WooCommerce vs Shopify for European stores

Both platforms sell products competently. The decision usually comes down to VAT handling, ownership and how much you want to maintain.

Shopify

Hosting, security, updates and PCI compliance are handled for you. You trade a monthly fee and a transaction cut for not thinking about infrastructure. For a small catalogue and a small team, that trade is usually worth it.

The limits appear when you want something the platform does not do. Then you are extending checkout on their terms, or paying for an app per feature, and the monthly total climbs quietly.

WooCommerce

You own everything and can change anything. There is no revenue share. In exchange, hosting, updates, backups and security are yours to run — either you do it or you pay someone.

It suits stores with unusual product logic, existing WordPress content, or a plan to grow past what a hosted platform allows.

The European wrinkles

• VAT by destination. Digital goods must charge the buyer's country rate. Check what is built in versus what needs a plugin.
• Invoicing. Many countries require a compliant invoice, not just a receipt.
• GDPR. Cookie consent and data export need to be real, not decorative.
• Local payments. Cards are not enough — iDEAL, Bancontact, SEPA and Klarna carry real volume.

A simple rule

If nobody on your team wants to think about maintenance, take the hosted platform. If the store needs to do something specific and you intend to keep growing it, own the stack. Both are defensible; drifting into one without deciding is not.