We’ve been running Multidots, our WooCommerce development agency for 15+ years. During this time, we’ve worked on web design and development projects for numerous clients across various industries.

Through our extensive first-hand experience and countless discussions with other businesses, we’ve gained a deep understanding of what companies seek when hiring website design and development partners. We’ve also learned what leads to disappointment in less successful partnerships and what positive outcomes look like in thriving engagements.

So, to help you choose the best partner for your next WooCommerce website development project, we’re outlining our key insights regarding critical factors you should consider.

Finally, because many companies prefer to compare multiple agencies, we’ll provide a list of first-rate WooCommerce development agencies that have consistently come up in our discussions over the years (ours included).

Let’s get started.

What to Look For In a WooCommerce Development Agency

These are the most important criteria to consider when vetting whether or not a WooCommerce web development agency is the right-fit partner for your next project.

Capabilities

An online store that processes ten orders daily will need a different tech stack from one that processes ten orders per minute — even if both are built with WooCommerce. Not to mention, how your business functions under the hood (think: from an Admin and Operations standpoint) will determine how your store should be set up.

The best WooCommerce agencies have deep expertise in the following.

• Custom Development. Beyond basic setup and plugin installations, they should be comfortable writing custom code for advanced product configurations, dynamic pricing, and customizing your store’s checkout flow.
• Performance Optimization. Pick an agency that is well-versed in database optimization, caching, reducing query load, and optimizing images without breaking your site’s dynamic functions.
• Accessibility. Your site should work properly for everyone, including customers who rely on screen readers, keyboard navigation, and other assistive technologies without sacrificing design or performance. While building your store, your chosen agency should employ Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) — think: semantic HTML, proper heading structures, descriptive alt text, contrast ratios, etc. — to build a compliant, usable, and conversion-optimized eCommerce store.
• SEO. Make sure your agency sets up your store to succeed on SERPs from both technical and on-page SEO standpoints. This includes structuring your website, categories, product URLs, internal links, etc., to be easily crawlable for search engines, and easy to navigate and understand for site visitors.
• Scalability. Enterprise-grade WooCommerce stores typically get thousands of concurrent visitors, and as such, need scalable hosting solutions like AWS, Kinsta, or Cloudways. Your agency should have experience setting up and managing high-traffic stores and balancing site load.
• Security and Compliance. Make sure your chosen agency is PCI-DSS compliant and enforces hardened security practices — think: firewall implementation, regular vulnerability scans, two-factor authentication, rate-limiting for brute-force protection, automated security monitoring, etc.
• API and Third-Party Integrations. If you plan to scale your store, you’ll want to choose an agency capable of building REST API or GraphQL connections and properly syncing WooCommerce to ERPs, CRMs, payment gateways, and marketing automation tools.

Completed Projects

Reviewing previous projects gives you heaps of insights into the WooCommerce web development agency’s capabilities, experience, and approach. Here’s what to look for when evaluating their portfolio:

• Experience working on high-traffic stores with hundreds or thousands of SKUs, custom pricing structures, advanced product configurations, and checkout flows that reduced shopping cart abandonment rates.
• Custom-built solutions for complex discounting, shipping, tax rules, and integrations with ERP, CRM, POS platforms, and other third-party systems.
• Successful migrations from another platform (like Magento, Shopify, or BigCommerce) to WooCommerce without major downtime or disruptions to customer experience and organic search rankings.

Pro Tip: Scan their website for testimonials, detailed case studies, and references from past and current clients (ideally those with long-term retainer relationships of 2+ years) that cite measurable improvements due to their partnership. Think: page load speed improvements, conversion rate increases, cart abandonment reductions, or revenue growth.

Pricing

Price is a key factor — but it shouldn’t be the highest priority. The cheapest WooCommerce web development agencies might appear to provide more bang for your buck, however, they often create solutions that result in a ton of technical debt down the line. At the same time, the most expensive ones may not provide the highest return on investment (ROI).

Beyond pure numbers, here’s what to consider when evaluating price quotes for your project.

• A transparent view of the WooCommerce development agency’s pricing model outlining how they charge — hourly, project-based, or retainer-based.
• What’s included in their core offering.
• How they handle revisions, change requests, and unexpected scope changes.
• Whether there are additional costs for revisions or post-launch support.
• An estimate of long-term costs for the proposed WooCommerce setup. Think: Hosting and infrastructure costs, plugin and software license fees, ongoing development for updates, security patches, feature improvements, etc.

Communication

There’s much more to WooCommerce web development than technical configurations and writing code. Your chosen agency should provide a detailed roadmap before each development project commences. The roadmap should outline estimated timelines with key milestones, defined deliverables for each phase, and a clear explanation of responsibilities on both sides.

Once your project has started, they should assign a direct point of contact who:

• Discusses technical details and responds to questions without overwhelming you with jargon.
• Shares weekly or fortnightly progress reports that review progress made, address blockers, and detail refined features based on feedback from your stakeholders.
• Demoes sessions at key development milestones.

Development strategy and planning

When building enterprise-level websites, there’s a ton of work to be done before coding begins. After the initial kickoff call, your chosen agency should schedule a discovery session to clarify your goals, review your current pain points, and make sure you’re on the same page about your site’s key functionality. This makes sure they understand your business model, customer journey, and tech stack before writing the first line of code. 

The next step is for them to put together a well-thought-out plan that spells out technical specs (such as how they plan to handle performance, scalability, third-party integrations, custom features, and so on), user flow diagrams, and feature maps for your site. 

This development roadmap should also detail the entire project timeline broken into shorter sprints or milestones so you can measure progress in real time.

Support

Bug fixes, updates, and performance optimizations are part of the inner workings of running an online store. Ask about the WooCommerce web development agency’s response times and SLAs during emergencies. You want to make sure that they offer quick support for revenue-impacting issues like downtime or checkout failures.

Top-notch WooCommerce agencies should:

• Offer guaranteed response times for business-critical issues.
• Provide emergency support beyond regular business hours.
• Have a structured ticketing or escalation process to resolve urgent problems quickly.
• Conduct regular performance audits and provide proactive, long-term support to keep your site fast, secure, and up-to-date always.

12 Best WooCommerce Development Agencies

Here are the top WooCommerce web development agencies at a glance. To help you find the best one that matches your specific business needs, we’ve included agencies from all over the world.

Read on for a detailed overview of each, including their headquarters and notable clients. Where possible, we’ve also included average ratings on Clutch (a prominent third-party review site).

Note: The information shared below is accurate as of April 2025.

1. Multidots
2. Harrison Carloss
3. Thrive Digital
4. Syde
5. Buro Staal
6. Shinobiashi INC
7. Kanuka Digital
8. Inspry
9. The Digital Maze
10. Simplix Innovations
11. IT Monks Agency
12. Digicube AG

1. Multidots

Multidots Home Page

Headquartered In: Austin, Texas, USA.
Recognizable Clients: Syufy, Tropicana (PepsiCo Venture), Association of American Publishers, Ask Media, Dubai Future Foundation, NewsCorp.
Clutch Rating: 4.9 out of 5, based on 33 reviews.

No two eCommerce businesses operate precisely the same. So it stands to reason that you’d want to customize your store to suit your business model, industry, and niche in line with customers’ shopping behavior.

That’s where Multidots (that’s us!) comes in.

We’re an Inc. 5000 company, WordPress VIP partner, and certified WooCommerce experts. Since our inception in 2009, we’ve worked with thousands of small, mid-size, and enterprise-level businesses to bring their eCommerce vision to life.

We offer various WooCommerce-focused services, including:

• Ecommerce replatforming from other Shopify, Magento, and other platforms to WooCommerce while maintaining data integrity and improving site performance.
• Custom, enterprise-grade solutions for stores with high traffic and turnover.
• Integrating WooCommerce with third-party CRMs, ERPs, marketing, and analytics platforms to boost business operations.
• Revamping existing WooCommerce stores to enhance the user interface and optimize site performance for an improved shopping experience.
• Optimizing WooCommerce to boost conversion rates and revenue while keeping user experience intact.
• Workflow improvements using automation to eliminate repetitive tasks, reduce manual work, and simplify operations.

Check out our portfolio to view some of the projects we’ve worked on or fill out this form to get in touch with us about your next project.

2. Harrison Carloss

Harrison Carloss Home Page

Headquartered In: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, United Kingdom.
Recognizable Clients: UCFB, YMCA England & Wales, 9024 Media, Angel Remy, Hausnous, Parogon pubs.
Clutch Rating: 5 out of 5, based on 1 review.

Originally founded as a strategic and creative advertising agency in 1972, Harrison Carloss branched into web design and development in 2019. Since then, they’ve developed deep expertise in crafting responsive and user-friendly eCommerce websites.

As a full-service WooCommerce development agency, they offer end-to-end WooCommerce development, including bespoke designs, UI/UX, eCommerce hosting, responsive development, API integrations with third-party systems, and more.

Staying true to their roots in marketing, Harrison Carloss continues to offer content strategy and development, paid ads, search engine optimization (SEO), and other digital marketing services to help boost your business’ revenue.

