Almost every store we build in India starts with the same question: Shopify or WooCommerce? The honest answer depends on catalogue size, how much custom logic you need, and whether you want to own infrastructure or rent it. Here is how we decide, using the same criteria we apply on client projects.
What each platform really costs per month
Shopify is a subscription plus apps. The plan is predictable, but three or four apps for reviews, bundles, subscriptions and shipping quietly add up, and each one adds JavaScript to your pages. WooCommerce has no platform fee, but you pay for hosting that can survive a sale, premium plugins, and someone competent to keep it updated.
Solution: model twelve months, not one. Add plan or hosting, every paid app or plugin, payment gateway fees and the maintenance hours you will actually need. Most Indian stores under 500 SKUs land within a similar total on either platform - so cost rarely decides it.
Payments, COD and Indian logistics
Both platforms support Razorpay, Cashfree, PayU, UPI and Stripe. The difference shows in edge cases: partial COD, prepaid discounts, pin-code serviceability and courier rules. WooCommerce gives you unrestricted control over checkout logic; Shopify restricts checkout customisation on lower plans.
Solution: if COD is more than a third of your orders and you need custom risk rules, weigh WooCommerce or Shopify Plus. If COD is straightforward, Shopify's hosted checkout usually converts better out of the box because it is battle-tested on mobile.
Speed and Core Web Vitals
Neither platform is inherently fast or slow - the theme and the app stack decide. We have seen Shopify stores at four seconds because of eight apps, and WooCommerce stores under two seconds on tuned hosting with a lean theme.
Solution: cap your app or plugin count. Replace anything cosmetic with native code, serve images as WebP, and test on a real mid-range Android phone on 4G rather than a desktop lab score.
Which one we recommend, and when
Shopify suits founders who want to sell now, keep a small team, and avoid infrastructure. WooCommerce suits brands with unusual pricing, B2B tiers, ERP integrations, large content operations, or a preference for owning the stack.
Migrating either way is possible without losing rankings, provided URLs are mapped and redirected properly. Solution: choose for the next two years, not the next two weeks - and insist on a redirect map in the scope of any migration.
- Model twelve months of platform, app and maintenance costs before choosing.
- Heavy COD and custom checkout logic favour WooCommerce or Shopify Plus.
- Speed comes from theme and app discipline, not from the platform badge.
- Shopify wins on time-to-launch; WooCommerce wins on control.
- Any migration scope must include a URL redirect map to protect SEO.