WooCommerce vs Magento vs Shopify: the ultimate comparison
Published on 16 December 2025
WooCommerce vs Magento vs Shopify: the ultimate comparison
The three biggest names in e-commerce are WooCommerce, Magento, and Shopify. Each platform has millions of users and a strong reputation. But which is best for your webshop? In this comprehensive comparison, we put the three giants side by side.
Quick overview
| Criterion | WooCommerce | Magento | Shopify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Self-hosted | Self-hosted | Hosted (SaaS) |
| Price | Free + hosting | Free (OS) / Expensive (Commerce) | €36-399/mo |
| Difficulty | Medium | Hard | Easy |
| Suitable for | Small-medium | Enterprise | All sizes |
| Market share | 39% | 7% | 23% |
WooCommerce: the flexible choice
WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin powering more than 5 million active webshops. It's the most used e-commerce solution in the world.
Strong points
- Flexibility and customizability
- Low costs
- Huge ecosystem
- Ownership of data and code
- SEO advantages
Weak points
- Self-responsible for maintenance
- Performance can suffer with many plugins
- No official support
Pricing WooCommerce
Total year 1: €150-900
Magento: the enterprise choice
Magento (now Adobe Commerce) is the choice for large webshops with complex requirements.
Strong points
- Unlimited scalability
- Multi-store capabilities
- Advanced B2B features
- Powerful product management
- Extensive reporting
Weak points
- Complexity
- High costs
- Resource-intensive
- Steep learning curve
Pricing Magento
Total year 1 (Open Source): €3,200-26,000
Shopify: the easy choice
Shopify is the most popular hosted e-commerce platform with 4+ million webshops worldwide.
Strong points
- User-friendliness
- All-in-one solution
- 24/7 support
- App ecosystem
- Reliability
Weak points
- Monthly costs
- Limited customizability
- Vendor lock-in
- Transaction fees
Pricing Shopify
Basic: €36/month + 2% transaction fee
Comparison per criterion
Ease of use
Winner: Shopify
Flexibility
Winner: WooCommerce / Magento (tie)
Scalability
Winner: Magento
Total cost of ownership
Winner: WooCommerce
SEO capabilities
Winner: WooCommerce
B2B functionality
Winner: Magento
Which platform suits you?
Choose WooCommerce if:
- Limited budget
- Maximum flexibility wanted
- Already have WordPress
- Strong SEO wanted
- Technically capable
Choose Magento if:
- Large catalog (1,000+ products)
- B2B and B2C combined
- Multiple webshops
- Enterprise functionality needed
- Budget and dev resources available
Choose Shopify if:
- Want to go online quickly
- No technical knowledge
- Reliability above all
- International growth plans
- Willing to pay monthly
Read more
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