3. Thrive Digital

Thrive Digital Home Page

Headquartered In: Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast, Australia.
Recognizable Clients: Gold Coast Cookies, Byron Bay Coffee, Arabella & Rose, Wood Pay, Picture Polish, Karen Wills Holmes.
Clutch Rating: Not available.

Long-time WooCommerce users are likely familiar with Thrive Digital. Their team of Platinum Certified WooCommerce Experts creates custom WordPress and WooCommerce websites for clients in different industries. 

Since they first opened their doors in 2006, they’ve built small, mid, and large-scale WooCommerce stores across various niches including dentistry, bridal, beauty, sports, tourism, and more.

In addition to developing solutions for WooCommerce, Thrive Digital offers ancillary services like graphic design, logo and branding, SEO, email marketing, and more.

4. Syde

Syde Home Page

Headquartered In: Damme, Lower Saxony, Germany.
Recognizable Clients: Vectorcam, ANOUK Fashion, Azezana, CCV Group, Smashing Magazine.
Clutch Rating: 4.5 out of 5, based on 2 reviews.

Formerly known as Inpsyde, Syde bills itself as Europe’s largest WordPress agency. They are an official WordPress VIP Gold Agency Partner and Platinum Certified WooExperts known for providing enterprise-level WordPress and WooCommerce solutions.

Since 2006, Syde has successfully delivered numerous sophisticated projects deepening their extensive experience and creating a stellar track record. This WooCommerce development agency offers a comprehensive range of services, including:

• Developing robust WooCommerce websites with custom functionalities and seamless integrations.​
• Custom-building plugins to extend website capabilities.​
• Providing strategic guidance to adapt digital solutions to business objectives.​
• Creating multisite systems that cater to different languages and regional requirements.​
• Website maintenance and support to ensure ongoing website performance, security, and updates.​

5. Buro Staal

Buro Staal Home Page

Headquartered In: De Lier, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.
Recognizable Clients: Sneeuwbal Strategie, Van der Ende Group, MrWork, Westland Accountancy, Dutch Travel Shop.
Clutch Rating: Not available.

Buro Staal specializes in building, maintaining, and optimizing WordPress websites and WooCommerce webshops for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Their mission is to help small businesses grow and become profitable through simple yet effective web solutions. As such, they apply growth-hacking techniques and conversion optimization strategies to each project they take on. ​

The Buro Staal team offers a range of services, including web design and development, content creation and strategy, search engine optimization (SEO), UI/UX design, integrating multilingual solutions, and website maintenance. 

6. Shinobiashi INC

Shinobiashi INC Home Page.

Headquartered In: Akashi, Hyogo, Japan.
Recognizable Clients: Prime Strategy Co., Ltd.
Clutch Rating: Not available.

Led by Shohei Tanaka, Japan’s leading WooCommerce developer, Shinobiashi INC. was the first Japanese agency to achieve the status of Silver Certified WooExperts. Their service offerings encompass WooCommerce website design, back-end development, and digital marketing.

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• 15 Key Optimization Areas: Optimize performance with ad optimization, database tweaks, media optimization, and more.
• 45+ Actionable Strategies: Each strategy comes with links to plugins, tools, and resources for easy implementation.
• Impact Scores for Prioritization: Each tip is rated from 1 to 10 to help you prioritize high-impact optimizations.

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7. Kanuka Digital

Kanuka Digital Home Page

Headquartered In: Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom.
Recognizable Clients: Pigneys, Buy4Pets Online, Bacofoil, Willows Veterinary Group.
Clutch Rating: Not available.

Kanuka Digital creates high-performing enterprise-grade websites that drive conversions and enhance user experience for B2B and B2C eCommerce companies.

They are experts at custom theme development, custom API and third-party integration, and performance optimization. In addition, they offer ongoing support plans to make sure your store remains secure and up-to-date after your digital transformation project is completed.

8. Inspry

Inspry Home Page

Headquartered In: Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
Recognizable Clients: Gama Sonic Solar Lighting, Legacy Media, QuickBooks Made Easy.
Clutch Rating: 4.8 out of 5, based on 3 reviews.

Inspry is a mid-sized WooCommerce development agency with strong technical chops. Since their launch in 2011, they’ve focused on building bespoke WordPress and WooCommerce solutions.

In addition to their flagship website development service, they also conduct site audits to pinpoint key issues and provide actionable recommendations in line with your business goals, and website maintenance plans to keep your site secure and up-to-the-minute.

9. The Digital Maze

The Digital Maze Home Page

Headquartered In: Derby, Derbyshire, United Kingdom.
Recognizable Clients: Bens Cookies, Imperial College London, Appliance City.
Clutch Rating: Not available.

Another top-tier WooCommerce development agency, The Digital Maze earned its spot on this list for offering robust eCommerce-focused solutions. They provide a rich mix of digital strategies including WooCommerce website design, development, paid search, and SEO.

Over the years, The Digital Maze has worked with businesses of all sizes, from startups to established brands, to create scalable, high-performing, conversion-optimized online stores.

10. Simplix Innovations

Simplix Innovations Home Page

Headquartered In: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Recognizable Clients: CMRC​, RCOG, SwiftAssess, TTD
Clutch Rating: Not available.

Simplix Innovations is a digital web design and development agency that specializes in both WooCommerce and Shopify. They offer a range of eCommerce-focused services, including custom WooCommerce and Shopify website development, multilingual eCommerce solutions that cater to diverse audiences, and seamless migration between eCommerce platforms.

Beyond eCommerce, their expertise encompasses WooCommerce-optimized hosting, custom website design, responsive development, UI/UX design, SEO services, and additional web solutions such as content translation and website management.

11. IT Monks Agency

IT Monks Agency Home Page

Headquartered In: New York, NY, USA
Recognizable Clients: Ruuvi, Storia Technologies, Parkalot.io, Lease Butler, MTArt Agency​.
Clutch Rating: 5.0 out of 5, based on 20 reviews

With +15 years of experience and an impressive portfolio of more than 500 projects, IT Monks Agency has established itself as a distinguished development firm that specializes in custom WordPress and WooCommerce solutions.

This WooCommerce development agency offers a wide range of services including:

• Custom development for bespoke, responsive WooCommerce themes.
• Custom plugin development to simplify operations and boost revenue.
• Intuitive and engaging designs that improve customer satisfaction.
• Ongoing website maintenance services, such as regular updates, security monitoring, and performance optimization.

12. Digicube AG

Digicube AG Home Page

Headquartered In: Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and North Macedonia.
Recognizable Clients: The independent Swiss breweries, Lichtenstein National Hospital, Lichtenstein Post.
Clutch Rating: N/A.

Digicube AG offers WooCommerce development together with a range of digital marketing services that enhance business performance. ​Their core eCommerce-focused service is to provide expert guidance to optimize online store operations and growth. They also build responsive, user-friendly eCommerce websites and keep websites secure, up-to-date, and functionally robust.

The team at Digicube AG also develops content strategies, runs paid ad campaigns to drive traffic and conversions, and implements SEO tactics to enhance organic search rankings.

Which WooCommerce Development Agency Should You Choose?

In this post, we’ve looked at the best agencies for WooCommerce development.

Each agency on this list has been around for a while, earning solid reputations and positive word of mouth. Feel free to thoroughly research each and pick the best fit for your needs.

Multidots is our agency. We’ve been working with WordPress and WooCommerce since 2009, and over the years, have successfully completed thousands of projects. We think we’re the best at what we do and as such, we’re the only agency we can recommend with full confidence.

To recap, at Multidots, we provide a wide variety of WooCommerce-focused services, including:

• Creating user-friendly, conversion-optimized WooCommerce websites from scratch for small, mid-size, and enterprise-grade companies.
• Migrating websites from Shopify, Magento, and other eCommerce platforms to WooCommerce.
• Upgrading existing WooCommerce stores to enhance the user interface and optimize site performance for an improved shopping experience.
• Developing custom solutions to simplify business operations, boost revenue, and improve user experience.  
• Syncing WooCommerce with third-party platforms like CRMs, ERPs, marketing, analytics, etc.
• Automating manual tasks to improve workflow, get rid of repetitive tasks, and streamline operations.

Take a look at our portfolio to see some of our past work or fill out this form to get in touch with us about your next project.

During a call with a prospective client, they mentioned that they were trying to decide between using WooCommerce and Shopify to power their ecommerce store. They’d been running their business on Magento for years, however, it was becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to configure, customize, and maintain their website.

After much research, WooCommerce and Shopify emerged as the top two contenders capable of managing their high-turnover ecommerce store, but they still needed help to decide between them.

If you’re in a similar situation and unclear about which to use, this WooCommerce vs Shopify comparison guide is for you. Below, we’ll put each platform through its paces, so you can finally decide which is best for your ecommerce business.

A quick note: We’re Multidots, an Inc. 5,000 company of expert web developers. Since 2009, we’ve worked on thousands of small, medium, and enterprise-grade websites for Howmet Aerospace, Syufy, Ask Media Group, NAB, and others. Want our expert team to help you pick the right ecommerce platform for your online store? Fill out this form to get in touch with us.

