Shopify vs. WordPress VIP

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Shopify
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Shopify is a commerce platform designed for both online stores and retail locations. Shopify offers a professional online storefront, a payment solution to accept credit cards, and the Shopify POS application to power retail sales.
$39
per month
WordPress VIP
Score 7.5 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Wordpress VIP, from a team at Automattic, is enterprise WordPress hosting with customer or digital experience features for enterprises.N/A
Pricing
ShopifyWordPress VIP
Editions & Modules
Basic Shopify
$39
per month
Grow
$105
per month
Advanced
$399
per month
Shopify Plus
2,000
per month
Shopify Plus
2,300
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ShopifyWordPress VIP
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsA 25% discount is offered for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ShopifyWordPress VIP
Considered Both Products
Shopify

No answer on this topic

WordPress VIP
Chose WordPress VIP
Since I have been in my position at Chive Media Group, we have not evaluated alternatives.
Features
ShopifyWordPress VIP
Online Storefront
Comparison of Online Storefront features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
8.4
149 Ratings
8% above category average
WordPress VIP
-
Ratings
Product catalog & listings8.8149 Ratings00 Ratings
Product management8.2147 Ratings00 Ratings
Bulk product upload8.3125 Ratings00 Ratings
Branding8.5146 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile storefront9.1142 Ratings00 Ratings
Product variations8.0139 Ratings00 Ratings
Website integration8.7140 Ratings00 Ratings
Visual customization8.6146 Ratings00 Ratings
CMS7.6118 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Shopping Cart
Comparison of Online Shopping Cart features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
8.5
141 Ratings
11% above category average
WordPress VIP
-
Ratings
Abandoned cart recovery8.2131 Ratings00 Ratings
Checkout user experience8.8139 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Payment System
Comparison of Online Payment System features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
9.4
143 Ratings
12% above category average
WordPress VIP
-
Ratings
eCommerce security9.4143 Ratings00 Ratings
eCommerce Marketing
Comparison of eCommerce Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
8.3
146 Ratings
8% above category average
WordPress VIP
-
Ratings
Promotions & discounts8.5140 Ratings00 Ratings
Personalized recommendations8.432 Ratings00 Ratings
SEO8.0135 Ratings00 Ratings
eCommerce Business Management
Comparison of eCommerce Business Management features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
8.1
147 Ratings
1% above category average
WordPress VIP
-
Ratings
Multi-site management6.719 Ratings00 Ratings
Order processing9.0144 Ratings00 Ratings
Inventory management7.6143 Ratings00 Ratings
Shipping8.4135 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom functionality8.7136 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
-
Ratings
WordPress VIP
7.3
2 Ratings
12% below category average
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings7.32 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
-
Ratings
WordPress VIP
7.3
2 Ratings
6% below category average
API00 Ratings9.12 Ratings
Internationalization / multi-language00 Ratings5.52 Ratings
Web Content Creation
Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
-
Ratings
WordPress VIP
8.2
2 Ratings
5% above category average
WYSIWYG editor00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
Code quality / cleanliness00 Ratings7.32 Ratings
Admin section00 Ratings8.22 Ratings
Page templates00 Ratings8.21 Ratings
Mobile optimization / responsive design00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
Publishing workflow00 Ratings7.32 Ratings
Web Content Management
Comparison of Web Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Shopify
-
Ratings
WordPress VIP
8.0
2 Ratings
7% above category average
Content taxonomy00 Ratings7.31 Ratings
SEO support00 Ratings7.31 Ratings
Bulk management00 Ratings7.32 Ratings
Availability / breadth of extensions00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
Community / comment management00 Ratings9.12 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ShopifyWordPress VIP
Small Businesses
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Score 10.0 out of 10
ManageWP
ManageWP
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus
Score 8.9 out of 10
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
ShopifyWordPress VIP
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(161 ratings)
7.6
(22 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(16 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(15 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(3 ratings)
8.2
(21 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
ShopifyWordPress VIP
Likelihood to Recommend
Shopify
Shopify allowed us to handle matrix items and combined listings. Both of which we could not do on our previous platform. There was some customization involved but overall, it did what we needed it to. The one downside was that if we want to change anything we would have to reload the entire set of matrix items manually.
Read full review
Automattic
WordPress VIP really changed the game when it comes to WordPress CMS and Content Management. A one-stop shop for all our client's business needs. We are focusing on Content Management instead of technicalities. The big advantage is the security features covering all recent vulnerabilities that any WordPress developer/user wastes lots of precious time fixing/updating. Performance-wise, WordPress VIP is definitely up there. We’ve been doing lots of optimization work over the last few years. Every client wants to score 100. With WordPress VIP we decreased the time spent on optimization significantly and now feel confident with taking more performance optimisation work than we did before. Lastly, maybe the most important for every business is the support quality. WordPress VIP runs a superb support team with phenomenal knowledge and expertise. Quick to respond and solves issues here and now. It is definitely recommended.
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Pros
Shopify
  • It's base security and integration with trusted security partners (such as NoFraud) is a game-changer when it comes to reliability and a "hands off approach" for our IT department. The up-time is also very good.
  • It offers a wide range of verified plugins that are (for the most part) easy to install and use for any specific scenario you're looking for.
  • It's Analytics area in the admin is actually nice and offers a wide variety of reports that you can run.
Read full review
Automattic
  • Keeps us informed of upcoming releases/patches associated with the Wordpress Platform.
  • Introduces us to products/companies/Wordpress plugins as necessary when new business needs arise.
  • Amy and Allie are excellent at managing the relationship; speaking with them on our monthly calls is a pleasure.
Read full review
Cons
Shopify
  • I would love it if Shopify built an in house app which helped us post UGCs and social proof from platforms such as Instagram, Youtube etc. more seamlessly on our website. Right now, we are able to do it through third party apps but the look and feel is just okay.
Read full review
Automattic
  • Too many different dashboard formats
  • Everything should have the same look and feel.
