CentriWebShopify vs WooCommerce is a choice between renting a complete shop and owning one you have to look after. Shopify is a hosted ecommerce platform with a monthly plan that includes hosting, security certificates and PCI compliance, while WooCommerce is free, open-source software that turns a WordPress site into a shop, so you choose the host, own the code and data, and arrange your own maintenance.
A disclosure first: WooCommerce runs on WordPress, and CentriWeb builds websites on WordPress, so weigh our view with that in mind. Prices below are in Australian dollars from each vendor’s Australian pages as at November 2026. Check their page for current prices.
Shopify vs WooCommerce at a glance
| Shopify | WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A hosted ecommerce platform | A free plugin that adds a shop to a WordPress site |
| How it charges | Monthly or yearly plan, plus card fees, plus an extra fee if you use another payment provider | No licence fee; you pay for hosting, any paid extensions and card fees to your payment provider |
| Who maintains it | Shopify runs hosting, security certificates and PCI compliance; you manage your theme and apps | You, your host or a web company keeps WordPress, WooCommerce and extensions updated |
| Who it suits | A store that wants to sell quickly without thinking about servers | A business that already has a WordPress site, wants full ownership, or needs a shop that does unusual things |
What each costs: plans and card fees
Shopify
Shopify’s Australian pricing page listed these plans, in AUD:
- Basic: $56 a month paid monthly, or $42 a month paid yearly. Online card rate with Shopify Payments 1.7% + 30c.
- Grow: $149 a month, or $114 paid yearly. Online card rate 1.55% + 30c.
- Advanced: $575 a month, or $431 paid yearly. Online card rate 1.35% + 30c.
- Plus: from $3,700 a month. Online card rate 1.15% + 30c.
If you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, the page listed an extra transaction fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus. It also showed a three day free trial, then $1 a month for three months.
WooCommerce
The WooCommerce software is a free download. Its payments page says WooPayments, its own payment service, has no setup costs or monthly fees. The WooPayments fee schedule listed, for Australian stores:
- 1.75% + $0.30 per domestic card payment
- an extra 1.5% for international cards, and 2% where currency conversion applies
- a $25 fee per dispute
- 10% GST on WooPayments fees, unless you provide a valid GST ID as a GST-registered business
You can also use other payment providers with WooCommerce. Our guide to payment gateways in Australia compares them. On top of card fees you pay for hosting, any paid extensions and upkeep.
A worked example with your own numbers
Say a store takes 200 online orders a month at an average of $100, all on Australian cards. Using the rates above:
- Shopify Basic, paid monthly, with Shopify Payments: 200 orders at $1.70 + $0.30 each is $400 in card fees, plus the $56 plan, so $456 a month.
- Shopify Basic with another payment provider: that provider’s fees, plus Shopify’s 2% on $20,000 of sales, which adds $400 a month.
- WooCommerce with WooPayments: 200 orders at $1.75 + $0.30 each is $410 in card fees, plus hosting, any paid extensions and maintenance.
On card fees alone the two are close at this size. The difference comes from what sits around them: Shopify’s plan and any paid apps on one side, and hosting, extensions and someone’s time on the other. Swap in your own order count and average sale before you decide. Our guide to ecommerce website costs covers the build side.
What Shopify does well
Shopify’s strength is that the shop’s foundations are someone else’s job. Its pricing page lists unlimited web hosting and a free SSL certificate on all plans, and its PCI compliance page says Shopify is certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant and that this covers every store by default. PCI DSS is the card industry’s security standard, and meeting it yourself is real work.
A store can be set up and selling without choosing a host or installing software. It suits a retailer whose main job is selling products and who would rather pay a monthly fee than manage servers. One detail for a growing team: the pricing page listed no additional staff accounts on Basic, up to 5 on Grow and up to 15 on Advanced.
What WooCommerce does well
WooCommerce’s strength is ownership and flexibility. Its own page says you fully own your site, code and data, and it lists more than 1,000 extensions in its marketplace. Because it runs on WordPress, your shop, content pages, blog and booking or quoting tools can sit in one site you can move to any host.
It suits a business that already runs on WordPress, sells alongside services, needs unusual product options or pricing, or wants no platform fee on top of card fees.
Who fixes it at 9pm
This is the question to answer before you choose. Picture the checkout failing on a Friday night during a sale.
On Shopify, the hosting and the platform are Shopify’s to keep running. A fault in your theme, an app you installed or a setting you changed is still yours to sort out, so know who you would call for those.
On WooCommerce, it is your host’s problem if the server is down, and yours or your web company’s for everything else. WordPress’s security hardening guide says each plugin and theme adds code that can contain vulnerabilities, recommends removing unused ones, and stresses regular, tested backups. Your host must meet WordPress’s requirements, and a busy shop needs more than the cheapest hosting plan.
Whichever you pick, write down a name and a phone number for out-of-hours problems, and check what their agreement says about response times. If the answer for WooCommerce is “nobody”, Shopify is probably the better fit for you.
Questions to answer before you choose
- Do you already have a WordPress site? Adding WooCommerce keeps your content, search rankings and shop in one place. Starting a separate Shopify store means two systems to keep in step.
- How many staff need access? Count them against the staff accounts on each Shopify plan, since that can push you up a plan. WordPress has no per-user charge.
- Do you sell overseas? Check the international card and currency conversion fees on whichever payment provider you choose, because they add up quickly on foreign orders.
- Which payment provider do you want? If you already use one and want to keep it, add Shopify’s extra fee for outside providers to your sums.
- Is your product range unusual? Made-to-measure options, trade pricing, bookings or quotes alongside products can push you towards apps on Shopify or extensions and custom work on WooCommerce. Price both.
- Who owns the store if you part ways with your developer? Keep the domain, hosting and platform accounts in your business’s name.
Which suits your store?
- Choose Shopify if you want to start selling soon, would rather not manage hosting or security, sell a standard range of products, and are happy with a monthly plan that rises as you grow.
- Choose WooCommerce if you already run WordPress, want to own the whole shop and its data, need custom product options or a shop that sits alongside services, and have a host or web company lined up to maintain it.
When a shop built and looked after for you fits better
A store pays its way when orders, stock and customer details flow into the systems you already use, payments reconcile without hand work, and someone is responsible when it breaks.
Our website design and build service builds WooCommerce shops on WordPress and keeps looking after them, including updates, backups and payments set-up.
It does not suit everyone. If you sell a small range, are happy running Shopify yourself, or a standard Shopify plan already does the job, stay with that. For a simpler site without a shop, our Wix vs WordPress comparison covers the same trade-off.