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WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms: Which is Best?

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Are you looking for a comparison between WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms?

These three are the best WordPress form plugins in the market. However, picking the right form builder can be challenging for many website owners.

In this article, we’ll compare WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms and show which is the best.

WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms

Introduction to WordPress Form Plugins

WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms are among the most popular WordPress form plugins that you can use. Each of them offers unique features and allows you to add different forms to your website.

WPForms was launched in 2016 by Syed Balkhi (founder of WPBeginner) and Jared Atchison. Since its launch, over 5 million WordPress sites have been using the plugin. The goal of creating WPForms was to offer an easy and powerful form plugin. It takes the pain out of creating online forms by making the process beginner friendly.

Gravity Forms is created by the team at Rocketgenius. It is a WordPress plugin that lets you add forms to your WordPress site. The plugin also specializes in helping developers build complex form-related solutions.

Formidable Forms is another powerful WordPress form builder created by Steph Wells and Steve Wells. You can use it to create a wide range of forms from simple contact forms to advanced solutions-focused forms like mortgage calculators, directories, listing forms, and more. Formidable Forms is part of WPBeginner Growth Fund companies.

That being said, let’s compare these WordPress form plugins and find out which is the best for your use case. In our research, we tried dozens of WordPress form plugins, and have decided to compare these top 3 form plugins in the following criteria:

Ease of Use

When it comes to picking a WordPress form plugin, it is essential to choose a tool that is easy to use. The form builder should allow users to easily customize their forms without the need to edit code or hire a developer.

Let’s see how the 3 plugins compare to each other for ease of use.

WPForms – Ease of Use

WPForms is a beginner-friendly form plugin for WordPress. It offers a drag-and-drop form builder that is very super simple to use.

You can easily customize any form by adding multiple form fields from the menu on your left. All you have to do is drag the field and drop it onto the form template.

Customize your billing form

WPForms also makes it very easy to add your forms anywhere on the WordPress website. The best part, you can do all this within the form builder. You can click the embed button, and WPForms will show you options for adding your form.

For instance, you can create a new page or select an existing one to embed your forms.

You can also manually add your form to any page or post using the WordPress block. Besides that, the plugin lets you use shortcodes to add a form to your WordPress website.

Add a WPForms block in wordpress

Gravity Forms – Ease of Use

Gravity Forms also offers a drag-and-drop form builder, and it lets you create all types of forms without editing code.

You can quickly rework your form from inside the WordPress dashboard. The form builder offers different form fields that you can add by simply placing them onto the template.

Gravity forms builder

After creating a form, Gravity Forms also lets you easily embed it on your website. Just like WPForms and Formidable Forms, you get an option inside the drag-and-drop builder to add your form.

Gravity Forms also offers a WordPress block to easily embed your forms on any page or post. Plus, you can use shortcodes or add the forms manually anywhere on your site.

Formidable Forms – Ease of Use

Formidable Forms is a user-friendly plugin that to lets you customize your forms using a drag-and-drop form builder, just like WPForms and Gravity Forms.

You can simply drag any form field from the options on your left and place them on the template. The plugin also lets you rearrange the order of the fields by simply moving them up or down or side to side.

Formidable Forms builder

Formidable Forms makes it very easy to embed your forms anywhere on your website. You can use the Formidable Forms block to add the form to any post or page. Or click the embed button in the form builder to embed your forms.

Winner – Tie

When it comes to ease, all 3 plugins perform equally well. Each of them offers a drag-and-drop functionality, which lets you edit and customize forms with editing code easily. Plus, each plugin makes it very easy to embed the forms anywhere on the website.

WPForms has a slight edge because it leans on decisions over options by giving you over 600+ form templates and easy-to-use choices whereas Gravity Forms and Formidable Forms are built more for developers.

Form Templates

Form templates are another important factor to consider when choosing a form plugin for WordPress.

Templates help save time as you don’t have to create a form from scratch. You can quickly edit it according to your requirements or simply use the default template to add a form to your website.

Let’s see how WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms stack up in terms of form templates.

WPForms – Form Templates

With WPForms, you get over 600 prebuilt form templates. Whether you’re looking to create a simple contact form, feedback form, request a quote form, payment form, or registration form, WPForms has you covered.

The plugin categorizes form templates into different categories in the form builder. For instance, you can find different templates for business operations, customer service, education, entertainment, event planning, feedback, health and wellness, and more.

