Ecommerce
Shopify vs WooCommerce in India: The 2% Nobody Mentions
Every comparison quotes Shopify at ₹1,994/month. Almost none mention that Shopify Payments does not operate in India — so Indian sellers pay a transaction fee on every single order that sellers elsewhere do not. That one fact changes the whole calculation.
Contains affiliate links; I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Pricing checked in August 2026. Shopify plan prices and fee structures change — confirm on their India pricing page before committing.
The India-specific catch
Shopify Payments is not available in India. That means every Indian merchant uses a third-party gateway — Razorpay, PayU, Cashfree — and Shopify charges its own transaction fee on top, because you are not using their payment product. On the Basic plan that is 2% of every order, in addition to whatever your gateway charges. A store doing ₹5 lakh a month pays ₹10,000 in Shopify transaction fees alone, before the subscription.
Cost side by side
| Cost | Shopify Basic | WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|
| Platform subscription | ₹1,994/mo monthly · ₹1,499/mo annual | ₹0 — free plugin |
| Hosting | Included | From ~₹149–₹599/mo |
| Domain | Extra | Often free year 1 with hosting |
| SSL | Included | Free with most hosts |
| Shopify transaction fee | 2% of every order | ₹0 |
| Payment gateway fee | Yes (third-party) | Yes (third-party) |
| Theme | Free or ~₹15,000 one-off | Free or ~₹5,000 one-off |
| Apps / plugins | Often ₹1,000–₹5,000/mo | Many free; some paid |
| Your time | Minimal | Updates, backups, security |
Once GST, gateway charges, apps and a theme are included, a working Shopify Basic store in India commonly costs ₹6,000 to ₹15,000 a month. An equivalent WooCommerce store on decent hosting runs a few hundred to a couple of thousand.
Shopify plan pricing in India
| Plan | Annual billing | Monthly billing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | ₹1,499/mo | ₹1,994/mo | New stores, low order volume |
| Shopify | — | ₹7,447/mo | Growing stores; lower transaction fee |
| Advanced | — | ₹30,164/mo | High volume; lowest transaction fee |
Worth noting how the upgrade logic works: the higher plans reduce the transaction fee, so at enough volume the more expensive plan is genuinely cheaper. Work out your monthly revenue before assuming Basic is the economical choice.
[AFFILIATE_LINK: SHOPIFY]
Where the break-even sits
Rather than argue about which is “better”, work out where the money crosses over. Roughly:
- Under ~₹1 lakh/month revenue: Shopify's fixed costs dominate. WooCommerce on cheap hosting is dramatically cheaper — if you can run it.
- ₹1–5 lakh/month: the convenience genuinely starts earning its keep. Time you would spend on maintenance is worth more than the subscription.
- Above ₹5 lakh/month: the 2% transaction fee becomes the dominant cost. At this point either upgrade the plan to reduce it, or reconsider the platform entirely.
The honest summary: Shopify sells you time, and time is worth different amounts to different people. If you have more time than money, WooCommerce. If the reverse, Shopify.
What WooCommerce actually needs
WooCommerce is free; running it is not effortless. A store needs hosting that can handle a database under load — a busy WooCommerce site is much heavier than a blog on the same platform. Entry shared hosting works for a small catalogue; past that you want more RAM and NVMe storage.
Hosting for a WooCommerce store
Shared plans from ₹149/mo handle a small catalogue fine. Once orders are steady, the Cloud tier from ₹599/mo gives dedicated CPU and RAM so checkout does not slow down during a sale — which is the one moment a slow store actually costs you money. Free domain for year one, free SSL, free migration and 30 days to change your mind.
Check Hosting for Your Store →Which should you choose?
Choose Shopify
You want to sell this week, you are not technical, and your margins can absorb a few thousand rupees a month plus 2% per order. The speed to launch is real and worth paying for.
Choose WooCommerce
You are comfortable with WordPress, your volume makes the fees hurt, or you want full control of the site and its SEO. Budget your own time as a real cost.
Start Shopify, move later
Perfectly reasonable. Validate the business on Shopify, migrate to WooCommerce once fees outgrow convenience. Plenty of stores follow this path.
Neither yet
If you have not made a sale anywhere, sell on a marketplace or social first. A store is a distribution problem, not a platform problem.
FAQ — Shopify vs WooCommerce in India
Is Shopify or WooCommerce cheaper in India?
WooCommerce, substantially, if you are willing to manage a WordPress site. WooCommerce itself is free and needs only hosting — from a few hundred rupees a month. Shopify Basic is ₹1,994/month billed monthly or ₹1,499 billed annually, before the transaction fee, apps and GST. For a small store the realistic gap is tens of thousands of rupees a year.
Why does Shopify cost more in India specifically?
Because Shopify Payments is not available to Indian merchants. Everyone here uses a third-party payment gateway, which means Shopify's own transaction fee applies on top of whatever the gateway charges. On the Basic plan that is an extra 2% of every order — a cost sellers in supported countries simply do not pay.
What does a Shopify store really cost per month in India?
The subscription is only the start. Add the transaction fee, the payment gateway's own charge, GST, paid apps and often a paid theme, and a working Basic store commonly lands somewhere between ₹6,000 and ₹15,000 a month depending on order volume and how many apps you install.
Is WooCommerce really free?
The plugin is genuinely free and open source. The costs are elsewhere: hosting, a domain, an SSL certificate (usually free now), possibly a premium theme, and paid extensions for things like advanced shipping or subscriptions. Your time is the largest hidden cost — updates, security and backups are yours to manage.
Which is better for a beginner?
Shopify, without much doubt. You can have a working store the same day with no technical knowledge, and hosting, security and updates are not your problem. WooCommerce asks you to understand WordPress first. The question is whether that convenience is worth several thousand rupees a month once you know your order volume.
Can I move from Shopify to WooCommerce later?
Yes, and plenty of sellers do once subscription plus transaction fees start outweighing the convenience. Products, customers and orders can be exported and imported. It is a real project, not a click — budget a weekend and expect to rebuild the theme rather than port it.
Does WooCommerce need special hosting?
It needs hosting that can handle a database-driven site under load, which entry-level shared hosting can do for a small catalogue. As orders grow, move up to a plan with more RAM and NVMe storage — a busy WooCommerce store is far heavier than a blog on the same platform.
Which is better for SEO?
WooCommerce, marginally, because you control the whole site structure, URLs and technical setup, and you get WordPress's SEO plugin ecosystem. Shopify's SEO is competent but more constrained — URL structures are partly fixed. For most stores this difference matters far less than product pages and content quality.
Related reading
- Shopify review for Indian sellers — the platform in detail.
- Cloud hosting for stores — when shared hosting stops coping.
- Building an ecommerce site with React — the custom-build route.