WordPress vs Woocommerce: Which Should You Go for?

Have you ever thought of building your e-commerce store that directs a way to reach your targeted audience and build your brand's reputation? You may have heard of various website builder platforms, but WordPress and Woocommerce are the most popular and powerful options. Choosing these platforms can give you the confidence that you're using tools trusted by many developers.

Wordpress and Woocommerce share many similarities, making building and launching your e-commerce store easier without a technical background.

Wordpress is not limited to a system that manages content. It is an effective tool for creating and customizing your website. Whereas, WooCommerce is one of the most useful plugins for WordPress. It provides unique features and functionalities for developing a customized store to sell your items and WordPress web development services online. Understanding these unique aspects can help you make an informed decision.

This guide will discuss how WordPress and Woocommerce differ and what you should go for.

WordPress is open-source software primarily developed as a blog writing tool. Lately, however, it has developed as a website developer tool containing a content management system with rich functionality. WordPress has become a favorite among users as you can easily create and customize the whole website from scratch. You can benefit from its unique features to meet your needs.

The greatest advantage of WordPress website creation is that you need no technical knowledge to build it, which is perfect for beginners.WordPress’ exclusive library contains numerous themes and plugins that can improve your website's functionality. Due to its extensive features, such as rich editing, trustworthy performance, and scalability, it is highly suitable for developers, bloggers, and small, medium, and large enterprises.

Here are some of the benefits that let you understand what WordPress is:

• It is easy to use, where no technical knowledge is required.
• Images videos documents can be added easily without HTML coding.
• You can easily bring updates to your website with full control.
• WordPress plugins, which can add an event calendar, Twitter feed, video gallery, etc., are available for free or at a very low price.
• Several blog posts or pages can't affect the performance of Wordpress.

There is no doubt in accepting that WordPress is a powerful tool for building websites but incapable of creating an online store that is interactive and scalable. WooCommerce is an e-commerce store-building platform that has overcome WordPress's limitations. With WooCommerce development services, you can improve t your store’s functionality and customize it to meet your needs.

WooCommerce is like a bundle of features in which you can get everything in one to add. You can start by building your online store from scratch, listing your products, and adding in-cart functionalities, which are available with other more exciting features to your WordPress website. WooCommerce differs from others because of its customization facility, which is based on the needs of businesses and customer choices.

The benefits mentioned here will help in understanding why Woocommerce is an excellent plugin for online store development:

• WooComerce can easily integrate with Wordpress to build a powerful online store.
• It initially allows you to create an online store for free and offers several exclusive features.
• Several wordpress themes are used, and you can customize your online store to reflect your brand.
• Its integrity with Wordpress assures you that your store is safe against various thefts.
• It has a team of supportive developers and contributors who are always ready to help you.

When creating an online store, Wordpress vs Woocommerce work together to maximize the performance of their exclusive features. Woocommerce is also a WordPress plugin, so how can they be different? Some major differences distinguish them. Let’s take a look at these differences that set them apart.

Purpose:

Both Wordpress and Woocommerce are used to create an immense website, but their purposes are different to serve. Wordpress is always a great choice for creating websites with Flexible Content management. Websites created with Wordpress are always meant for blogging and business. Also, thousands of themes and plugins facilitate customizing the websites the way you want.

On the other hand, WooCommerce website development is a complete solution that caters to all your requirements related to e-commerce stores. It gives wordpress websites a new look by changing them into an online store full of unique features. With this feature of Woocommerce, users are encouraged to sell their products or services to a large audience.

E-commerce capacities:

WooCommerce is a beginning where WordPress ends. It has a range of themes, extensions, and tools essential to building an intuitive online store. You can customize everything from the Homepage design to the menu, list of products or services provided, payment methods, and shipping. Various safe payment methods improve your business and customer satisfaction.

Complexity:

Wordpress is a straightforward and user-friendly way to build websites. You need little or no technical knowledge to create attractive websites using different plugins and themes. Websites created with wordpress are Search engine friendly as no complex codes are written.

On the other hand, creating an online store on Woocommerce can be daunting. woocommerce contains several functions and processes through which the online store is managed. You must put your proper efforts into various aspects such as inventory management, product listing, payment gateways, shipping process, etc. Familiarity with wordpress can make understanding WooCommerce’s structure and balance among them easy.

Scalability:

Regarding scalability, it is important to identify how Wordpress and WooCommerce can support growth and expansion. When it comes to Wordpress, no one can match its scalability. To gain ultimate traffic on site varies from smaller personal blogs to large sites, and Wordpress can handle it effectively. Wordpress has several themes and plugins, and its flexible architecture is why it is scalable. A business seeking long-term growth can blindly trust Wordpress, as it seamlessly handles increased content, users, and traffic volume.

On the other hand, WooCommerce also possesses the scalability of Wordpress. Small and medium-sized e-commerce stores can be effectively handled through WooCommerce. However, with increasing products, customer traffic, and transactions, WooCommerce may require additional considerations. This consideration means getting hosting solutions that optimize and manage large inventories for the growing stores.

