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For most Indian stores that sell physical products and have no one to look after servers, Shopify is the easier choice. WooCommerce is the better fit when you already run a WordPress site, need unusual rules, or want to own every piece of the stack and have someone to maintain it.
We build on Shopify, so weigh our view with that in mind. We also turn Shopify down for some projects, and this post says which ones. The older comparison, Shopify vs custom ecommerce, covers the third route in depth. This one stays on the two platforms most Indian founders actually shortlist, and on what is different about selling in India.
What is the real difference between Shopify and WooCommerce?
Shopify is a hosted service: you rent a store that Shopify runs. WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress: you get the software, then pay for hosting, a theme, extensions and someone to keep it all updated.
That one fact drives almost every other row in the table below. With Shopify you pay a subscription and give up some control. With WooCommerce you keep the control and take on the upkeep. If you want a store that a person can set up with a developer's help and then run without one, our Shopify development service is built around exactly that.
How do they compare for an Indian store?
| What you care about | Shopify | WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Set-up effort | Pick a theme, add products, connect payments. Days to a few weeks. | Install WordPress, choose hosting, install WooCommerce, theme and extensions. A few weeks. |
| What you pay each month | Plan fee, plus apps | Hosting, plus paid extensions |
| Payments in India | Third-party gateways. Shopify Payments is not available in India | Any gateway that offers a WooCommerce plugin |
| Cash on delivery | Manual payment method; you mark the order paid after collecting | Built in as a payment option |
| GST invoices | Usually an app or custom work | Usually a plugin or custom work |
| Shipping tools | Apps from Indian courier aggregators, where available | Plugins, same idea |
| Speed | Fast base; apps are what slow it | Depends on hosting, theme and plugin count |
| Security and updates | Shopify handles the platform | You or your agency handle WordPress and every plugin |
| Control | High inside Shopify's model | Very high, you own the code and database |
Two rows decide most Indian projects: payments and upkeep. The rest tend to be close.
What does Shopify actually support in India?
Payments and plans are where India differs from the US. Here is what we checked on the official pages (as of November 2026).
- Plans are priced in rupees. Shopify's India pricing page lists Basic at ₹1,994 a month (₹1,499 a month billed yearly), Grow at ₹7,447 (₹5,599 yearly) and Advanced at ₹30,164 (₹22,680 yearly). It also lists a short trial offer. Check the page before you budget, because plans change.
- Shopify Payments is not available. India is not on Shopify's list of supported countries for Shopify Payments, so you connect a third-party gateway.
- Third-party gateways carry an extra fee. Shopify says third-party transaction fees apply to payments through outside gateways. The India pricing page lists 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced. That sits on top of your gateway's own rate.
- Cash on delivery works as a manual payment method. Shopify's manual payments page says the order is created as unpaid and you mark it paid when the money arrives. Manual payments carry no third-party transaction fee. Automatic COD handling, like confirmation calls and return-to-origin tracking, comes from apps or your courier partner.
To see which Indian gateways Shopify offers, open your Shopify admin and filter the payment provider list by country. We do not list gateway names here because we could not confirm the current list on an official page.
What does a gateway charge?
Gateway rates are set by the gateway, not the platform. As one example, Razorpay's pricing page shows a standard domestic fee of 2% per successful transaction, with 18% GST charged on that fee (as of November 2026). Other gateways differ, and negotiated rates exist at volume. So the real cost of taking a card payment on Shopify in India is the gateway rate plus Shopify's third-party fee for your plan.
What does WooCommerce need?
WooCommerce is free to download, but it is not free to run. WooCommerce's server requirements page currently asks for a recent WordPress, PHP 8.3 or later, MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.6 or later, HTTPS and at least 256 MB of memory. Older PHP and MySQL versions still work but are end-of-life and carry security risk.
