If you’re planning an online store, the platform decision comes up early and sticks around for years. Moving products, customers, order history and URLs from one system to another is real work, so it pays to choose with your eyes open.
At Rocket Web Development we build stores on all three of the platforms people ask us about most: WooCommerce (on WordPress), Shopify and BigCommerce. None of them is “the best” for everyone. Each one makes a different trade-off between control, convenience and cost. This guide walks through those trade-offs in plain English so you can see which one fits the store you’re actually running.
The short version
- WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns a WordPress website into a store. You own the whole site, can customize almost anything, and pay for hosting, extensions and upkeep separately. It suits businesses that want full control or already run on WordPress.
- Shopify is a hosted, all-in-one platform. You pay a monthly subscription and Shopify handles hosting, security and checkout. It suits merchants who want to launch quickly and spend as little time as possible on technical upkeep.
- BigCommerce is also hosted and all-in-one, with plans tied to how much you sell each year. It suits stores with large catalogs, lots of product options or wholesale (B2B) needs.
The rest of this article explains why.
How the three platforms differ
WooCommerce: your store, your server, your rules
WooCommerce runs inside WordPress, the same software behind a large share of the web. The core plugin is free to download from WordPress.org. Your store and your content (blog, service pages, location pages) live in one site, on hosting you choose.
What that gets you:
- Control. You can change templates, checkout fields, product types and integrations without asking a platform’s permission. If an extension doesn’t exist, a developer can build it.
- Content and SEO in one place. WordPress is a strong content system, so your product pages, articles and local pages all share one domain and one SEO setup. (We cover what a search-friendly build should include in Website Design With SEO.)
- Payment choice. WooCommerce works with many payment gateways, including Stripe-based WooPayments, PayPal, Square and others, so you can pick a processor that suits your products and pricing.
What it asks of you:
- Upkeep. WordPress core, the theme, WooCommerce and every extension need regular updates, and a store needs backups, security monitoring and someone to fix things when an update conflicts. That’s the job our sister service, Rocket Web Support, handles for WordPress and WooCommerce sites.
- Separate bills. Hosting, premium extensions (subscriptions, bookings, advanced shipping) and a developer’s time are paid separately instead of bundled into one subscription.
Shopify: the fastest path to a working store
Shopify is a hosted platform. You don’t install or update anything; Shopify runs the servers, security patches and checkout. As of October 2026, Shopify’s pricing page lists Basic at $39/month, Grow at $105/month and Advanced at $399/month when paid monthly (lower when paid yearly), with Shopify Plus starting at $2,300/month.
What that gets you:
- Speed and simplicity. A store owner can add products, run discounts and fulfill orders from a polished admin without touching code.
- A strong checkout. Shopify’s checkout is mature, fast and familiar to many shoppers.
- A large app ecosystem. Most features you might want (reviews, subscriptions, upsells, wholesale) exist as apps.
What it asks of you:
- Monthly costs that add up. Many stores end up paying for several apps on top of the plan.
- Payment processor trade-offs. Shopify’s pricing page lists an extra transaction fee (2% on Basic, lower on higher plans) when you use a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments.
- Less control over the code. You can customize themes extensively, but you work inside Shopify’s structure. Some things, like the URL format for products and collections, are fixed.
BigCommerce: hosted, with room for complex catalogs
BigCommerce is also a hosted platform, but its plans are tied to your annual sales. Its pricing page currently lists Core at $29/month (billed annually) for stores with up to $30,000 in annual sales, Growth at $79/month for up to $100,000, Scale at $299/month, and custom-priced Performance plans for higher volume. Plans automatically move up as sales grow.
What that gets you:
- Built-in catalog depth. BigCommerce handles large catalogs, product options and variants, and B2B features such as customer groups and price lists without as many add-ons.
- No extra fee with embedded payment providers. BigCommerce lists zero fees on orders processed through its embedded payment providers, a list that includes several processors. Using a provider outside that list adds an open payment provider fee (2% on Core, lower on higher plans), so check that your processor is on the list.
- Hosted security and updates, like Shopify.
What it asks of you:
- Plan upgrades tied to sales. As revenue grows, your plan (and monthly cost) grows with it, so it’s worth running your own numbers.
- A smaller app and theme ecosystem than Shopify’s or WordPress’s.
