Shopify, WooCommerce and PrestaShop side by side – in euros, with no scoring and no affiliate links. First how to choose, then the facts, and finally a detailed breakdown of each pairing.
A written answer within 24 hours
Most comparisons open with a price list and end there too. But the subscription is the smallest line item. Before you look at the numbers, answer these.
A hosted platform (Shopify) handles the server, the security and the updates for you. On self-hosted (WooCommerce, PrestaShop) that is your work – either you are the developer or you pay one. This single decision rules out most of the list before you open a price list at all.
How many products, how many languages, how many markets. On self-hosted platforms the ceiling is your server; on a hosted one it is the plan. If you know you will be selling into Germany or France in two years, you are choosing a platform for those two years, not for the next quarter.
A strong brand can be built on a theme – plenty of stores on Shopify do exactly that and it is a legitimate way to start. The difference is how far the platform lets you go afterwards. All three here give you real code access, so the question is less about what is possible and more about who keeps your changes working through every update.
Not what the plan costs. The sum of subscription, add-ons, payment gateway, hosting, theme and developer hours. "Free" on a self-hosted platform is paid elsewhere – in annual module renewals and in the hours somebody spends keeping the thing alive.
Inside a group the differences are matters of detail. Between the groups they are fundamental – and they decide what you will spend your time on.
Shopify
Makes sense when the store is the core of the business and you want your own brand and room to grow.
WooCommerce · PrestaShop
Makes sense when you have your own developer or an agency on retainer.
No scoring and no winner at the end. The rows where Shopify loses are in the table on purpose – without them it would be an advert, not a comparison.
Type of platform
Entry cost
Hosting, security, backups
Platform updates
Surcharge for an outside payment gateway
Extension ecosystem
Product limit
Checkout
Languages and currencies
Control over URLs
Carriers and marketplace feeds
Support
Verified in September 2026 from the platforms’ official sources; Shopify prices from the eurozone list, card rates vary by market. Price lists drift – for a specific pairing the detailed comparison carries the exact figures including plans.
There is deliberately no score here and no "winner". Adding up criteria that are not comparable into a single number is easy, but it distorts the decision – only you know how much each row weighs for your business. The rows where Shopify loses are in the table for the same reason.
Each comparison carries price lists in euros, the fees, total cost of ownership, European specifics, how a migration runs, and an open paragraph about when the other platform wins.
A hosted platform against self-hosted. It comes down to peace of mind versus control – and to who eventually pays for that control with their own hours.
you are building mainly on content in WordPress, you have a developer for the running of it, and you want full ownership of code and data with no lock-in.
Also self-hosted, but different things decide it than with Woo: a rich free core against annual module renewals at 40% of their price and painful version upgrades.
you have your own developer and the free core – multistore, B2B price lists, languages – covers most of what you need.
Weighing up a platform that is not here? Write to me and you get a straight answer on it, even if the answer is that I do not build on it.
The fastest way to shorten the table: find the row that describes you.
Your real question is whether the store is the core of the business or an addition to it. The answer decides between paying a platform to handle the running and paying someone to do it yourself.
A new store on ShopifyAdd up the hours spent on hosting, updates and security over a year. For most stores that is the largest hidden item in the budget, and it never appears on an invoice.
Shopify vs WooCommerceOn PrestaShop a major upgrade is a development project, and staying put means accumulating security debt. Worth costing that out before it becomes urgent.
Shopify vs PrestaShopThis is where the two approaches diverge most: another currency and language is a setting in one place and a second installation to maintain in the other. VAT and OSS reporting come with it either way.
Let us talk it throughThis section is for stores already running on something. If you are starting out, Shopify wins almost every time – but moving is a different question from starting.
I only build on Shopify. Which is all the more reason to write down when moving does not pay off – it saves both sides the time.
Real stores I have worked on – every one of them live, click through them yourself.
Continental Lab
Töpfer Babywelt
Aniball
There is no such thing, and any comparison that names one is selling something. What exists is the platform that fits your situation: how much of the running you want to own, where your ceiling is, and what it costs over three years rather than this month. That is why this page has no score and no winner – the weight of each row is something only you know.
You should not trust it blindly – you should check it. That is why every claim here is traceable to the detailed comparison it came from, why there are no affiliate links anywhere on this site, and why the table contains three rows Shopify loses: the gateway surcharge, control over URLs and support. A comparison without the losses is an advert.
Only if your own time is free. The licence costs nothing on WooCommerce and PrestaShop, but a real store pays for hosting, a premium theme, paid modules or plugins and, on PrestaShop, an annual renewal at 40% of each module’s price. Add the hours for updates and security and the totals converge. The honest difference is not the amount but who carries the work.
Yes, and all of these platforms let your data out – products, customers and order history through export and an API. What does not move is the design and anything living inside plugins or modules. The cost of moving is mostly redirects and rebuilding functionality, which is why choosing with three years in mind is cheaper than choosing for this quarter.
It matters more than almost anything else on this page. Several currencies and languages, VAT rates per country and OSS reporting, carriers and payment methods that differ by market – on a hosted platform that is configuration, on self-hosted it is plugins you choose and maintain. If cross-border selling is the plan rather than a maybe, weigh this row heavily.
Usually yes, once I know three things: what you sell, who maintains your store today, and where you want to be in two years. Write a few sentences through the form below and you get a straight answer within 24 hours – including "stay where you are", which is an answer I give regularly.
Write to meWrite me a few sentences about your store – where you are now, or that you are only starting. Within 24 hours you get it in writing: what makes sense for your case and what to do next. No commitment, no pressure.
Would rather not fill anything in? Write straight to ahoj@hynekkraus.cz