Shopify vs. WordPress: eCommerce, Blogging, Themes, Plugins (Feb. 2024)

Shopify Vs Wordpress

Comparing Shopify vs. WordPress pits two titans of ecommerce websites against each other. You know you want to sell your products online — but how? Many new eCommerce entrepreneurs or small business owners are clearly passionate about what they sell but often don’t have the technical chops to set up their online shop.

Shopify and WordPress are some of the most frequently used tools online and power millions of successful stores — even though they take different paths to success. Shopify focuses on ecommerce functionality at the expense of website design tools, while WordPress websites rely on the WooCommerce plugin and other integrations to enable entrepreneurs to sell goods online.

While they’re both great, your specific needs might make one platform more beneficial to you than the other. Or, you may just be able to use both at the same time. Read on for our various reviews of WordPress and Shopify, along with tips to implement the programs most effectively.

Shopify vs. WordPress: Overall Reviews

With tools like Shopify and WordPress, building an online store isn’t as hard as you might think. Both programs include everything you’ll need to start selling in just a few minutes and clicks.

WordPress Review

Originally viewed as just a blogging platform, WordPress has morphed into one of the most powerful and flexible platforms to get your brand online. More than 25% of all websites use WordPress, which is completely free and built entirely by volunteers. Use WordPress if you’re looking for:

  • Free (or basically free): With hosting, your store can be online for a few dollars a month.
  • Customization: Themes and plugins ensure you have the look and features you want.
  • Community: Millions provide support and ideas for making WordPress better for all.

Since the WordPress content management system is free, all you need is a hosting plan. Most companies offer single-click installations of WordPress, and some even offer hosting packages tailored to maximize the speed and security of WordPress. InMotion Hosting goes a step further with their one-of-a-kind, WordPress-specific site builder, BoldGrid.

WordPress.org

WordPress Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.99

BEST OVERALL
RATING
4.7 ★★★★★ Our Review

WordPress: Our Expert's Review

Alexandra Anderson (HostingAdvice.com): WordPress, the best blogging platform and content management system in the world, powers the online presence of brands such as Disney, Sony, and Spotify. Rookie website owners can turn toward WordPress. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
90 days 100 GB SSD - Unlimited SSD FREE (1 year) 5 minutes

See other top hosts for WordPress »

Shopify Review

The team behind Shopify originally started an online store to sell snowboard equipment. Instead of posting their goods in any number of marketplaces, they opted to build their own tool that let them build relationships with customers and showcase their brand. Now, more than 300,000 active Shopify stores have made more than $20 billion of sales. Consider Shopify if you want:

  • Easy: Your store, hosting, inventory management, and analytics are all in one place.
  • Out-of-the-box security: Every shop comes with an SSL certificate and PCI compliance.
  • Centralized support: Reach 24/7 support through phone, email, or chat.

Shopify is a one-stop shop for eCommerce that includes secure hosting, unlimited bandwidth, and all the tools you need to open your store for business. Although the price tag is a bit steeper than most shared hosting plans, it’s worthwhile knowing that Shopify’s 24/7 support experts can take care of all aspects of your business.

Shopify.com

Shopify Review

Monthly Starting Price $1.00

  • Sell via social media or hosted commerce platform
  • FREE website builder and hundreds of themes
  • Unlimited products and unlimited bandwidth
  • PayPal or Shopify point-of-sale systems
  • Advanced reporting and real-time shipping updates
  • Try Shopify FREE for three days.

BEST OVERALL
RATING
4.6 ★★★★★ Our Review

Shopify: Our Expert's Review

Toby Sembower (HostingAdvice.com): Shopify is easily one of the more well-known ecommerce web builder platforms in the hosting industry. Plans are fully hosted, include a free site builder tool, and allow you to showcase an unlimited number of products with unlimited file storage as well. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
3-Day FREE Trial Unlimited FREE Subdomain 5 minutes

See other top ecommerce hosts »

Shopify vs. WordPress: eCommerce Comparison

You can go one of two ways here. Do you want to take a longer road but have ultimate flexibility and room to grow? Or do you just want to get up and running as fast as possible, even if the price is higher and you won’t have as many options to scale?

We’re not going to lie, there will be more setup with WordPress. You need a host, a theme, an SSL certificate, and an eCommerce plugin. That last part is where WooCommerce comes in: With nearly 17 million downloads, WooCommerce powers almost 40% of online stores. WooCommerce will also help you integrate your business PayPal account. With all the preparation needed for WordPress, the host you choose is an incredibly important decision. Enjoy a bevy of included features at a hard-to-beat price with the top entry-level eCommerce host below.