WPForms form templates

Even in the free version of WPForms, you get a lot of form templates to get started.

Gravity Forms – Form Templates

Gravity Forms offers limited prebuilt form templates compared to WPForms and Formidable Forms.

You only get 15 form templates in the form builder. Some of these include a simple contact form, advanced contact form, donation form, eCommerce form, event registration form, survey, newsletter signup form, and more.

Gravity Forms templates

Formidable Forms – Form Templates

Formidable Forms offers over 175 WordPress form templates and examples you can use for your website.

What makes it different is that you get templates for advanced forms. For instance, you can create an advanced mortgage calculator form, net promoter score (NPS) survey form, car payment calculator form, life insurance calculator form, doctor visit form, signature forms, and more.

Formidable Forms templates

Besides that, you can find forms for payment collection, health and wellness, customer service, education, donations, event planning, and more.

Winner – WPForms

WPForms is a standout winner compared to Gravity Forms and Formidable Forms. You get the largest form template library in WPForms, with over 600 choices available. There are prebuilt templates for just about any type of form you want to create for your website.

Customization Options

A WordPress form plugin should allow you to edit and customize your form with ease. When selecting the right tool, you should look at the customization options the plugin offers.

Here’s a look at the different features offered by WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms.

WPForms – Customization Options

WPForms offers lots of customization options for your form. For starters, it offers different form fields that you can simply drag and drop from the menu on your left onto the template.

For instance, it offers standard fields like paragraph text, multiple choice, checkboxes, and more. Plus, you can add fancier fields like phone number, address, file upload, date/time, website, and more.

WPForms Will Pre-load the Form Builder with a Simple Order Form

If you click on an existing form field, then you’ll see more options for customization.

You can edit the label of the field, make it a mandatory field, add smart logic, and more. For example, you can choose which payment methods to show in an order form and rearrange their order.

Multiple Choice Field Options

Other than that, WPForms also lets you create conversational forms. This makes your forms more interactive.

Instead of asking multiple questions at once, you can take the one-question-at-a-time approach. It will look like having a conversation face to face with a human, and boost form conversions.

Conversational form preview

Similarly, you can also use the lead forms addon to increase form conversions. It basically allows you to embed conversational forms on any page on your WordPress site.

WPForms offers more customization features like custom form landing pages similar to Google forms. You can create a distraction-free landing page for your form and get more conversions.

The plugin lets you add a title and description for the page, a header logo, and edit the page URL. You also get to change the background color of the page and choose a style to make your forms more appealing.

Form pages settings WPForms

Other customization options offered by WPForms include a save and continue feature. This lets your users save the progress while filling out a form and continue later to complete it. You can allow users to sign your online forms using their mouse or touchscreen.

If you have lengthy forms, then you can use the multi-page feature to split them into different pages. Or you can use conditional logic to show different form fields based on the user’s responses.

Besides that, you can also customize the notification and confirmation settings for your form. In the notification settings, you can edit details like email addresses, subject lines, names, messages, and more.

Similarly, you can also edit the confirmation message a user will see when they submit a form. You can show a thank you message, show a page, or redirect people to a specific URL.

Edit form confirmation settings

Gravity Forms – Customization Options

Gravity Forms offers different form fields to customize your form template.

These include standard fields, advanced fields, post fields, and pricing fields.

Add fields to Gravity Forms template

Just like WPForms and Formidable Forms, you can click on existing form fields to edit them further.

However, you’ll see a slight difference in the customization options. There are general settings for a field where you can change its label and add a description.

Other than that, you can edit the appearance of the field, change advanced settings like enabling field autocomplete, and add conditional logic.

Edit existing fields in gravity forms

Other than that, you also get control over different form settings. For example, you can edit the notifications and confirmations settings in the form builder.

You can also configure ‘Personal Data’ settings similar to WPForms. These allow you to prevent the storage of IP addresses during form submission. Plus, you can enable integration with other tools for exporting and erasing personal data, which is helpful in complying with data regulations like GDPR.

Personal data settings Gravity Forms

Formidable Forms – Customization Options

With the Formidable Forms drag-and-drop builder, you can easily customize your form with options such as prebuilt form fields that you add to your template.

What makes the plugin different from others is that it offers multiple form fields that will help you create advanced forms. For instance, you can add a user ID field, captcha, hidden field, appointments, lookup field, and more.

