Shopify or WooCommerce: How to Choose

Shopify or WooCommerce? This guide is for owners deciding where to build an online store. You will see who looks after what on each platform, where payments work by country, which limits apply, and a short checklist to choose. Neither platform is right for every business.

A note on where we stand: Shopify is our main platform and our default recommendation, and we also build WordPress stores, with store setup, theme and plugins. We checked every fact below in each platform's own documentation on 30 October 2026. Payment and compliance points are general information, not legal or professional advice, so check with a qualified adviser in your country.

The basic difference: who runs the machinery

Shopify is a hosted platform. It provides TLS certificates for free for the domains you add and does not allow third-party certificates. WooCommerce is a plugin that runs on WordPress, so you choose and manage the host. At the time of writing (30 October 2026), WooCommerce's documentation for version 10.8 and later asks for WordPress 6.9 or greater, PHP 8.3 or greater, MySQL 8.0 or greater or MariaDB 10.6 or greater, HTTPS, and a WordPress memory limit of 256 MB or greater. WordPress itself is released under GPLv2 or later.

Security duties differ in the same way. WooCommerce's security FAQ says a WooCommerce site is exactly as secure as its WordPress installation, and names keeping WordPress and all plugins up to date as a key step. We would add themes to that routine. Its PCI page says the store owner carries the final responsibility for PCI compliance and that the core plugin is not PCI certified because it does not handle card data itself. It adds that a hosted gateway may reduce your compliance scope significantly. Shopify publishes a PCI Attestation of Compliance after each annual assessment, which you can view when logged in. On WordPress, minor core updates install automatically by default, while plugin and theme auto-updates are opt-in. On either platform, ask your payment provider which PCI steps apply to you.

Payments: check this first

At the time of writing (30 October 2026), Shopify's Help Center lists 41 countries for Shopify Payments. WooCommerce's documentation lists 38 for WooPayments. Both include the UAE, the UK, the US and Canada. Neither lists Iraq or Saudi Arabia. Shopify Payments includes China, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and Mexico, which WooPayments does not. WooPayments includes Slovakia, which Shopify Payments does not. In the UAE, Shopify Payments supports Visa, Mastercard and Maestro cards plus Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay, and its page says it is available only for online selling there. WooPayments accepts cards, local payment methods, buy now, pay later options and express checkouts such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, and notes that UAE businesses cannot use an Individual account.

Location rules matter. WooPayments says the relevant country is where your business is registered, not where you live. It also says customers can pay from anywhere, in over 100 supported currencies. Shopify asks you to make sure your business type is eligible and says you may need business registration documents.

If your country is not listed, you need a third-party payment provider on either platform. In Shopify, the provider list in your admin is filtered by the store address, and a provider's listing on Shopify's gateways page does not guarantee it appears for you. Shopify says it charges third-party transaction fees, which vary by plan, when you use an outside provider, and does not charge them on manual payment methods. Your provider charges its own card rates on top. WooCommerce has built-in offline methods too: a direct bank transfer sets the order to On hold until you confirm the money arrived. Shopify marks manual payments as unpaid until you mark them paid. For Iraq and Kurdistan, read our guide to online payments first.

Limits, catalog and speed

At the time of writing (30 October 2026), Shopify's Help Center sets these limits: up to 2,048 variants per product and up to three options per product. Beyond that you need a third-party app or custom theme code. In its product CSV, only Title is required for a new product, and the URL handle is needed when you add variants.

WooCommerce has a built-in product CSV importer and exporter under Products > All Products. Its guide notes that large files can fail because the server limits the request, and that the upload size is set at server level. It advises a backup and a staging test before a large import. So with WooCommerce, many limits come from your hosting. On Shopify, beyond its standard format you can add only the Collection column to a product CSV, and variant metafields are not supported in CSV import or export.

Speed is your job on both platforms: on WooCommerce through the host, theme and plugins, and on Shopify through the theme and the apps you add. For B2B and wholesale, ask each vendor in writing what is built in and what needs an app or extension, then test one real wholesale order.

Languages and Arabic

On Shopify, once a language is published, checkout and email notifications appear in the customer's language. You can translate with the Translate & Adapt app (by hand or with AI translation from Shopify), by CSV, or with a third-party app. Missing translations fall back to the default language. On WooCommerce, the server needs Multibyte String support for non-English stores, and WordPress provides is_rtl() so a theme can tell whether the language reads right to left. Whichever you pick, ask to see the Arabic checkout and the Arabic emails, not only the product page.

What it costs, in parts

We give no prices here. List the parts instead. For Shopify, Shopify's pricing overview names the plan, credit card rates on Shopify Payments, third-party transaction fees where they apply, and app subscriptions that bill separately. For WooCommerce, add hosting, a theme, extensions, your payment provider's fees, and the time to update and test. See what a Shopify store costs and app, theme or custom code to compare like with like.

Decision checklist

Choose Shopify if:

you want one provider to run hosting, certificates and checkout, with no server to manage;
your business country is on the Shopify Payments list and you want to use it;
your products fit within three options and 2,048 variants;
nobody on your side wants a routine of server and plugin updates.

Choose WooCommerce if:

you already run a content-led WordPress site and want selling inside it;
you want control over hosting, the database and the code, and someone will maintain them;
the payment provider you need works with WooCommerce but does not appear in your Shopify admin (check both);
you accept ongoing updates, backups and speed checks as part of the budget.

Either way, confirm the payment provider and bank before you pick the platform. Write down your answers to the lists above and share them with whoever quotes the build, so every quote covers the same scope.

Mistakes to avoid

Choosing the platform first and the payment provider second.
Comparing a Shopify plan with a WooCommerce plugin and ignoring hosting and maintenance.
Assuming a country on one list is on the other.
Judging Arabic support from a demo home page.
Skipping the question of who owns updates and backups after launch.

Questions owners ask

Is WooCommerce cheaper than Shopify?

It depends on the parts, not the name. Add up hosting, extensions, developer time and provider fees on one side, and plan, apps and transaction fees on the other. Read each platform's pricing page on the day you decide.

Can I switch later?

Yes, but plan it. Both platforms have product CSV tools, but a file from one has to be mapped to the other's columns. Check what else must move, such as customers, orders and web addresses, before you start.

Which is better for selling in Iraq?

Neither Shopify Payments nor WooPayments lists Iraq, so the payment provider decides. Start with a provider that can pay out to your bank, then see which platform supports it.

Need a hand?

Our Shopify solutions page shows what we build. Our free store review looks at a store you already have, and we can also review a store on another platform. To compare options for your business, send a short brief on the contact page.

Shopify or WooCommerce: how to choose for your business