Is WooCommerce actually free?

The plugin is. Running it is not. Realistic hosting for a store doing meaningful volume is Rs 1,500 to Rs 5,000 a month, plus a theme, plus backups, plus maintenance time or an agency retainer. It is usually cheaper than Shopify at scale, but it is not free.

Which is better for SEO?

WooCommerce, marginally, because you control everything including URL structure, schema and server response. Shopify is perfectly capable of ranking and most stores are limited by their content and links rather than the platform. Do not choose on SEO alone.

Can I migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce later?

Yes, and it is routine work: products, customers and orders all export. What does not come across is your theme, your apps and any custom Liquid. Budget for a rebuild of the front end, not a copy-paste.

Which handles COD better?

Both handle it, but WooCommerce gives you more room to add the controls that actually reduce return-to-origin: OTP verification on COD orders, pincode-level COD rules, order confirmation flows. On Shopify these are apps with monthly fees.

ShopifyvsWooCommerce

Shopify vs WooCommerce for Indian D2C

Total cost over three years, payment gateways, logistics integrations, and who each platform genuinely suits in the Indian market.

The short answer

Choose Shopify if you want to launch fast and never think about hosting, and you can absorb roughly Rs 3,000 to Rs 8,000 a month in platform fees plus app subscriptions. Choose WooCommerce if you need custom logic the platform will not give you, want to own the stack outright, and have someone who can maintain it. For a straightforward catalogue with standard checkout, Shopify usually wins on time-to-launch. For subscriptions, partner portals, complex pricing rules or anything genuinely bespoke, WooCommerce wins because you can write the code.

What is the difference between Shopify and WooCommerce?

Shopify is hosted software you rent: Shopify runs the servers, handles security and updates, and charges a monthly fee plus transaction costs. WooCommerce is a free open-source plugin for WordPress that you install on hosting you buy yourself, which means no platform fee but full responsibility for hosting, security, backups and updates. The trade is rented convenience against owned control.

Search this comparison and the first page is mostly affiliate content, landing on whichever platform pays the referral. The useful version starts from a different place: what does the total three-year cost look like, and which constraints will actually bite you in India?

We build and run our own D2C brands on WooCommerce, and we have migrated client stores in both directions. Neither platform is a mistake. The mistake is picking one for a reason that does not survive contact with your actual business, usually "it is cheaper", which is only sometimes true, or "it is easier", which is true right up until you need something the platform does not do.

Side by side

Where each one wins

The considerations that actually change the decision, rather than a feature list.

Consideration	Shopify	WooCommerce
Platform cost	Roughly Rs 2,000 to Rs 7,000 per month depending on plan	Rs 0 for the software. Hosting from Rs 300 to Rs 5,000 per month
Transaction fee	Extra fee applies unless you use Shopify Payments, which is not available in India	None from the platform. You pay only your gateway
Payment gateways	Razorpay, PayU, CCAvenue, Cashfree all integrate cleanly	Same gateways, all with maintained official plugins
Apps and plugins	Large app store, mostly paid monthly. Costs compound quietly	Vast plugin library, mostly one-time or annual. More variable quality
Customisation ceiling	Real. Checkout is locked on lower plans. Liquid limits some logic	Effectively none. If you can code it, you can ship it
Maintenance burden	Near zero. Shopify handles updates, security and uptime	Yours. Updates, backups, security hardening, PHP version management
Speed and Core Web Vitals	Consistently decent out of the box	Depends entirely on hosting, theme and plugin discipline. Can be faster or much worse
SEO control	Good, with some fixed URL structures you cannot change	Complete. Rank Math or Yoast give granular control over everything
Logistics integrations	Shiprocket, Delhivery and others via apps	Same providers, official plugins, plus direct API if you need it
GST and Indian invoicing	Needs an app for compliant invoices	Several plugins, or build it yourself exactly to your CA's spec
Subscriptions and memberships	Possible via paid apps, with recurring fees	WooCommerce Subscriptions or custom. Razorpay recurring works end to end
Exit cost	Migration away is real work. Theme and apps do not come with you	You own the database and the code. Move hosts freely

Deciding

Which one is yours

Shopify

Choose Shopify if

You want to be live in weeks with a standard catalogue and standard checkout
Nobody on your team wants to think about hosting, PHP versions or security patches
Your margin can absorb the monthly platform fee plus four or five app subscriptions
You are testing a category and might shut the store down, low commitment matters
You value predictable uptime over configurability

WooCommerce

Choose WooCommerce if

You need custom logic: partner portals, tiered pricing, commission tracking, bespoke subscription rules
You already run WordPress for content and want one stack rather than two
You want SEO and AEO control down to the schema level
You are optimising unit economics hard and want to eliminate recurring platform fees
You have a developer, or an agency who will actually maintain it
You want to own your data and code outright with no platform dependency

The cost comparison people get wrong

Shopify looks more expensive on the monthly line and often is not, once you count what WooCommerce actually needs: managed hosting that does not fall over during a campaign, a premium theme, a backup service, a security layer, and someone to keep it patched. Budget honestly for both. Where WooCommerce genuinely wins on cost is at scale, because Shopify app subscriptions and plan tiers rise with your order volume while a WooCommerce server mostly does not. Where Shopify genuinely wins is on the cost you cannot see: the hours nobody spends debugging a plugin conflict at 11pm during a sale.

Our take

What we would actually do

For a first store with a conventional catalogue, Shopify gets you selling sooner and that head start is worth real money. For a brand that already knows it needs custom behaviour, WooCommerce is the right foundation and building on Shopify first means paying for the migration later. The condition that flips it: if you have no technical maintenance capacity at all, WooCommerce will degrade. An unpatched WordPress store is a liability, not an asset. The other condition: if your business model needs anything unusual at checkout, check whether Shopify permits it on your plan before you commit, because checkout customisation is the wall most Indian D2C brands hit.

Talk it through with us More comparisons

FAQ

Questions that follow this one

The plugin is. Running it is not. Realistic hosting for a store doing meaningful volume is Rs 1,500 to Rs 5,000 a month, plus a theme, plus backups, plus maintenance time or an agency retainer. It is usually cheaper than Shopify at scale, but it is not free.
WooCommerce, marginally, because you control everything including URL structure, schema and server response. Shopify is perfectly capable of ranking and most stores are limited by their content and links rather than the platform. Do not choose on SEO alone.
Yes, and it is routine work: products, customers and orders all export. What does not come across is your theme, your apps and any custom Liquid. Budget for a rebuild of the front end, not a copy-paste.
Both handle it, but WooCommerce gives you more room to add the controls that actually reduce return-to-origin: OTP verification on COD orders, pincode-level COD rules, order confirmation flows. On Shopify these are apps with monthly fees.

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