IONOS.com

1&1 IONOS review

Monthly Starting Price $1.00

  • Drag-and-drop online store builder for $1/mo
  • Quickly sell products, services, and digital goods
  • Cross-platform selling integrations with social media, Amazon, Google, and eBay
  • Built-in metrics, promos, and coupons
  • Track competitors' Google and social media activity
  • Get started on 1&1 IONOS now.

ECOMMERCE
RATING
4.9 ★★★★★ Our Review

1&1 IONOS: Our Expert's Review

Alexandra Anderson (HostingAdvice.com): The online store builder from 1&1 IONOS gives entrepreneurs a full suite of selling and marketing tools at their disposal — and all for a ridiculously low price. The company’s lightning-fast architecture and tools for SEO and marketing metrics will make your customers’ buying experience quick and enjoyable. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days Unlimited SSD FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

See other top ecommerce hosts »

You don’t need any coding or design skills to open up your Shopify store. You can choose from more than 100 pre-built templates and adjust the layouts, colors, and content. Your store and shopping cart are automatically optimized for mobile devices and SEO, and you can track performance with analytics on both your products and web traffic. If you run into any problems along the way, Shopify’s dedicated support team is available 24/7 in addition to their help center, discussion forums, and eCommerce University.

Shopify.com

Shopify Review

Monthly Starting Price $1.00

  • Sell via social media or hosted commerce platform
  • FREE website builder and hundreds of themes
  • Unlimited products and unlimited bandwidth
  • PayPal or Shopify point-of-sale systems
  • Advanced reporting and real-time shipping updates
  • Try Shopify FREE for three days.

BEST OVERALL
RATING
4.6 ★★★★★ Our Review

Shopify: Our Expert's Review

Toby Sembower (HostingAdvice.com): Shopify is easily one of the more well-known ecommerce web builder platforms in the hosting industry. Plans are fully hosted, include a free site builder tool, and allow you to showcase an unlimited number of products with unlimited file storage as well. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
3-Day FREE Trial Unlimited FREE Subdomain 5 minutes

See other top ecommerce hosts »

Shopify vs. WordPress: Blog Comparison

This one is pretty easy. Do you want to use the most popular blogging platform in the galaxy, or a secondary feature created by an eCommerce company?

Tell your story in any way you can imagine with WordPress. You can choose from any number of free or paid themes and add plugins for social sharing, increased SEO, analytics, and interactivity. Use categories, tags, and permalinks to organize your blog and make it more user-friendly.

Shopify does technically have a blogging tool, but it just doesn’t compare with the functionality and power of WordPress. The platform will meet the needs of beginners, but the lack of plugins and flexibility means successful stores will quickly outgrow Shopify.

We could hedge our bets and tell you to have a Shopify store and WordPress blog in a subdomain (i.e., blog.yourstore.com), but it’s not worth the hassle. More than 60 million users can’t be wrong — use WordPress with our favorite blog host.

Bluehost.com

Bluehost Review

Monthly Starting Price $1.99

  • Recommended by WordPress.org since 2005
  • Automatic WordPress updates and initial install
  • FREE WordPress themes in the Bluehost Marketplace
  • 24/7 support via live chat, phone, and email
  • Get exclusive discounts on WordPress plans
  • Get started on Bluehost now.

WORDPRESS
RATING
4.9 ★★★★★ Our Review

Bluehost: Our Expert's Review

Ryan Frankel (HostingAdvice.com): Bluehost's WordPress hosting packages are aimed at first-time site owners and personal bloggers. These services come at a premium compared to the standard Bluehost web hosting (basic shared hosting) plans, but the WordPress optimization and platform-specific resources are arguably worth the cost. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 10 GB SSD - 100 GB SSD FREE (1 year) 7 minutes

See other top hosts for WordPress »

Shopify vs. WordPress: Hosting Cost

Here’s where WordPress starts to pull away. The open-source platform is free to download and use, as are many plugins and themes. Shopify, on the other hand, starts its plans in the range of $10 per month. The cheapest plan, however, only generates product listings that you can embed in an existing website or social media — it’s not a standalone storefront. Those plans range from $30 to $300 per month, depending on the features you need.

Stick with a basic, affordable web hosting company. Most of them offer one-click installations of WordPress and will get you started for only $2 to $5 per month.

