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Shopify vs WooCommerce: Which Is Better for a UK Small Business?
Shopify vs WooCommerce for a UK small business: compare GBP costs, card fees, VAT, ease of use, SEO and scalability to pick the right platform.
Shopify is the better fit for most UK small businesses that want to start selling quickly with little technical upkeep, with plans from £19 a month (billed yearly) plus card fees. WooCommerce suits businesses that already use WordPress, need deep customisation or want full control of their store, provided someone manages hosting, plugins and updates.
Shopify vs WooCommerce at a glance
Platform fees are official figures at the time of writing (October 2026). Build costs later in this guide are typical UK market ranges, not Buy Dream Web prices.
| Factor | Shopify | WooCommerce |
|---|
| Platform cost | £19–£259 a month billed yearly (£25–£344 monthly); Plus from £1,800 a month | Free plugin; you pay for hosting, theme and extensions |
| Hosting and security | Included and managed by Shopify | Your responsibility (or your host's) |
| UK online card fees | 1.5%–2% + 25p with Shopify Payments, depending on plan | Set by your provider, e.g. 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards with Stripe or WooPayments |
| Fee for third-party gateways | 0.6%–2% extra, depending on plan | None |
| Ease of use | Easiest; guided set-up | Steeper; WordPress knowledge helps |
| Design control | Highly customisable themes; some fixed structures | Full control of code, URLs and checkout |
| Product options | Up to 3 options and 2,048 variants per product | Flexible attributes and variations |
| Mobile Core Web Vitals pass rate (2025) | 76% of stores | 35% of stores |
| Best for | Fast launch, low maintenance | Content-led or highly custom stores |
Total cost of ownership in GBP
Shopify
At the time of writing (October 2026), Shopify's UK plans and online rates for UK cards through Shopify Payments are:
- Basic: £19 a month billed yearly (£25 monthly); 2% + 25p.
- Grow: £49 a month billed yearly (£65 monthly); 1.7% + 25p.
- Advanced: £259 a month billed yearly (£344 monthly); 1.5% + 25p.
- Plus: from £1,800 a month; 1.3% + 25p.
Amex and international cards cost more (3.1% + 25p on Basic). If you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify adds its own fee of 2% (Basic), 1% (Grow) or 0.6% (Advanced). Paid themes and apps are extra, and many apps charge monthly. VAT can also apply to Shopify's own fees, and how you account for it depends on whether you are VAT-registered, so check with your accountant.
WooCommerce
The WooCommerce plugin is free, with no platform fee or revenue share. You pay for hosting (UK guides suggest roughly £10–£80 a month for a small store, more for busy ones), a domain, a theme, paid extensions (WooCommerce quotes $29–$299 a year each) and maintenance, typically £60–£200 a month if you outsource it. WooPayments charges UK merchants 1.5% + 20p per card payment, plus 2% for cards from outside Europe and 2% for currency conversion. Stripe charges 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards and 2.8% + 20p for premium UK cards.
A worked example
Take a store making £5,000 a month from 100 online orders on standard UK cards. On Shopify Basic billed yearly, that is £19 plus £125 in card fees: about £144 a month before apps. On WooCommerce with Stripe, card fees come to about £95, a saving of roughly £50 that modest hosting and a few extension licences can quickly absorb. On yearly billing, Grow's lower card rate only pays for itself above roughly £10,000 a month in UK online card sales. For many small stores, running costs end up similar; the real difference is who does the technical work.
Build costs
If you hire an agency, published UK guides put a small online shop (under 50 products) at around £2,500–£5,000 and a medium store (50–500 products) at £5,000–£15,000 on either platform. Agency quotes are often given excluding VAT at 20%. Every Buy Dream Web project is quoted individually after a free consultation.
Ease of use, design control and apps
Ease of use
Shopify is easier to run day to day. Hosting, security, checkout and platform updates are handled for you, and the admin is designed for non-technical owners. WooCommerce runs inside WordPress, so you or your developer manage updates, backups, caching and compatibility between plugins. That is very manageable with good hosting or a maintenance plan, but it is your responsibility.
