Online shop · 5 November 2026 · 6 min read
Shopify, WooCommerce or custom: which online shop fits?
Three routes to your own shop, honestly compared: cost, effort, freedom, and who each route suits.
Anyone planning an online shop almost always ends up with three options: Shopify as a hosted solution, WooCommerce on WordPress, or a custom-built shop. None is always best. It depends on your range, budget and plans.
Shopify: ready fast
- Pros: quick start, hosting and security included, lots of apps.
- Cons: monthly fees, paid apps add up, customisation has limits.
- Suits: sellers who want to start quickly with a standard range.
WooCommerce: flexible on WordPress
- Pros: free software, a huge choice of extensions, full control over your data.
- Cons: hosting, updates and security are on you; many plugins make the site slow and fragile.
- Suits: businesses already on WordPress, or wanting content and shop tightly linked.
The MARG shop in the Netherlands, for example, runs on WordPress with a custom theme, bilingual in Dutch and English.
Custom-built: made to measure
- Pros: exactly your workflows, very fast, no ongoing app fees, no plugin dependencies.
- Cons: higher upfront investment, and you need a developer for changes.
- Suits: special workflows like pre-ordering, pickup times, configurators or links to your own systems.
How to decide
- 01
Range
A few standard products point to Shopify, complex variants or workflows to custom.
- 02
Budget
Calculate running costs over three years, not just the start.
- 03
Your time
Who handles updates and plugins? With WooCommerce that's not a side job.
- 04
Plans
What should the shop do in two years? Migrating later costs more than choosing right now.
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