If your business wins customers by publishing — articles, guides, reviews that rank — this comparison usually does not end with Shopify. If it wins them by selling, it usually does. Here is how to tell which one you are.
We earn a commission if you sign up through the links on this page. We pay for every tool we test and no brand sees a draft before it goes live. How this site makes money.
The short answer
Choose WordPress with WooCommerce if content is your acquisition channel and the store follows from it. Choose Shopify if the store is the business and content supports it. Consider both if you publish heavily and sell seriously: WordPress for content, Shopify for the store on a subdomain, linked to each other.
| Shopify | WordPress + WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| Built around | The store | Content — the store is a plugin |
| Publishing | A basic blog | The most widely used publishing system on the web |
| Software cost | From $29/mo, billed yearly | Free; hosting paid separately |
| Card rate, US cards | 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic | 2.9% + 30¢ with WooPayments |
| Maintenance | None — Shopify runs it | Updates, security and backups are yours |
| Best when | Selling is the business | Publishing is the business, and selling follows |
WordPress + WooCommerce figures from WooCommerce's WooPayments fee documentation, checked 24 September 2026. Shopify figures from its published US pricing, checked 24 September 2026.
Why content changes the answer
Shopify’s blog is adequate for news and the occasional guide. It is not a publishing system: editorial workflows, flexible templates, taxonomies and the vast plugin ecosystem around SEO and content are WordPress’s home ground. If ranking for what you write is how the business grows, fighting the tool every week costs more than any subscription.
Why selling changes it back
The moment selling is the business, WordPress’s strength becomes your maintenance load: WooCommerce, plugins, updates, hosting and security are all yours to run. Shopify takes the entire store off your hands, and its checkout is the reason to pay for it.
The two-site setup
Plenty of content-led brands run both: WordPress on the main domain, a Shopify store on a subdomain such as shop.yourbrand.com, with the same navigation and design on each. You get WordPress for publishing and Shopify for payments — at the cost of maintaining two systems.
Questions we get asked
Is Shopify better than WordPress for SEO?
For product and collection pages, both are fine. For content at volume, WordPress is the stronger tool.
Is WordPress cheaper than Shopify?
The software is free and hosting can be cheap; your time is not. Count the maintenance before you compare the invoices.
Start your free trialNo credit card to start