Every few weeks a founder messages me a screenshot of two tabs: Shopify's pricing page and a WooCommerce tutorial. The question is always some version of "WooCommerce is free, so why would I pay Shopify every month?"
Fair question. Here is the honest comparison I give UAE store owners, with the fees pulled from the platforms' own pages. One disclosure first: our Online Store package is built on Shopify, so I have a preference. I will still tell you when WooCommerce is the better call, because it sometimes is.
The short version
- Pick Shopify if you want to launch fast, you do not have a developer on call, and you would rather pay a predictable monthly fee than manage servers, updates and backups.
- Pick WooCommerce if you already run a WordPress site with traffic, you have (or will pay for) someone technical to maintain it, or your store needs unusual logic that Shopify apps cannot handle cleanly.
Most small UAE brands I talk to (abaya labels, home bakers, perfume resellers, gift shops) fall in the first group. Not all of them.
What "free" means with WooCommerce
The WooCommerce plugin is genuinely free. It sits in the WordPress.org plugin directory with more than 7 million active installations, and the company says plainly on its pricing page that there is no platform fee and no revenue share.
The same page lists what you do pay for:
- Hosting: about USD 25 to 350 a month for most stores, depending on traffic
- Extensions: about USD 29 to 299 a year each, for things like subscriptions, advanced shipping or bookings
- Payments: whatever your payment provider charges
Then there is the cost that never shows up on a pricing page: someone has to update WordPress, WooCommerce, the theme and every plugin, keep backups, and fix it when an update clashes with something. If that someone is you at 1 AM before a sale, count your hours.
What Shopify costs in the UAE
Shopify's UAE pricing page lists these plans (USD, paying yearly):
| Plan | Paid yearly | Paid monthly | Online card rate (Shopify Payments) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | USD 24/mo | USD 32/mo | 2.9% + AED 1.00 |
| Grow | USD 69/mo | USD 92/mo | 2.8% + AED 1.00 |
| Advanced | USD 299/mo | USD 399/mo | 2.7% + AED 1.00 |
Hosting, security and checkout are inside that fee. You do not buy a server. The same page lists online Amex and international card rates at 3.9% + AED 1.00 on Basic, which matters if many of your buyers are tourists using foreign cards.
One line people miss: if you use a third-party payment provider instead of Shopify Payments, Shopify adds a transaction fee (listed at 2% on Basic, falling to 0.6% on Advanced). Before you launch, check with Shopify and your provider how your setup is treated.
Chart 1: Yearly platform and hosting cost, entry level
All bars in AED per year, converted at 1 USD = 3.6725 AED (Central Bank of the UAE). Card fees and apps are not included.
So at entry level, the two land surprisingly close. The real difference is not the invoice. It is who carries the maintenance.
Card fees on a typical UAE order
Platform fees are fixed. Card fees grow with sales, so it helps to see them on one order. Here is a AED 200 order on Shopify Basic using the rates on Shopify's UAE page.
Chart 2: Shopify Basic card fee on a AED 200 order
Worked from published rates. Bars in AED.
If most of your buyers are tourists or expats paying with cards issued abroad, that higher international rate is the one to plan around.
Tabby, Tamara and local payments
Buy now, pay later is close to expected for fashion, electronics and gifts in the UAE. Both main providers work with both platforms:
- On WordPress, Tabby has an official Tabby Checkout plugin and Tamara has an official Tamara Checkout plugin, each with thousands of active installs.
- On Shopify, Tabby documents a Shopify installation guide and Tamara has a Shopify payment app guide.
Either way, the provider has to approve your business first, and that usually means a trade licence and a bank account in the company name. Start that application in week one, not the day before launch.
How popular is each platform?
Neither is a niche choice. W3Techs reports that WordPress runs 39.5% of all websites it monitors and Shopify runs 5.3%. The same site notes that on Arabic-language websites, the regional platform Salla is now second only to WordPress. If you sell mainly to Arabic-speaking customers, it is worth knowing that option exists too.
Popularity matters for one practical reason: you can find help. Both have big pools of developers in Dubai and online.
Which one fits your store?
Infographic: quick decision guide
A few situations I see often in Dubai:
The Instagram shop moving to a real checkout. Thirty products, orders coming in by DM, owner doing everything. Shopify, almost every time. She needs to get out of WhatsApp order-taking, not learn how PHP versions work.
The clinic or consultancy that wants to sell a few packages. If they already have a WordPress site they like, adding WooCommerce can make sense. If the site is old and slow, it is often cleaner to rebuild.
The perfume brand planning for Dubai Shopping Festival traffic. Shopify handles spikes without you upgrading servers. On WooCommerce, ask your host in writing what happens when traffic jumps tenfold for a weekend.
Mistakes to avoid on either platform
- Registering the store or domain under your developer's email. It is your business. Own the accounts from day one.
- Installing apps or plugins for everything. Each one adds cost, slows the store, or both. Start lean.
- Skipping the delivery and returns pages. UAE shoppers check delivery times and COD options before paying. Put them where people can see them.
- Choosing on monthly fee alone. As Chart 1 shows, the entry costs are close. Choose on who maintains it and how fast you can launch.
If you want the full picture of what a site costs beyond the platform (domain, build, renewals), my earlier post on what a website costs in Dubai in 2026 breaks it into five buckets.
Where we fit in
Our Online Store package starts at AED 1,800 and covers a Shopify setup: theme, product structure, payments, delivery settings and the pages UAE customers look for. The Shopify plan stays on your account. You can see store examples and what is included on the online stores page, or compare every package on pricing. We work with brands across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
Not sure which platform suits you? WhatsApp +971 56 451 8534 with what you sell and roughly how many products, and I will tell you straight, even if the answer is WooCommerce.