be an excellent e-commerce marketing tactic and create stronger customer relationships. Shopify allows users to create discount codes, automatic discounts and sales.
Discounts can be created as a fixed amount or as a percentage of the product price. Discount codes can be customized based on which products they apply to, how many times they can be used, when the code is valid, and the minimum order value before use. To track their effectiveness, users can run a Sale on Discount report to see how often they are used.
Discounts can be set up to automatically apply the discount when specific products are in a customer's shopping cart. Sales for specific products can be set up without requiring a discount code. This will show the customer the original price of the product as well as the amount they will save by selling it.
Where Shopify falls short
content marketing: Unlike WordPress, Shopify's blogging options are limited. Its main focus is online shopping and its blogging features are far from ideal. Content marketing plays a huge role in online advertising by educating customers, building brand, increasing credibility on social media and driving organic traffic. It's disappointing that Shopify lags behind here.
Prices are rising: As with WordPress, paying Shopify is not as easy as it seems. App and plugin subscriptions increase over time, and not all themes are free. If you use third-party payment processors, additional fees of up to 2% will apply, depending on the plan. Shopify plans aren't the cheapest out there. So keep this in mind when choosing a platform.
Engagement:When you close an eCommerce store on Shopify, the store and all data are permanently removed. Users can export some data via CSV, but most data will be lost. This makes the transition to a new platform extremely difficult. It is important to find out if Shopify is a good platform for your store in the long run or you will face this problem.
The final verdict on WordPress versus Shopify
WordPress allows users to create a simple website for free. There are four separate plans that users must pay for. The personal plan costs $4 per month and is billed annually. It includes a free domain for a year, unlimited email support and WordPress.com ad removal.
The next plan is WordPress Premium for freelancers. It costs $8 per month and is billed annually. This service includes live chat support, Google Analytics and premium themes. WordPress Business is suitable for small businesses. It costs $25 per month and is billed annually. It has advanced SEO, additional plugins and automated website backups.
Finally, WordPress eCommerce costs $45 per month and is billed annually. This plan includes everything included in the other plans, plus premium theme options, the ability to integrate with leading shipping companies, and the ability to accept payments in over 60 countries.
Shopify has three plans, each focused on e-commerce. There is no free version, but each plan comes with a three-day free trial. Basic Shopify is suitable for new online business owners and costs $29 per month when billed annually, or $39 per month. It offers 24/7 support, unlimited products and the sales channel feature.
His other plan is simply called Shopify. It is intended for growing businesses with up to five users and costs $79 per month annually and $105 per month. It includes professional reports, USPS Priority Mail Cubic rates and international domains.
Aimed at growing businesses with more than one store, Advanced Shopify costs $399 per month and $299 per month annually. It includes 15 employee accounts, an advanced report builder, and third-party calculated shipping costs.
Shopify Plus is aimed at large e-commerce businesses and starts at $2,000 per month. It includes custom checkouts, automated workflows, and unlimited transactions. Shopify Starter costs $5 a month and lets you sell products through social media and messaging apps. It is not possible to create an online store from scratch.
If you want to save money, WordPress is clearly the cheaper solution. Unlike Shopify, e-commerce is not the focus. Its single eCommerce plan costs less than three of Shopify's four online store builder plans.
While Shopify may seem expensive, there are e-commerce competitors that are similarly priced. Shopify specializes in e-commerce. It has specific knowledge of how online stores work. WordPress was originally developed for blogging purposes. If you're serious about e-commerce, it's worth investing in Shopify over WordPress.
Shopify is a better e-commerce platform than WordPress, but it may not be the right solution for your business. To get a clearer understanding of the best eCommerce website builders,See our full review of the category.
- Wix– The best website builder for most people
- Web.com – Most powerful fulfillment and warehouse functions
- BigCommerce– Best suited for rapid scaling
- Squarespace– Ideal for displaying and selling creative work
- Shopify- Best for anyone who needs extra support
- Weebly– Best for small businesses that want to stay small
- Shift4Shop– Best suited for limitless customization