Design control
Both support professional themes and fully custom designs. WooCommerce gives complete control over code, templates, URLs and checkout. Shopify's themes are highly customisable, but some structures are fixed: product pages always sit under /products/ and categories under /collections/, and each product can have up to three options (such as size, colour and material).
Apps and plugins
Both ecosystems are huge. Shopify apps install in a click but are usually monthly subscriptions. WooCommerce extensions and WordPress plugins are often free or annual licences, but quality varies and each one adds update and security overhead: Patchstack found that 91% of new WordPress ecosystem vulnerabilities in 2025 were in plugins, so keep the list lean.
SEO, scalability and UK VAT
SEO and performance
Both platforms can rank well. WooCommerce, with WordPress's content tools and SEO plugins, is strong for content-led stores and gives full control over technical SEO. Shopify covers the essentials, including editable titles and meta descriptions, automatic sitemaps and 301 redirects, but its URL structure is less flexible. On speed, the 2025 Web Almanac found 76% of Shopify stores passed Google's Core Web Vitals on mobile, against 35% of WooCommerce stores. A well-built, well-hosted WooCommerce store can be fast, but Shopify makes it easier to get right.
Scalability
Shopify scales without you managing servers, with higher plans and Shopify Plus for larger operations. WooCommerce scales too, but performance depends on hosting, caching and database tuning, so hosting costs rise with traffic.
UK VAT and payments
You must register for VAT once taxable turnover passes £90,000 in a rolling 12 months, and the standard rate is 20%. Shopify lets you add your VAT registration, choose whether prices include tax and calculate it automatically. WooCommerce has built-in tax settings, and its free WooCommerce Tax extension supports automated calculation for UK stores. On either platform you remain responsible for charging the right rates and filing returns.
Migration, and which platform fits
Moving between platforms
Switching is possible but needs planning. Shopify's Store Migration app imports WooCommerce products from a CSV export; customers and order history need CSV work or third-party apps, and reviews need a reviews app. Products with more than three options will not import cleanly. Most importantly, map every old URL to its new address with 301 redirects to protect your search rankings.
Choose Shopify if
- You want to launch quickly without managing hosting, updates and security.
- You sell products with standard options and want predictable monthly costs.
- You have no in-house WordPress skills.
Choose WooCommerce if
- You already run WordPress, or content and SEO drive your sales.
- You need unusual product configurations, pricing rules or checkout logic.
- You want full control of code and data, with a developer or maintenance plan in place.
Frequently asked questions
Is WooCommerce cheaper than Shopify?
Not necessarily. The plugin is free and card fees can be slightly lower, but hosting, premium extensions and maintenance add up. For a small store the monthly totals are often similar. WooCommerce tends to work out cheaper if you have WordPress skills in-house; Shopify often wins if you would otherwise pay someone to maintain the site.
Does Shopify charge transaction fees in the UK?
Not if you use Shopify Payments: you pay only your plan's card rate, from 2% + 25p on Basic to 1.5% + 25p on Advanced for UK cards at the time of writing (October 2026). If you use a third-party provider instead, Shopify adds 2%, 1% or 0.6% depending on your plan, on top of that provider's own fees.
Which is better for SEO?
Neither guarantees rankings. WooCommerce offers more control over URLs and content, which helps content-heavy stores, while Shopify makes it easier to keep a store fast and technically sound. Product descriptions, site structure, internal linking and backlinks matter more than the platform, and no ethical agency can promise a position on Google.
How long does it take to build an online shop?
It depends on product numbers, integrations and design. At Buy Dream Web, a standard business website typically takes 2–4 weeks, while complex e-commerce or custom builds take 6–12 weeks. Allow extra time to prepare product photos, descriptions, delivery rates and VAT settings, which often take longer than expected.
Get expert advice on your online shop
Buy Dream Web designs and builds e-commerce websites and can help you choose the platform that fits your products, budget and plans. Book a free video consultation; we reply to every enquiry within 24 hours and assign a dedicated project manager to every project. Get a free quote or book a free consultation.
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