WooCommerce vs. Shopify: 3-Year Cost Comparison
TCO calculation with all cost items – hosting, licences, apps, transaction fees, maintenance. Spoiler: it depends.
When you build a shop, you ask first about purchase price. When you run one, about ongoing price. Both belong together, and both differ significantly between the two market leaders. Heres an honest 3-year TCO calculation for a typical mid-sized shop.
Assumptions
Mid-sized shop: 200–500 products, ~800 orders/month, average basket € 65, annual revenue € 625,000. One language (German), markets AT & DE, common payment providers (Klarna, Stripe, EPS, PayPal), newsletter, reviews.
WooCommerce: 3-year breakdown
| Item | Once | Year 1–3 |
|---|---|---|
| Custom theme + setup | € 9,500 | – |
| Managed WP hosting (Raidboxes Pro) | – | € 1,080 |
| Domain | – | € 45 |
| Plugin licences (ACF Pro, WP Rocket, Klaviyo) | – | € 780 |
| Maintenance & support (€ 149/mo) | – | € 5,364 |
| Transaction fees (Stripe/Klarna ~1.5 %) | – | € 28,125 |
| Total 3 years | € 44,894 | |
Shopify: 3-year breakdown
| Item | Once | Year 1–3 |
|---|---|---|
| Premium theme + customisation | € 6,500 | – |
| Shopify Standard plan (€ 105/mo) | – | € 3,780 |
| Apps (Klaviyo, Reviews, Bundles ~€ 180/mo) | – | € 6,480 |
| Domain | – | € 45 |
| Shopify Payments transaction (~1.6 %) | – | € 30,000 |
| External payment surcharge (+0.5 %) | – | € 3,750 |
| Total 3 years | € 50,555 | |
What the numbers say
Over 3 years, WooCommerce is ~€ 5,660 cheaper – about 11 % less. Numbers shift quickly with different factors:
- Higher revenue → transaction fees dominate → WooCommerce relatively cheaper
- Lower revenue → Shopifys plan fees become expensive
- More apps needed → Shopify costs explode
- International / multi-channel → Shopify comfort beats WooCommerce work
- Custom functionality → WooCommerce clear winner
Hidden costs in both
- SSL (Shopify includes, many hosts do too)
- Trusted Shops or ÖGVS badge € 99–299/mo for trust & conversion
- GDPR-compliant privacy policy generators
- Accounting integration (DATEV, BMD, RZL)
- Performance monitoring (Sentry, New Relic)
- Backup solution (UpdraftPlus / Rewind)
Time costs matter too
- WordPress updates eat 1–3 hours/month
- Shopify takes 95 % of technical worries away – but custom adjustments quickly become expensive
- Migration between platforms: realistic 60–200 hours
Recommendation
Small shops up to € 200,000 annual: Shopify often wins (custom dev relatively expensive). Shops > € 500,000 or with custom needs (B2B, configurators, subscription): WooCommerce usually cheaper and more flexible long-term. Multilingual DACH shops: WooCommerce almost always wins.
Bottom line
Pure price comparison misleads. The right question is: which platform makes me more money in 18 months, with less time and stress? Depends on size, team and business model.
Edgar Oganisjan is the founder of Skins4You – a web design and online marketing agency from Graz, Austria. More about the team →