WooCommerce vs Shopify in India: Costs, Payment Gateways, GST, COD and Shipping Compared for Online Stores

On this page

1. Verdict by store type
2. WooCommerce vs Shopify for Indian stores at a glance
3. What each costs to run in India
4. Payment gateways, UPI and transaction fees
5. Cash on delivery
6. GST and invoices
7. Shipping and couriers
8. Apps vs plugins: how features are added
9. Design, checkout and customisation
10. Content, SEO and speed
11. Ownership and moving later
12. Which should you choose?
13. Quick check: estimate your real running costs
14. When to get help
15. FAQs

WooCommerce vs Shopify, in short: for most small and growing Indian online stores, WooCommerce is the better fit: there is no platform fee, you pay only your payment gateway's charges, cash on delivery, GST and shipping rules can be set exactly how you work, and the store, data and content are fully yours. Shopify is the better fit if you want a hosted store where hosting, security and updates are handled for you, and you accept a monthly plan, monthly app costs and any Shopify transaction fee that applies to third-party gateways.

I build WooCommerce stores, so read this with that in mind; if Shopify genuinely suits a store better, I say so. If you want a WooCommerce developer in India to set up payments, COD, GST and shipping properly, that page explains how I work. This comparison is store-specific; for business websites in general, including Wix, see WordPress vs Wix vs Shopify.

Verdict by store type

Store type	Usually the better fit	Why
Small catalogue or D2C brand, nobody technical	Shopify	Hosting, security and updates are handled, and the admin is easy to learn
Small catalogue or D2C brand watching running costs	WooCommerce	No platform fee or transaction fee, only hosting and gateway charges
Large catalogue with many variants and filters	Either, planned carefully	Shopify needs apps for advanced filters; WooCommerce needs good hosting
Content-heavy store with guides and a blog	WooCommerce	Full WordPress for content and SEO
B2B or wholesale with dealer pricing	WooCommerce	Custom pricing rules and order flows without monthly app fees

Leaning towards Shopify? See Shopify store setup in Pune and across India. Leaning towards WooCommerce? See WooCommerce development. The rest of this guide explains the reasoning behind each row.

See also: building a WooCommerce multi-vendor marketplace.

WooCommerce vs Shopify for Indian stores at a glance

	WooCommerce	Shopify
What it is	A free plugin that turns WordPress into a store, on hosting you choose	A hosted e-commerce platform
Platform fee	None; you pay for hosting, domain and any premium plugins	A monthly plan
Fees on each order	Only your gateway's charges	Gateway charges, plus a Shopify transaction fee on some plans when using third-party gateways
Indian gateways and UPI	Razorpay, Cashfree, PayU, PhonePe and others through their plugins	Supported through third-party payment providers
Cash on delivery	Built in; rules by order value, pin code or COD fee with plugins	Supported; extra rules and fees usually need apps
GST invoices	Tax classes plus an invoice plugin	Tax settings plus an invoice app
Couriers	Plugins from aggregators such as Shiprocket	Apps from the same aggregators
Adding features	Plugins, many free, some with yearly licences	Apps, often with monthly subscriptions
Customisation	Almost unlimited, including checkout	Good within the platform; deeper checkout changes are limited
Content and blog	Full WordPress	Basic
Upkeep	Updates, backups and security by you or a developer	Handled by Shopify
Leaving	Move to any host, keep everything	Export products, customers and orders; rebuild the design

For a line-by-line look at the Shopify side, from the plan and apps to gateway fees and setup work, see what a Shopify store costs in India.

What each costs to run in India

Compare the total over two or three years, not the first month's offer.

