Shopify vs WordPress - which is right for your South African business?

The simple answer first

If you're selling products online, start with Shopify. If you need a business website, portfolio, blog or service-based site, WordPress is usually the better fit. But there's nuance worth understanding before you commit.

What Shopify is built for

Shopify is purpose-built for e-commerce. Everything - from inventory management to payment gateways to shipping rules - is designed around selling products. It's hosted, which means Shopify handles your servers, security and updates. For a South African business selling physical products, Shopify makes accepting payments via PayFast, Peach Payments or PayGate relatively straightforward.

The trade-off is cost. Shopify's basic plan starts at around $29/month (roughly R550), and transaction fees apply if you don't use Shopify Payments (which isn't available in SA yet). Add apps for reviews, upsells and email marketing, and monthly costs can climb significantly.

What WordPress is built for

WordPress started as a blogging platform and evolved into a general-purpose content management system that now powers about 43% of the internet. It's incredibly flexible - you can build almost anything with it, including online stores using WooCommerce.

WordPress is self-hosted, meaning you pay for your own hosting (R150–R700/month depending on your needs) and are responsible for updates and security. The flexibility comes with more complexity.

Cost comparison for South African businesses

For a WordPress business site with hosting, you're typically looking at R150–R350/month ongoing after the initial build. For Shopify, the platform fee alone starts at $29/month, though you get hosting included. For a small e-commerce operation, Shopify often works out similar cost once you factor in hosting savings.

Which is easier to manage yourself?

Shopify is more user-friendly for non-technical owners. Adding products, running sales and managing orders is intuitive. WordPress gives you more control but has a steeper learning curve.

The recommendation

Choose Shopify if: Your primary purpose is selling products online. You want a managed platform without worrying about servers. You're scaling a product-based business.

Choose WordPress if: You're building a service business website, blog, portfolio or informational site. You want maximum flexibility. You might add e-commerce later but it's not your core business model.

At Something Fishy Designs we build on both platforms - and on Next.js for high-performance custom sites. If you're not sure which fits your situation, get in touch and we'll give you a straight recommendation based on what you actually need.