Shopify vs WooCommerce for India: Cost & Fees (2026)
Shopify is usually the faster, simpler choice for an Indian brand starting an online store. WooCommerce can cost less once sales are high, but only if you're comfortable running WordPress, hosting and updates yourself. In India the real gap is not the software: it's the monthly plan, the transaction fee Shopify charges on some plans, and who maintains the site.
This Shopify vs WooCommerce guide compares the two on cost, setup effort and fit for Indian sellers. The prices come from Shopify's India pricing page and WordPress.org's requirements, as checked on 15 November 2026.
Shopify vs WooCommerce: what is the basic difference?
Shopify is a hosted service. You pay a monthly plan, and Shopify runs the hosting, security and platform updates. WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns a WordPress website into a store. You choose the host, the theme and every add-on, and you keep them updated.
Both can take payments through Indian gateways, but the setup, the running costs and the day-to-day work differ. Choose based on who will run the store after launch, not only on the launch price.
How much does Shopify cost in India in 2026?
Shopify's India pricing page lists these plans in rupees. The first price is billed monthly, the second when you pay yearly. The fee is charged when you take payments through a third-party gateway, because Shopify Payments isn't on the country list we checked.
- Basic: ₹1,994/month billed monthly, or ₹1,499/month billed yearly. Fee: 2% on orders paid through a third-party gateway.
- Grow: ₹7,447/month billed monthly, or ₹5,599/month billed yearly. Fee: 1%.
- Advanced: ₹30,164/month billed monthly, or ₹22,680/month billed yearly. Fee: 0.6%.
- Plus: from ₹1,75,000/month. Fee: 0.2%.
Prices are before any taxes and before your gateway's own charges. Shopify changes plans from time to time, so check the live page before you budget.
Why the transaction fee matters more than the plan price
The plan fee is fixed, but the transaction fee grows with your sales. This is where most Indian stores get the maths wrong, so run the numbers with your own figures.
Take a Basic store that processes ₹10,00,000 a month in online orders through a third-party gateway. The Shopify fee alone is ₹20,000 a month (2%), on top of the ₹1,994 plan and your gateway's own charges. The total from Shopify is about ₹21,994.
Move the same ₹10,00,000 to Grow and the fee drops to ₹10,000, while the plan costs ₹7,447. The total is about ₹17,447. The two options cost the same at about ₹5,45,300 of gateway-paid monthly sales. Below that, Basic is cheaper; above it, Grow is cheaper.
How much does WooCommerce cost?
WooCommerce itself is free to download. WooCommerce.com describes the core platform as free, with paid extensions and support on top. WordPress.org lists the requirements: PHP 7.4 or greater (PHP 8.0 or greater recommended), WordPress 7.0 or greater, and MySQL or MariaDB.
The cost sits around the plugin. You'll pay for hosting that meets those requirements, a theme, security, your payment gateway's charges and any paid extensions. WooCommerce's own site lists one multi-inventory extension at ₹12,367 a year, so budget for add-ons as well as the host.
The bigger cost is time. Someone has to apply WordPress, theme and plugin updates every month, and fix things when a plugin conflicts with another. If that person is not on your team, add their fee to the plan.
Shopify or WooCommerce: which should you pick?
- Pick Shopify if you want to launch in weeks, have no in-house developer, and want the platform to handle hosting and updates.
- Pick WooCommerce if you already run a WordPress site, need custom features, have a technical person, and your monthly sales are high enough that a percentage fee hurts.
- Pick a custom build only when the store needs features that neither platform handles well. It costs more and needs more maintenance.
A checklist before you choose
Work through these before you sign up for either platform. Most regret comes from skipping one of them.
- Monthly online sales: write the figure down and run the break-even above with it.
- Who updates the store: name the person and their monthly hours, including updates, backups and fixes.
- Add-ons: list the five apps or plugins you need and price each one in rupees for a full year.
- Payment gateway: confirm which gateway you'll use, its fees, and whether it works with your mix of cards, UPI and cash on delivery.
- Exit plan: ask how you'd move your products, orders and URLs if you switch later. WooCommerce's own site says you can move to another host without permission, but the store's data and redirects still need careful planning.
How Markadding builds and runs Shopify and WooCommerce stores
Our e-commerce management service runs D2C stores and marketplace listings on Amazon, Flipkart, JioMart and Meesho. Pricing is ₹25,000 to ₹80,000 a month, depending on the platforms, the number of SKUs and whether ad management is included. Marketplace ad spend is paid separately.
For the build, our website development service uses WordPress or custom code, chosen by budget and how often you'll update content. Our website cost guide gives e-commerce builds at ₹80,000 to ₹3,00,000+, taking 6 to 10 weeks. One spices and masala brand we worked with went from zero to selling on Amazon, Flipkart, JioMart and Meesho in three months.
Bottom line
For most new Indian D2C brands, Shopify's monthly fee is worth paying for speed and less upkeep. WooCommerce makes more sense when you have a technical person and sales high enough that the percentage fee hurts. Run the break-even with your own numbers first. Get a free growth audit or book a strategy call and we'll price both options for your store.
Frequently asked questions
Is Shopify or WooCommerce cheaper in India?+
It depends on sales. On Shopify's Basic plan, the 2% fee on gateway-paid orders makes it dearer at higher volumes. At the monthly-billed prices we checked, Grow beats Basic once gateway-paid sales pass about ₹5.45 lakh a month. WooCommerce has no platform fee, but hosting, themes, add-ons and upkeep still cost money.
Does Shopify Payments work in India?+
Not on the list we checked. Shopify's supported-countries list for Shopify Payments does not include India, so Indian merchants usually connect a third-party gateway. Check Shopify's current list before you sign up, because availability can change.
Is WooCommerce really free?+
The WooCommerce plugin is free to download from WordPress.org and WooCommerce.com describes the core platform as free. You still pay for WordPress hosting, a theme, security, payment gateway charges and any paid extensions, and someone has to keep everything updated.
Can I move from WooCommerce to Shopify later?+
Yes, but plan it. Products, customer and order records, images, and the URLs your Google rankings depend on all need to move. Map every old URL to a new one with redirects, so the traffic and search visibility you have built are not lost.
Which platform is better for SEO?+
Neither platform ranks a store by itself. Product and category pages, page speed, clear titles, useful descriptions and reviews matter more. Both Shopify and WooCommerce can be set up for SEO, but the work is in the content and the technical setup.