Shopify or WordPress: Which Is Right for Your Business?

It’s one of the questions I get asked most. I build on both, so this isn’t a sales pitch for one over the other. The right answer depends on what your website actually needs to do.

The short answer

If selling products online is the main point of your website, Shopify is usually the better choice. If your website is mainly there to explain what you do and bring in enquiries, bookings or applications, WordPress is usually the better fit.

When Shopify makes sense

• You sell physical products and want a shop that just works, with payments, shipping, stock and orders handled in one place.
• You want to run the shop day to day yourself without worrying about updates, security or hosting.
• You have a physical shop too and want in-store and online sales in one system.
• You expect to grow and don’t want to rebuild in a couple of years.

The trade-off is less flexibility in some areas. Shopify has a fixed URL structure, some features need apps, and there’s an ongoing monthly subscription.

When WordPress makes sense

• Your website is about services, information or content rather than products.
• You need things like job listings, bookings, memberships or Welsh and English versions of every page.
• You want full control over the design, structure and content.
• You want to own the site outright and be free to move hosts or developers whenever you like.

The trade-off is that WordPress needs looking after. Core, theme and plugin updates, backups and security checks all need doing regularly, which is where a support plan comes in.

What about WooCommerce?

WooCommerce adds a shop to WordPress, and it works well for some businesses, especially when the shop is a small part of a bigger content site. Where selling online is the main thing, I find Shopify is usually easier to run and less work to maintain.

Running costs to think about

Shopify has a monthly plan, plus the cost of any paid apps you need. WordPress itself is free, but you’ll pay for hosting, any premium plugins or themes, and ongoing maintenance. Neither is automatically cheaper. It depends on what you need the site to do.

Still not sure?

Tell me what you sell or offer, and how you want people to buy from you or get in touch, and I’ll give you a straight answer on which platform suits you. Get in touch, or have a look at my Shopify and WordPress website pages.