Advanced form fields

Besides that, you can easily edit each existing field in the template.

There are general options to change the label, add a CSS class, and more. Or you can view the advanced options to add a placeholder text, and description, edit the field size and allow maximum characters.

Edit existing fields in Formidable Forms

What’s different about Formidable Forms compared to WPForms and Gravity Forms is that it also offers different styles for your forms.

You can use the default style or choose from various options. This way, you can change the appearance of your forms without having to enter CSS code.

Edit the form style

Other than that, you can also customize the form settings. For instance, the plugin lets you change the notification settings, and form permissions, and also allows form scheduling.

Winner – WPForms

After comparing all 3 plugins, we found WPForms to be the clear winner. It offers more customization features compared to Formidable Forms and Gravity Forms.

You can add different form fields, change their settings, rearrange them, and more using the drag-and-drop builder. Besides that, WPForms offers tons of features to make your form more appealing and boost conversions.

Additional Features and Integrations

Now that we’ve covered ease of use, templates, and customization options, let’s see how WPForms, Formidable Forms, and Gravity Forms compare in terms of additional features and integrations.

As a website owner, you’d want a WordPress plugin that easily works with third-party tools, payment services, and email marketing services. Here’s what each plugin has to offer.

WPForms – Additional Features and Integrations

WPForms offers lots of premium addons and integrations that extend its functionality and benefits.

For instance, you can accept file uploads with its post-submission addon. This way, users can easily submit content on the front end of your site without requiring access to the WordPress dashboard.

Similarly, you get addons for geolocation data and see where your form users are from. The user journey addon can show you the pages and posts people visited before submitting a form.

WPForms addons

The plugin also offers a form abandonment addon that captures partial entries for a form. You can then recover those entries and encourage users to complete a form.

Aside from this, WPForms provides more addons for creating custom Captcha, allowing digital signatures, locking WordPress forms, creating interactive form layouts, and more.

Another advantage of using WPForms compared to other plugins is that it easily integrates with different tools and plugins. For example, you can use it with popular email marketing tools like Drip, Mailchimp, and Constant Contact.

WPForms integrations

The plugin also supports payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Square, and Authorize.Net. You can also integrate WPForms with CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot.

Gravity Forms – Additional Features and Integrations

Gravity Forms also offers different addons that can help you get the most out of the plugin. However, the list is not as expansive as WPForms, and you’d have to pay extra to use third-party extensions.

You get additional features for setting up user registrations, creating surveys and polls, tracking users’ geolocation, collecting partial form entries, allowing signatures, and more.

Feature enhancement addons

Besides that, Gravity Forms also offers integrations with different tools and plugins.

You can easily integrate email marketing tools like AWeber, Constant Contact, Mailgun, and more. Plus, you can add anti-spam solutions like Akismet and reCAPTCHA.

Other integrations include Google Analytics, Dropbox, Zapier, Trello, ActiveCampaign, HelpScout, PayPal Checkout, 2Checkout, and Stripe.

Formidable Forms – Additional Features and Integrations

Formidable Forms offers different addons and integration features. Most of the additional features are similar to WPForms and Gravity Forms.

However, what makes Formidable Forms different is that you get several powerful features to create advanced forms, set up web applications, show stats on the front end, and more.

For instance, the plugin offers a form action automation feature to schedule email notifications, SMS messages, and other actions. It also offers API webhooks that let you send submissions to REST APIs.

Formidable forms addons

It also offers a visual views addon that lets you display data from form entries on the front end of your website. You can create web apps to display form submissions in tables, grids, calendars, and other views.

This is great for showing testimonials and product reviews, adding a user-submitted events calendar, and displaying useful statistics.

Create view calendar in Formidable

Besides that, Formidable Forms also lets you create applications for your website. It offers prebuilt templates that include different forms, views, and pages for your application. Simply select a template, and the plugin will take care of the rest.

You can create different applications, such as product reviews, real estate listings, testimonials, restaurant menus, certificates, and more.

For example, you can offer professional certificates in just a few clicks. Simply choose the certificate application template, and Formidable Forms will automatically add a form with a certificate generator on your website.

It will also add views for the certificate and certificate of completion, which users can see on the front end.

Application templates

Other advanced features offered by Formidable Forms include converting WordPress forms to PDF, mapping form fields to PDF form fields, quizzes, repeater fields, SMS voting, front-end editing, and more.