A Brief Comparison of WooCommerce vs Shopify

Before digging in, here’s a quick rundown of how Shopify and WooCommerce compare. Continue reading for a deeper look at each consideration.

An In-Depth Comparison of WooCommerce and Shopify

Read on for a deeper dive into the top factors to consider when choosing between WooCommerce and Shopify.

Comparing WooCommerce vs Shopify: Core Features

Winner: Tie

Both WooCommerce and Shopify have everything you need for a basic ecommerce setup built into their platforms. Think: product management, inventory tracking, discounts, shipping, tax calculations, payment gateways, and more.

However, as a closed platform, Shopify does have some limitations, particularly for stores with high turnover or more complex requirements. The most notable restrictions apply to:

• Products: With WooCommerce, you can add an unlimited number of products with unlimited attributes and variations. Shopify, however, enables you to add a maximum of 100 variants per product and 3 options per product (e.g., size, color, material).
• Checkout: WooCommerce and Shopify offer a standard checkout flow that you can use as is or optimize to boost conversions. However, Shopify users must subscribe to their Plus plan ($2,000/month+) to unlock most checkout customizations.
• Processing payments: Shopify users who use a payment processor apart from Shopify Payments, such as PayPal, Authorize.net, etc. are charged up to 2% of the transaction fee for the privilege of using their chosen payment gateway. There is no such restriction on payment processors with WooCommerce.

Note: Both WooCommerce and Shopify enable you to use third-party software to extend your ecommerce store’s features via apps or plugins and API integrations (more on this below).

Comparing WooCommerce vs Shopify: Learning Curve

Winner: Shopify

Shopify’s admin user interface is simple and intuitive. From the moment you sign up, the onboarding experience is smoothly structured to get you selling as quickly as possible. You enter your email, pick a store name, and follow the steps in the setup wizard to add products, set up payments, and customize your storefront. 

Shopify admin panel

Plus, everything is included out of the box, including web hosting, security, automatic updates, and a fully managed site infrastructure.

WooCommerce runs on WordPress, another open-source platform. This means you’ll need to handle hosting, domain registration, and plugin installation yourself or work with a developer who can.

WooCommerce admin dashboard

WooCommerce is by no means difficult to use. But compared to Shopify, it does require a few more setup steps, knowledge of some technical terms, and ongoing maintenance. (Important note: technical terms ≠ technical skills. You don’t need to know how to code to use WooCommerce).

On average, it takes non-technical folks a few hours to get over the learning curve and start using WooCommerce like a pro. Whereas, you can launch a store with Shopify in an hour or two, even if you have no prior experience.

Keep in mind though, once you get over the initial learning curve with WooCommerce, you’ll find that it is as easy to use as Shopify.

Comparing WooCommerce vs Shopify: Extensibility

Winner: WooCommerce

As an open-sourced product, WooCommerce lets you use it however you want. To begin, there are over 60,000 extensions in WordPress’s official directory and WooCommerce’s official marketplace combined that extend payments, shipping, subscriptions, analytics, and other functions. The best part? This doesn’t even include the thousands of additional plugins available on independent developers and third-party websites.

WooCommerce Marketplace

If you need deep ERP, CRM, or PIM integrations, WooCommerce supports full API access and custom webhooks — meaning your development team can build exactly what you need with ease.

Shopify is extendable too. Its app store includes over 8,000 top-notch apps that enhance your store’s features and like WooCommerce, it also offers APIs for custom development. However, as it’s a closed system, there are some constraints.

The Shopify App Store

For example, if your store needs a completely customized checkout flow, Shopify’s checkout.liquid file is only accessible on their steeply-priced Plus plan. And even then, modifications are limited compared to WooCommerce, where you can rewrite the checkout process from the ground up.

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Comparing WooCommerce vs Shopify: Customization

Winner: WooCommerce

WooCommerce gives you total access to your store’s codebase which gives you the freedom to modify everything using PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

If you need custom product fields, complex variations, or industry-specific data structures, you can code them into WooCommerce. And you can manage and query your database, which makes large-scale product imports, migrations, and data analysis much easier.

You can even customize the admin dashboard however you like. For example, to:

• Change the admin dashboard layout and add custom menus as desired.
• Tailor user roles and permissions to define custom roles for staff, warehouse managers, and customer service teams
• Modify how orders are managed and create automated workflows for fulfillment, refunds, and invoicing.
• Generate specific reports based on your unique business needs, instead of relying on the built-in reports.

While Shopify’s admin panel is user-friendly and well-structured, it doesn’t offer the same level of customization as WooCommerce. For example, you can’t adjust predefined user roles to customize staff permissions. 

Plus, there are limited customization options for order processing. Shopify Flow (on Shopify Plus) provides some automation, but complex workflows still require third-party apps. Shopify’s platform is closed-source. While you can modify theme files using Liquid (their templating language), you are however prevented from modifying the platform’s core functionality.

Enterprise-grade stores typically require custom workflows, advanced reporting, and deep technical modifications, which may be difficult to create with Shopify.

Comparing WooCommerce vs Shopify: Scalability

Winner: Tie

Even though you can migrate your store from one platform to another at any time, it’s great to not have to. You need a platform capable of scaling your business, not one that adds constraints as you grow.

The good news is that WooCommerce and Shopify are equally scalable and can accommodate increased traffic and complex product catalogs without breaking down. However, both platforms handle this in different ways.

Shopify is a fully managed platform. It operates using a cloud-based infrastructure which means you don’t have to worry about dealing with hosting limitations and handles performance well, even for stores with a huge turnover. Keep in mind that as your store scales, you’ll probably need to upgrade to Shopify Plus to properly handle traffic spikes and obtain access to other enterprise-level features.

WooCommerce, being self-hosted gives you total control over your site’s hosting infrastructure so you can start with a (relatively) little server capacity and over time, increase it, optimize your database, or integrate custom solutions. The benefit of this is that it can help control costs as you only upgrade your server infrastructure when needed.

Comparing WooCommerce vs Shopify: SEO

Winner: WooCommerce

Traffic from search engines is said to be free because it drives results beyond the initial investment. This is an important factor to consider because reducing expenses helps build a sustainable business.

WooCommerce operates on top of WordPress, the most SEO-friendly CMS in the world, which gives it an edge over Shopify.

For instance, it gives you fine-grained control over on-page SEO elements so you can optimize titles, meta descriptions, URLs, and headings for every product, category, and page. You can modify your site’s structure to add custom code and schema markup to product pages or tweak the HTML to make sure it’s fully optimized for search engines.

A (perhaps non-obvious) SEO advantage of WooCommerce has to do with site speed. Speed is a ranking factor in SEO, and WooCommerce enables you to install caching plugins, content delivery networks (CDNs), and other speed-enhancing tools.

Shopify comes with some built-in SEO tools — think: customizable title tags, meta descriptions, and URL slugs. It automatically generates XML sitemaps, which is crucial for search engine crawlers. However, it doesn’t match the same level of customization as WooCommerce. 

You can’t, for instance, modify your site’s code as freely as you can with WooCommerce or fully control your site’s schema markup without third-party apps or custom Liquid code. This puts a ceiling on the extent to which you can fine-tune SEO elements like structured data, redirects, or certain URL structures.

That said, Shopify’s in-built CDN is super fast, its infrastructure is reliable, and it is optimized enough out of the box to work well enough with minimal setup, especially for small-to-medium catalogs.

Important note: To fully realize the benefits of SEO on either platform, you’ll need to use plugins or apps like Yoast (WooCommerce and Shopify), RankMath (WooCommerce), StoreSEO (Shopify), SEO King (Shopify), etc.

Comparing WooCommerce vs Shopify: Security

Winner: Shopify

Ecommerce stores handle troves of customer and payment data — names, physical addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, payment details, etc. Safeguarding all this data isn’t optional; data breaches, compliance failures, and downtime can cost millions in lost revenue, and result in legal penalties and a damaged reputation.

When managed properly, WooCommerce and Shopify have proven to be equally safe. However, each platform’s approach to security differs.

With WooCommerce, your site’s security is squarely in your hands. It is self-hosted, meaning that you must proactively enforce procedures to keep your store safe, such as:

• Choosing a secure hosting provider with firewalls, DDoS protection, and automatic backups.
• Keeping WordPress, WooCommerce, and plugins updated to patch vulnerabilities.
• Setting up SSL certificates, two-factor authentication (2FA), secure payment gateways, custom firewall rules, configuring server-side malware scanning and intrusion detection, etc.

Shopify is a closed, fully hosted platform, which means Shopify handles security patches, plugin vulnerabilities, or server configurations. As a PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant platform, Shopify offers several security features out of the box, including:

• Server-side security management, including DDoS protection, real-time threat monitoring, and auto-updates.
• Automatic SSL certificates for all stores.
• Built-in fraud analysis to detect suspicious orders.

On the surface, Shopify’s approach seems to be more ideal. But when you dig deeper, you’ll see that it isn’t without its limitations. For instance, you have no control over security policies, so if Shopify experiences downtime or a security breach, you’re at their mercy (note that this is extremely rare).

