The TL;DR for Indian founders
Pick Shopify if you want to launch in 14 days and don't have a dev team. Pick WooCommerce if you want full control, lower long-term costs, and have technical bandwidth.
Total cost of ownership in 2026
Shopify (₹ per month, INR)
- Basic plan: ~₹2,500
- Apps (reviews, upsell, SMS): ~₹3,000–₹8,000
- Transaction fee if not using Shopify Payments: 2%
- Total typical year-1 cost: ₹1.2–2.5 lakh
WooCommerce
- Hosting (managed WP): ~₹1,500–₹4,000
- Premium plugins (one-time + renewal): ~₹15,000–₹40,000/year
- Developer support: ~₹5,000–₹20,000/month
- Total typical year-1 cost: ₹80K–2 lakh
Payment gateways, the India-specific factor
Both work with Razorpay, Cashfree and PayU. Shopify Payments isn't available in India, so you'll pay the 2% transaction fee unless you're on Shopify Plus.
GST invoicing
WooCommerce wins here, plugins like "GST for WooCommerce" handle HSN codes, IGST/CGST split, and Tally export out of the box. Shopify requires a paid app like Sufio or custom Liquid edits.
Scaling past ₹1 crore GMV
Shopify scales effortlessly until you hit Shopify Plus territory (~₹20L/year). WooCommerce can scale further but needs serious infrastructure, Cloudways or AWS, Redis, Cloudflare.
Our recommendation for most Indian D2C brands
- 0–₹50L GMV: Shopify Basic
- ₹50L–₹5Cr GMV: Shopify or well-architected WooCommerce
- ₹5Cr+: Shopify Plus or headless WooCommerce/Next.js
For a custom-built D2C site that beats both on speed and SEO, see our web development services.
Related reading on Uddhavo
- Best Website Designing Company in Kolkata (2026): What Great Actually Looks Like, Web Development
- Website Conversion Rate Optimization for Indian Businesses (2026), Web Development
- Best Website Development Company in Siliguri: Complete Business Guide 2026, Web Development
- How to Choose the Best Digital Marketing Agency in Siliguri (2026 Buyer's Checklist), Strategy
- Digital Marketing in Jalpaiguri: The Local Business Guide for 2026, Local SEO
- Darjeeling and Sikkim Tourism SEO: The Booking-Season Playbook for 2026, Local SEO
Useful external resources
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Founder & CEO, Uddhavo · Uddhavo Digital Marketing Agency, Siliguri
Manashi leads SEO, performance media and web strategy at Uddhavo, working hands-on with 150+ brands across Siliguri, Darjeeling, Gangtok, Kolkata and the wider North Bengal market. She writes from live campaign data, not theory.