With the increasing importance of websites, businesses are investing in website development services to establish their online presence. Nowadays, eCommerce websites are flourishing around the world as more businesses want to sell their products and services online. Moreover, when it comes to developing eCommerce websites, businesses have to choose the right eCommerce platform. But the availability of dozens of eCommerce platforms makes it difficult to choose a single platform.
Nevertheless, Shopify and WordPress are two of the most popular and powerful eCommerce development platforms that are being widely used for developing varied eCommerce websites. Both of these eCommerce platforms are great and have excellent features. But which one of these platforms is more beneficial to develop an eCommerce website? We will look at Shopify vs WordPress comparison to see which one is more feasible to create eCommerce websites.
Shopify vs WordPress: Brief intros
Shopify is an all-in-one eCommerce solution that allows you to create and launch an eCommerce website in no time and without any coding skill. It is a top-rated eCommerce platform that businesses of all sizes use to develop outstanding eCommerce websites. It offers excellent features and a range of website templates to build outstanding eCommerce websites. You can choose Shopify website development to set up superb eCommerce websites easily and quickly. With Shopify, you don’t need hosting as well as other tools and services to start your eCommerce site as it offers all of these functionalities.
WordPress is a great website development platform that has the best-in-class functionality to develop websites. However, when it comes to creating an eCommerce website, merchants have to use a plugin viz. WooCommerce. It means you have to use WordPress + WooCommerce to set up and start your own eCommerce website. It is easy to set up and create an eCommerce website with WordPress + WooCommerce. If you choose the open-source WordPress CMS to create your site, you will need additional things like hosting, SSL certificate, domain, etc to set up your site.
Comparison between WordPress and WooCommerce
So now let’s start a comparison of Shopify vs WordPress to find which one you should choose to create eCommerce websites.
Shopify vs WordPress: Ease of use
When it comes to ease of use then both the platforms are almost equal. However, Shopify is slightly more convenient than WordPress because you don’t need to go through the mess of installing a plugin to set up your online store, you can do it in a few mouse clicks. Shopify is so convenient that even a complete beginner can start a full-fledged decent eCommerce store with this platform in no time. And, the user doesn’t even need to get hosting or other services as it is an all-in-one eCommerce platform.
You need to create a website using WordPress and then you can use the WooCommerce plugin to turn your site into a full-fledged eCommerce site. In this case, you may have to hire WordPress developers to build a website and then add eCommerce functionality to it if you are a beginner or don’t know how to code. Though creating a website with WordPress is easy, you can take the help of a developer to build a customized eCommerce site.
Shopify vs WordPress: Types of audience aimed at
We can fairly say that Shopify is aimed at an audience that lacks development skills and does not have enough budget to hire developers to build their eCommerce stores. There is no need to learn coding or this kind of knowledge isn’t a prerequisite too. Hence, Shopify lets you create a decent eCommerce website without any expert help because it’s a matter of a few clicks to build a website with this platform. However, if you want a fully customized eCommerce website then you can hire a Shopify developer to build your site.
WordPress on the other hand is an open-source content management system that you can use to develop outstanding websites for your business. Moreover, you can take the help of a WordPress expert to create more sophisticated and well-customized websites. Indeed, you will need to hire WordPress developers if you lack coding skills to create a website. Further, the developer can also help you build a custom eCommerce website using WooCommerce.
Shopify vs WordPress: Cost of development
The cost of development is a key determinant in developing a website. If we talk about the development cost with Shopify then it depends on your needs. Shopify offers varied packages that you can pick according to your needs. Basic Shopify starts at $29/month which comes with basic functionalities that are required to start a business. For a high-scale business, you can choose Shopify Advanced that offers a lot of advanced features along with the basic functionality for your online business.
If we talk about the cost of development with WordPress then it is not easy to say because it depends on varied factors. Since WordPress is an open-source and free website development platform, you can easily use it to build a website free of cost. However, the real investment in website development is made towards hosting, domain, SSL certificate, and other services. Further, if you want to develop a customized website then you will have to bear the cost of development services. All in all, there is no fixed cost of website development; it depends on your needs and requirements.
Shopify vs WordPress: Website customization
Customization is an important aspect of website development that enables developers to create unique and tailored websites. If you choose Shopify development then you do have some opportunity to customize your website but it is limited. You can create a customized website with the help of a professional Shopify developer. You can use different website themes along with third-applications to mold your site as per your needs and requirements. Moreover, creating a fully customized website using Shopify isn’t possible and there is always a limitation on customization.
WordPress is a popular content management system and it is popular due to many reasons including the ability to customize websites. You can create a unique and distinct website using WordPress because it offers plenty of opportunities to customize websites. A huge variety and quantity of plugins and website themes are there to help you create a fully customized website. You can create a custom website that gives your business an edge in the market by using varied themes and plugins. While themes allow you to enrich your website appearance, plugins enable you to extend your website’s functionality.
Final note
Websites have become crucial for businesses and their demand is all-time high today. As online businesses become popular, more and more eCommerce websites are flourishing in the market. Developing an eCommerce website is no more a herculean task due to the availability of different eCommerce platforms. However, the availability of these platforms also makes it difficult to choose the right eCommerce platform. Two eCommerce platforms that have become very popular are WordPress and Shopify. However, which of these platforms is better remains a critical question.
You can choose WordPress website development if you want a budget-friendly platform to develop your website. Since WordPress is open-source so it is available for free. However, you need to hire WordPress developers and spend on services like hosting, domain, SSL, etc. You can choose Shopify to create a website easily. You need to hire a developer to build an advanced eCommerce site. The choice of platform depends on your project requirements.
Author Bio
Emily White is an experienced eCommerce developer who is working at CSSChopper which is a trusted group of ecommerce developers. Emily loves coding and she also enjoys writing blogs and articles in her free time. She is very interested in writing and keeps composing quality content for her audience.
