WordPress vs Shopify vs Custom Website: Which Suits Your Kerala Business?
“Should my website be on WordPress or Shopify?” is one of the first questions business owners in Idukki ask us. The honest answer is that it depends on what the website has to do. A homestay, a spice shop and a school all need different things, and the right platform for one can be the wrong one for another.
Here is a plain comparison of the three main options, what each one is good at, and how to choose.
The three options in one line each
- WordPress is free, open-source software that runs a large share of the web: about 43% of all websites, according to W3Techs figures reported by Barn2. You host it yourself and extend it with themes and plugins.
- Shopify is a paid, hosted online store platform. You pay a monthly subscription and Shopify looks after the hosting, security and checkout.
- A custom website is built from scratch for your business, with no off-the-shelf platform underneath. It does exactly what you need and nothing more.
WordPress: flexible and easy to edit
WordPress started as blogging software and grew into a full website system. With the WooCommerce plugin it can also run an online shop.
Good for: service businesses, homestays and resorts, schools, clinics, restaurants with online ordering, and anyone who wants to add pages, posts and photos themselves.
What to know:
- You need your own hosting and domain, and someone has to keep WordPress, its theme and its plugins updated. Out-of-date plugins are the most common way WordPress sites get hacked.
- It is only as fast as its theme and plugins. A heavy theme with 30 plugins will be slow on mobile data in the hills.
- Thousands of plugins mean almost any feature is possible, but each one adds weight and something else to maintain.
See website maintenance and AMC for how we keep WordPress sites updated and backed up.
Shopify: a ready-made online store
Shopify is built for one job: selling products online. Product pages, cart, checkout, stock and order emails all work from day one.
Good for: product businesses with a catalogue to sell, such as spices, clothing, handicrafts or food products, especially if you also sell outside Kerala.
What to know:
- You pay Shopify every month, and many useful features come as paid apps on top.
- Shopify’s own payment system is not available in India, so Indian stores use a gateway such as Razorpay. Shopify then adds its own transaction fee on each sale on top of the gateway’s fee, and the rate depends on your plan (Razorpay).
- Your store lives on Shopify’s platform. You can export your products and orders, but you cannot take the store itself to another host.
- It is less suited to things that are not product sales, such as room bookings, appointment slots or student portals.
Custom website: built around your business
A custom website is written for you, without a general-purpose platform underneath. This website, websigninfotech.in, is custom-built: it loads fast on mobile and has nothing on it we do not use.
Good for: businesses that need something specific, such as a booking system, a customer or student portal, a dealer ordering system, or a site that must be very fast and secure. See web applications and portals and online booking systems.
What to know:
- It usually takes longer to build than a WordPress or Shopify site, because everything is made for you.
- There are no monthly platform fees and no plugins to keep patching, so there is less to go wrong.
- Content can be edited through a simple admin area or content system built in, or we update it for you.
- Changes later need a developer, so choose a team that will be around to support it.
Side-by-side comparison
| WordPress | Shopify | Custom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Content, services, small shops | Selling products | Booking, portals, special features |
| Editing by you | Easy | Easy | Through a built-in admin, or by us |
| Monthly platform fee | No (you pay hosting) | Yes | No (you pay hosting) |
| Online payments in India | Razorpay and others via plugins | Razorpay and others, plus a Shopify transaction fee | Razorpay and others, built in |
| Speed on mobile | Depends on theme and plugins | Good | Very good, built for it |
| Updates needed | Regular core and plugin updates | Handled by Shopify | Few |
| Move to another host later | Yes | No | Yes |
What affects the cost of each
We do not publish prices, because every project is different. These are the things that change what a website costs on any platform:
- Number of pages and how much content you already have ready
- Design: a ready-made theme adjusted for you, or a design made from scratch
- Features: online payments, bookings, multiple languages, member logins
- For shops: how many products, variations (sizes, weights, colours) and shipping rules
- Ongoing costs: hosting, domain, platform subscription, paid plugins or apps, and maintenance
Ask any developer for a written list of the yearly costs after launch, not just the build cost. For Shopify, include the monthly plan and any apps. For WordPress, include hosting, premium plugins and updates.
How to choose: three quick questions
- Are you mainly selling products online? If yes, with a real catalogue, Shopify or WordPress with WooCommerce. Shopify for the simplest setup; WooCommerce if you want no monthly platform fee and more control.
- Do you need bookings, logins or a workflow of your own? If yes, a custom build, or WordPress with a well-chosen plugin for simpler cases.
- Is it mainly information, photos and enquiries? WordPress if you want to edit it yourself often; a custom site if speed and low maintenance matter most.
Whichever you choose, make sure the domain and hosting are registered in your business name, and that you get the logins. See domain and hosting for how we set that up.
Not sure which fits your business?
We build on WordPress, on Shopify and from scratch, so we recommend whatever suits your business rather than the platform we prefer. Tell us what you sell or offer, how customers reach you today and what you want the website to do, and we will suggest the right option.
Read more about website design and development and e-commerce websites, or message us on WhatsApp to talk it through.