Free calculator
Shopify vs WooCommerce: what does each really cost?
Type in your store's numbers and see what it would cost to run on Shopify and on WooCommerce, for the first year and over three years, line by line. Every price comes from the vendor's own page and is linked under the result, checked on October 31, 2026.
Where the numbers come from
Every price was checked on October 31, 2026 on the vendor's own page, in US dollars. We check them again at least every four months.
- Shopify plans: Basic $29/mo paid yearly or $39 monthly, Grow $79 or $105, Advanced $299 or $399, Plus from $2,300 on a 3-year term. Online card rates Basic 2.9% + 30¢, Grow 2.7% + 30¢, Advanced 2.5% + 30¢, Plus 2.25% + 30¢; foreign cards add 1%. Fee for outside payment providers: 2% (Basic), 1% (Grow), 0.6% (Advanced), 0.2% (Plus).
- WooCommerce: free (no platform fee). Hosting $25 to $350 a month for most stores and extensions $29 to $299 a year each, by WooCommerce's own pricing page. Marketplace themes about $49 to $79 a year; Storefront is free. Shopify Theme Store themes are a one-time $150 to $450, with free ones too.
- Payments: WooPayments 2.9% + 30¢, foreign cards +1.5%; Stripe 2.9% + 30¢, foreign cards +1.5%; PayPal Checkout 3.49% + 49¢, foreign cards +1.5%.
Shopify pricing (plans, card rates, third-party fees)Shopify: credit card processing feesShopify Theme StoreShopify App StoreWooCommerce pricing (core, hosting and extension ranges)WooCommerce on wordpress.org (free plugin)WooPayments fees (United States)WooCommerce Marketplace: themes (Storefront is free)Stripe pricing (United States)PayPal merchant fees (United States)WordPress.com pricingKinsta pricing (managed WordPress hosting)
How we add it up
The first year counts twelve months of everything you pay monthly, the yearly licences once, and the one-time costs (a Shopify theme, the setup hours) once. Three years counts 36 months, the yearly licences three times, and the one-time costs still just once.
Payment fees are your monthly sales times the percentage, plus the fixed fee per order times your number of orders, plus the extra charged on the share paid with foreign cards. On Shopify with an outside payment provider, Shopify's own fee gets added to every order on top of the provider's.
Sales tax, the domain, email, chargebacks and shipping are left out on both sides. They cost about the same either way, or depend too much on the store to guess.
Questions people ask
Is WooCommerce cheaper than Shopify?
It depends on the store. WooCommerce has no platform fee, but you pay for hosting, paid plugins renew every year, and someone has to keep WordPress, the plugins and PHP (the language underneath) up to date. Shopify charges a monthly plan, and if you use another payment provider, an extra fee on every order. For a small store the totals often end up close. Put in your own numbers above. Every line shows where it comes from.
What is Shopify's third-party transaction fee?
If you take payments through a provider other than Shopify Payments (PayPal as your only checkout, Stripe, Authorize.net and so on), Shopify adds its own fee on every order: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. That comes on top of what the provider charges. With Shopify Payments there's no such fee.
What does WooCommerce hosting cost?
WooCommerce's own pricing page says $25 to $350 a month for most stores. Cheap shared hosting costs less, but a store with real traffic usually needs more than that. Pick one of the examples or type in what you pay.
Why do you count developer hours?
Because you pay for them on both platforms. A Shopify store needs theme and app work too, and a WooCommerce store needs regular updates of WordPress, plugins and PHP. The hours are yours to set. What's filled in is our guess, and you should change it.
What does the calculator leave out?
Things that cost about the same on both, or depend too much on the store: the domain name, email, sales tax, chargebacks, shipping labels, in-person sales (POS), and marketing. It also doesn't count Shopify's introductory offers, which change often.
Do you sell one of these?
We work on WooCommerce and PrestaShop stores, not on Shopify, so keep that in mind. It's also why every figure here links to the vendor's own page, and why you can change every assumption.
Thinking of moving?
Moving a store from one platform to another is mostly about the products, the customers, the order history, and not losing your place in Google. If you're weighing a move to or from WooCommerce, a free 15-minute call is a good place to start. We'll tell you if we think staying put makes more sense.
Other free tools: Store speed test · Is my store outdated?