Guide · Comparison

Shopify vs WooCommerce vs custom: which webshop fits your business?

Choose Shopify if you want a stable shop with low maintenance and can live within the platform’s limits. Choose WooCommerce if you already run a content-heavy WordPress site and have someone to look after it technically. Choose a custom shop when your business rules, integrations or B2B needs do not fit the standard templates. Here is the comparison, the prices and a decision table for Danish shops.

12 min read · Updated 1 October 2026

The marketing lead at a Danish lifestyle shop has a fixed Monday routine: checking whether the weekend’s automatic plugin updates have broken checkout in WooCommerce. Sometimes they have. The owner wants to move to Shopify, because a colleague in the industry is happy with it. The agency proposes a custom solution, because the shop has click-and-collect in three physical stores and special prices for business customers. All three have a point. This guide helps you choose based on your own business.

Shopify vs WooCommerce: what is the short answer?

Shopify is a hosted platform you rent by the month. Shopify takes care of servers, security and updates, and you build the shop with themes and apps. WooCommerce is a free extension to WordPress that you install on your own hosting and keep up to date yourselves. A custom shop is built for you in code, for example in Next.js, and runs on hosting you or your supplier choose. For most small Danish B2C shops with standard needs, Shopify is the safest choice. WooCommerce is strongest when the shop is part of a large content site. A custom shop wins when the way you sell is your competitive edge.

The three options side by side. None is best at everything, so weight the rows by what matters most to you.

Area	Shopify	WooCommerce	Custom
Hosting and security	Included	Your responsibility	Supplier’s responsibility under the support plan
Pricing model	Subscription plus apps	Free software plus hosting and plugins	One-off price plus fixed running cost
Flexibility	Within the platform’s limits	High, but depends on plugins	Full
Maintenance	Low	High	Low for you, covered by the agreement
Ownership	Data and domain, platform rented	The whole installation	Code and data
Speed	Good from the start, drops with many apps	Depends on hosting and plugins	Can be fully optimised
B2B and special rules	Limited, strongest on the top plans	Possible with plugins	Built to need

What is Shopify good and bad at?

Strengths

Quick to start and easy to run yourself
Hosting, security and updates are included
Stable checkout with Apple Pay and Google Pay
Large choice of themes and apps
Scales to heavy traffic without extra work

Limitations

App costs grow with every new feature
Fixed URL structures and limited checkout customisation
Extra transaction fee on some plans with external payments
Advanced B2B typically needs the top plans
The platform cannot be taken with you if you switch

Shopify in brief.

Shopify’s subscriptions range from a few hundred kroner a month on the smallest plans to a few thousand on the larger ones, and Shopify Plus for large shops costs considerably more. Prices change regularly and are usually quoted in dollars or euros, so check current pricing. The item that surprises most is apps: five to ten paid apps is normal for an established shop, and each has its own monthly price.

What is WooCommerce good and bad at?

Strengths

Free software with no monthly licence
Full control over code, data and hosting
Strong when the shop is part of a large WordPress site
Many Danish developers know it
Plugins for almost everything

Limitations

You handle updates, security and backups yourselves
Plugins can conflict and break checkout on update
Often gets slow with many plugins and products
Plugin quality varies widely
Needs access to technical help

WooCommerce in brief.

WooCommerce is free to install, and running it costs money. Budget for hosting, a few premium plugins with annual licences and ongoing hours for updates and bug fixes. Many of the shops that contact us have exactly the problem the marketing lead in the introduction has: the shop works, but nobody dares update it. If your website already runs WordPress, our guide to Next.js vs WordPress can help with the bigger picture.

When is a custom webshop the better choice?

A custom shop makes sense when the standard platforms force you to change the way you sell, or when you spend more on apps, plugins and workarounds than your own solution would cost. It is typically one of these situations:

You sell to both consumers and businesses with customer-specific prices, discounts and payment terms.
Products must be configured, calculated or booked, such as made-to-measure furniture, courses or rentals.
The shop must work closely with your ERP, stock or physical stores.
You have subscriptions with special rules for pausing, delivery and payment.
Speed and brand experience are decisive, and you want a design that is yours alone.
You have more than 10 paid apps or plugins and spend hours every month making them work together.

A good example is Kirppu, Denmark’s largest chain of flea-market supermarkets. Their business is about private individuals renting stands and selling their own goods. That does not fit an ordinary webshop. We built stand booking, a renter panel and a label app, and the chain has grown from 1 to more than 30 stores. That kind of business model is exactly where your own code pays off. Read more about the trade-off in custom software vs off-the-shelf.

What do Shopify, WooCommerce and a custom shop cost in Denmark?

Approximate levels for an established Danish B2C shop in 2026. Platform prices change regularly, so check current pricing with the providers.

Item	Shopify	WooCommerce	Custom
Agency set-up	DKK 30,000–80,000	DKK 25,000–80,000	From DKK 54,000 with us, DKK 80,000–200,000+ in the market
Platform per month	A few hundred to a few thousand DKK	No licence, hosting from a few hundred DKK	Included in the support plan
Apps and plugins per month	Often DKK 500–2,000	Often annual licences, equal to a few hundred DKK/month	Features are built in
Maintenance	Low, mostly app updates	Ongoing hours, 15–20 % of the build per year	Fixed monthly price, with us from DKK 1,200 for Large

If you want a full three-year calculation with every cost, we have done it in the guide how much does a webshop cost. The conclusion is that the difference over three years is often smaller than the difference in starting price, and that what settles the sum is the number of apps, plugins and special rules.

How do Danish payments, shipping and bookkeeping work on each platform?

