Shopify vs WooCommerce: Which Is Better for Indian Small Businesses?
Short answer: Choose Shopify if you want a store that’s quick to launch and easy to run, and you’re comfortable with a monthly fee plus a per-order charge. Choose WooCommerce if you already have a WordPress site, need custom rules, or want to avoid platform fees and are fine looking after hosting and updates.
Both platforms run thousands of successful Indian stores. The right one depends on your budget, how many orders you expect, and how much you want to manage yourself.
The quick comparison
| Shopify | WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Hosted store platform, paid monthly | Free plugin that turns WordPress into a store |
| Monthly platform fee | From ₹1,499 (Basic, billed yearly) + 18% GST | None. You pay for hosting instead |
| Extra fee per online order | 0.6–2% depending on plan, on top of the gateway fee | None from WooCommerce |
| Hosting, security, updates | Handled by Shopify | Your job, or your developer’s |
| Customisation | Good within themes and apps | Almost unlimited with code |
| Ease of running daily | Very easy | Easy once set up, needs care |
| Best for | New D2C brands, owners who want simplicity | Existing WordPress sites, custom or B2B stores |
Cost: where the real difference is
Shopify’s plans in India (billed yearly, before GST) are about ₹1,499 a month for Basic, ₹5,599 for Grow and ₹22,680 for Advanced. Paying monthly costs more: about ₹1,994 for Basic. Expect 18% GST on top.
The bigger difference is the per-order charge. Shopify Payments isn’t available in India, so Indian stores use gateways like Razorpay, PayU or Cashfree. Shopify then adds its own fee on every online payment: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced. That’s on top of the gateway’s fee, which for Razorpay’s standard plan is 2% plus GST.
Example: on a ₹1,000 prepaid order on Shopify Basic with Razorpay, about ₹20 goes to Shopify, ₹20 to Razorpay and ₹3.60 as GST, a total of ₹43.60. Cash on delivery orders don’t attract the Shopify fee.
WooCommerce has no platform or per-order fee. You still pay the gateway (the same 2% + GST with Razorpay), plus hosting, a domain and any premium plugins. For a small store, good hosting usually costs a few thousand rupees a year.
What this means: at low order volumes, the difference is small and Shopify’s convenience wins. As your online sales grow, Shopify’s per-order fee adds up, and either a higher Shopify plan or WooCommerce becomes cheaper.
Features Indian stores need
Both platforms handle what most Indian stores need, but in different ways:
- Payments: both support Razorpay, PayU, Cashfree and UPI through their gateways.
- Cash on delivery: both support COD. Limits by order value or pin code usually need an app (Shopify) or a plugin or small custom code (WooCommerce).
- GST invoices: both need an app or plugin to generate GST-compliant invoices.
- Shipping: both integrate with Shiprocket and other courier aggregators.
- WhatsApp alerts: available on both through apps or plugins.
Flexibility and control
Shopify works within a set structure. Themes and apps cover most needs, and custom features can be built as Shopify apps, but some things, like deep checkout changes, need the expensive Plus plan.
WooCommerce runs on WordPress, so almost anything can be built: wholesale pricing, product configurators, quote requests, custom checkout fields. The trade-off is responsibility. Plugins need updating, and a cheap, overloaded host can make a store slow.
Which should you choose?
Pick Shopify if:
- You’re launching a new D2C brand and want to start selling quickly
- You don’t want to think about hosting, security or updates
- Most orders will be prepaid and volumes are modest to start
Pick WooCommerce if:
- Your business already has a WordPress website
- You need custom rules: B2B pricing, bookings, configurators
- You expect high online order volumes and want to avoid per-order platform fees
- You have a developer or agency to maintain the site
Still not sure?
Tell us about your products and expected orders. We build on both platforms and will recommend the one that fits.
FAQ
Is Shopify Payments available in India?+
No. Indian Shopify stores use third-party gateways like Razorpay, PayU or Cashfree, and Shopify adds a transaction fee of 0.6–2% on online payments depending on your plan.
Is WooCommerce really free?+
The plugin is free. You still pay for hosting, a domain, any premium plugins and the payment gateway's fee. There's no platform fee per order.
Can I move from WooCommerce to Shopify later, or the other way?+
Yes. Products, customers and order history can be migrated. With proper 301 redirects, you keep most of your Google rankings.
Which is better for SEO?+
Both can rank well. WooCommerce gives more control over URLs and technical SEO; Shopify is simpler and handles the basics automatically. Content, speed and product page quality matter more than the platform.
Related reading
- How much does it cost to build a Shopify store in India?
- How much does a website cost in India?
Sources: Studio Kalex – Shopify pricing in India 2026 · Razorpay – Shopify payment gateway pricing explained
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