WooCommerce or Shopify: the crossover point in Spain

The crossover point between Shopify and WooCommerce is calculated, not opined. Public prices and commissions verified on 08-27-2026, and the formula using your own figures.

There is no winning platform between WooCommerce and Shopify: there is only a crossover point. Shopify is cheaper as long as your monthly revenue remains below the fixed surcharge of WooCommerce divided by the difference in commission. With a 1.4 point difference and a €100 fixed surcharge, that crossover occurs at €7,143 per month.

Almost all Spanish comparisons between WooCommerce and Shopify end the same way: a list of pros, a list of cons, and an "it depends on your needs." That is not a comparison: it is a tie written with more words. The decision between the two platforms has a numerical answer, and that answer is a line that intersects with another at a specific point of monthly revenue.

Here, we calculate that point. With public prices verified on August 27, 2026, including the contradictions we found on the official websites, and noting the gaps where we lack our own data that we have not yet measured. We prefer a marked gap over a pretty, invented figure.

The right question is not which one is better

Shopify and WooCommerce have two different cost structures, not two different levels of quality.

Shopify charges a low fixed fee and a high variable fee: a monthly plan subscription plus a percentage of every sale. WooCommerce charges a high fixed fee and a low variable fee: the plugin is free and open source, but you need hosting, maintenance, and extensions, while the commission is set solely by your payment gateway.

Two lines. One starts low and rises quickly; the other starts high and rises slowly. They cross once, and that crossover is all you need to know.

The formula is this:

Crossover point (€ per month) = difference in monthly fixed cost ÷ difference in commission

Below that point, Shopify is cheaper. Above it, WooCommerce. This is not a studio opinion: it is basic division.

The industry standard: "It depends on your needs." The article ends without you being able to decide anything, and the choice ends up being made by whoever sells you the implementation.

Our criteria: Two cost lines, a crossover point in euros per month, and a formula that you can redo with your own figures in five minutes.

Public prices, as they stood on August 27, 2026

We start with what is verifiable. We visited the Shopify pricing page in Spanish and this is what it showed.

First thing that no Spanish comparison mentions: the Shopify pricing page in Spanish shows amounts in US dollars, not euros. If you are going to build a three-year cost forecast, you are not fixing a cost: you are also assuming an exchange rate risk and a tax treatment for intra-community services or import of services, with its corresponding 349 form. We explain this separately in our guide to SaaS tools billed in dollars.

Second thing, and this one is more uncomfortable: the same page shows different rates depending on the payment method, and they do not always match between sections. The card rate we saw started at 2.9% + 30¢ on the Basic plan and dropped to 2.5% on Advanced. In the row for local methods—Bizum and MB WAY—the figures we read were 3.9% + 30¢ on Basic, 3.7% + 30¢ on Grow, and 3.5% + 30¢ on Advanced.

Data read from shopify.com/es/precios on 08-27-2026. The page mixes amounts in dollars with cent symbols and presents different rates per payment method. Before signing anything, ask Shopify for your rates in writing, in euros, and with the indicated VAT treatment. If your reading of the page does not match ours, the page has changed: the page wins, not us.

That Bizum has a higher rate on Shopify than the card matters a lot in Spain and almost nothing in the rest of the world. That is why no comparison translated from English mentions it.

And the third figure, the one that decides half of the Spanish cases:

The 2% surcharge is the detail that breaks the comparison

In Spain, a large part of commerce wants to charge through their bank's virtual POS, on the Redsys infrastructure, and wants Bizum alongside it. It is a reasonable preference: the money enters through the same place where everything else already enters.

If you choose Shopify and charge through Redsys, you do not just pay your bank's commission. You pay your bank's commission plus Shopify's surcharge for not using their gateway. On the Basic plan, that surcharge is 2%.

Translated: a virtual POS negotiated at 0.60% becomes an effective 2.60% while you are on Basic. Not because the bank raised anything, but because the platform charges you for letting you charge elsewhere.

Redsys does not publish a price because Redsys does not charge you: your bank does. Any article that gives you a fixed percentage for Redsys is making it up. We do not have it measured yet, so we leave it marked and do not fill it with smoke. The integration detail is in Redsys and Bizum in your online store.

