Shopify, WooCommerce or Shoper: Which to Choose for Your Store

Three ways to build an online store in Poland: ready-made Shopify, flexible WooCommerce and the local Shoper. We compare pricing, flexibility, SEO and suggest who each one suits.

You want to sell online but you're not sure what to build your store on. Shopify, WooCommerce and Shoper are the three most common options in Poland, and each one fits a different situation. Below we'll break down how much they really cost, which is more flexible and which one Google sees best, so you can choose before you commission the development.

Picture a space for a café. Some people rent a ready-made room with furniture and pay every month. Others buy an empty space and fit it out themselves: pricier at the start, but everything is their own. A third group rents from a local owner who has already run the water and power and knows the local rules. With stores the logic is the same.

Three store models: how they differ

Shopify works like renting: you pay a subscription, and the platform itself handles the server, updates and security. It's the ready-made room with furniture.

WooCommerce sits on top of WordPress and is free in itself. But you build and maintain the store yourself: hosting, plugins, protection. Full control and full responsibility.

Shoper offers the same rental convenience but is tailored to Poland: local payments, couriers and invoices connect almost instantly.

What it actually costs

The price of a store shows up not in the subscription but in the sum of all expenses: launch, monthly fee, commissions and maintenance. Let's lay it all out.

Shopify's subscription starts at roughly 120 zloty per month for the basic plan. If you don't use the built-in Shopify Payments, a fee of about 2% per sale gets added on. A ready-made theme and basic setup usually cost 2,000–5,000 zloty.

WooCommerce is free in itself, but you'll still have to pay. Hosting runs 30–80 zloty a month, a domain around 60–100 zloty a year, plus paid plugins for payment and shipping. Turnkey development usually comes out to between 3,000 and 8,000 zloty, because almost everything is configured by hand.

Shoper is similar to Shopify in model: a subscription of roughly 50 to 200 zloty per month depending on the plan. Its main advantage is that the Polish integrations are already inside, and you don't pay extra for them.

Don't forget about maintenance. With Shopify and Shoper it's baked into the subscription: updates and the server are on the platform's side. With WooCommerce maintenance falls on you or a contractor, and that's recurring money, not a one-time launch.

Flexibility and integrations: payments and couriers

Here the platforms have different ceilings. WooCommerce is almost limitless: since the code is yours, you can bolt on any non-standard logic, tricky discounts, unusual shipping. The price of that freedom is that it takes more developer work.

Shopify is flexible within its own ecosystem. Thousands of ready-made apps cover almost every task, but if you need something truly custom, you'll hit the platform's limits.

Shoper wins where Poland specifically matters. Przelewy24, BLIK, Paynow, InPost, DPD, VAT invoices and Allegro integration work out of the box. For a local store that saves weeks of hassle.

SEO: which one Google sees best

What matters to Google is not the platform brand but speed, clean code and how the page URLs, titles and descriptions are set up. Any of the three engines can rank at the top if you do everything carefully.

WooCommerce gives you maximum control over SEO: plugins like Yoast, full access to the structure, fine-tuning of URLs. Shopify covers the basics well but sometimes imposes its own link structure. Shoper has caught up on SEO over the past few years and causes no problems for a typical store.

We recently migrated a small cosmetics store from an old custom build to WooCommerce and at the same time cleaned up the speed and page URLs. Over three months organic traffic grew by about 35%, with no spend on advertising.

Who each one suits

If you want to launch fast, sell in several countries and not think about the technical side, go with Shopify. It's the option for those who care more about sales than about control over every screw.

If you have non-standard processes, a large catalog or plans to heavily customize the store, look toward WooCommerce. Just budget for development and for someone to maintain it. If you'd rather not tinker yourself, that part is covered by turnkey online store development.

If you sell mainly on the Polish market and want local payments, couriers and invoices without the headache, Shoper will be the calmest choice. In our experience, for a local small business it often saves both time and nerves.

Frequently asked questions about choosing a store platform

Which is cheaper: Shopify or WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is cheaper at the start, while Shopify is usually more predictable in the long run. WooCommerce itself is free, but hosting, plugins and development add up to a noticeable amount. Shopify has a higher subscription, but fewer hidden costs and less maintenance hassle.

Can you switch from one platform to another later?

Yes, but it's a separate project, not a couple of clicks. Products, customers and orders can be migrated, but the design, settings and page URLs will have to be redone. So it's better to choose with room to grow from the start.

Is Shoper a good fit if I plan to expand abroad?

For one or two neighboring countries, yes; for global sales Shopify is better. Shoper is strong specifically on the Polish market. For multilingual stores with different currencies, Shopify is usually more convenient.

Do you need a developer for WooCommerce?

For launch and support, almost always yes. You can put together a basic store yourself, but updates, security and non-standard customizations require a specialist's hands. This is WooCommerce's main hidden cost.

Which platform is better for SEO?

WooCommerce is slightly ahead technically, but it's not the engine that decides — it's the setup. Any of the three can rank at the top with clean code, fast loading and proper page URLs. The platform alone won't get you into Google's top results.

In short

If speed and minimal hassle matter, go with Shopify. If you need full control and non-standard processes, go with WooCommerce. If you sell mainly in Poland and want local payments and couriers without the fuss, go with Shoper. Decide on your priority, estimate the budget a year ahead, and only then commission the development.