Other than that, you can also integrate Formidable Forms with different payment services, email marketing tools, CRMs, and third-party plugins. It even works with Uncanny Automator and Zapier, so you can connect Formidable Forms to services like Asana, Slack, and Dropbox.

The best part about using Formidable Forms is that you get all the advanced features in one place, with everything included in a single pricing plan. If you were to use Gravity Forms, then you’d need to subscribe to multiple third-party addons.

For example, you’d need the basic Gravity Forms plan along with other extensions like Gravity PDF, File Upload Pro, Gravity View, Gravity Math, and so on. This can add to your overall cost and make it very expensive to use Gravity Forms.

Winner – Formidable Forms

While each plugin offers multiple additional features and integrations, Formidable Forms is the standout winner. It offers more advanced features that you can use to display form results on the front end, create complex forms, convert forms to PDF, create web applications, and use various addons to help users create form solutions for any scenario.

WPForms gets an honorary mention for marketing-related features, like form abandonment and digital signatures. It also integrates with popular email services, CRM software, tracking tools, payment gateways, and other plugins.

Pricing Plans

The next parameter we will compare WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms is that of pricing. Let’s see which plugin offers the most value for money.

WPForms – Pricing

WPForms offers 4 different pricing plans suitable for all types of businesses. These include a Basic plan, which costs $49.50 per year, and you can use it for 1 website. It also offers all the essential features like premium templates, entry management, and file uploads.

If you want to use the plugin on more websites and require marketing integrations, then WPForms offers a Plus plan for $99.50 per year.

WPForms pricing plans

On the other hand, there is a Pro plan that includes everything from the Basic and Plus plans. It includes payment addons, conversion tools, and other advanced form features. This will close you $199.50 per year.

Lastly, there is an Elite plan for $299.50 per year, which has everything. You get to use it on unlimited websites and get all the features and integrations WPForms has to offer. Each premium plan comes with 14-day money back guarantee.

The best part, there is also a WPForms Lite version you can use for free. You get multiple form templates, standard fields for customization, spam protection, and other features.

Gravity Forms – Pricing Plans

Gravity Forms offer 3 premium plans, which include the Basic License, Pro License, and Elite License.

With the Basic License plan, you can use the plugin on 1 website. You also get addons for email marketing tools and spam protection services. This plan will cost you $59 per year.

Gravity Forms pricing plans

Next, there is a Pro License plan that offers more addons. For instance, you get to integrate more email marketing services, CRMs, payment gateways, and third-party services. This plan will cost $159 per year.

Lastly, Gravity Forms offers an Elite License plan that includes all the features from the Basic and Pro plans. In addition to that, Elite plan users also get access to features like polls, quizzes, digital signatures, surveys, geolocation, and more. The Elite plan is available for $259 per year.

That said, Gravity Forms doesn’t offer a free version, like WPForms or Formidable Forms. You’d also need to pay extra to use different third-party addons and extensions.

Formidable Forms – Pricing Plans

Formidable Forms lets you choose from 4 pricing plans. It starts with a Basic plan, costing $39.50 per year. You get 50+ form templates and basic features like conditional logic and file uploads.

Besides that, there is a Plus plan for $99.50 per year, and it offers more form templates and features. For instance, you get the Formidable Views feature, landing pages, and integration with Mailchimp, MailPoet Newsletters, and AWeber.

Formidable Forms pricing plans

Next, it offers a Business plan that includes over 150 form templates, premium addons, more integrations, and additional features. This plan will cost you $199.50 per year.

Lastly, there is an Elite plan for $299.50 per year, and it includes all the features and integrations. You get all the templates and support for third-party tools like Salesforce, ActiveCampaign, and HubSpot.

Formidable Forms also offers a free version. You can get started for free and get features like drag and drop form builder, basic form templates, and standard form fields for customization.

Winner – WPForms and Formidable Forms

When it comes to offering the most value for money, both WPForms and Formidable Forms clearly stand out when compared to Gravity Forms.

Both of them offer 4 different pricing plans for businesses of all sizes. Plus, you get a free version, which helps small website owners, bloggers, and others to create WordPress forms without a considerable investment. You also don’t have to pay more to use multiple addons and advanced features.

Which is the Best WordPress Form Plugin?

WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms are some of the best WordPress form plugins you can get your hands on today.

