Shopify vs WordPress: Which Is Right for Your Business?
Two good platforms built for different jobs. How to tell which one fits what you sell, how you work and where you want to be in a few years.
Tom Post · 8 min read
The short answer
If selling products online is the heart of your business, choose Shopify. If your website's main job is to bring in calls, bookings or quote requests for a service, choose WordPress. Shopify is a complete, hosted store that handles payments, inventory and checkout for a monthly fee. WordPress is free, open-source software you run on your own hosting, with the most freedom over content and design, and more upkeep in return.
Both are good platforms, and a well-built site on either will beat a poorly built site on the other. The right choice depends on what you sell, how much you want to manage yourself and where the business is heading. If you'd rather skip ahead, take the five-question quiz.
What each one is built for
Shopify was built for selling. Products, variants, inventory, shipping, taxes, discounts and a fast, trusted checkout come built in. Shopify runs the hosting, security and updates, so you never install anything on a server. You pay a monthly plan (from $29 a month on Basic, $89 on Grow and $359 on Advanced, paid yearly), and most stores add a few paid apps for things like reviews, subscriptions or email.
WordPress was built for publishing, and it now runs about 4 in 10 of all websites. It's free software: you pay for hosting, a domain and any premium themes or plugins, and you (or whoever looks after the site) keep it updated. It can sell, too, mainly through WooCommerce, a free plugin that adds products and a checkout. Where it shines is content: service pages, area pages, blogs, galleries, booking forms and anything custom.
Side by side
Shopify
WordPressOnline stores, brands selling productsService businesses, content-heavy sitesIncluded and managed by ShopifyYours to choose and keep upBuilt in, with a proven checkoutThrough WooCommerce or a booking or payment pluginMonthly plan, plus apps and card feesHosting, plus premium plugins and upkeepVery little: Shopify updates itselfRegular updates to WordPress, themes and pluginsGood, with simpler blog and page toolsExcellent, with full control of pages and structureA fixed pattern (/products/, /collections/, /pages/)Any structure you likeYour content, on Shopify's platformEverything, on hosting you chooseChoose Shopify if
- Products are the business. If most of your revenue comes from orders placed online, Shopify's checkout, inventory and order tools save you time every day.
- You want to sell, not maintain software. No plugin updates, no server, no security patches to apply.
- You sell on several channels. Shopify connects to Google, Facebook and Instagram, and to marketplaces, and keeps inventory in one place. It can also put your products in front of shoppers in AI chats like ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot, which it turns on by default for eligible stores.
- You expect to grow. A store can go from ten products to thousands without changing platforms. When the Deco Gear store was rebuilt on a new Shopify theme, conversion rose 134% the next quarter.
Choose WordPress if
- You sell a service. Contractors, clinics, law firms, landscapers and most local businesses need a site that ranks for their services and towns and turns visitors into calls. WordPress is very good at exactly that.
- Content drives your leads. Many service pages, area pages, a blog, project galleries and guides are easier to build and organize in WordPress.
- You want full ownership and freedom. You can host it anywhere, move it anytime and build almost anything with custom code.
- You sell a few things on the side. Gift cards, a few products or paid bookings can run on WooCommerce or a booking plugin without paying for a full store platform.
What "security is your responsibility" means in practice
In October 2026, PHP, the language WordPress runs on, fixed two critical flaws nicknamed PHP2Shell. They let an attacker take over a web server running PHP without logging in, and researchers showed it working against the latest version of WordPress. The flaws are in PHP itself, not in WordPress, so a site with perfectly updated plugins was still exposed until its server's PHP was patched. Security firms reported attack attempts within days, and the US government's cybersecurity agencies told organizations to patch at once:
Organizations that cannot update immediately, or that continue to use PHP 8.1 or earlier unsupported versions, should take PHP-based systems offline until they can be patched or updated.
Whose job the fix is depends on your hosting. On managed WordPress hosting, the host updates PHP for you. On a server you or your developer set up yourselves, that's on you. On Shopify there's nothing to do, because Shopify runs the servers.
If your site runs on WordPress, check these
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None of this makes WordPress the wrong choice for a service business. It's why the hosting and the person looking after the site matter as much as the platform. See PHP's advisory for the details.
What about Wix and Squarespace?
Wix
Squarespace
They're fine for getting a simple site online quickly, and they're easy to edit. Many businesses outgrow them when they need more control over speed, structure and SEO, or a store that can scale. If that's you, both Shopify and WordPress can take your content, and a careful move keeps the search rankings you've earned.
How to decide in five questions
Answer these five, and the quiz tells you which way your answers lean:
Which one fits you?
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Answer all five to see which platform your answers point to.
If your answers split, that's common. The usual answer is the platform that fits your main source of revenue, with the other need handled by an app or plugin.
Already on the wrong one?
It happens. A service business that started on Shopify, or a growing store stuck on a page builder, can move. The important parts are moving every product, page and customer record, and setting up redirects so your old links and search rankings carry over. Moving to Shopify usually changes nearly every address, because Shopify's follow a fixed pattern, so every old one needs a redirect to its new home. We handle that in our Shopify migration work, and for service businesses we build on WordPress.
If you're starting a store, see our Shopify store design service, or start a project and we'll recommend a platform before you spend anything.
Frequently asked questions
Is Shopify or WordPress better for SEO?
Both can rank well. WordPress gives you more control over page structure and content, which helps service businesses with many pages and articles. Shopify handles the technical basics well for stores, though its blog and page tools are simpler and its web addresses follow a fixed pattern. In practice, the content, speed and structure of the site matter far more than the platform.
Is Shopify more expensive than WordPress?
Usually, month to month. Shopify's Basic plan is 29 dollars a month paid yearly, before apps and card fees, while WordPress itself is free. But WordPress has its own costs: good hosting, premium plugins, and time or money for updates and fixes. For a store, Shopify often costs less overall once you count the work it saves.
Is WordPress secure?
WordPress itself is well maintained, but a site is only as secure as its hosting, plugins and upkeep. Most security flaws found in WordPress sites are in plugins and themes rather than WordPress itself, and flaws in the server underneath, like the PHP2Shell flaws in PHP in October 2026, need the host to patch them. Good managed hosting, few plugins and regular updates keep the risk low.
Can I sell products on a WordPress website?
Yes. WooCommerce, a free plugin, adds products, a cart and checkout to WordPress, and it suits stores with modest catalogs well. For a business where online sales are the main source of revenue, Shopify is usually easier to run and grow, with less maintenance.
Can I switch from WordPress to Shopify later?
Yes. Products, pages, blog posts and customers can all be moved. The key is planning redirects from your old addresses to the new ones, so your search rankings and old links keep working. Done carefully, customers and Google barely notice the change.
