Custom, WooCommerce or Shopify? Picking your online shop
Three ways to sell online, compared honestly. The right one depends on what you sell and how you plan to grow.
If you've looked into selling online, you'll have seen two names everywhere: WooCommerce and Shopify. There's also a third option people often forget: a simple custom shop. We build all three, so we're not precious about it. Here's how they compare.
Custom build
Got fewer than 10 basic products and no need for customer logins or accounts? A simple custom shop with one-off purchasing is fast, secure and has nothing to update. From $3,450 + GST.
WooCommerce (WordPress)
WooCommerce turns a WordPress site into a full online store, with products, customers, stock and payments all built in.
- Full control. You can customise the design, the checkout and almost anything else, and there are thousands of plugins to add features.
- No monthly platform fee. WordPress and WooCommerce are free and open source. You pay for hosting, your domain and any premium plugins.
- No platform transaction fees. WooCommerce doesn't take a cut of your sales on top of your payment provider's fees.
- Easier testing. We can copy your site to a test version and try changes there before they go anywhere near your live shop.
- Strong for search. WordPress has excellent search optimisation tools.
- But: it needs more setting up than Shopify, and it needs looking after, with regular updates to WordPress and its plugins.
WordPress ecommerce sites start from $3,950 + GST.
Shopify
Shopify is a hosted platform. Hosting, security and platform updates are all taken care of for you.
- Quick to get going. Polished, tried-and-tested themes look great with little setup.
- Sell everywhere. It's strong at selling across social media, marketplaces and in store from one system.
- Built-in features. Abandoned cart emails, discount codes and multiple payment options come as standard.
- But: there's a monthly subscription, and most shops need extra apps, many with their own monthly fees. Some apps also take a percentage of sales.
- And: unless you use Shopify Payments, Shopify adds its own transaction fee. As your sales grow, so do your costs.
- Less flexible. You're limited to what the platform and its apps allow, and you can't easily copy your store to test changes first.
Every Shopify build is different, so it's price on request.
So which one?
| Custom build | WooCommerce | Shopify | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | A few simple products | Growing shops that want control | Selling across many channels |
| Monthly platform fee | None | None | Yes, plus most apps |
| Transaction fees | Payment provider only | Payment provider only | Extra unless using Shopify Payments |
| Customisation | Built for you | Almost unlimited | Limited to themes and apps |
| Upkeep | Nothing to update | Regular updates | Handled by Shopify |
Our advice
Make a list of online shops you like the look or feel of, and send them to us. We'll tell you what they're built on, then point you to the option that suits how you sell today and how you want to grow.