In practice that means three bills. First, WooCommerce hosting that meets those numbers and stays quick under load. Cheap shared hosting is where most slow WooCommerce stores start. Second, extensions for anything the core does not do, such as GST invoicing, shipping labels or subscriptions. Third, a person who applies updates, tests them and fixes the store when a plugin update breaks checkout.
That third bill is the one founders forget. A WooCommerce store without a maintenance owner slowly becomes a risk.
What are the hidden costs on each side?
On Shopify, the hidden cost is apps. Each app adds a monthly fee, and a store with reviews, bundles, subscriptions, search and a page builder can pay more in apps than in plan fees. We cover this line by line in what a Shopify store costs to set up in India.
On WooCommerce, the hidden cost is attention. Extensions are cheap or free at first, then a renewal, a conflict or a hacked site arrives. Budget time or money for upkeep from day one.
Which one should you choose?
Here is what we would tell you on a call, by situation.
| Your situation | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| First online store, physical products, small team | Shopify | Checkout, hosting and security are handled for you |
| Selling on Instagram and WhatsApp, want to be live fast | Shopify | Fewer moving parts to set up |
| Already running a large WordPress site with content you want to keep | WooCommerce | One site, one admin, existing SEO equity |
| Unusual rules: bookings, memberships, rental, odd tax logic | WooCommerce or custom | A plugin may already do it |
| You have a developer in-house who likes WordPress | WooCommerce | You can own the whole stack |
| Thousands of SKUs, customer-specific pricing, ERP sync | Custom or headless | Neither platform fits cleanly |
| No one to maintain software, ever | Shopify | Avoids the largest WooCommerce risk |
If you sit between two rows, count who will maintain the store in a year. That person decides it more than any feature list. We are happy to say "use WooCommerce" when it is true, because a store on the wrong platform costs you more than our fee would have.
Can you switch platforms later?
Yes, and it is easier than people fear if your data is tidy. Products, customers and orders can be exported and imported, and the main work is mapping fields and redirecting old URLs so you do not lose search traffic. If you are leaning towards Shopify now but might outgrow it, keep product data clean and avoid apps that lock your data in. See our Shopify migration service if you are already on another platform.
Talk to us
Not sure which platform fits your products and your team? Tell us what you sell, how many products you have and who will run the store day to day, and we will tell you which platform we would pick, even if it is not Shopify. Book a 30-minute call, message us on WhatsApp or email hello@astrafolio.com. We reply within 12 hours, Monday to Saturday, 09:00 to 21:00 IST. Our starting prices are on the pricing page, and the platform subscription is paid by you, directly to Shopify.
Prices and fees quoted from Shopify, WooCommerce and Razorpay were checked on 4 November 2026 and can change.
Frequently asked questions
Is Shopify or WooCommerce cheaper in India?
WooCommerce is cheaper on paper, because the plugin is free and hosting can be modest. Shopify is easier to price, because the plan fee is fixed and listed in rupees. Add apps, extensions, hosting quality and the time spent on upkeep, and the gap is usually smaller than it looks.
Can I use Razorpay or other Indian gateways with Shopify?
Shopify Payments is not offered in India, so you connect a third-party gateway. Which gateways are available changes, so filter the provider list by country inside your Shopify admin. Remember the extra third-party transaction fee on top of the gateway's own rate.
Does Shopify support cash on delivery in India?
Yes, as a manual payment method. The order is placed as unpaid and you mark it paid once you collect the cash. For confirmation calls, fake-order filtering and courier remittance tracking, you will usually add an app or lean on your courier partner.
Do I need a developer to run a WooCommerce store?
Not to sell day to day, but you do need someone responsible for updates, backups and security. If nobody on your team will do that, a hosted platform is the safer route. A developer on a monthly maintenance plan also works.
Which platform is better for SEO?
Both can rank well. WooCommerce sits on WordPress, which gives you flexible content and URL control. Shopify gives you clean product and collection pages, and speed is easier to protect when you keep apps few. Page speed, content quality and links matter more than the platform you pick.
Written byAstrafolio Team, senior web, SEO and AI specialists in Noida, India.
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