  • The admin portal looks different than the user content portal
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Shopify
Nothing we have used in the past or have seen thus far even comes close to offering what we get with Shopify Plus, especially for the price. You cannot even come close to getting what we are getting at the price we pay. We are beyond thrilled and Shopify Plus meets and exceeds all of our needs and expectations. We love it!
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Automattic
It's true enterprise ready hosting framework providing unparalleled hosting infrastructure for WordPress. Where an organisation has high load needs, but with stability and scale VIP delivers. It provides complete peace of mind that the hosting, security and scalability are taken care of and organisations can focus on developing out their website strategies
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Usability
Shopify
It is fairly easy to use Shopify regardless of what task you are attempting to perform. Most things are customizable to a degree without requiring coding ability. I have very limited coding experience and have still been able to navigate my way around changing features of the website that require edits to the code with the use of AI and trial-and-error. This previously wasn't possible with the WooCommerce platform.
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Automattic
There is documentation for everything you might need.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Shopify
Shopify support is always available when you need them.
Read full review
Automattic
No answers on this topic
Performance
Shopify
Shopify website speed is quite impressive. Even if we integrate couple apps, it does not hamper the site speed.
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Automattic
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Shopify
In terms of support I give Shopify a 9 out of 10 because they're always very friendly and thorough, and they personally can't solve my problem for me they always point me in the proper direction with the proper information I need to move forward
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Automattic
The people who work for WordPress VIP clearly are passionate about representing the organisation. Therefore when support is required, they do go above and beyond what you may expect in terms of overall support. They take security very seriously, and due to the nature of VIP, it's rarely a concern for the end-user, if at all.
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Online Training
Shopify
Shopify offered us several trainings to setup a Shopify store, how to build a brand, SEO, product photography etc. All this content have been super helpful in our journey.
Read full review
Automattic
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Shopify
Just start now and make the switch, the sooner the better. You will love it and it is really a simple process
Read full review
Automattic
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Shopify
Big Commerce and SAP Hybris are two other platforms we've investigated and Shopify is by far easiest to use and customize. While it doesn't do everything out of the box, the apps do fill in many gaps. The cost however, is probably the biggest selling point against these other two options.
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Automattic
Our team manages 4 different brands' websites and before WordPress VIP we were using multiple different hosts including DreamHost and AWS. These were convoluted and didn't offer the enterprise features for our organization that WP VIP was capable of. We also considered Pantheon, but they were not Wordpress-centric enough for the direction we were going.
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Scalability
Shopify
Shopify has basic to high-end plans. The plans grow with the brand`s growth and I love that about Shopify.
Read full review
Automattic
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Shopify
  • It got the store up quickly so the client could start selling. She was previously selling products on Etsy and Facebook and wanted to consolidate everything onto one website, so the main thing Shopify solved was to reduce the store owner's time in managing all her products on multiple sites. Also, we had previously built a website on Wix with all the custom functionality and branding she needed - a truly great, high-end website - but it performed so slowly that it was unusable. So the speed at which Shopify can be set up and then works on the page is appreciable.
  • The website was manageable by the client - she could figure the system out herself after a while so she saved money on costs for hiring developers. She did have to hire developers to customize some of the plug-ins but costs are all relative; it wasn't a high investment compared to building a full e-commerce website. With the complexity and size of her product base and the functionality and branding she wanted to have in a website, and the potential of her business, she would have needed to invest well over $10,000 to get to where she really needs to be. In the end she kept the budget under $5000.00.
  • Costs kept climbing with plug-ins having to be added with everything. My client became more involved in building the website and began to try multiple plugins, and she did not have the skill base to evaluate the plugins functionalities so she chose plugins that did not do everything she needed, and then ended up paying the plugin developers to customize the plugins. So on one hand, it's pretty amazing to be able to bring up an e-commerce website as quickly as a week or so, but on the other hand if you need anything customized or deeper functionality in regards to product searching and filtering on the web page, and management on the backend, it quickly goes beyond the skills of the average person to manage, and above their expected budget as well. In the end my client really did not get anything close to the functionality for the website we had originally envisioned.
  • Shopify was the easiest way we could find to bring the client's products to a global market. We evaluated several other platforms and the functionality simple did not seem to be adequate, so Shopify seemed like the only solution that could do enough of what we needed and still stay within this client's budget. Really the problem in this project was not platform per se but that the budget wasn't large enough. Shopify managed to provide a solution for an ecommerce store with thousands of products on a tiny budget, so in the sense of pure functionality it provided the best value of all the platforms we evaluated. The solution still isn't big enough for this client's business though so, without having insights into this client's post-build sales results, my guess is that because her new website did not make her products easier to sort through, and she likely didn't have much more budget left to invest in SEO and other marketing of the website, her sales probably didn't increase substantially as a result of having built the website. So I think this project all in all did not likely have a high ROI.
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Automattic
  • Working as a WordPress VIP gold partner has helped our business grow from 12 staff to 28 staff in 2 years. They have brought many projects to the table that are always the right ones for us and they really understand our goals as a business.
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