Which e-commerce platform to choose? WooCommerce vs custom
Comparison of WooCommerce (easy start), PrestaShop (scalable) and custom code (full control, expensive). When to choose each? Costs, SEO, performance.
Choosing an e-commerce platform is a long-term decision. WooCommerce, PrestaShop and custom code each have their strengths and trade-offs. Here is an honest comparison of costs, SEO, scalability and ease of use.
WooCommerce – easy start, low entry barrier 🚀
WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that turns any site into an online store. Low startup cost, huge community, thousands of extensions. Ideal for beginners testing the market.
⛔ MYTH: "Free means inferior"
FACT: WooCommerce is free because it makes money through its ecosystem – hosting, premium plugins, themes. It is a mature, secure platform used by millions of stores worldwide. Problems come from poor configuration and weak hosting, not from WooCommerce itself.
PrestaShop is a dedicated e-commerce CMS. Better performance at scale (10,000+ products) but requires more technical knowledge. Custom code offers complete control at a much higher cost – minimum $5,000+ startup, ongoing developer team needed.
Check our e-commerce development services or contact me for free advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is WooCommerce suitable for stores with thousands of products?
- Yes, but it requires good hosting, database optimization and caching. With 10,000+ products, consider a dedicated server and CDN. WooCommerce itself has no product limit – the limit is your server performance.
Michał Grycz
Software engineer and founder of MGSupport. Designs and builds high-performance web systems, e-commerce, and business automations.