Also, you have restricted access to logs and security settings, so unlike WooCommerce, you can’t implement custom firewall rules, malware scanning, or database encryption. Not to mention, third-party apps can introduce serious security vulnerabilities if they’re not well-maintained.

Whichever platform you choose, one thing is clear: if you don’t manage security properly, your store can be vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Cost of Ownership

Winner: WooCommerce

Depending on your chosen plan, Shopify may be cheaper to launch an online store, however, costs can quickly add up. WooCommerce tends to be more cost-effective over the long run. Here’s how the math works out for both platforms.

Shopify operates using a monthly subscription model which includes website hosting, security, and core features:

• Monthly subscription — There are 4 plans to pick from: Basic at $39 per month, Shopify at $105 per month, Advanced at $399 per month, and Plus for enterprises which starts at $2,000 per month. Important note: The ability to customize your store’s checkout flow is only available to users who upgrade to Shopify Plus. This constraint is important to consider when deciding on a plan.
• Third-Party Apps — Extensions add advanced features like B2B pricing, subscriptions, advanced discounts, etc. range from $10 to $300 per month each.
• Transaction Fees — Stores that don’t use Shopify Payments pay 0.6% to 2% per transaction in addition to their chosen payment providers’ fees. To put this in context: If your business processes $10M+ per year, transaction fees alone can cost upwards of $50,000 per year if you’re not using Shopify Payments. This can add up quickly and dent your profits.

WooCommerce’s software is free to use but you’ll need to shell out for web hosting, premium extensions, and custom development. However, even with the add-on costs, WooCommerce is usually cheaper than Shopify, even for high turnover stores.

Here’s an overview of how much you can expect to spend:

• Web Hosting — Managed WooCommerce hosting from top-notch providers like Kinsta, WP Engine, and Cloudways costs around $30 to $500+ per month, depending on traffic and server resources.
• Premium Plugins — Extensions that add advanced features like subscriptions, custom checkout, B2B pricing, etc. cost $50 to $300 per year each.
• Development and Maintenance — Depending on the complexity, custom development costs can range from a few thousand to tens of thousands per year.

Important note: Unlike Shopify, WooCommerce doesn’t penalize or charge you extra for using payment gateways of your choosing. You’ll only pay the standard processing fee charged by the gateway itself.

Comparing WooCommerce vs Shopify: Support Options

Winner: Shopify

With Shopify, you get round-the-clock support via live chat, phone, and email directly from their in-house team. This covers platform-related issues like checkout errors, dashboard problems, or payment processing. 

Shopify’s Help Center

Furthermore, enterprise users are enrolled in Shopify Plus’ Merchant Success Program with assigned dedicated account managers to assist with strategy.

As expected, you’ll have to reach out to the respective third-party app and theme developers directly to resolve issues caused by their software. Also, if you run into issues with custom Liquid code, third-party integrations, or advanced API work, you’ll need to hire dedicated Shopify developers to fix them.

WooCommerce takes a different approach than Shopify when it comes to support. The platform is open-source so there’s no single point of contact. There is, however, a massive community that provides free support via forums. You can browse through relevant threads or create a fresh thread with your questions.

WooCommerce community forum sign-up page

In addition, WooCommerce’s official documentation contains step-by-step instructions to guide you through the process of troubleshooting common errors. Web hosts provide support for server-related issues as needed. And you can easily hire a top-notch WooCommerce development agency to provide specialized, priority support on an ongoing basis.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Multi-Sites

Winner: WooCommerce

If you plan to expand your ecommerce business to different regions, create multiple brands, or separate B2B and B2C sections, WooCommerce is the better choice. It lets you set up a network of multi-sites to manage multiple stores from a single WordPress installation.

Each store can have its own domain, currency, pricing, product catalog, and design whilst sharing resources like plugins and themes with the rest of the multisite network. For example, if a global brand can have:

• us.example.com for U.S. customers.
• uk.example.com for the U.K.
• eu.example.com for the EU market.

This cuts down the costs and administrative overhead needed as everything is managed via a single WordPress dashboard.

Shopify, on the other hand, doesn’t provide true multi-site functionality with central control. With Shopify, each store functions as a separate installation, with its own domain, settings, inventory management, and apps. 

If you need multiple Shopify stores, you’ll have to manage them individually, which means separate logins and admin dashboards, duplicated settings, apps, and theme customizations — billed individually.

Note: Shopify’s Expansion Stores solution allows up to 9 additional stores for different markets or brands. However, this is locked behind Shopify Plus, which starts at $2,000 per month. And you’ll still need third-party apps or custom API integrations to sync products and data across stores.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Checkout Experience

Winner: WooCommerce

All the features under the hood don’t matter if they don’t translate to successful sales. The checkout process is the last stage in the customer conversion process, so it’s important to make it as frictionless as possible.

Shopify’s checkout is mobile-friendly by default and integrates seamlessly with Shopify Payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Shop Pay. However, the customization options on Shopify’s standard plans are heavily restricted. You must opt for their Plus plan to modify the checkout layout, add custom fields, tweak button placement, change form flow, or add a custom upsell step, and enable one-page checkout.

WooCommerce doesn’t impose such restrictions. No matter the size of your store, you can use the built-in settings and plugins to control the entire checkout flow as needed — change page layouts, customize form fields to add upsells, order bumps, dynamic pricing rules, and much more.

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Which Is Better For Your Online Store?

WooCommerce and Shopify are both solid ecommerce platforms. They are performant, beginner-friendly, and empower you to create top-tier user experiences for your customers.

If you’re looking for a complete plug-and-play solution, are fine working within defined restrictions, or don’t mind the high price tag, Shopify might be the right choice for your online store.

While WooCommerce may cost a bit more upfront, we recommend it for most businesses because it is more flexible, enables more customization options, and over the long run, has a lower cost of ownership than Shopify.

Since 2009, we’ve worked on thousands of small, medium, and enterprise-level websites. Want our expert web development team to help you pick the right ecommerce platform for your online store? Fill out this form to get in touch with us.

FAQs

Since 2009, we’ve helped move thousands of websites to WordPress and WooCommerce. In this in-depth guide, we’ll explore why Shopify may not be the right fit for your ecommerce business, and discuss how to migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce.

Shopify is an excellent ecommerce platform: it’s performant, easy to use, and can offer a stellar shopping experience for customers. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best platform for your business.

Case in point: A recent client launched their ecommerce store on Shopify in late 2020. As a non-technical founder, they found setting up and managing an online store from a simple-to-use dashboard with virtually zero training and a brief learning curve thrilling.

And this was a great choice initially. However, as their business started expanding to new regions, they increasingly felt that Shopify was no longer the right fit.

To take their business to new levels of growth, they needed a platform capable of scaling without an exorbitant price tag.

Enter: WooCommerce.

No matter your reason for wanting to migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce, this guide is for you. Here, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about switching from Shopify to WooCommerce.

A quick note: We’re Multidots, an Inc. 5,000 company, WordPress VIP Gold Partner, and WooCommerce experts. Since 2009, we’ve worked on thousands of small, medium, and enterprise-level WordPress and WooCommerce websites. Past and current clients include Howmet Aerospace, Ask Media Group, NAB, and others. Fill out this form to get in touch about our Migration from Shopify to WooCommerce service. Then read on, for full details.

First things first, let’s explore the top reasons businesses migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce.

Why Use WooCommerce Instead of Shopify?

WooCommerce.com’s home page

Shopify and WooCommerce are the two biggest ecommerce platforms in the world. It stands to reason that both are performant, packed with a solid feature set, and relatively cost-effective. So, how to decide between them?

Based on our firsthand experience developing and managing tons of high-traffic websites on both platforms, here are the top reasons businesses choose to migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce.

WooCommerce Is More Flexible and Customizable

WooCommerce’s platform is open-source. This means you get full access to your store’s codebase so you can modify anything with ease — themes, product detail pages, product collections, checkout flow, integrations, performance, and more.

Shopify, in contrast, is a closed-source platform, meaning that you don’t get total access to your store’s codebase. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it does limit you to access and customize your Shopify store within the framework they provide. Customizing checkout, for example, requires subscribing to Shopify Plus, and even then, your control is relatively restricted.

No Transaction Fees On Third-Party Payments

Shopify takes a cut if you don’t use Shopify Payments, their in-built payment processor. That’s up to 2% per transaction — on top of your chosen payment processor’s fees. Considering that Shopify Payments isn’t even available in some countries, this is less than ideal.

With WooCommerce, you’re free to use any payment gateway without extra charges. Whether you prefer Stripe, Authorize.net, PayPal, or a smaller regional provider, you’re not penalized for choosing what’s best for your business.

If your store processes a high volume of orders per month, you’ll find that eliminating Shopify’s extra fees can save thousands of dollars monthly. That’s money you can reinvest into improving products, marketing, customer experiences, and other tactics that can significantly boost revenue.

Lower Total Cost of Ownership

On the surface, Shopify’s pricing seems straightforward and affordable. But once you factor in:

• Monthly app fees for added features.
• Increased transaction fees if you don’t use Shopify Payments.
• Higher costs for Shopify Plus ($2,000+/month) for high-volume stores.

