WhizzyCommerce vs WooCommerce: a hosted WooCommerce alternative

WooCommerce is a free, open-source plugin for WordPress, with no subscription and no fee on your sales. That is real, and it is why so many shops run on it.

The plugin is the part that is free. A shop also needs a server, and WooCommerce's own pricing page puts hosting at $25 to $350 a month for most stores. Features beyond the core come as extensions, which it lists at $29 to $299 a year each. Card payments go through WooPayments or another provider of your choice; WooPayments charges 1.5% + €0.25 for European cards in Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Germany, with 2% more for cards from outside Europe and 2% more when a currency is converted.

And there is the cost that has no invoice: keeping WordPress, WooCommerce, the theme and every plugin updated, backed up and secure, or paying someone to.

Most people weighing WooCommerce are also weighing Shopify, and the choice usually comes down to control against convenience.

• WooCommerce gives you the code and the server. No platform fee, any host, any plugin, and the whole job of running it.
• Shopify runs everything for you, for a monthly plan from €27 on Basic in Portugal, and an extra fee if you pay through a provider other than Shopify Payments. The numbers are on WhizzyCommerce vs Shopify.
• WhizzyCommerce is hosted like Shopify, so there is no server to look after. Like WooCommerce, you bring your own payment provider without any penalty. And there is no monthly fee until you choose Pro.

• You want the code: to host it where you like, change anything, and never depend on a single company.
• Your shop lives inside a WordPress site with a lot of content, and you want both in one place.
• You rely on particular plugins from WordPress's very large ecosystem, or on a developer who knows it well.
• You sell a lot and want no platform fee at all. At high volume, hosting plus extensions can cost less than any percentage.
• You want a long track record. We are in open beta, and say on our home page what is not built yet.

• No server to run. Hosting, updates, backups and security are our job. There are no plugin updates to apply on a Sunday night.
• Free until you sell. €0 a month on Free and 2% of each paid order, then Pro at €49 and 0.5%. See pricing.
• Included, not bolted on. Discount codes, gift cards, abandoned checkout emails, several currencies, a blog, translations and your own domain come with both plans.
• Your money, straight to you. Stripe, PayPal or Mollie on your own account, or ifthenpay for Multibanco and MB WAY in Portugal.
• An assistant that runs the shop. Say what to change, see exactly what would happen, confirm it, and undo it in one click if you change your mind.
• Invoicing for Portugal. Certified invoices through your InvoiceXpress or Moloni account.

There is no WooCommerce importer, and no spreadsheet importer yet either. Products go in by hand or through the shop's assistant; customers and orders do not come across. The details are on importing a shop.

1. 1

   Keep your export

   Export products with WooCommerce's built-in CSV exporter, and customers and orders with the tool you prefer. Keep the files as your record: nothing here reads them yet.

2. 2

   Add your products

   Type them in on the Products screen, where options become real variants, or describe them to the assistant, which adds a few at a time as a preview you confirm and can fetch each product's pictures from a web address.

3. 3

   Choose a look

   Install a theme from the theme catalogue, free to try before you buy, and edit it yourself or ask Claude to.

4. 4

   Connect payments and your domain

   Paste your payment provider's keys, point your domain, and open the shop.