Every week we get the same question: “Which platform do you recommend, PrestaShop, WooCommerce or Shopify?” And every time we give the same answer: it depends. That’s not us dodging the question — it’s the truth: all three are solid tools, and all three fail you if you use them for something they weren’t built for.
Shopify: for “I want to sell now and not touch any code”
Shopify is a SaaS. You pay a monthly fee and they handle hosting, updates and server security. If you don’t have technical know-how and don’t want to depend on anyone to keep the store running, it’s the option with the fewest headaches in the short term.
The real cost isn’t just the monthly fee. Shopify charges a transaction fee if you don’t use its own payment gateway, and features that come free with a plugin on WooCommerce are paid apps here, each with its own subscription. The bigger your catalogue grows, the more apps you need, and the higher the bill climbs — and it never comes back down. In exchange, you don’t need to hire outside help to keep the server running. It makes sense for small to medium catalogues, and for anyone who genuinely doesn’t want to think about updates or servers.
WooCommerce: total flexibility, but maintenance is on you
WooCommerce is a plugin built on top of WordPress. You don’t pay a licence for the core, but you do need your own hosting, and you have to choose it carefully and maintain it: WordPress updates, plugin updates, additional plugins, backups, server security. If something breaks after an update, someone has to fix it.
The upside is that WordPress has the largest plugin and theme ecosystem out there, so almost anything you want to do with your store has already been solved by someone else: ERP integrations, unusual sales flows, a strong blog running alongside the shop. It gives you more room to manoeuvre than Shopify, without going as far as PrestaShop’s custom development.
The mid-term cost isn’t a rising fixed fee like Shopify’s — it’s hosting plus maintenance, either handled by you if you have the skills, or by an agency if you don’t. That’s why setting the store up properly from day one matters: a store built with the help of artificial intelligence speeds up the launch, but the underlying structure — hosting, plugins, security — still needs a human eye on it. It makes sense for medium-sized catalogues with specific needs, and for anyone who’d rather pay for maintenance than an ever-growing transaction fee.
PrestaShop: when your catalogue is large or you need something highly custom
PrestaShop was built for e-commerce from the ground up — it isn’t a plugin bolted onto a generic CMS. That shows in large catalogues, complex variant management and certain B2B buying flows. It’s open source, so you don’t pay a licence either, but just like WooCommerce, you need your own hosting and active maintenance.
The difference from WooCommerce is that PrestaShop demands more technical knowledge to handle comfortably. Quality modules tend to be paid, and custom work needs a developer who really knows its internal structure. It makes sense for large catalogues, B2B businesses with complex pricing or customer rules, and projects with the budget and the intention to invest in custom development from the start.
So, which one do you choose?
Before deciding, ask yourself: how big is your catalogue now, and how big will it be in two years? Who’s going to maintain the store the day after it goes live — you, someone on your team, or an agency? Do you need something outside the standard, or would a catalogue, a cart and a payment gateway solve your problem? And above all: would you rather pay little at the start and more as you grow, or invest more upfront and depend less on a fee that only ever goes up?
There’s no single answer that fits every business, and anyone who gives you one without knowing yours is selling you something, not advising you. We work with all three — we build and maintain online stores on PrestaShop, WooCommerce and Shopify — and we’d rather tell you which platform you don’t need than sell you whichever suits us best.
If you’re unsure about your specific case, it’s best to talk it through directly: tell us about your situation and we’ll look at it together.
Frequently asked questions
Is Shopify more expensive than WooCommerce in the long run?
It depends on your sales volume and how many apps you need. Shopify has a fixed monthly cost that climbs with every extra app, while WooCommerce trades that fee for hosting plus maintenance. With large catalogues, WooCommerce tends to work out cheaper; with small catalogues and no technical skills, Shopify pays for itself in the time it saves you.
Can I migrate from PrestaShop to WooCommerce without losing my catalogue?
Yes, it’s technically possible to migrate products, customers and orders between platforms, but it’s not an automatic process. You need to check variants, URLs, accumulated SEO and order history before calling the migration done, so it’s worth planning ahead rather than improvising it over a weekend.
Do I need technical knowledge to maintain a WooCommerce or PrestaShop store?
Not for day-to-day orders and products, but you do for what happens underneath: updates, backups, server security and plugin conflicts. If you don’t have that knowledge or the time to learn it, you’ll need outside maintenance, and that cost needs to be factored in before comparing prices with Shopify.
Want to apply this in your business? See how we do it in online stores (e-commerce), or tell us about your case and we will reply within 24-48 working hours.