…you might find that WooCommerce provides a lower total cost of ownership compared to Shopify.

Advanced Content Marketing Features

Shopify is primarily built and optimized for selling, not content marketing. If content plays a key role in your customer acquisition strategy, WooCommerce, which is built on top of WordPress (the best content management system in the world), may be more ideal.

With WooCommerce, you get:

• Full WordPress blogging capabilities. Think: Custom post types, advanced formatting, and SEO-friendly structures.
• Better SEO control. Think: Optimized metadata, URL structures, and schema markup without restrictions.
• Seamless content-commerce integration. Think: The capability to embed rich, educational content that directly leads to sales without the need for advanced platform enhancements.

Support for Multi-Site Networks

If your business operates multiple ecommerce stores, you’ll appreciate WooCommerce’s multi-site feature.

For example, if you’re an enterprise retailer selling internationally, you can manage multiple localized storefronts with different designs, pricing, currencies, tax rules, and languages — all within a single WooCommerce setup. And you can sync products, inventory, and customer accounts, and share resources across multiple stores.

As the client mentioned earlier found, Shopify doesn’t include a multi-site feature. They require that you create separate accounts and separate stores for each region. You can connect up to ten accounts to the same site. However, each storefront requires individual subscriptions for the base plan and added apps. Those costs quickly add up and can dent your profit margins.

How to Migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce

There are two options to move your ecommerce store’s data from Shopify to WooCommerce:

1. Hire an agency like Multidots.
2. Manually move your store’s data yourself. 

Below, we’ll explore both routes.

Method 1: Hire WooCommerce Experts

As you might imagine, Shopify doesn’t make it super easy for you to move your store away from their platform. Product details, customer records, and order history need to be transferred carefully to maintain data integrity, but doing so isn’t a simple or intuitive endeavor.

That’s where WooCommerce experts like Multidots (Hi, that’s us!) come in.

Multidots’ homepage

We’re an Inc. 5,000 company and WordPress VIP Gold Partner, and since 2009 have worked on thousands of small, medium, and enterprise-level WordPress and WooCommerce websites. 

Our past and current client list includes Howmet Aerospace, Ask Media Group, NAB, Syufy, and others.

Working with an agency like ours who have completed multiple successful site migrations means you can rest assured your website is in great hands.

Multidots’ WooCommerce-related offerings

Here’s what to expect when you work with Multidots.

Data Migration Without Errors

Missing product attributes, customers, and order history can put a wrench in your store’s operations. We handle this with structured processes and automated validation. This includes:

• Complete migration of products, categories, and variants – No missing SKUs or broken links.
• Customer and order history transfer – Maintain purchase records, subscriptions, and loyalty data.
• SEO preservation – Redirects and metadata mapping prevent traffic loss.

Theme Recreation and Custom Development

Shopify themes are built using Liquid, a different template language. As such, they don’t transfer directly to WooCommerce. Your WooCommerce-hosted store will require a new theme and design adaptation to match your brand identity. We’ll:

• Recreate your Shopify design in WooCommerce or build a custom theme, as needed.
• Optimize your site’s user interface for mobile responsiveness and conversion-boosting user experiences (UX).
• Ensure compatibility with custom integrations and enterprise-grade features like headless commerce, as needed.

Plugin and Integration Mapping

Shopify-hosted stores use apps to extend their features while WooCommerce-hosted stores use plugins. While some Shopify apps have WooCommerce counterparts, others don’t.

To make sure your store functions as it should, we:

• Identify and replace Shopify apps with relevant WooCommerce plugins.
• Custom-build plugins and features that aren’t available off the shelf.
• Use custom code or API integrations to make sure third-party integrations (ERP, CRM, payment gateways) work flawlessly.

Performance Optimization and Security

Shopify’s platform is self-hosted. WooCommerce isn’t, which puts the responsibility of managing your site’s performance and security squarely in the hands of store admins.

While migrating your store from Shopify to WooCommerce, we’ll fine-tune your setup by:

• Configuring high-performance hosting for fast load times.
• Implementing caching, CDN, and database optimizations.
• Strengthening website security with firewalls and malware protection, and ensuring compliance with PCI-DSS standards.

Friendly, Helpful Support

We run a rigorous series of tests to spot potential issues and fix them before relaunching your store on WooCommerce. This includes:

• Order placement, payment processing validation, and the entire checkout flow.
• Stress tests to ensure the site handles traffic spikes.
• Debugs to eliminate issues before going live.

Beyond merely switching from one ecommerce platform to another, we help make sure your store runs better than before and maintains uptime and user experience after post-migration.

Want to discuss migrating your site from Shopify to WooCommerce? Fill out this form to get in touch with our team.

Method 2: Manual Migration from Shopify to WooCommerce

Unless you’re a WooCommerce expert, moving your store’s data from Shopify to WooCommerce is a long and arduous process. As such, we only recommend this in the following situations:

1. You have the technical proficiency to manage products, orders, and customer data within WooCommerce.
2. Your ecommerce store is relatively small.

Here’s a rundown of how to manually migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce.

Step 1: Pick a WooCommerce-Optimized Website Host

WooCommerce.com’s web hosting recommendations

Opt for a hosting provider whose platform can comfortably handle your ecommerce store’s traffic and transactions. Here’s what to look for in a web host:

• Optimized managed WooCommerce hosting with caching and scalability to ensure uptime during peak sales periods.
• High-performance VPS, cloud hosting, or a dedicated server.
• Built-in firewalls, malware scanning, and PCI compliance to safeguard your online store against cybersecurity threats.

Step 2: Set Up WordPress

WordPress.org download page

Most reputable hosting providers offer one-click WordPress installation. This is fine for small-volume stores, however, high-traffic stores benefit more from manual setups from a security and customization standpoint.

This means setting up a custom database to ensure performance, configuring HTTPS and SSL for secure transactions, and enabling automatic backups to prevent data loss.

Step 3: Add and Configure WooCommerce

Once WordPress is up and running, it’s time to install WooCommerce via your site’s admin panel:

• Within the admin dashboard, navigate to Plugins → Add New.
• Run a search for WooCommerce. Then install and activate the plugin.

WooCommerce plugin download page

• Complete the steps in the WooCommerce setup wizard to configure:
  • Currency and payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, or enterprise solutions like Adyen).
  • Shipping zones and tax rates for international sales.
  • Store settings including email notifications and checkout options.
• Configure all other aspects of your WooCommerce store, including permalinks, user role permissions, tax calculations, and other important settings.

Step 4: Optimize for Enterprise-Level Performance (Optional)

A standard WooCommerce installation isn’t enough for large-scale ecommerce. Once you’ve set up the basics, here’s what to do next:

• Database optimization using MariaDB or MySQL with indexing for fast queries.
• Caching and CDN using Redis, Varnish, or a CDN (Cloudflare, AWS CloudFront) for fast page loads.
• Scalability tests to ensure your WooCommerce setup can handle thousands of customers at the same time.

Step 5: Enable Maintenance Mode in Shopify

Keeping your Shopify store live during migration risks:

• Lost orders from customers who complete checkout while data is transferring.
• Inventory mismatches as products sold on Shopify won’t reflect in WooCommerce.
• SEO issues. If migration takes hours or days, Google may detect duplicate content across both platforms which can tank your store’s organic search rankings.

Shopify doesn’t have a built-in maintenance mode, but a quick workaround to achieve the same effect is to password-protect your store.

Follow these steps to put your Shopify store in maintenance mode:

• Access your Shopify admin and go to Online Store → Preferences.

Shopify admin settings page

• Locate the “Password protection” option and enable it.
• Set up a password. Feel free to add a note to inform customers about temporary downtime while you update your store, and share an estimate of when your store will be back online.
• Press Save to activate the maintenance mode settings.

Step 6: Save Your Shopify Data

Shopify houses various types of data in different sections of the admin panel which you can download. Here’s what to export (in CSV format):

• Products – Titles, descriptions, images, prices, SKUs, inventory, categories, etc. Shopify’s export file doesn’t support some complex product variations, so be sure to triple-check the data before downloading.
• Customers – Names, email addresses, phone numbers, shipping addresses, and order histories. For security reasons, Shopify doesn’t export passwords so you’ll need to send account reset emails advising customers to reset them post migration.
• Orders – Past transactions, including order IDs, product details, billing/shipping addresses, payment statuses, and fulfillment status. This information is needed for reporting and tracking customers’ purchase history.
• Ancillary data – Think: discount codes, gift card information, and other important information needed to properly run your store.

Follow these steps to export each type of data from Shopify:

• Access your Shopify admin, and navigate to the appropriate section that houses the data you want to export — for example, Orders, Products, or Customers.
  
• Locate the “Export” option within each section and follow the prompts to choose the data range to export.
• Pick CSV as the file format, and download the file once ready.

Step 7: Import Shopify Data Into WooCommerce

WooCommerce’s in-built settings to import data into its platform aren’t optimal. There is no direct option to upload order and customer data into WooCommerce. You can manually import product data but that’s it.