The Danish set-up. All three can handle it, the difference lies in how and at what ongoing cost.

Need	Shopify	WooCommerce	Custom
Dankort and MobilePay	Through a payment provider or app	Through a payment provider plugin	Direct integration
PostNord, GLS, DAO, parcel shops	Shipping app with subscription	Shipping plugin	Direct integration or shipping platform
e-conomic or Dinero	App with subscription	Plugin, quality varies	Direct integration
EAN invoicing to public bodies	Needs an extra app or solution	Needs a plugin or solution	Built in
Danish language and VAT	Supported	Supported	Supported

We have pre-built integrations for e-conomic, PostNord and MobilePay, among others, so on a custom shop the Danish set-up is part of the standard work. On Shopify and WooCommerce it is typically solved with one app or plugin per need. That works fine, but add up the monthly prices before you decide.

Which webshop platform should a Danish shop choose? Decision table

Find the row that looks most like your shop. If several fit, weight them by what drives your revenue.

If you …	Then choose	Because
are a new shop with under 200 products and standard needs	Shopify	Fast start and low maintenance
have a large WordPress site with a blog and content	WooCommerce	Shop and content in one place
have no in-house technical help	Shopify, or custom with a support plan	Someone else handles updates and security
sell to businesses with their own prices and payment terms	Custom	B2B rules fit poorly in standard platforms
have products that must be configured, booked or rented	Custom	The business model is your edge
have high revenue and a strong brand on Shopify	Headless: Shopify behind, your own frontend in front	Keep the admin, gain freedom in design and speed

How do you switch platform without losing sales?

1. Map

Every feature, app, plugin and integration you use today.

2. Clean up

Delete dead products, fix variants and gather images before the import.

3. Build and import

New shop on a test address with products, customers and order history.

4. Redirects

Every old URL points to the new one, so Google and customers find their way.

5. Launch and follow up

Test orders, Search Console and sales are watched closely for the first weeks.

A typical platform switch. Plan it outside your busiest season.

Step four is the one most often skipped, and the one that costs the most. Our guide to migrating a website without losing SEO covers redirects and launch day in detail.

Which myths about Shopify and WooCommerce should you ignore?

Myth: WooCommerce is free. The software is free, running it costs money.
Myth: Shopify is only for small shops. The platform also runs very large shops, especially on Plus.
Myth: A custom shop is always the most expensive. Over three years it is often on a par with a shop full of apps.
Myth: The platform decides your Google ranking. Content, speed and structure decide far more.
Myth: You can always just switch later. You can, but a switch typically costs about as much as a new shop.

What do we recommend at Ceptiv?

We build custom shops and web apps in React, Next.js and TypeScript, and we still often recommend Shopify for new B2C shops with standard needs. It is the right choice when the platform’s limits fit your business. We recommend a custom solution when you sell in a way the standard platforms do not support, when you have many integrations, or when the app bill has started to look like a salary. Then you get a shop at a fixed price where you own the code and data, and where hosting, updates, support, security and backups are included in one monthly price. See how we work as a Next.js agency, or tell us about your shop and get a fixed price within 24 hours along with an honest platform recommendation.

Questions about Shopify, WooCommerce and custom shops

Is Shopify or WooCommerce better for SEO?

Both can rank well in Google, and the difference lies mostly in how the shop is set up. WooCommerce gives full control over URLs, structure and technical details, but often gets slow with many plugins. Shopify is fast from the start, but has fixed URL structures such as /products/ and /collections/ that you cannot change. A custom shop in Next.js, for example, can deliver the best speed and full control. Content, speed and internal linking matter more than the platform itself.

Can Shopify handle Danish VAT and Danish customers?

Yes. Shopify can show prices including 25 % VAT, run in Danish and settle in kroner, and there are apps for Danish carriers, MobilePay and bookkeeping in e-conomic or Dinero. Some parts of the admin and some apps are English only, and Danish special needs such as EAN invoicing to public bodies often need an extra app or integration. Check that the apps you need exist and are actively maintained before you choose.

What is a headless webshop?

In a headless shop, the part the customer sees is separated from the part that handles products, stock and orders. It could be Shopify in the background with a fast frontend built in Next.js in front. The advantage is full freedom in design and speed while keeping a familiar admin. The drawback is that you now have two systems to maintain, and some Shopify apps do not work in a headless set-up. It typically makes sense for shops with high revenue or a strong brand.

How hard is it to move from WooCommerce to Shopify?

Products, customers and order history can usually be moved with an import tool, and a smaller shop can be moved in a few weeks. The hard part is everything around it: custom fields, plugins that must be replaced by apps, passwords that cannot be moved, and redirects from the old URLs so you do not lose Google rankings. Customers typically have to set a new password the first time. Plan the move outside your busiest season.

Do we own our webshop on Shopify?

You own your data, domain, product copy and images, and you can export products, customers and orders. The platform itself is rented, though, so the theme and app set-up cannot be moved to another system. On WooCommerce you own the whole installation and can move it to other hosting. On a custom solution, the way we build it, you own both code and data. Whatever the platform, the account and the domain should be in the company’s name.

Which platform is best for subscriptions and repeat purchases?

Both Shopify and WooCommerce can sell subscriptions through apps or plugins, which covers standard needs such as coffee every other week or a monthly box. If your subscription has special rules, such as pausing, changing contents, moving the delivery day or billing through MobilePay or direct debit, apps quickly become limiting. A custom solution is then often better, because the rules can be built the way your business actually works. See also our page on payment solutions.

Want us to build it for you?

You get a fixed-price proposal within 24 hours.

Get an honest recommendation and a fixed price