Side-by-side comparison
| WooCommerce | Shopify | BigCommerce | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting | You choose (and pay for) hosting | Included | Included |
| Software cost | Core plugin free; paid extensions as needed | Monthly plan + apps | Monthly plan tied to annual sales |
| Updates and security | Your responsibility (or a care plan) | Handled by Shopify | Handled by BigCommerce |
| Customization | Nearly unlimited | Extensive within Shopify’s structure | Extensive within BigCommerce’s structure |
| Payment processors | Wide choice | Shopify Payments, or others with an added fee | Several embedded providers with no added fee; others add a fee |
| Content and blogging | Excellent (WordPress) | Good | Good |
| Best fit | Content-heavy sites, custom needs, owners who want full control | Fast launches, owners who want minimal technical work | Large or complex catalogs, B2B and wholesale |
Prices and fees above come from each platform’s pricing page as of October 2026 and change often, so check the current figures before deciding.
Questions to answer before you choose
1. What are you selling, and will your payment processor accept it?
This is the question that sinks more launches than any other. Every platform has an acceptable use policy, and every payment processor keeps its own list of restricted businesses. Firearms, ammunition, knives, CBD, supplements and some outdoor products are common examples where the platform may allow the product but the processor declines the account, or approves it with conditions.
If you sell in a regulated category, which describes many of the firearms and outdoor brands we talk to, read the platform’s acceptable use policy and the processor’s restricted-business list, and get the processor’s approval before you build. WooCommerce gives you the widest choice of processors and BigCommerce supports several without an added fee; on Shopify, using an outside processor adds Shopify’s third-party transaction fee. Shipping rules, age verification and state-by-state restrictions also need to be planned into the checkout, not bolted on later.
2. How much of your marketing depends on content?
If your customers find you through articles, guides, location pages and how-tos, WordPress and WooCommerce keep all of that in one powerful content system. If most traffic will come from ads, marketplaces and social media, a hosted platform’s content tools are usually plenty.
3. Who will maintain the store?
Hosted platforms take updates and server security off your plate. With WooCommerce, someone has to keep WordPress, plugins and the theme updated and backed up. That’s not a reason to avoid WooCommerce, but it should be in the budget from day one.
4. How big and complicated is the catalog?
A few dozen products with simple variants will be comfortable anywhere. Thousands of SKUs, complex product options, wholesale price lists or customer-specific pricing tilt the decision toward BigCommerce or a carefully built WooCommerce store.
5. What will it really cost over three years?
Compare the full picture, not just the plan price: subscription or hosting, apps or extensions, payment processing, any third-party transaction fees, theme costs, and design and development time. A platform that’s cheaper on day one isn’t always cheaper by year three.
6. Do you have a store or website already?
If you already run WordPress with good rankings and content, adding WooCommerce often preserves more of what’s working. If you’re moving platforms, plan the redirects from old product and category URLs to new ones so you keep the search visibility you’ve earned.
Our take for common situations
- A Treasure Valley retailer or service business adding online sales to an existing WordPress site: WooCommerce usually makes the most sense, because your content, local pages and store stay together.
- A new brand that wants to launch quickly with minimal technical upkeep: Shopify is hard to beat for speed to market.
- A firearms or outdoor brand: start with the payment processor and product rules, then pick the platform. WooCommerce and BigCommerce generally offer the most flexibility in processor choice.
- A distributor or wholesaler with a large catalog and customer-specific pricing: look closely at BigCommerce, or a WooCommerce build with the right B2B extensions.
- A healthcare practice selling products or memberships: keep patient information out of the store. Shopify’s acceptable use policy, for example, says the platform doesn’t support uploading protected health information subject to HIPAA. Plan forms, booking and patient communication separately from the shop.
How we approach it at Rocket Web
We’ve been building WordPress websites since 2016 from our office in Nampa, Idaho, and we work with businesses across Boise, Meridian and the Treasure Valley as well as brands nationwide. Our services include custom WordPress and WooCommerce builds (designed in Divi), Shopify and BigCommerce stores, and redesigns of existing shops. Because we work on all three platforms, we don’t need to steer you toward one.
When we scope a store, we start with your products, payment requirements, catalog size, team and growth plans, then recommend the platform that fits. You can see examples of our work in our portfolio, and learn more about us or our Nampa web design work. If you’d like more background on store design itself, our earlier posts on designing an eCommerce website that keeps customers engaged and guidelines for an outstanding eCommerce web design cover the layout and user-experience side.
Not sure which platform fits?
Tell us what you sell, how you sell it and where you want the store to be in three years, and we’ll give you a straight recommendation, including the trade-offs. Book a free consultation with Rocket Web Development, or contact us with your questions.
Sources (checked October 19, 2026)
- Shopify pricing and third-party transaction fees: https://www.shopify.com/pricing
- Shopify Acceptable Use Policy (HIPAA note): https://www.shopify.com/legal/aup
- BigCommerce pricing and plan sales thresholds: https://www.bigcommerce.com/pricing/
- WooCommerce plugin (free download): https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/
