WooCommerce vs Shopify: Which Suits a Cumbrian Business?

If you make or sell something in Cumbria, whether that is Herdwick wool, small-batch gin, local honey or outdoor kit, sooner or later you will want to sell it online. The two names that come up most often are WooCommerce and Shopify. Both are good. Both power huge numbers of shops. The right choice depends on how you work, what you sell and how much control you want. Here is a plain-English comparison with prices checked as of November 2026.

The short version

• Shopify is a hosted, all-in-one service. You pay a monthly fee and Shopify handles the hosting, security and updates. Quick to start, less flexible, and the costs grow with your sales.
• WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns a WordPress website into a shop. You (or your developer) choose the hosting and look after it. More flexible, you own everything, but it needs maintenance.

What Shopify costs

As of November 2026, Shopify’s UK pricing page lists three main plans:

• Basic: £25 a month paid monthly, or £19 a month paid yearly.
• Grow: £65 a month paid monthly, or £49 a month paid yearly.
• Advanced: £344 a month paid monthly, or £259 a month paid yearly.

On top of that come card fees. With Shopify Payments, online card rates are 2% + 25p on Basic, 1.7% + 25p on Grow and 1.5% + 25p on Advanced. If you use a different payment provider, Shopify adds its own transaction fee of 2%, 1% or 0.6% depending on the plan. Many shops also pay for apps, from reviews to subscriptions, and those monthly charges add up.

What WooCommerce costs

WooCommerce itself is free to download. The real costs are:

• Hosting, which should be good quality UK hosting for a shop.
• Payment processing through WooPayments, Stripe or PayPal, each charging a percentage plus a small fixed fee per transaction. Check each provider’s current UK rates; there is no extra platform fee from WooCommerce on top.
• Extensions for things like subscriptions or bookings, some free and some paid yearly.
• Maintenance: updates, backups and security monitoring. Ours starts at £25 a month plus VAT.

For a small shop the running costs of the two are often similar. The difference shows as you grow: Shopify’s percentage-based charges rise with turnover, while WooCommerce costs stay closer to flat.

Where Shopify wins

• Speed to launch. You can have a basic shop running in a weekend.
• Less to look after. No plugin updates, no server to worry about.
• Point of sale. If you trade at Keswick or Kendal markets, or run a shop with a till, Shopify’s POS links in-person and online stock neatly.
• Predictable support. One company is responsible when something breaks.

Where WooCommerce wins

• You own it. Your products, customers and order history live on your website, not on a platform you rent.
• Flexibility. Unusual products, custom bundles, bookings, deposits and trade pricing can all be built in. Our Sultan Delights case study shows a bespoke build-your-own-box feature feeding straight into a WooCommerce checkout.
• Content and SEO. WordPress is a strong platform for blogs, guides and local pages, which helps people find you on Google.
• Bookings as well as products. Holiday lets, walking tours and event tickets sit happily alongside physical goods. See how Way Out West Mountain Adventures sells guided walks and gift vouchers through WooCommerce.

Questions to ask yourself

How unusual is what you sell?

Standard products with sizes and colours suit either. Made-to-order items, hampers you build from options, or anything combining products with dates and availability usually point to WooCommerce.

Who will look after it?

If nobody will keep an eye on updates and backups, Shopify’s hands-off approach is safer, or choose WooCommerce with a maintenance plan so someone else does it.

Do you already have a WordPress website?

Adding WooCommerce to an existing, healthy WordPress site is usually cheaper than starting again on another platform.

How much will you sell?

Work out what each option costs at your expected turnover, not just today’s. A few hundred pounds a month in sales looks very different from a few thousand.

Things Cumbrian sellers should think about

• Delivery. Set shipping rules carefully for heavy or fragile goods, and offer local collection or delivery if you have a shop or farm gate.
• Seasonality. Many Lakes businesses are busiest from Easter to October. Online sales can smooth the winter, especially around Christmas.
• Food and drink. If you sell food, make sure allergen information is clear on every product page, as you would on a label.
• Mobile shoppers. Many visitors browse on phones with weak signal, so a fast, simple checkout matters.

Our honest view

We build mostly on WordPress and WooCommerce because it gives our clients ownership, flexibility and strong search performance, and because we can build custom features when an off-the-shelf app does not fit. But we will tell you if Shopify suits you better. For a straightforward shop with a market stall and no one to manage updates, it often does.

Our web design packages start at £2,500 plus VAT, and our SEO service helps your products get found once you are live. For a recent food ordering example, see our takeaway ordering apps in Carlisle.

We work with retailers and producers right across the county; see web design in Carlisle, web design in Penrith and web design in Kendal.

Talk it through

Not sure which way to go? Call Technophobia Ltd in Millom on 01229 774591, email hello@technophobia.uk or send us a message. We will look at what you sell and give you a straight answer.