nesWooCommerce fits if you already have a WordPress site or are starting small. Shopify fits if you want to start selling fast and don't want to deal with any tech. Shopware fits if your product range is growing, you sell to business customers, or German legal requirements and integrations matter a lot to you.
The three contenders in one sentence each
- WooCommerce is a free extension for WordPress that turns your website into a shop.
- Shopify is a rented shop: you pay monthly, and Shopify takes care of servers, updates and security.
- Shopware is a shop system from Germany that you run on your own server. The Community Edition is free.
WooCommerce: the shop inside your website
If you already have a WordPress site or are planning one, WooCommerce is the obvious route. Website and shop live in one system, and you manage both in the same admin area. There are extensions for payment methods, shipping and invoices, many of them free, some paid.
Its strength is flexibility, and so is its weakness: every additional extension needs maintenance, and with lots of products and variants WooCommerce quickly gets sluggish. For small to mid-sized product ranges, say a café selling gift vouchers, a small manufacturer with thirty products or a club selling fan merchandise, it's a very good choice. With us, WordPress with a shop starts from €599.90 one-off including hosting, plus VAT.
Shopify: selling without the tech
Shopify takes almost all of the tech off your hands. You don't have to worry about servers or updates, and the checkout is mature. Many features are added through apps from Shopify's own marketplace.
In return, you pay an ongoing monthly fee, and transaction fees and app costs can come on top. You're tied to Shopify; moving away is possible, but it takes effort. And because Shopify isn't a German product, legal texts, taxes and data protection need a bit of care. We set up Shopify shops, design them and take care of products and processes. Hosting is with Shopify, not with us.
Shopware: when your shop is meant to grow
Shopware comes from Germany and is widely used by mid-sized retailers. It's built for larger product ranges, variants, multiple languages and sales channels, and it comes with strong features for business customers, such as individual prices per customer group. Many inventory management systems and service providers offer ready-made integrations.
On the flip side, Shopware is more demanding than WooCommerce. It needs a powerful server and someone who has updates and extensions under control. For a small shop with twenty items, that's often overkill. For a retailer who wants to grow or sells to business customers, it's a very solid foundation. We build Shopware shops and run them on our server in Germany.
The decision in five questions
- Do you already have WordPress? Then WooCommerce is the shortest route.
- Don't want to deal with any tech at all? Then Shopify is convenient, but comes with ongoing fees.
- How big will your product range get? With many hundreds of items with variants, Shopware plays to its strengths.
- Do you sell to businesses? Customer groups, individual prices and payment on invoice all point to Shopware.
- How much does it matter to you where your data is stored? With us, WooCommerce and Shopware run on a server in Germany.
And if you're not sure?
Then you're in the same boat as most people who call us. Tell us what you want to sell, to whom and how much. We'll tell you openly which system we'd pick, even if it's the one we earn the least from. You'll find an overview of all the systems we work with on our Services page, and the prices on our pricing page.