Cost	WooCommerce	Shopify
Platform	Free	Monthly plan; check current pricing for India
Hosting	About ₹2,500 to ₹15,000 a year; stores belong at the better end	Included in the plan
Domain	About ₹500 to ₹1,200 a year	Bought separately or through Shopify
Theme	Free or a one-off or yearly premium licence	Free or a one-off premium theme
Extra features	Free plugins or yearly licences	Monthly app subscriptions
Per-order fees	Gateway charges only	Gateway charges, plus any Shopify transaction fee
Maintenance	Optional; about ₹1,500 to ₹6,000 a month from a freelancer	Mostly handled; you still manage apps and settings
Build	About ₹30,000 to ₹90,000 or more for a professionally built store	Varies with theme and app setup

For many small Indian stores, WooCommerce costs less to run over time, while Shopify saves time on technical upkeep. As order volume grows, percentage-based fees and monthly apps start to matter more than the platform fee. WooCommerce store running costs breaks down the WooCommerce side in detail.

Payment gateways, UPI and transaction fees

Both platforms can take UPI, cards, net banking and wallets through Indian gateways. The difference is in the fees and the setup:

• WooCommerce: install the gateway's official plugin, such as Razorpay, Cashfree, PayU or PhonePe, add your API keys and set up webhooks so paid orders are marked paid even if the shopper closes the browser. WooCommerce adds no fee of its own.
• Shopify: Indian gateways connect as third-party payment providers. At the time of writing, Shopify's own payment service isn't offered in India, and Shopify has charged its own transaction fee on orders paid through third-party providers, varying by plan. Check Shopify's current pricing page for India before you compare totals.

Gateway fees, settlement times and KYC requirements are separate from the platform; how to choose a payment gateway in India lists what to compare.

Cash on delivery

COD still matters to many Indian shoppers, and refused deliveries cost you shipping both ways. WooCommerce has COD built in, and plugins let you limit it by order value or pin code, add a COD fee and confirm COD orders before dispatch. Shopify supports COD as a manual payment method; COD fees, pin code restrictions and order confirmation usually need apps. Offering COD without losing money covers the rules worth setting on either platform.

GST and invoices

On WooCommerce, each GST rate gets its own tax class, tax is split into CGST and SGST or charged as IGST based on the shipping state, and an invoice plugin adds your GSTIN, HSN codes and invoice numbering. Shopify handles GST through its tax settings and relies on invoice apps for GST-format invoices. Either way, ask your CA to confirm the rates and invoice format; WooCommerce GST setup shows each step.

Shipping and couriers

Shipping aggregators such as Shiprocket offer both a WooCommerce plugin and a Shopify app, so you can generate labels, compare couriers and send tracking updates on either platform. Both support flat, weight-based and free-above-a-threshold rates. WooCommerce gives more control over unusual rules, such as different rates by pin code range or product type, and pin code delivery checkers on product pages. See WooCommerce shipping setup for India.

Apps vs plugins: how features are added

Feature an Indian store often needs	WooCommerce	Shopify
GST invoices	Invoice plugin	Invoice app
COD rules and fees	Free or paid plugin	App
Pin code delivery checker	Plugin or custom code	App
WhatsApp order updates	Plugin plus a WhatsApp Business API provider	App plus a provider
Product reviews	Built in, extendable with plugins	App
Dealer or wholesale pricing	Plugin or custom development	App or a higher plan

Shopify apps run on the app maker's side and are usually billed monthly. WooCommerce plugins run on your own hosting and are often free or billed yearly, but every plugin adds code to maintain, so a store with forty plugins becomes slow and fragile. Choose a few well-maintained ones.

Design, checkout and customisation

Shopify themes look good out of the box, and its checkout is fast and familiar, but deeper checkout changes are limited to its higher plans. WooCommerce lets a developer change almost anything: checkout fields, product configurators, B2B pricing, booking-style products or a shop that sits alongside other features. For Southern Flavours, a restaurant in the UK, I built a WooCommerce shop with more than 100 dishes in 13 categories alongside a table reservation form, all on one WordPress site.

If you choose Shopify and want more than the theme settings offer, see how Shopify theme customisation works, from sections and metafields to safe code changes on a duplicate theme.

