Why people really choose WooCommerce (in the words of the community)

We know WooCommerce is awesome, but how often do we stop and think about why? I asked the WordPress community - and this is what they shared.

In the past couple of years, I've noticed people becoming increasingly fearful for the future of WooCommerce. While data from StoreLeads still lists WooCommerce as the market leader, other sources like BuiltWith tell a different story. I genuinely have no idea which is the biggest ecommerce platform in 2025 🤷🏻‍♀️

But maybe it doesn't matter. The point is that people in the WordPress community are worried. They see proprietary platforms like Shopify with their huge advertising budgets and ever-increasing market share, and wonder whether WooCommerce can continue to compete.

WooCommerce is more about community than huge budgets, so this year I've spoken with various people about how we can work together to promote it (I'll share more about my plans for this in the coming months 😉). And frighteningly, the people I speak to are surprisingly unclear about why merchants, developers and agencies should choose WooCommerce over other platforms. Some people mention reasons like "open source" and "you own your data" without being able to explain why this matters to merchants.

If we're going to be ambassadors for WooCommerce, then we need to understand its main strengths!

So I decided to ask the community. For me, that generally means posting a question on X - so that's what I did:

What do you see as the main reasons to choose @WooCommerce over other platforms like Shopify - open source, flexibility, ownership, community, or something else?

I often see people worrying about WooCommerce getting left behind, but I think we should focus on where it shines so…

— Katie Keith (@KatieKeithBarn2) November 4, 2025

I received lots of replies from developers, agencies, merchants, and hosting providers. I grouped every answer into themes and counted how often each reason was mentioned. I also collated the responses from a similar post by James Kemp from Woo.

Here are the results.

Top reasons people choose WooCommerce

1. Flexibility / customizability
2. Ownership / control of data
3. Low cost
4. Range of plugins / integrations
5. Easy of use / low code
6. Ecosystem
7. Open source
8. Market size / maturity
9. Performance / CRO

A couple of other reasons had 1 vote each. These were accessibility, SEO, and already being familiar with WooCommerce.

Let's break down the key reasons and consider what they really mean.

Extreme flexibility and customization

20 votes

This was the most common theme by a large margin. More than any other reason, people choose WooCommerce because they can change anything: front end, checkout logic, data flows, automations, pricing rules, custom code, and integrations. If a feature doesn’t exist, then you can build it.

The replies were full of examples where WooCommerce enabled things that weren’t possible on other platforms without hitting limits:

"I can have AI write a snippet of code to change something in WooCommerce. With Shopify, there has to be an app for it, or it isn’t possible."

"After years of doing theme support, I’ve seen some of the quirkiest setups imaginable. WooCommerce makes it possible to do that."

“Custom code. I run PHP functions on new order events, have custom backends, all from a few hooks and actions.”

"For the dream of what my store might eventually become. Because I know that even if a solution does not yet exist for my imagined future needs, I know it can exist."

Full ownership and control of data

12 votes

WooCommerce is self hosted. You own your database, your customer records, and your business decisions. You control everything. Your data. Your code. Your hosting. Your rules.

Multiple people highlighted the same point: no one can delete your store, freeze your account, or decide what you can sell:

"Woo is self hosted meaning you retain full control over your operations."

"Data is mine, doesn’t require a subscription, and I can customize it as I wish."

"Shopify’s Trust and Safety team constantly holding an axe over you. Owning the entire system yourself is such a power play, rather than being locked in and dictated to by a third party. It’s equivalent to having a landlord."

Low cost / no platform fees

9 votes

The core WooCommerce platform is 100% free. There is no monthly platform fee. You only pay for the hosting and extensions you choose. For nonprofits, hobby stores, or early-stage ideas, that matters.

The cost theme came up repeatedly:

"#1 reason is for nonprofit or hobby projects: Woo is free. Shopify is a ripoff and charges 50 dollars per month whether you're selling anything or not."

"Cost. Shopify adds up way too quickly for smaller businesses. That said, I would always choose Shopify when cost isn’t a factor."

"Because it’s free, built on WordPress, super flexible with plugins and great for SEO. You fully own your store and can scale it easily."

Range of plugins and integrations

8 votes

There are thousands of extensions available for WooCommerce stores. If you need a feature, there’s almost always a plugin for it - and if not, you can build it (which links back to our no. 1 point).

"The availability and quality of existing extensions."

Open source: no vendor lock-in

5 votes

WooCommerce brings no vendor lock-in. No gatekeeping. No approval process to modify your store.

"Open source. You can do anything with it."

"We used to be closed source... Then it hit us... we are simply salespeople for a closed product with no control. Shopify was the same. When Automattic bought Woo, we switched over."

Open source is not just a philosophy. It is a long term risk reduction strategy.

Ease of use / low code

5 votes

Many people build WooCommerce stores without a developer. It's easy to use and you can add extra features via plugins instead of writing code.

"Pretty much low-code solution."

"Large ecosystem of plugins that can add features without the need of large development teams."

A mature ecosystem that keeps delivering

5 votes

The community, documentation, developer base, and plugin marketplace give WooCommerce a longevity and support network that most platforms don’t match.

"Customizability, integrations, ecosystem."

Market size and maturity

4 votes

While we can argue about the exact numbers, it's undeniable that WooCommerce powers a significant share of ecommerce globally. Third-party services often integrate with WooCommerce first because the user base is so large.

"It has the biggest market. Our WooCommerce plugins usually massively outsell our equivalent non-WooCommerce plugins."

Our internal data at Barn2 supports this. For example, our WooCommerce Protected Categories plugin has generated $573k+ in lifetime revenue, compared to $170k for the generic version that works outside WooCommerce. (And it would be even more if we hadn't diluted the success of WooCommerce Protected Categories by launching similar plugins like WooCommerce Private Store and WooCommerce Wholesale Pro.)

So what is WooCommerce’s biggest strength?

Based on the data, the community doesn’t choose WooCommerce because it is open source. They choose it because of what open source enables: freedom.

Open source is the mechanism. Flexibility is the outcome. That’s what merchants care about.

So instead of just saying “WooCommerce is open source”, we should be saying:

If we want WooCommerce to grow, then we need to lead with that message. The more clearly we articulate WooCommerce’s strengths, the more confidence we can give the next generation of merchants, developers and agencies wondering which ecommerce platform to choose 💪