For this reason, we recommend using a Shopify-to-WooCommerce migration tool like Cart2Cart, WP All Import (paired with the WooCommerce Import Add-On), or Shopify to WooCommerce by LitExtension.

If you don’t mind letting go of customer and order data, follow these steps to manually migrate products and product data into WooCommerce:

• In your WooCommerce site’s admin panel, navigate to Products → Import.
  

WooCommerce’s admin product management page

• Upload your Shopify product CSV file.
  

WooCommerce admin product import page

• Map Shopify fields to WooCommerce fields. Note that Shopify’s CSV structure differs from WooCommerce’s so be careful to match fields like SKU, price, and stock levels correctly.
• Run the import and verify data once complete to make sure prices, images, product variants, etc. are correct.

Step 8: Customize Your WooCommerce Store’s Theme

Shopify themes are built with their proprietary coding language, Liquid. This doesn’t transfer to WooCommerce so you’ll have to choose a WooCommerce-compatible theme. Thankfully, there are heaps of themes to pick from.

WooCommerce Marketplace

For enterprise-level ecommerce, you need a theme that is:

• Fast and lightweight so that your site loads speedily.
• Fully customizable without locking you into predefined layouts.
• Compatible with page builders like Elementor, Bricks, or Gutenberg to make the customization process simpler.
• Properly optimized for ecommerce. 

Pick a theme that matches the above criteria and adapt it to your brand. Kadence, GeneratePress, Astra, Blocksy, and Flatsome are solid options.

Step 9: Test Your WooCommerce Site

Triple-check data accuracy, functionality, and performance before you complete the migration from Shopify to WooCommerce. At a minimum, you should test:

1. Product data. Make sure products, titles, images, descriptions, prices, SKUs, variations, stock levels, categories, tags, etc. are accurate.
2. Review customer accounts to make sure returning customers can log in and access their past order history.
3. Performance and speed tests using Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to check load times. You can also use WP-Optimize to remove unnecessary Shopify metadata and improve database efficiency.
4. Security. Strengthen your site’s security with SSL, reCAPTCHA, and security plugins like Wordfence or Sucuri.
5. Usability. Access the site on mobile, tablet, and desktop devices to verify that it is fully responsive across all screen sizes.
6. SEO performance. Use an SEO plugin to make sure meta titles, descriptions, and other SEO data are properly migrated, and update Google Search Console with your new sitemap to get your pages indexed quickly.
7. Checkout flow. Go through the checkout process as customers would, including:
   • Adding products to the shopping cart to make sure taxes, shipping rates, and discounts are calculated properly.
   • Testing different payment gateways and methods across various scenarios — guest checkout, logged-in users, discount codes, multiple shipping zones, currency conversion, etc.
   • Placing and refunding test orders to confirm that customers receive order confirmation emails and that refunds are processed correctly.
8. Website navigation and links. Navigate your WooCommerce store like a customer would and click through the homepage, category pages, product pages, menus, breadcrumbs, internal links, and search functionality.

Step 10: Set Up Redirects to Your New WooCommerce Site

Without proper redirects, visitors who somehow land on old Shopify URLs will see 404 errors — which hurts both customers’ experience and SEO rankings.

To set up redirects to WooCommerce:

• Map Shopify’s URL structures to WooCommerce.
• Use a redirection plugin, .htaccess, or Nginx to create 301 redirects in WordPress that tell search engines that a page has been permanently moved.
• Verify that redirects are set up properly by (1) manually checking that old Shopify URLs lead to the correct WooCommerce pages, (2) monitoring 404 errors within Google Search Console and fixing missed redirects, and (3) checking your Google Analytics account to make sure traffic is flowing correctly to your new store.

Step 11: Point Your Domain to WooCommerce

Your domain is the unique web address customers enter to access your website. The exact steps to point your domain to WooCommerce depend on your domain registrar. However, the process usually comprises:

• Signing into your domain registrar’s website. If you registered your domain through Shopify, you’ll need to access your admin, unlock it, and disable Shopify’s domain forwarding setting.
• Navigating to the Domain Management section and finding the DNS or Domain Name Servers settings.
• Locating the existing A record and CNAME record pointing to Shopify and updating the records as follows:
  • Setting the A record to point to your WooCommerce server’s IP address (provided by your web host).
  • Setting the CNAME (www) to your new web hosting provider (if needed).
• Configuring your site’s SSL certificate in the admin panel for your web host account.

That’s it. It typically takes up to 24-48 hours before the domain changes reflect. You can use a DNSChecker tool to check if the domain is correctly pointed.

Step 12: Run Post-Migration Tests

The migration from Shopify to WooCommerce isn’t complete without exhaustive testing. Even a minor issue — broken links, missing products, or checkout failures— can cost you sales.

Before you open your WooCommerce store to real customers, test everything again. This includes:

1. Website navigation and links.
2. Products and product data.
3. Customer accounts.
4. Page speed and site performance.
5. Security.
6. Responsiveness and usability.
7. SEO performance.
8. The checkout flow. 
9. Payment processors.

Ready to Migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce?

As we covered above, the process of moving an ecommerce store from Shopify to WooCommerce isn’t straightforward or intuitive. There are multiple technical steps, and as such, a high potential for errors.

If you’re confident in your technical skills, feel free to follow the steps outlined. Otherwise, you’re better off working with folks who are expertly familiar with the inner workings of Shopify and WooCommerce.

Since 2009, our team at Multidots has worked on thousands of small, medium, and enterprise-level WordPress and WooCommerce websites including Syufy, Howmet Aerospace, NAB, Ask Media Group, and others. We’re an Inc. 5,000 company, WordPress VIP Gold Partner, and certified WooCommerce experts.

Want to discuss migrating your site from Shopify to WooCommerce? Fill out this form to get in touch with our team.

FAQs

Since 2009, we’ve built thousands of custom solutions for a wide variety of use cases. Based on our first-hand experience, here’s everything you need to know about custom WooCommerce plugin development.

WordPress’ official plugin repository and WooCommerce’s official marketplace are chock full of plugins that perform a wide range of functions. Not to mention, thousands of independent developers and development companies offer tons of plugins via their websites and third-party marketplaces.

And if that’s not enough, platforms like Zapier and Uncanny Automator promise to connect even more apps and automate an increasing number of tasks.

However, even with the superabundance of options, if you run an online business, you know first-hand how challenging it is to find software solutions that work exactly as required on your website without (1) requiring an enormous amount of manual effort to maintain, (2) a hefty price tag, and (3) causing performance issues.

That’s the situation one of our recent clients, a fast-growing ecommerce business, found themselves in.

Since launch, their website maintenance had been outsourced to a two-person development team. The WooCommerce site itself was taped together using a bunch of off-the-shelf plugins and zaps.

This setup worked okay in the beginning. But as their business began to scale, they started to face issues that threatened to stifle growth and revenue. Most of their leadership team have non-technical backgrounds but it was clear that to grow their business, their tech systems had to change.

After spending months looking into various solutions, they found that no ready-made solution directly fixed the issues or fit into their workflows without needing additional manual effort and increasing technical debt. Worse, after factoring in API costs, most options weren’t cost-effective.

In the end, they reached out to us. Within a couple of weeks, our team of expert WooCommerce developers created a custom plugin that fit right into their tech stack and works exactly as they wanted, without additional manual effort.

At the end of the project, their CMO mentioned how smooth the experience was, and remarked that they would have opted for it sooner if they had understood how custom plugins work.

So, we put together this guide detailing our process for creating custom WooCommerce plugins, in non-technical terms. If you’re trying to determine whether or not custom plugin development is the right approach for your business, this will help.

Here’s what we’ll discuss:

• How to decide if you need a custom plugin.
• Top benefits of developing custom WooCommerce plugins.
• An overview of the custom WooCommerce plugin development process.
• A peek into our playbook for developing top-notch custom WooCommerce plugins, based on our 17+ years of experience.
• Best practices for WooCommerce custom plugin development.

Let’s begin with a brief introduction to custom plugin development for WooCommerce.

A quick note

We’re Multidots, an Inc. 5000 company and one of the best web development companies in the world. Since 2009, we’ve developed thousands of custom solutions for small, medium, and enterprise businesses across various niches. We also offer 20+ handcrafted plugins for various use cases through our sister company, The Dotstore.

Want to skip the post and get expert assistance with your custom WooCommerce plugin? Fill out this form to get in touch with our expert development team.

A Rundown of Custom WooCommerce Plugin Development

In WooCommerce, custom plugins are bits of code that hook into WooCommerce’s functionality using actions, filters, and custom classes to extend a store’s features without modifying its core files.

Unlike ready-to-use plugins that you can install from WordPress’s official repository, WooCommerce’s marketplace, independent plugin developer websites, or third-party marketplaces, custom plugins are tailor-made to add specific features or address your store’s unique requirements.

Why Create a Custom WooCommerce Plugin?

WooCommerce is incredibly powerful out of the box, and there’s no shortage of readymade plugins to pick from. However, no two businesses operate exactly the same.

As your WooCommerce store grows, you’ll inevitably run into limitations where existing solutions either don’t meet your needs, add unnecessary bloat, cost too much, or require workarounds that require more manual effort to manage.