Security:

Security is the most important aspect ever in any field. Various plugins related to security in Wordpress, such as malware scanning, firewall, etc. But it can’t be assured that they will provide complete security to your platform. The safety problem arises with the rise in popularity, which can birth to cyber threats. But it also depends on the users. Users should encrypt their accounts with strong passwords and two-factor authentication. They should download the themes and plugins only from trusted and reputable sources.

WooCommerce, also part of Wordpress, faces the same security challenges. However, WooCommerce's security issues are more sensitive than those of WordPress, as it contains user information. User information includes securing their data and transactions and protecting against specific threats like fake transactions and data breaches.

Customization:

Customization is easy in Wordpress and WooCommerce but in different ways. Wordpress mainly focuses on changing the website's overall look by letting users use different themes and plugins. This customization can be done in various ways, such as changing colors and layouts, aesthetic changes, adding contact forms, and improving SEO.

On the other hand, WooCommerce lets users use different extensions and themes for their e-commerce store. Websites created in this way may enhance the shopping experience. WooCommerce also facilitates detailed customizations important for e-commerce stores, such as product or service display options, checkout procedures, and customer engagement tools.

Building any site on Wordpress or Woocommerce is simpler due to its flexible and user-friendly structure. Building a website on Wordpress can be affected by several factors, but generally, it can take five to eight weeks. In most cases, the development time depends on the project's requirements. Simple projects can be completed quickly, while complex projects take fifteen to twenty weeks.

For example, creating a simple site on Wordpress with a free theme and a few informational web pages without customization can be completed in a a few days. But if you are looking for custom WordPress website development, that is a complex project; it will take time. These projects are related to rebranding needs, such as UX/UI, SEO, and other customizations, and may take one month to complete.

When you think of WooCommerce website development but already have a WordPress site, it becomes easy to build a store quickly. Building a WooCommerce store generally takes more time than building a WordPress site, requiring more setup. As discussed previously, setting up time can vary based on the project's complexity. The basic setup can be done in a few hours, including installing woocommerce plugins, setting up payment methods, and adding product lists and shipping options. Sites that need customization, integrations, and design for complex projects take a long time. Hire a WooCommerce Developer with a technical background and complete knowledge of Woocommerce stores.

WordPress website creation is free on Wordpress, but building it as per the client’s requirement, where it needs customization, may require hosting plans. However, it is dependent on the client's budget and goals. You must use premium themes, plugins, and extensions to build a website that resonates with your client’s needs. Hire a wordpress website development company for complex projects that need various customizations.

• Wordpress offers various free themes, but businesses prefer Premium themes for a professional and customized look to the site. It may cost $40 to $120 or more.
• Premium plugins and extensions that enhance the site's functionality cost $30 to $150. The price for additional features may vary depending on the project’s complexity.
• Regular site maintenance is also required to keep your WordPress site secure and functioning smoothly. Third-party WordPress website development services can cost around $80 to $120 per month if you prefer them.

The overall costs may range between $250 and $100,000. Depending on your project, the costs can vary according to the structure, such as monthly, yearly, or one-off.

As we know, WooCommerce is a plugin for Wordpress; it is also free to use. You can start your store free of cost until the number of products sold is limited. However, you must invest money to sell many things and attract more clients to your store. Other WooCommerce prices include domain registration, hosting fees, WooCommerce theme fees, shop development fees, plugin fees, etc. These expenses are important for running a productive firm.

• Before starting a WooCommerce Store, you'll need an appropriate domain name, which can cost between $15 to $20.
• After getting a relevant domain name, you need a place to host your WooCommerce Stores, known as web hosting. Hosting charges vary depending on the provider but are generally between $40 and $150.
• Various themes are free on WooCommerce, but it doesn’t support popular Woocommerce extensions, customized elements, or widgets. Premium themes are a great option for a customized, stunning store. Depending on factors such as licensing, renewals, support, etc., these WooCommerce themes can cost between $40 and $250.
• Customizing and managing your online store may incur additional costs, depending on your developer's fees and your store's needs. Choose the services that are within your budget. Developers generally charge from $50 to $150 by the hour.

Depending on the features, products, and customizations made, WooCommerce's cost may be up to $300 for a simple site and over $100,000 for an enterprise-level site.

Wordpress and WooCommerce offer various advantages and similar features. However, Wordpress is somewhat scalable but doesn’t allow code editing. This feature is available in WooCommerce, but you should know it properly, as it results in an error. Some of WooCommerce's features are paid, while others are free on Wordpress. However, WooCommerce offers great customer support and clear documentation.

Based on your project's requirements, decide between Wordpress vs Woocommerce. Wordpress could be a great choice for you if you are at the initial stage of your project. If you want a basic site with no more customizations within your budget, go for Wordpress.

If you want a stunning e-commerce store built on your website to reach your target audience, choose WooCommerce. You can customize your store completely with various Woocommerce extensions and themes that resonate with your brand.

Choosing between Wordpress developer and WooCommerce developer can be confusing. Focusing on their benefits, Wordpress is a content management system specially used for creating powerful websites. On the other hand, WooCommerce converts a website into a unique e-commerce store. WordPress is the best option for a beginner who wants to write a portfolio or create a blog. But when you are thinking of switching your site into an online store to sell products, Woocommerce is a great tool. So think no further and make a choice. Contact us today to find a website of your choice. At Elightwalk, our expert developers will build a website or e-commerce store that meets your requirements.