It's the most common question we get: "Should we go with WooCommerce or Shopify?" The answer depends on who you are, what you sell, and what technical capacity you have.
WooCommerce
Open source, free (excluding hosting and any premium plugins). Full control over everything: code, data, server, design. You own your data and can move it wherever you want. Requires technical knowledge or access to a developer.
Strengths: unlimited customizability, no transaction fees (beyond the payment gateway's), large plugin ecosystem, works for anything from 10 to 100,000 products. Weakness: you're responsible for hosting, security, updates, and performance.
Shopify
Hosted platform. From 290 SEK per month (Basic). Everything is handled for you: hosting, SSL, backups, updates. You build with themes and can customize with Liquid (Shopify's template language). Requires minimal technical knowledge for basic functionality.
Strengths: quick setup, reliable operation, good mobile apps for store management, App Store with thousands of add-ons. Weakness: transaction fees if you don't use Shopify Payments, limited customizability compared to WooCommerce, lock-in (moving away is cumbersome).
Our recommendation
Non-technical owner without developer resources: Shopify. Technical team, complex requirements, existing WordPress site: WooCommerce. B2B with specific needs: WooCommerce. Quick MVP to test a product idea: Shopify.
There's no objectively right answer. There's only the right answer for your specific project and situation.