That’s where custom WooCommerce plugins come in.

Many store owners and developers opt for bespoke plugins when existing options fall short. Here are the top reasons why, gleaned from our 17+ years of experience developing custom solutions for WooCommerce stores across various niches.

Solve Specific Business Use Cases

Off-the-shelf plugins cover general use cases. But what if your online business operates somewhat differently? A custom WooCommerce plugin enables you to solve problems unique to your store.

For instance, a subscription-based business might want to dynamically adjust renewal dates based on stock availability. Readily available subscription plugins don’t support custom renewal logic, so developing a bespoke solution might be the best approach.

Integrate Seamlessly With Your Existing Tech Stack

High-volume WooCommerce stores typically depend on a suite of external platforms — think: CRM systems, payment processors, ERP tools, marketing software, etc.

Sometimes, existing solutions that sync WooCommerce with third-party solutions lack deep integration with these systems, require the use of multiple plugins, or can introduce compatibility issues. In these types of situations, creating a plugin that seamlessly fits into your tech setup is ideal.

Optimize Site Performance

Many readymade plugins are designed for a broad range of use cases, which makes them jam-packed with features you’ll never use. Each additional feature that you don’t need increases complexity, and can add unnecessary database queries and scripts that slow down your store.

Customizing a plugin from scratch gives you the opportunity to include the only necessary features. So you can create a lightweight plugin that loads quickly and remains stable.

Unlock Competitive Advantages

Anyone who runs an online business knows first-hand just how competitive ecommerce is. Considering that there are many top-notch ready-to-use plugins available, it’s natural to use the same plugins as your competitors for some functions.

However, if you want to stand out, you’ll have to think outside the box to add unique features or tailor customers’ shopping experience beyond what other stores in your industry offer.

Streamline Inefficient Workflows

Many WooCommerce admins rely on hacks, workarounds, and manual processes because existing plugins don’t fully solve their needs. Automating inefficient aspects of managing your store frees up time and resources that you can reinvest into revenue-boosting activities.

For instance, instead of manually exporting orders into a CSV file to sort for fulfillment every day, a store with multiple warehouses can create a custom plugin that auto-validates delivery addresses against warehouse locations and routes orders based on warehouse proximity to the customer.

Improve Admins’ User Experience

Readymade plugins are built to appeal to a wide variety of users. Even if they perform the core functions required under the hood, not all plugins prioritize ease of use for all store admins (especially non-technical ones).  

A custom plugin can enhance the backend experience and make various aspects of order management, reporting, and product updates more efficient and pleasant.

A good example is a custom dashboard widget that collates and showcases key sales KPIs, low-stock alerts, and pending orders from multiple plugins and external platforms into a single view — something that each tool’s report may not present in an easy-to-digest manner.

Comply With Security Standards and Guidelines

To be on the safe side, businesses that handle sensitive customer data, payment details, and business-critical transactions might want to enforce higher website security protocols beyond what off-the-rack plugins offer.

For instance, businesses in the healthcare industry must comply with HIPAA regulations. As such, they might need to encrypt medical history, heavily restrict access based on user roles, and make sure data isn’t stored longer than necessary.

Add Enterprise-Grade Features

Some readymade plugins may not work well for stores with extremely high traffic, large order volumes, complex workflows, multiple locations, or advanced integrations.

Sometimes, creating custom solutions to add enterprise-level features is the only way to empower your online business to scale.

Download a Free Actionable Guide: 45+ Actionable Tips to Boost WordPress Speed for High-Traffic Sites (Includes Impact Score)

• 15 Key Optimization Areas: Optimize performance with ad optimization, database tweaks, media optimization, and more.
• 45+ Actionable Strategies: Each strategy comes with links to plugins, tools, and resources for easy implementation.
• Impact Scores for Prioritization: Each tip is rated from 1 to 10 to help you prioritize high-impact optimizations.

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How to Develop a Custom WooCommerce Plugin

Here’s a brief overview of our thorough ten-step process for developing custom WooCommerce plugins for small and medium-sized businesses and Fortune 5,000 companies.

For this guide, let’s assume we want to build a plugin that offers bulk discounts based on custom logic.

Step 1: Decide If You Need a Custom Plugin

A huge amount of effort goes into developing and maintaining custom solutions. So before we begin each project, our first step is to evaluate whether or not it is the right approach.

Here are a few questions we ask at the start of each project:

1. Can the requirement be accomplished with WooCommerce’s built-in settings? Our expert developers are intimately familiar with how WooCommerce works and can determine if your business requirements can be fulfilled with the settings out of the box.
2. Does an existing plugin already do this? We’ll comb through the WooCommerce marketplace, WordPress repository, reputed plugin developer sites, and third-party marketplaces to see if a lightweight, well-supported plugin that performs the required functions already exists.
3. Can we achieve this with hooks or filters in the theme’s functions.php? If adding a few lines of custom code in a WooCommerce theme’s functions.php file will do the job, it might be the better option.
4. Is this feature business-critical or revenue-impacting? If it isn’t a key function for your online business, a workaround might be sufficient to manage it.

After careful evaluation, if we find that existing options aren’t ideal, we’ll recommend proceeding with custom WooCommerce plugin development.

Step 2: Outline and Document the Custom WooCommerce Plugin’s Scope

Once we’ve ascertained that a tailor-made solution is absolutely necessary, our next line of action is to clearly define and document its scope. This helps avoid feature creep and keeps development focused on essential aspects.

Otherwise, there’s an immense risk of missing key functionality, building something too complex, or running into compatibility issues later.

Here are the steps we take to outline the scope of a plugin.

1. State the plugin’s core purpose in simple terms

To do this, we ask the question: What main function should this plugin perform? Here’s an example of:

• ✅ A good scope: “This WooCommerce plugin will apply percentage-based discounts when customers add 10 or more items to the cart.”
• ❌ A bad scope: “This WooCommerce plugin will apply discounts, manage inventory, and integrate with third-party CRMs.”

2. Outline Core WooCommerce Features the Plugin Will Interact With

This helps us identify which functions it will modify or extend. For example, a bulk discounts plugin will interact with:

• Product pages to show customers the discount they will receive.
• Cart and checkout to apply discounts in real-time.
• Admin settings to let store owners configure discount rules.

3. List Essential Features

We dissect how the plugin should function into core features, zeroing in on what’s necessary for it to work. 

For instance, at a minimum, a custom bulk discount plugin should include:

• Discount rules that define minimum quantity and discount percentage.
• Dynamic pricing display to show discount messages on product pages.
• Real-time cart updates that adjust prices dynamically as items are added.
• An admin settings page where store owners can configure rules easily.

4. Sketch Key User Journeys

Beyond adding required functionality, plugins should be easy to use for store admins and customers. For a bulk discounts plugin, we might consider user experience (UX) decisions from both user perspectives. For instance,

From an admins’ perspective, we consider questions like:

• Should the settings page be in WooCommerce ➡️ Settings or under a custom menu?
• Should there be a preview feature to test discounts before going live?

From a customer’s UX perspective, we consider questions like:

• Should we add a banner that proactively notifies customers who qualify for a discount?
• Should customers have to enter a coupon code to apply the discount or should it be auto-applied?
• How should we present the breakdown of the discount during the checkout flow?

5. Check for Potential Conflicts

Introducing new code into your tech stack can interfere with other scripts and extensions installed on your website. For instance, a bulk discount plugin may impact:

• Multi-currency plugins that convert discounts to different currencies.
• Subscription plugins that apply discounts to recurring payments.
• Caching plugins that can prevent discounts from being updated in real time.

6. Define Plugin Limitations

Not every feature needs to be included in the first version, especially if we’re developing a plugin for a complex use case.

Leaving out non-critical features from version 1.0 helps avoid bloat. We can improve on the plugin in future iterations once we have a clearer view of how it functions in real life.

7. Document the Plugin’s Scope

Once we’ve hammered out all the details, we’ll document everything in a structured format and share it for your approval.

Step 3: Plan and Wireframe the Custom Plugin

Upon confirmation that we’re on the same page about the plugin’s scope, we’ll identify which WooCommerce hooks and filters will be used and map out its user interface (UI).

Here’s an overview of what this step involves.

1. Identify Key WooCommerce Hooks

We’ll outline how your plugin interacts with WooCommerce using specific actions and filters. For example, a bulk discount plugin would need to:

• Load discount rules from the database.
• Apply discounts dynamically in the cart.
• Show discount messages on product pages.
• Add an admin settings page to configure rules.

2. Plan for Edge Cases and Errors

Factoring in edge cases and potential errors makes the plugin plan watertight. For a bulk discounts plugin, we’ll think through various situations where things don’t go exactly to plan and how to handle them. For example,

• What if no discount rules are set? Show a default message.
• What if a user tries to enter a negative discount? Validate input.
• What if another plugin modifies cart totals? Ensure compatibility.

3. Wireframe Interfaces

A wireframe is a simple sketch of the admin panel and front-end view of the plugin action. We create wireframes to help visualize the plugin’s layout and key UI elements.

