The short answer
- Choose Shopify if selling products online is the main job of the site. It handles the checkout, payments, stock and shipping for you.
- Choose WordPress if the main job is content: service pages, a blog, case studies, bookings, and you want to edit it all yourself.
- Choose custom code if speed, security or an exact design matter most, or if the site needs to work in a way no platform supports.
Everything below is the detail behind those three lines.
What each one actually is
Shopify
Shopify is a hosted store builder. You pay a monthly subscription, and Shopify runs the servers, security, checkout and payment processing. You pick a theme, add products and start selling. The design is changed through the theme, written in Shopify’s own template language called Liquid, and extra features come from apps in the Shopify App Store.
WordPress
WordPress is free, open-source software that you install on your own hosting. It is a content management system first: pages, posts and media, edited in a visual editor. Its huge library of themes and plugins can turn it into almost anything, including a store with WooCommerce.
Custom code
A custom site is written from scratch for your business, with no platform underneath. It can be a fast static site that serves ready-made pages, or a full web app with accounts, dashboards and its own database. The site you are reading now is custom code.
Side by side
| Shopify | WordPress | Custom code | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Online stores | Content and service sites | Speed, exact design, unusual needs |
| Running costs | Monthly plan, plus paid apps | Hosting, plus premium plugins | Hosting, often very cheap |
| Who handles security | Shopify | You or your developer | Your developer, but little to attack |
| Editing content | Easy | Easy | Needs setup, or a developer |
| Design freedom | Within the theme | Wide | Total |
| Speed | Good | Varies with plugins | Usually the fastest |
When Shopify is the right choice
Shopify earns its monthly fee when you sell physical or digital products and want a checkout that simply works. Payments, taxes, discounts, abandoned cart emails and shipping rates are built in or one app away. You will not spend weekends updating software.
The trade-offs: you work within Shopify’s rules. The checkout can only be changed in limited ways, some features cost extra as apps, and transaction fees apply if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments. If you need logic Shopify does not offer, such as unusual discount rules, a custom Shopify app fills the gap without leaving the platform.
When WordPress is the right choice
WordPress suits businesses that win work through content: a law firm, a dental practice, a consultancy, a coach. You can add pages, publish articles and update prices yourself, and search engines read it well.
The trade-off is upkeep. WordPress, its theme and its plugins all need regular updates, and a site stacked with plugins slows down and becomes harder to secure. A well-built WordPress site uses a lean theme, a few trusted plugins, and a custom plugin for anything specific to your business rather than five plugins stitched together.
When custom code is the right choice
A custom site makes sense when the platforms get in the way. Common reasons:
- Speed. A static site serves pages with nothing to calculate, so it loads very quickly, which visitors notice and search engines reward.
- Security. With no database or plugins on the public site, there is very little for an attacker to break.
- An exact design. Your designer’s work is built as drawn, not bent to fit a theme.
- A real process. Customer portals, quote tools and internal dashboards are software, not websites, and are best built as such.
The trade-off is editing. Content that changes often needs an editing setup planned from the start, or you rely on your developer for changes.
Questions to ask before you decide
- What is the site’s main job? Selling, informing or doing work for your team?
- Who will update it, and how often? Weekly blog posts point to WordPress. A price change twice a year does not.
- What does it need to connect to? A warehouse, a CRM, a booking system?
- What will it cost to run for three years? Count subscriptions, paid apps or plugins, hosting and maintenance, not just the build.
- What happens if it grows? More products, more languages, more staff editing it?
Can you switch later?
Yes, but plan for it. Moving between platforms means moving content, rebuilding the design and keeping your search rankings with proper redirects. Our guide on redesigning without losing search rankings covers how.
If you are unsure, tell us what your business does and what the site needs to do. We build on all three, so we will recommend the one that fits rather than the one we prefer.