Short answer: choose WordPress for most business websites with a blog or many service pages, Shopify if selling products online is the main job and you want the easiest store to run, and a custom build when you need something the platforms do badly, like a booking engine, a portal or very high speed at scale.
Side by side
| WordPress | Shopify | Custom (e.g. Next.js) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Business sites, blogs, WooCommerce stores | Online stores, D2C brands | Unique features, portals, high traffic |
| Upfront cost | Low – medium | Low – medium | Highest |
| Monthly platform fee | None (you pay hosting) | Yes, plus paid apps | None (you pay hosting) |
| Ease of editing | Easy once set up | Easiest | Depends on the admin built |
| Flexibility | Very high (plugins) | Medium (apps, themes) | Unlimited |
| Speed | Good with care; plugins can slow it | Good | Excellent |
| Maintenance | Updates & backups needed | Handled by Shopify | Low, but needs a developer |
| You own | Everything | Content; platform is rented | Everything |
When WordPress is the right choice
WordPress runs a large share of the web for a reason: it is flexible, has a plugin for almost everything, and your team can edit pages without a developer. It suits clinics, schools, CA and law firms, manufacturers and service businesses that need many pages and a blog. The cost is upkeep: plugins and the core need regular updates, and a site overloaded with plugins gets slow.
With WooCommerce, WordPress also becomes a capable store with no platform fee. See our WordPress and WooCommerce packages.
When Shopify is the right choice
Shopify is the fastest way to a reliable online store. Hosting, security and checkout are handled for you, and day-to-day running is simple. You pay a monthly subscription and often for apps, and you are limited to what themes and apps allow. It suits fashion, beauty, food and D2C brands where the store is the business.
Compare store costs in our e-commerce website cost guide.
When a custom build is worth it
A custom site (we build these with React and Next.js) costs more upfront but has no plugin bloat and no platform limits. It is worth it when you need custom logic: a booking or quote engine, a client portal, B2B pricing, complex integrations, or top speed at high traffic. For a standard 5–10 page business site, it is usually more than you need.
Decide in five minutes
- Is selling products online the main job? Yes, and you want the simplest setup: Shopify. Yes, and you also want lots of content or no monthly fee: WooCommerce.
- Do you need features no plugin does well? Bookings with custom rules, portals, logins, calculators: custom.
- Otherwise WordPress, built carefully so it stays fast.
Platform questions
For a service business with no online store, WordPress is usually better. For a business whose main job is selling products online, Shopify is often the simplest to run, while WooCommerce avoids the monthly platform fee.
Not automatically. Google ranks useful, fast, well-structured pages. A custom site can be faster, but a well-built WordPress site ranks just as well for most small businesses.
Yes. Pages and content can be migrated, and old URLs redirected so you keep your Google rankings. Our Premium plan includes content migration.
For most business sites, WordPress on reasonable hosting has the lowest running cost. Shopify adds monthly fees and apps; custom sites cost more upfront but have low running costs.
