Shopify vs WooCommerce vs OpenCart for UK Small Businesses
If you're starting an online shop in the UK, you've probably narrowed it down to three names: Shopify, WooCommerce and OpenCart. Every comparison you read seems to pick a winner. Usually it's whichever platform the author sells.
We build on all three. Each one is the right answer for some businesses and the wrong answer for others. The difference usually comes down to two things most comparisons skip: what it costs you every month once you're trading, and who actually owns the store.
This guide covers both, with current UK prices, so you can make the call properly.
The short version
- Shopify is a hosted subscription. You rent the platform, Shopify runs it, and you pay a monthly plan plus card fees.
- WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress. You own the site, but you pay for hosting and usually some paid extensions.
- OpenCart is free, open source software built just for eCommerce. You own it, host it where you like, and pay for extensions once rather than every year in most cases.
None of them is "free" once you're trading. The question is where the money goes.
What each one costs to run
All prices below were checked on 12 October 2026. Platforms change their pricing often, so check before you commit.
Shopify
Shopify's UK plans cost, per month:
- Basic: £25 paid monthly, or £19 a month paid yearly
- Grow: £65 monthly, or £49 a month yearly
- Advanced: £344 monthly, or £259 a month yearly
- Plus: from £1,800 a month
Hosting, SSL and the checkout are included. With Shopify Payments, online UK card fees are 2% + 25p on Basic, dropping to 1.7% + 25p on Grow and 1.5% + 25p on Advanced. Amex and international cards cost more: 3.1% + 25p on Basic.
On top of that, most Shopify stores add paid apps for things like reviews, subscriptions or product options. Each one is a separate monthly charge, and they add up.
WooCommerce
The WooCommerce plugin itself is free. What you pay for is everything around it:
- Hosting. In the UK, managed WooCommerce hosting from Krystal starts at £15 a month, with a Business plan at £35. SiteGround's UK WooCommerce plans start with low introductory prices but renew at £13.99 to £34.99 a month.
- Extensions. Woo's own marketplace prices extensions at $29 to $299 a year each. WooCommerce Subscriptions is $279 a year, and Product Add-Ons is $79 a year. These renew at whatever the list price is at renewal time, and if you stop paying, you stop getting updates.
- Themes. Marketplace themes are typically $47 to $99 a year.
- Payments. WooPayments in the UK charges 1.5% + 25p per card payment, plus 2% for international cards and another 2% if currency conversion is needed. There's no monthly fee.
OpenCart
OpenCart is free and open source. The latest release is 4.1.0.4, and the 3.0.5.x branch is still being updated too (3.0.5.1 added PHP 8.5 support in August 2026).
Your costs are:
- Hosting. Any decent PHP and MySQL hosting will run it. You don't need a specialist plan.
- Extensions and themes. These are usually one-off purchases with a fixed support period. For example, multi-vendor extensions on the market range from $39 to $299 as one-off payments.
- Payments. You pick your own provider, such as Stripe or PayPal, and pay their rates. OpenCart takes nothing.
One thing to know: OpenCart 4's core only ships four basic payment methods (bank transfer, cheque, cash on delivery and free checkout). Card payments need a separate extension, so budget for setting that up properly.
The platform fee trap
This is the part that catches people out.
If you use Shopify but don't want Shopify Payments, perhaps because you already have a merchant account you're happy with, Shopify charges a third-party transaction fee on every sale. That's 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced. That's on top of whatever your own payment provider charges.
On £10,000 a month of sales through Basic, that's £200 a month going to Shopify for the privilege of not using their payments. That's simple arithmetic, not a guess.
WooCommerce and OpenCart don't charge a platform fee on your sales. You pay your payment provider and that's it.
It's not a reason to avoid Shopify. If Shopify Payments suits you, the fee doesn't apply. But you should know it's there before you build your business on it.
Ownership: rent or own
With Shopify, you're renting. That's not a criticism. It means Shopify handles security, updates and hosting, and that's genuinely valuable if you don't want to think about any of it. But your store lives on their platform, under their rules and their pricing. Checkout customisation is limited below Plus.
With WooCommerce and OpenCart, you own the code and the data. You can move hosts, change developers, or customise anything. The trade-off is that someone has to keep it updated and secure. That's either you, your developer, or a care plan.
Side-by-side comparison
| Shopify | WooCommerce | OpenCart | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software cost | £19 to £259/month (yearly billing) | Free | Free |
| Hosting | Included | From around £15/month managed | Standard PHP hosting |
| Online UK card fees | 2% + 25p (Basic, Shopify Payments) | 1.5% + 25p (WooPayments) | Your provider's rates |
| Fee for using another payment provider | 2% / 1% / 0.6% by plan | None | None |
| Extensions | Monthly app subscriptions | Mostly yearly, $29 to $299 each | Mostly one-off purchases |
| Who maintains it | Shopify | You or your developer | You or your developer |
| Ownership | Rented platform | You own it | You own it |
| Best fit | Fast launch, hands-off | Content-led stores on WordPress | Large catalogues, B2B, custom logic |
Which one is right for you?
Choose Shopify if you want to launch quickly, you don't want to think about servers or updates, and you're happy to use Shopify Payments. It's a strong product, and for a lot of small shops it's the sensible choice. Just add up the plan, the apps and the card fees at the volume you expect to reach, not the volume you have today. See our Shopify development service.
Choose WooCommerce if your business is already on WordPress, or content and blogging matter as much as the shop. It's flexible and there's an extension for almost anything. Watch the yearly renewals; a handful of paid extensions can quietly cost more than Shopify. See our WooCommerce development service.
Choose OpenCart if you have a large catalogue, trade-specific needs, B2B pricing or custom logic, and you want to own the platform without paying a cut of every sale. It's lean, fast and built only for selling. It does need an experienced developer to set it up properly, particularly payments. See our OpenCart development service.
We run large OpenCart stores for UK businesses, including Balliihoo Home Brew with over 1,000 products. If you're torn between the two open source options, our OpenCart vs WooCommerce comparison goes deeper.
What it costs to have it built
Platform fees are only part of the picture. You also need the store designed, set up and connected to your payments, shipping and stock.
Our projects start from £1,500, and we don't charge VAT. Our pricing page has the details. Ongoing care plans are £100, £350 or £750 a month, depending on how much support you need.
FAQ
Is Shopify cheaper than WooCommerce?
It depends on your sales volume and how many paid extras you need. Shopify Basic is £19 a month on yearly billing with hosting included. WooCommerce is free but needs hosting and often paid extensions. Work it out at the turnover you expect next year, not just today.
Does WooCommerce charge transaction fees?
WooCommerce itself doesn't take a cut of your sales. If you use WooPayments, UK card payments cost 1.5% + 25p. If you use another provider, you pay their rates.
Is OpenCart still supported in 2026?
Yes. OpenCart 4.1.0.4 and 3.0.5.1 were both released in August 2026. If you're on OpenCart 3 and wondering about moving, read our guide to the OpenCart 3 to 4 upgrade.
Can I move from Shopify to WooCommerce or OpenCart later?
Yes, products, customers and orders can be migrated. The bigger job is usually redirects, so you don't lose search rankings, plus rebuilding any features that came from apps.
Which platform is best for SEO?
All three can rank well. What matters more is site speed, clean URLs, good product content and proper redirects. Platform choice rarely decides it on its own.
The bottom line
There's no single best platform. There's the one that fits how you sell, how much you'll sell, and how much control you want.
Add up the real monthly cost at the size you want to be, and decide whether you want to rent or own. If you'd like a straight answer for your business, get in touch, we're happy to talk it through.
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