Setting up an internet-based store has never been simpler. Be that as it may, it can in any case be befuddling. There are simply countless various stages and administrations accessible for you to begin selling your items online and it turns out to be difficult to settle on the ideal decision. This is particularly valid for novices who have never set up an eCommerce store.
In this article, I’ll think about two of the most widely recognized names – Shopify vs WordPress – that continue springing up when you are searching for apparatuses to set up your own eCommerce store.
Stages in the accompanying classifications:
- Setup Time and Ease of Use
- Available Themes
- Extensibility
- Customizability
- Cost
- Support
If you just want the final results, you can skip ahead to Which One Should You Choose?
WordPress vs Shopify: What Do They Do?
Before we dive any deeper into the battle of WordPress vs Shopify, it is important to understand what exactly these two platforms were created to do. This will help you figure out which of them is more suitable and aligns better with what you have planned for your own online store.
WordPress comes in two flavors. WordPress.com and WordPress.org. WordPress.com is a SaaS offering that makes it easy to set up and run your website, but which charges a monthly fee. WordPress.org requires a bit more work, but it is completely free and lets you control every aspect of your website. In this post, I’m comparing Shopify with the free WordPress.org flavor.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is intended to be utilized as an across-the-board apparatus for site improvement. It began as a fundamental CMS yet continued to extend through its powerful module biological system to construct nearly all that you need. This incorporates news sites, gatherings, straightforward websites, eCommerce stores, and substantially more.
What is Shopify?
Shopify is not the same as WordPress in two key perspectives. To begin with, it isn’t open source. Second, its essential spotlight is on being an across-the-board instrument for trade. The originators of Shopify made it longer than 10 years prior to selling snowboards on the web. Along these lines, its advancement traveled toward that path from the actual start. It will oversee everything for you to assist you with setting up a store quickly.
Shopify additionally has its very own application store yet it isn’t pretty much as broad as WordPress with regards to a number of accessible decisions for broadening and redoing your site.
To put it plainly, Shopify is a decent decision in the event that you anticipate zeroing in solely on business. You can likewise add some different components like a blog to your store however utilizing WordPress would be the best approach assuming you need much more opportunity toward your site or online store.
WordPress vs Shopify: Setup Time and Ease of Use
Let’s say you need to have an eCommerce store going as fast as could be expected. The unmistakable decision all things considered would be Shopify. This boils down to the way that Shopify worked in view of eCommerce. Subsequently, their entire course of making a web-based store is equipped to make it simple to sell things on the web.
Making a web-based store expects you to sort out a ton of things like area name enrollment, facilitating, making a site, gathering Mastercards, and incorporating installment arrangements. Shopify will deal with practically that load of angles for you.
WordPress, then again, requires significantly additional work from your end, particularly in case you are simply beginning. There are specialist organizations out there that will deal with this load of things for you. Notwithstanding, this implies that you will presently not have power over each and every part of your store.
Simply go with Shopify on the off chance that you would prefer not to stress over the quick and dirty subtleties and time is of pith.
WordPress vs Shopify: Available Themes
The primary purpose of themes is to give your website a unique and refreshing look. They allow you to quickly add all the necessary markup and styling to change the visual appearance of your website.
Both Shopify and WordPress offer a decent collection of themes. While all the listed themes in the WordPress directory are free, the themes listed on the Shopify store include a mix of free and paid options.
As well as free themes, WordPress also has a huge ecosystem of premium themes. These are very feature-rich and cater to every design taste and website niche. might not be as good-looking or as feature-rich as premium ones.
While WordPress might offer a wider range of choices, Shopify is more organized and makes it easier to find themes that are tailor-made for your particular niche when it comes specifically to eCommerce. It is almost a tie when it comes to available themes.
WordPress vs Shopify: Extensibility
It isn’t feasible for either Shopify or WordPress to include all the functionality that you need for your eCommerce store directly in their core. This means that you will need a system of plugins and extensions to access additional features.
The comparison here is similar to available themes. You have a lot of options to choose from in both the Shopify app store and in the WordPress plugin directory to find an extension that provides the functionality you like.
Both the Shopify app store and WordPress offer a mix of free and paid extensions. All the plugins that you find in the WordPress plugin directory are free but many of them also include additional features in their pro or paid versions. You can also contact us at We Design Marbella, and we will get back to you with an amazing offer.
The plugin system in WordPress is a bit better if you want to include functionality beyond eCommerce.
WordPress vs Shopify: Customizability
Compared with WordPress, Shopify is a closed system. You can definitely customize different aspects of your website in Shopify, but it’s a far cry from what you can do with WordPress.
When you use WordPress, you can directly access the source code of the themes and plugins you install on your website. This means you can choose to make various changes to the code and upload it back to your server. For example, suppose you have installed a product review plugin for your store.
WordPress will allow you to modify the behavior and appearance of comments at will by directly changing the source code. Shopify usually cannot do this type of customization. Therefore, those who want full customization and control should consider WordPress.
WordPress vs Shopify: Cost
WordPress vs Shopify cost is the main factor for small business ideas. The cost of developing and running an online store can vary considerably depending on a lot of factors. You have to take things like hosting, theme and plugin prices, customization, etc. into account.
As a result, it is really hard to predict which option would be cheaper for you beforehand. Also, remember that the cost of a project cannot always be measured directly in terms of money you paid for a product or service. It should also include the time spent to get everything up and running. Things like losing out on a $500 sale to keep the initial cost down by $50 might not be a good idea.
That being said, one big factor that will determine the cost of creating your online store is its customization. WordPress will be a cheaper option if you have basic technical know-how and can make minor changes to themes and plugins yourself.
WordPress vs Shopify: Support
Everyone needs technical support for any products and services they use at some point. This is certainly true for big things like building an online store. Although WordPress does have a large number of people who support the platform, the support you get is not comparable to Shopify. This basically boils down to their business model.
WordPress is free and open source, so developers of free themes and plugins may only be able to help you in their spare time. On the other hand, Shopify will have a dedicated team ready to help you solve any problems related to the online store. If this is your first time opening an online store and you have little previous web development experience, choose Shopify.
Which one should you choose?
I don’t want to say that, but if you don’t look at your project requirements in more detail, it’s impossible to tell you whether WordPress or Shopify is the right choice for you. That’s why I divided this article into different sections, which cover a specific aspect to help you make an informed decision. This is a summary of the results.
WordPress vs Shopify
| Consideration | Winner |
|---|---|
| Setup Time and Ease of Use | Shopify |
| Available Themes | Tie |
| Extensibility | WordPress |
| Customizability | WordPress |
| Cost | WordPress (depends on customization needs) |
| Support | Shopify |
In short, Shopify is easier to set up and use for complete novices. For those who want to control almost all aspects of the store and already have experience in web development, WordPress is likely to be a better choice.