Step 4: Create a Local Development Environment

A development environment is a setup that mimics a live WooCommerce store. This is where we’ll build your plugin.

Depending on the situation, we choose from a variety of local development tools, such as Local by Flywheel, DevKinsta, Laragon, XAMPP / MAMP, or Docker.

Once the local server is up and running, we’ll create a fresh install of WordPress and WooCommerce and configure a basic store with test products, categories, and checkout settings.

Step 5: Custom WooCommerce Plugin Development

Plugins are made up of various files sorted into folders. There is no fixed structure, however, most typically consist of the following.

• Plugin root directory: The main plugin folder that contains all files and subdirectories. It registers the plugin, loads dependencies, and initializes core functionality.
• Includes directory: Contains all core PHP classes and functions and handles plugin logic, hooks, and integrations.
• Admin directory: Stores files related to the WordPress admin dashboard and manages plugin settings, custom admin menus, and backend UI.
• Public directory: Handles frontend-facing features and includes functions that modify WooCommerce product pages, cart, and checkout behavior.
• Assets directory: Stores static assets like stylesheets, JavaScript, and images, and keeps frontend and admin styles/scripts separate.
• Languages directory: Stores translation files to support multiple languages.
• Uninstall.php: The cleanup script that deletes plugin settings, custom database tables, and stored options when the plugin is completely uninstalled.

Here’s an overview of the steps that we follow to create custom plugins that hook into WooCommerce efficiently and remain lightweight, in line with WordPress’ coding standards.

1. Access the WordPress plugin API: We use WordPress’s extensive Plugin API — including hooks, filters, and predefined functions — to interact with and extend its core functions.
2. Plugin directory: We’ll add a new folder with your plugin’s name to the wp-content/plugins/ directory in WordPress.
3. Main plugin file: Next, we’ll create the main PHP file inside the plugin directory. This will be responsible for initializing your plugin and loading other files. For clarity, this will be named the same as your plugin directory.
4. File header: Every plugin needs a header comment so WordPress can read its metadata i.e. name, version, and author details, and recognize it.
5. Add action hooks: To execute code that triggers custom functionality at specific events in WordPress or WooCommerce.
6. Add filter hooks: To modify existing data and functionality before it’s displayed or processed. Unlike actions, filters must return a value.
7. Add WordPress functions and classes: We structure plugins using functions and classes to keep the plugin modular, prevent function name conflicts, and help manage multiple hooks cleanly.
8. Add additional files: To organize everything properly, we’ll create separate subdirectories to contain relevant information. This keeps the main plugin file clean and loads only necessary components.
9. Readme.txt file: This contains documentation about your plugin, including essential details like installation instructions and change logs.
10. Sanitize input and escape output: Finally, we ensure user-submitted data is sanitized before it is saved to the database and data output is escaped before it is displayed. This helps to safeguard your site from security vulnerabilities like SQL injections and cross-site scripting (XSS).

Step 6: Initial Plugin Testing and Debugging

Small bugs can slow down your WooCommerce store, impact its functionality, or introduce security risks. Once we’ve created the first version of your plugin, we put it through a rigorous series of tests to make sure it functions as intended.

We run various tests, including:

1. Unit tests: Tools like PHPUnit help us catch logic errors early, ensure functions return expected values, and prevent regressions when making future updates.
2. Manual tests: Even the most advanced automated tests can’t precisely predict actual human behaviors. Our developers play around with various WooCommerce settings, user roles, and products to make sure the plugin works as intended in real life.
3. WP_DEBUG test: We enable WordPress’s built-in debugging tool — found in the wp-config.php file and aptly named WP_DEBUG — to track undefined functions, database errors, or incorrect hooks.
4. Front-end debugging: Not all bugs appear in PHP logs. We use Chrome Developer Tools or Firefox Developer Tools to debug JavaScript errors, broken CSS, or AJAX failures.
5. Advanced debugging: Tools like Query Monitor, WP-CLI, Debug Bar, etc. provide in-depth insights about database queries, hooks, PHP errors, and how your plugin works with WordPress and WooCommerce.
6. WooCommerce system status logs: Finally, we review WooCommerce’s built-in logs to spot database errors, API failures, or payment gateway issues.

We fix whatever issues our initial round of tests unearth before moving to the next step.

Step 7: Test On a Staging Environment

A staging environment is a clone of an active WooCommerce website. It closely mirrors your live site — the same WordPress and WooCommerce versions, settings, and active theme and plugins — so we can safely test how the custom plugin functions without risking your live website and impacting customers.

Here’s what we evaluate during tests on the staging site:

1. Core functionality: Does the plugin work as expected across all pages? Are WooCommerce-specific features (cart, checkout, emails) functioning properly?
2. Performance: Does the plugin slow down page loads? Are there any slow database queries or excessive API calls?
3. Compatibility: Does it work well with the active theme? Are there conflicts with other plugins or custom scripts?
4. Security: Is data sanitized before being saved to the database? Are permissions correctly enforced (e.g., only admins can change settings)?
5. Notifications: If the custom plugin triggers notifications (e.g., order confirmations, admin alerts), do they send correctly? Are emails formatted properly across different email clients?
6. Frontend UI: If the plugin modifies the frontend (e.g., custom product fields) do elements display correctly across different screen sizes?

We run tests across various user roles (to ensure access is only granted where necessary and restrict actions for unauthorized users), expected use cases (to make sure the plugin works as intended when used normally), and edge cases and failure scenarios (to anticipate and handle these cases).

Step 8: Make Sure Plugin Documents Are Up To Date

Think of plugin documentation as the instruction manual that explains how it works. There are usually tons of iterations from the initial scope to the first plugin version — new added features, functions changed, or settings evolved.

We update the documentation so that both technical and non-technical members of your team can better understand how to configure and use the plugin, developers can extend or debug the plugin without having to reverse-engineer its code, and support teams can troubleshoot issues efficiently.

Plugin documentation typically includes:

1. User guides for WooCommerce admins with step-by-step installation instructions, clear explanations of each setting, walkthroughs of core plugin functions and common use cases, and a troubleshooting/FAQs section that outlines solutions for common issues.
2. Detailed technical documentation containing hook and filter references.
3. Changelog and version control for tracking bug fixes and new features, testing new releases, and planning deployments with ease.
4. Integration documentation for third-party services like ERPs, CRMs, or fulfillment systems (if applicable).

Step 9: Live Site Deployment and Integration

Now comes the fun part: deploying and integrating your custom plugin into your active WooCommerce store.

We’ll first create a full backup of your store’s database and files to make sure we can safely roll back settings in the event of unexpected issues.

The installation and activation process is similar to any other WooCommerce plugin. Once added to your website, we’ll verify that its core functionality works as expected on real orders, products, as well as admin and customer accounts. We’ll also monitor your website’s performance to catch potential slowdowns or errors.

Once we’re happy with everything, we’ll hand over the reins to your in-house development team (if necessary) and walk key members of your team through the steps to use, configure, and troubleshoot the plugin.

Step 10: Plugin Maintenance and Updates

WordPress and WooCommerce are known for frequent updates: new feature releases, deprecating old functions, and fixing security vulnerabilities. Not to mention, business requirements evolve along with customers’ needs, and features for complex plugins are rolled out in phases.

We provide ongoing support as needed to make sure your custom WooCommerce plugin remains compatible with changes, performs as intended, and is up-to-date with your business requirements.

Best Practices for WooCommerce Custom Plugin Development

These are some of our best practices for consistently developing top-tier custom WooCommerce plugins.

1. Follow WordPress and WooCommerce coding standards. Our expert developers follow PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript coding standards defined in the WordPress Plugin Handbook to the letter. This guarantees that all plugin code is readable, maintainable, and compatible with future updates.
2. Use hooks and filters for customization. We use action hooks and filters to modify or extend functionality without touching your website’s core files.
3. Prioritize performance optimization. We know that website speed directly impacts eCommerce revenue. So we optimize database queries to handle data efficiently and reduce unnecessary server load.
4. Adhere to security best practices. We ensure user input is sanitized before processing, escape output before displaying data on the front end, and use nonces to prevent cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks.
5. Make plugins modular and extendable. Separating functions into the appropriate classes and files helps add features without rewriting the plugin’s core functionality. We also provide clear documentation to make future updates easier.
6. Test thoroughly before deployment. As detailed above, every custom plugin goes through rigorous rounds of testing with server settings, themes, and plugins similar to your website setup to make sure that it works as planned.
7. Keep the custom plugin up-to-date. Without timely updates, your plugin can break your site or become a security risk. We provide ongoing support to keep custom plugins always updated.

Ready to Build Your Custom WooCommerce Plugin?

Developing custom extensions is a complex process. This is where Multidots’ WooCommerce development services come in.

We’re certified WooCommerce experts, an Inc. 5000 company, and one of the best web development companies in the world. Since 2009, we’ve built thousands of custom solutions for various small and medium-sized businesses and Fortune 5,000 companies alike. Plus, through our sister company, The Dotstore, we offer 20+ plugins handcrafted for various use cases.

Fill out this form to get in touch with our team to discuss how we can help develop plugins tailor-made for your WooCommerce store.