What each platform actually is
Shopify is a hosted commerce platform. You pay a subscription and Shopify runs the servers, security certificates, checkout and platform updates. You customise the store through themes, apps and, if needed, theme code.
WooCommerce is a free, open-source plugin that turns a WordPress website into a store. The software costs nothing, but you choose and pay for hosting, and you (or your developer) are responsible for keeping WordPress, the theme and every plugin updated and secure.
Shopify's costs in India (verified October 2026)
These figures come from Shopify's India pricing page (opens in a new tab), checked on 28 October 2026. Prices change, so confirm before you budget.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | Third-party payment provider fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | ₹1,994 | ₹1,800 | 2% |
| Grow | ₹7,447 | ₹6,700 | 1% |
| Advanced | ₹30,164 | ₹27,100 | 0.6% |
| Plus | From ₹1,75,000 | 0.2% | |
The last column matters in India. Shopify waives this fee only when you use Shopify Payments, and India does not appear on Shopify's list of countries supported by Shopify Payments (opens in a new tab). Indian stores therefore use a third-party gateway and pay Shopify's percentage on top of the gateway's own charges.
What WooCommerce costs to run
The WooCommerce plugin (opens in a new tab) is free. Your costs come from everything around it:
- Hosting that can handle a store's traffic and checkout. Cheap shared hosting is the most common cause of slow WooCommerce stores.
- Domain and SSL certificate, though many hosts include SSL.
- Paid extensions for features that are built into Shopify or need an app there: subscriptions, advanced shipping rules, product filters.
- Payment gateway charges. Indian gateways such as Razorpay offer WooCommerce plugins. You pay the gateway's fees but no platform transaction fee.
- Maintenance time: updates, backups, security monitoring and fixing plugin conflicts. This is the cost most often left out of comparisons.
Side-by-side comparison
| Question | Shopify | WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs hosting and security? | Shopify | You or your host |
| Software cost | Monthly subscription | Free plugin; paid extensions optional |
| Platform fee on sales via Indian gateways | 2% / 1% / 0.6% / 0.2% by plan | None (gateway fees still apply) |
| Control over code and data | Within Shopify's platform rules | Full; you own the server and database |
| Day-to-day effort | Lower | Higher, unless someone maintains it for you |
| Best fit | Brands that want to focus on selling | Teams with technical support, or an existing WordPress site |
A simple way to decide
Answer these three questions honestly:
- Who will fix the store at 10pm during a sale? If the answer is "nobody technical", Shopify's managed hosting is worth paying for.
- What will the transaction fee cost at your expected sales? Multiply monthly sales by your plan's percentage. At higher volumes, a higher plan or WooCommerce can work out cheaper.
- Do you already run WordPress? Adding WooCommerce to a well-maintained WordPress site can be simpler than running two platforms.
Whatever you choose, store speed and mobile usability affect sales. Our guide to Core Web Vitals for business owners explains what to measure.