Hostinger.com

Hostinger Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.49

  • Unlimited everything, from storage to databases
  • FREE site builder & WP performance upgrades
  • FREE daily or weekly backups
  • Custom control panel and auto-installation scripts
  • SSH access & unlimited FREE SSL certificates
  • Get started on Hostinger now.

CHEAP
RATING
4.9 ★★★★★ Our Review

Hostinger: Our Expert's Review

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com): As the shared hosting market becomes increasingly saturated, unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts have become surprisingly average. Hostinger, however, extends the routine, expected metrics to greater lengths — the number of websites, databases, FTP users, subdomains, and parked domains are all unrestricted for most customers. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 50 GB SSD - 200 GB SSD FREE (1 year) 3 minutes

See other top affordable hosts »

Shopify WordPress Plugin Integration

As we said earlier, combining the strengths of WordPress and Shopify is a surefire way to get the online store of your dreams. Follow these steps to get started:

  1. Sign Up for Hosting: Set up an account with a hosting company, such as BlueHost ($2.95/mo) or InMotion ($5.99/mo), that allows for single-click WordPress installations.
  2. Implement Your Design: Get your website set up with whatever themes, images, and content you want. It’ll be easier to integrate Shopify into your existing branding.
  3. Sign Up for Shopify: Next, sign up for your Shopify account. You can start with a 14-day free trial and then upgrade to the Shopify Lite package.
  4. Install Shopify Plugin: Once you’re all signed up for everything and ready to start selling, head over to WordPress to install and activate the Shopify plugin. Open the plugin (via the Shopify link in the admin menu on the left) and enter your Shopify login information to link your store and website.
  5. Set Up Shop! The plugin will walk you through adding products, setting up payment options, and configuring shipping. You’ll be able to add individual products or collections to any WordPress post, page, or sidebar with a click of a button.

These tips should have you well on your way. But if you get stuck, search for one of the many great tutorials online that features plenty of screenshots that will lead you through the process.

Shopify WordPress Themes

Finding just the right WordPress theme can be like quicksand for novice and seasoned designers alike. With so many vibrant options, how do you know your search is over?

Screenshots of four eCommerce WordPress themes

Clockwise from top left: The Hype, Simple, FreeStore, and Ella themes combine the best of WordPress and Shopify.

Hopefully, we can save you some time by compiling a list of some of the top-selling WordPress themes built with Shopify in mind.

  • Hype: Shopify teamed up with Themezilla to focus on powerful product images.
  • Simple: Just like the name implies, this design is all about an easy purchasing experience.
  • FreeStore: Included layouts and page templates make design easy for beginners.
  • Ella: Geared for fashion, tailor your website with layered navigation and mega menus.

If you want to see more options, our WordPress Reviews Guide covers the best themes. More than 100 themes are also available through WordPress’s theme directory, as well.

Start Selling or Blogging in Less Than 10 Minutes

Tools such as WordPress and Shopify enable you to spend more time with your products, business, and ideas instead of fussing with a complicated online store. We think most entrepreneurs will enjoy the advanced features and unlimited flexibility of WordPress, but certainly understand and appreciate how Shopify takes care of beginners by offering an easy one-stop shop that meets all their needs.

If you think WordPress is right for you (with or without the Shopify plugin integration), check out our list of the best hosting companies for WordPress.


Continue comparing with similar articles on popular site-building options:


Don’t forget to let us know what you thought of the article, or share your experience with either Shopify or WordPress, by dropping us a line below!

The Winner: WordPress — With Shopify Plugin!

Luckily, you can get the best of both worlds. Capture the WordPress hosting performance, scalability, and support while still capitalizing on Shopify’s eCommerce infrastructure. Go with a strong WordPress host, such as InMotion, and add Shopify’s eCommerce shopping cart plugin to link your accounts and sell directly on your WordPress site.

InMotionHosting.com

InMotion Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.99

  • Up to 12x faster WordPress hosting
  • FREE SSL certificate and SSD storage
  • Automatic WordPress plugin, theme, and core updates
  • Features a FREE drag-and-drop WP page editor
  • Premium themes and plugin subscriptions
  • Get started on InMotion now.

WORDPRESS
RATING
4.9 ★★★★★ Our Review

InMotion: Our Expert's Review

PJ Fancher (HostingAdvice.com): InMotion Hosting, long known for affordable and high-performance shared hosting options, entered the WordPress space with a solid option built upon the company's reputation for great support and reliability. Build on an all-SSD infrastructure, InMotion's inherently quick speeds make the infrastructure a perfect fit for delivering rapid WordPress page loads. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
90 days 100 GB - Unlimited SSD FREE (1 year) 5 minutes
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