Hosting costs, payments, COD support, and speed — a practical comparison for Sri Lankan merchants.
If you want predictable costs and minimal maintenance, Shopify usually wins. If you need deep customisation and don't mind managing hosting, WooCommerce still earns its place. Most of the migrations we do at ecomit run WooCommerce → Shopify — and clients like Omini.lk saw lower running costs and dramatically faster pages after the move.
WooCommerce looks free, but quality hosting, security, backups, and plugin licences add up — and a slow shared server quietly costs you sales. Shopify's monthly fee bundles hosting, security, and updates, which is why total cost of ownership often ends up lower.
Both platforms can support local rails — KOKO and Mintpay for Buy Now Pay Later, and Cash on Delivery via Daraz Express (DEX). Setup is more turnkey on Shopify; on WooCommerce expect more plugin wrangling.
Shopify's CDN-backed infrastructure gives you good Core Web Vitals out of the box. WooCommerce can match it, but only with disciplined hosting and caching. Either way, structure, schema, and content matter more than the platform badge.
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