The short answer
For most Irish stores selling physical products, Shopify costs less to run once you count time, and it is harder to break. WooCommerce makes sense when you need something Shopify does not allow, already have a developer looking after WordPress, or your store is really a content site with a small shop attached.
Where the money actually goes
| Cost | WooCommerce | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Free plugin | Monthly plan, billed in euro, cheaper if paid yearly |
| Hosting | You pay for it. Cheap shared hosting struggles on sale days; good managed WordPress hosting costs real money. | Included, with SSL and a global CDN |
| Theme | Free or a one-off premium theme | Free or a one-off premium theme |
| Extensions | Many plugins are paid yearly licences: subscriptions, bookings, product filters, backups, security | Many apps are monthly subscriptions; a lot of what needs a plugin on WooCommerce is built in |
| Payment fees | Your payment provider’s fees only | No extra fee with Shopify Payments; an extra platform fee if you use another payment provider |
| Security and updates | Your job: WordPress, plugin and PHP updates, backups, malware clean-ups | Handled by Shopify |
| Your time | Regular hours on updates, conflicts and fixes | Mostly spent on products and marketing |
Plan prices change, so check Shopify’s Irish pricing page and your hosting provider for current figures before deciding.
The hidden cost: maintenance
A WooCommerce store is WordPress plus WooCommerce plus every plugin, each updated on its own schedule. An update that breaks checkout on a Friday evening costs more than a year of Shopify fees for many small stores. If nobody in your business wants to own that, you will be paying a developer to.
When WooCommerce is the better choice
- Your site is mostly content, like a magazine or a blog, and the shop is a small part of it.
- You need full control of checkout logic that Shopify does not allow on your plan.
- You already pay a developer or agency to look after WordPress and they do it well.
- You sell a handful of products and are comfortable maintaining WordPress yourself.
When Shopify is the better choice
- You want to spend your time selling, not keeping a website running.
- You get traffic spikes from sales, Black Friday or social media and cannot afford downtime.
- You want fast mobile checkout with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay without extra setup.
- You plan to sell across the EU and want currencies, languages and VAT handled per country.
What it costs to build
Building either platform properly costs roughly the same in development time: design, product setup, payments, shipping, VAT and testing. Moving an existing store is a separate job, mostly spent on data and redirects. If you are already on WooCommerce and thinking of switching, my WooCommerce to Shopify checklist covers what moves, what doesn’t and how to keep your Google rankings.