WordPress vs Shopify — which actually wins?

Every ecommerce article online tells you "it depends" and then refuses to commit. This one commits. After building on both platforms for UK clients across retail, services and content businesses, the answer is genuinely contextual — but the context isn't as complicated as the industry pretends. Here's the framework that gets you to the right choice in under 10 minutes.

The 30-second answer

Pick Shopify if: ecommerce is your only or primary business, you have under 5,000 SKUs, you want minimal technical overhead, and you're happy paying a premium for a platform that handles everything. Pick WordPress (with WooCommerce) if: you're content-led, you sell services alongside products, you need design or data flexibility, you have access to a developer, or you're playing the long game on owned media and SEO.

Cost over three years

For a store doing £200k revenue/year: Shopify (Basic plan + 8 typical apps + Shopify Payments) totals roughly £18,000–£25,000 over 3 years. WooCommerce (managed hosting + plugin licences + gateway fees) totals £12,000–£20,000. The gap widens as revenue grows because Shopify's app pricing scales but WooCommerce hosting often doesn't.

SEO realities

Shopify's URL structure is forced — /collections/, /products/, /pages/ — and you can't change it. Its blog functionality is basic. Yoast and Rank Math don't exist on Shopify; you get a simpler built-in SEO panel and a few apps that try to fill the gap. WordPress gives you full control of URLs, schema, templates and content types. For content-led SEO (the kind that compounds for years), WordPress wins by a clear margin. For product-led SEO (PDPs ranking for product terms), the gap is much smaller.

Design freedom

Shopify themes are tightly built and well-supported but you'll hit the Liquid templating ceiling on bespoke ideas. WordPress has fewer guardrails — anything you can imagine is possible, but quality varies enormously. For a truly bespoke storefront, both platforms can do it; for a polished theme-based store in 3 weeks, Shopify wins.

Maintenance and security

Shopify maintains itself. Hosting, PCI compliance, updates, security — all included in the monthly fee. WordPress puts that work on you (or your developer). The flip side: Shopify decisions are Shopify's decisions. Theme deprecations, app cost hikes, checkout changes happen on their schedule. WordPress sites change when you decide to change them.

When each platform breaks

Shopify breaks when: you need deep customisation of checkout (only Plus allows it), you have unusual product types, you sell services as a major revenue line, or your content strategy is your moat. WordPress breaks when: you don't have a developer, you don't want to think about hosting and updates, you want zero maintenance overhead, or your team isn't technical enough to use the CMS.

My recommendation framework

Under £50k revenue, ecommerce-only, non-technical team: Shopify. £50k–£500k revenue, content-led, SEO-ambitious: WordPress + WooCommerce. £500k+ revenue, multi-store, B2B or wholesale: Shopify Plus or bespoke headless. Service business with light product sales: WordPress + WooCommerce. Pure DTC fashion or beauty brand: Shopify. Pick the platform that fits your business model, not the one with the loudest cheerleaders.