If you’re about to launch a webshop, your first serious decision probably won’t be the design or the product list — it will be the system you build the whole thing on. It’s the eternal dilemma for first-time shop owners, and our experience says it’s worth doing your homework at moment zero. We’ve worked with quite a few clients who migrated to us from another platform, and without exception the switch cost them time, money and energy they would much rather have spent growing their business.
Everyone talks their own book, and we’re no exception: there’s a reason we cast our vote for WordPress–WooCommerce. Here’s why — so you don’t have to research it yourself.
Rented (SaaS) webshop platforms
A ready-made system for a monthly fee. Plenty of local and international providers offer rented webshop systems — ShopRenter, Unas, Shopify or Wix, for example. As the name suggests, these are closed systems: you use the webshop as a service, paying a monthly fee.
Their advantages are all about convenience. Right after signing up you have a working webshop that only needs filling with content. Support is always available, the system is continuously developed, and you can pick from a long list of ready-made integrations.
The downside comes from exactly the same place. This is the least flexible option: you can only choose from what’s on the list — in terms of design, and especially integrations. If you want a distinctive look, you simply can’t have it. If you want to connect to an external provider that doesn’t exist in the system — a shipping partner, an invoicing tool or a card processor — you never will be able to. And you can’t build custom customer journeys either, such as instant checkout straight from the product page.
Then there are the extra fees. On top of the base monthly fee, many providers charge separately for individual features: if you want a chatbot on the site — especially an AI chatbot — that will cost extra. Many also cap the number of products, so the initially modest-looking service fee quickly multiplies as you grow. The early convenience and seemingly low cost turn into a money pit surprisingly fast — and for a webshop that isn’t even quite what you had in mind.
Many of our clients came to us from rented platforms, most of them because of missing features. But we’ve also met someone paying 400 euros a month for a simple, informative one-pager. That one raised even our eyebrows.
Custom-built webshop engines
The greatest freedom — at the greatest price. There’s no question that this type offers the most: its flexibility is practically unlimited, and anything you can imagine can be built for you. If you find a good team, your system will be secure and fast, and it will serve your needs perfectly.
The cost, however, far exceeds every other option — no surprise, given that an entire development team is working on it. Its other weak point is time: such teams are typically running a serious backlog because of the sheer number of projects.
AI is reshaping this picture too, but it’s worth seeing that the same advantages custom builds gain will support the other types just as much: webshops will get cheaper across the board, and they’ll be finished faster. For now, though, we have to say this is only the best choice if you have unlimited money and time. In every other case we’d rather talk you out of it.
CMS — content management systems
An open-source foundation maintained by half the world. These systems are freely available to anyone and are maintained by thousands of developers worldwide. There are several of them — Joomla and Drupal, for instance — but WordPress stands head and shoulders above the field: it powers 43% of all websites — more than 522 million sites in total.
Its popularity is no accident. The system is remarkably user-friendly, which appeals to less technical users too, while its flexibility makes it a genuine developer’s paradise. WooCommerce fits into this system as an optional extension that gives it full webshop functionality. It’s open-source as well, so freely available, and millions of people develop it worldwide — which keeps it permanently up to date.
That popularity also causes its most notorious trait: the claim that it’s easy to hack. We’ll cover that in detail in a separate post, but in short: in the right hands it can be exactly as secure as its competitors.
The other commonly cited drawback is speed — or rather the lack of it. There really are WordPress sites where a pile of plugins, a badly configured server or endless content results in a sluggish site. A competent team, however, can fix that in no time, in a way that leaves the site looking completely unchanged.
Beyond those two real but manageable drawbacks, it only has advantages over the competition: no licence costs, fast, secure, able to handle unlimited content, SEO-friendly, and most importantly, endlessly flexible. It integrates with any external system, any backend process can be automated, and any frontend requirement can be built. You can decide for yourself whether to dive in and learn to run it — or ask our expert team for help.
The three systems side by side
| Property | Rented (SaaS) | Custom-built | CMS (WordPress + WooCommerce) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry cost | ✔ Low | ✖ Very high | ✔ Low |
| Running cost | ✖ A monthly fee forever, growing with you | ◐ No licence fee, but you need a team | ✔ Hosting and maintenance only |
| Time to launch | ✔ Immediate | ✖ Months, often after queueing | ✔ Days to weeks |
| Design freedom | ✖ Only the templates on offer | ✔ Unlimited | ✔ Unlimited |
| External integrations | ✖ Only what’s on the list | ✔ Anything, custom-built | ✔ Ready-made plugins + custom work |
| Product count, scaling | ✖ Tied to your plan, gets pricey | ✔ Unlimited | ✔ Unlimited |
| Updates, maintenance | ✔ Handled by the provider | ◐ Your own or a hired dev team | ✔ Automatic; a short check every few months is enough |
| Security | ✔ The provider’s responsibility | ✔ Custom code, few automated attacks | ◐ A popular target — just as secure in the right hands |
| Support | ✔ Built-in customer service | ◐ Only your development team | ✔ A huge community and expert market |
| Vendor lock-in | ✖ Strong dependency, hard to leave | ✔ The system is yours | ✔ Yours, and movable at any time |
| Biggest advantage | You can start immediately, no specialist needed | Practically anything can be built | Freedom and scalability at a sensible cost |
| Biggest drawback | You hit walls — and pay for them | The price and the lead time | Worth asking an expert for help |
| Who we’d recommend it to | Anyone testing an idea quickly that fits within the system’s limits | Anyone with unique business logic and the budget for it | Anyone building for the long run, at their own pace |
Which system appeals to you most? Are you about to start a new webshop? Or do you have a half-finished WordPress project you got stuck with? Tell us about it and we’ll help you make it happen.