Content, SEO and speed

Shopify's URLs always include /products/ and /collections/, and its blog is basic. WooCommerce gives full control over URLs, schema and as much content as you want, which helps stores that win customers through buying guides and recipes. Shopify's hosting is fast by default; WooCommerce can be just as fast on good hosting with caching and optimised images, and cheap hosting is the main reason WooCommerce stores feel slow.

Ownership and moving later

A WooCommerce store is yours: files and database can move to any host, and any WordPress developer can take over. Shopify lets you export products, customers and orders as CSV files, but the theme and apps stay behind, so leaving means rebuilding the design. If you're already on Shopify and the fees or limits are pinching, see moving from Shopify to WooCommerce.

If your site is more than a store, read Shopify vs WordPress for the whole-platform comparison, including content and service sites.

Which should you choose?

• Small or growing D2C brand watching costs: WooCommerce, with a good host, an Indian gateway and a fast theme.
• Store that relies on content, SEO or buying guides: WooCommerce.
• Store needing unusual rules: dealer pricing, configurators, pin code logic or bookings point to WooCommerce.
• Brand with nobody technical and no developer: Shopify, if you accept the plan, app and transaction costs.
• Already have a WordPress website: WooCommerce adds a store without a second platform.

Chosen WooCommerce? Work through the WooCommerce store launch checklist before going live.

Organic search matters for stores too; see how to rank WooCommerce product and category pages.

Still deciding whether to sell on your own site at all? Read own website vs marketplaces.

Platform fees are only one part of the budget. For build costs by type of store, see how much an e-commerce website costs in India.

I build on both platforms for businesses across India, for example in Surat, Jaipur and Mumbai.

Quick check: estimate your real running costs

1. Write down the plan price for each option, plus the monthly app or plugin costs for the features you need, such as GST invoices and courier integration.
2. Check the transaction fee for your chosen payment gateway on its pricing page, and whether Shopify adds its own fee for that gateway on your plan.
3. Multiply by a year, and add hosting for WooCommerce, so you compare yearly totals rather than headline prices.

When to get help

If you have chosen a platform and want it set up properly, with Indian payments, COD, GST invoices and shipping tested before launch, get a fixed quote after a free review: Shopify development in India or WooCommerce development. Since Samverse builds on both, the advice is about your store, not a preference for one platform.

New to the platform? Read what WooCommerce is and how it works.

Both platforms handle cash on delivery; on Shopify it is a manual payment method, shown step by step in this Shopify COD tutorial.

FAQs

Is WooCommerce cheaper than Shopify in India?

Usually, over time. WooCommerce has no platform fee or transaction fee, so you pay for hosting, a domain, any premium plugins and optional maintenance. Shopify has a monthly plan, monthly apps and possibly its own transaction fee. Shopify can be cheaper if you'd otherwise pay a developer for every small change.

Does Shopify charge transaction fees in India?

Shopify has charged its own transaction fee on orders paid through third-party gateways, at a rate that depends on the plan, and its own payment service isn't offered in India at the time of writing. Check Shopify's current India pricing page, as this changes.

Can I use Razorpay with both WooCommerce and Shopify?

Yes. Razorpay has an official WooCommerce plugin and connects to Shopify as a third-party payment provider. Cashfree, PayU and PhonePe can also be used on both, subject to each gateway's approval of your business.

Which is better for cash on delivery?

Both support COD. WooCommerce makes it easier to limit COD by order value or pin code, add a COD fee and confirm orders before dispatch, often with free plugins. On Shopify those rules usually need paid apps.

Which is better for SEO?

Both can rank. WooCommerce gives more control over URLs, schema and content, which suits stores that publish guides and category content. Shopify covers the basics with a fixed URL structure and a simpler blog.

Can I move from Shopify to WooCommerce later?

Yes. Products, categories and images move across, along with customers and past orders where exports allow, the design is rebuilt, and old URLs are redirected to protect search visibility.