What WooCommerce really costs

WooCommerce is free and open source: it is a WordPress plugin with more than seven million active installations, maintained by Automattic. "Free plugin" does not mean a free store.

To that figure, you must add three items that almost never appear in comparisons: payment extensions renewable each year, maintenance with updates and backups, and someone's hourly rate when something breaks on a Friday. Those three items are what move the crossover point, not the hosting.

— = data being measured; we will publish it once we have our own sample.

Write it down as a single figure: how much WooCommerce costs you per month before selling a single euro. Call it your fixed cost. It is half of the formula.

The commissions, face to face

The other half is the difference in commission. Here there are public and detailed prices, and they are those of Stripe and WooPayments.

Clean comparison, same card, same country: 1.5% + €0.25 on WooCommerce versus 2.9% + 30¢ on Shopify Basic. The difference is 1.4 percentage points on everything you sell. The fixed component per order is practically the same, with the exception that one is in euros and the other in US cents.

Look at the row for the premium card. A corporate or rewards card from the EEA goes in Stripe from 1.5% to 2.8%: almost double. If you sell to companies, your actual average commission is not the one for the standard card. It is quite a bit higher, and that differential is yours, not the advertisement's.

The model: where is your crossover point

You already have the two halves. Divide.

If the monthly fixed cost of WooCommerce exceeds the Shopify fee by X euros, and the commission difference is 1.4 points, your crossover point in monthly card revenue is X ÷ 0.014. This is arithmetic, not a market estimate: you can redo it on a napkin.

Read the table like this: if maintaining your WooCommerce costs you €100 per month more than the Shopify fee and you generate €4,000 in monthly revenue, Shopify is cheaper for you. If you generate €9,000, it is not. And if you also want to charge via Redsys, that threshold drops to €5,000 because of the 2% surcharge.

A nuance that almost no one mentions: the crossover point is crossed only once, but your revenue crosses it several times a year. A seasonal store may be below it for nine months and well above it in November and December. Decide based on your twelve-month average, not your best month.

The average ticket moves the crossover point

The fixed commission per order is not a small detail. It is a percentage in disguise, and its weight depends entirely on your average ticket size.

Those €0.25 per operation are 1.67% if your average order is €15, 0.83% if it is €30, 0.42% if it is €60, and 0.25% if it is €100.

Practical consequence: a low-ticket store pays in fixed commissions what a high-ticket store pays in percentage. If you sell €12 accessories with many orders, your priority is the fixed component per operation and the distribution of payment methods. If you sell €900 furniture, your priority is the percentage and the premium card.

• Average monthly revenue of the last twelve months, not the best month
• Real average ticket, calculated as revenue divided by number of orders
• Distribution of payments by method: Bizum, Spanish debit, Spanish credit, premium card, international card
• Monthly fixed cost of maintaining your WooCommerce: hosting, extensions, maintenance, and hours
• Commission of your virtual POS in writing and by payment method, not the "from" price in the brochure

What the crossover point does not measure

Money decides 70% of this choice. The remaining 30% does not fit into the formula, and it is worth saying before someone migrates to save €40 a month.

Ownership. With WooCommerce, the code, database, and content are yours and you can take them with you entirely. With Shopify, you have your data, but the platform does not travel with you. If this weighs on your decision, read about it in detail in who owns the code for my website.

The cost of migrating. Changing platforms costs money once and costs traffic for months if done poorly. If your crossover point is €400 in revenue above where you are, do not migrate: wait until the difference is large and stable.

Accessibility. Since June 28, 2025, Law 11/2023 applies the European Accessibility Act in Spain, and e-commerce is among the affected services. Neither WooCommerce nor Shopify makes you compliant by default: compliance is the responsibility of the specific store, with its template and its forms.

Who maintains it. WooCommerce needs updates, backups, and someone to watch them. If there is no one, do not choose WooCommerce to save 1.4 points: you will end up paying those points in incidents.

WooCommerce lowers your commission, not your work: the commission is discounted by the gateway alone, the work is paid for every month by a person with a name.

How we do it

When a founder comes to us with this question, we do not start with the platform. We start with their collection sheet.

We work with a fixed price per phase, agreed upon before starting and with no surprise hours. We deliver code, source files, and documentation so your team can continue without us. And if, after running the numbers, it turns out that Shopify is your best option for the next two years, we will tell you, even if implementing it gives us less work.

Frequently asked questions

From what revenue amount is WooCommerce recommended?

It depends on two of your figures: your monthly fixed surcharge and your commission difference. With a €100 fixed surcharge and a 1.4 point difference, the crossover is at €7,143 per month; with Redsys involved, it drops to €5,000. We will not give you a universal threshold, because it does not exist.

Can I use Redsys and Bizum in Shopify?

Yes, through an external gateway, and the Shopify pricing page indicated on 08-27-2026 a 2% surcharge on the Basic plan for doing so, which is added to your bank's commission. That surcharge drops to 1% in Grow and 0.6% in Advanced, so the calculation changes with the plan.

Do Shopify prices include VAT?

Their Spanish-language page showed the amounts in dollars and did not indicate VAT treatment on 08-27-2026. Ask for a sample invoice and confirm if they apply the reverse charge mechanism before finalizing your forecast; if you are a freelancer or SME, that difference is noticeable in each month's cash flow.

Is WooCommerce free?

The plugin is: it is open source with more than seven million active installations. The store is not: you pay for hosting, extensions, and maintenance, and those three items are exactly what form the fixed surcharge of the calculation.

Is it worth migrating just for commissions?

Only if the annual difference comfortably exceeds the cost of migrating and the risk of losing positions. Below one year of clear amortization, we recommend you stay where you are and renegotiate your POS.

Choose with a number, not with a preference

The platform is not an identity: it is a cost structure with an expiration date. Do the calculation every twelve months and accept that the answer changes when your revenue changes.

Shall we discuss your situation and calculate it with your figures in a first 30-minute call?

Keep reading

• Setting up an online store in Spain: platform, real 3-year cost, and gateways
• Redsys and Bizum in your online store: how they are integrated and what commissions they have
• SaaS tools billed in dollars: intra-community VAT and form 349
• Total cost of a website over 36 months: the number almost no one gives you
• Is WordPress still worth it in 2026?

Transparency note. Some of our own data in this guide is still being measured on real projects, with a single method. We will publish it with its sample size and date range once the sample is large enough; until then, every figure you see carries its source and date of consultation.

Sources

• https://www.shopify.com/es/precios — Shopify plans and pricing in dollars (Basic 29/39, Grow 79/105, Advanced 299/399, Plus from 2,300 USD/month), card commissions from 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, local methods row (Bizum/MB WAY) 3.9%/3.7%/3.5% + 30¢, and external gateway surcharge 2%/1%/0.6%/0.2%. Accessed 08-27-2026
• https://stripe.com/es/pricing — Stripe commissions in Spain: 1.5% + €0.25 standard EEA cards, 2.8% + €0.25 premium EEA, 2.5% + €0.25 UK, 3.15% + €0.25 international, +2% currency conversion, €0.35 SEPA. Accessed 08-27-2026
• https://woocommerce.com/document/woopayments/fees-and-debits/fees/ — WooPayments Spain: 1.50% + €0.25 per card, +2.00% international outside Europe, +2.00% currency conversion, €15.00 per dispute, €0.35 SEPA. Accessed 08-27-2026
• https://es.wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/ — WooCommerce is free and open source, more than 7 million active installations, maintained by Automattic. Accessed 08-27-2026
• https://raiolanetworks.com/hosting-wordpress/ — public reference for WordPress hosting prices in Spain: Inicio €8.95, Base €9.95, Medio €19.95, Pro €29.95 per month, with the explicit indication that all prices are shown excluding VAT. Accessed 08-27-2026
• https://www.bbva.es — Virtual POS for companies: only public figure found for Redsys, 'from 0.40% depending on the payment method', without a complete table. Accessed 08-27-2026
• BOE-A-2023-11022, Law 11/2023 of May 8 — transposition of EU Directive 2019/882 (European Accessibility Act), applicable from 06-28-2025. Accessed 08-27-2026