However, we believe that WPForms is the best plugin for creating forms for your WordPress website. It is super easy to use and offers tons of features.

You get over 600 form templates, a drag-and-drop form builder, multiple form fields for customization, and additional settings to edit your form. Plus, there are different premium addons that allow you to expand the functionality of WPForms.

Not to mention, there is a WPForms Lite version available for free. It also includes lots of form templates and customization features. You can quickly create forms for your website using the free plugin.

On the other hand, if you’re a developer looking to save time on developing complex and advanced WordPress forms, then Formidable Forms is the perfect solution. You can create calculators and web applications, convert forms to PDF, and much more without editing code.

We hope the comparison between WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms helped you pick the right form plugin for WordPress. You may also want to see our list of best WordPress SEO plugins and tools, and how to get a free email domain.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms: Which is Best? first appeared on WPBeginner.

Nextiva vs RingCentral vs Ooma: Which is Better? (Compared)

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Are you comparing Nextiva vs RingCentral vs Ooma to find out the best VoIP provider for your business?

Many small businesses rely on phone services to communicate with customers and Nextiva, RingCentral, and Ooma are among the top business VOIP providers on the market.

In this article, we’ll compare Nextiva vs RingCentral vs Ooma to help you decide which one is the best small business VoIP provider.

Comparing Nextiva vs RingCentral vs Ooma

Comparing Nextiva vs RingCentral and Ooma VOIP Services

Many small businesses use VoIP phone services for sales, customer support, and team collaboration.

Nextiva, RingCentral, and Ooma are considered among the top VoIP providers for small businesses.

They offer toll-free numbers, virtual numbers, cheaper local and international call rates, easier team collaboration, and more.

Business phone services is a highly competitive industry and all of our top three contenders offer similar features and pricing. This makes it difficult for small business owners to choose one of them for their business.

To make this easier, we’ll do a side-by-side comparison of Nextiva, RingCentral, and Ooma for the best business VoIP service providers.

We’ll look into the following criteria.

That being said, let’s take a look at Nextiva vs RingCentral vs Ooma to find out which one is the best small business VOIP provider.

Pricing Comparison

Pricing is one of the top deciding factors for small businesses looking for a VoIP service provider.

All three of our contenders offer very competitive pricing for similar features. However, they use a variable pricing model based on the number of users, plan duration, and features.

This makes it difficult to decide which VoIP service provider is cheaper for small businesses.

Nextiva Pricing

Nextiva has a variable pricing model where your pricing changes based on the number of users, payment duration, and feature plans.

For instance, you can get started for $18.95 per user each month (paid annually) if you have more than 20 users.

Nextiva pricing

If you have fewer than 4 users, then you can get started for $23.95 per user each month (paid annually).

This means that your costs will go down as your team size grows and you need to add more users to your account.

RingCentral Pricing

RingCentral pricing plans use a slightly different pricing model.

Their Essential plan starts at $19.95 per user each month (paid annually) for up to 20 users.

RingCentral pricing

This means that if you have a smaller team of fewer than 20 users, then you can save some money and have room for growth too.

Ooma Pricing

Ooma offers pretty straightforward fees. Their rates differ based on which plan you choose regardless of the number of users.

This means that if you choose the Essential plan, then you will pay at the same rate when your team grows.

Ooma Pricing

Ooma only offers month-to-month payment plans which means you pay as you go and can easily cancel at any time.

Winner: Tie – All three of our contenders offer similar pricing that is very close to each other.

Feature Comparison

Perhaps the most important thing when choosing a VoIP provider is the features they offer.

Nextiva, RingCentral, and Ooma all offer a ton of features with each of their business phone service plans.

However, you’ll need to choose one based on your own requirements. For instance, video conferencing may not be important for some small businesses, while it could be a deal breaker for others.

Another important thing to consider is which pricing plan includes the features you need. As all of them offer different sets of features for each VoIP plan.

Nextiva Features

As one of the best business VoIP providers on the market, Nextiva offers a unified communications platform with the most value-to-money features.

  • Unlimited domestic calls in US and Canada
  • HD voice quality
  • Free local and toll-free number plus number porting allows you to bring your existing number as well.
  • Voicemail, voicemail to email notifications, voicemail to SMS, voicemail transcription
  • Support for desk phones, conference phones, and other telephone devices you may want to use.
  • Apps for browsers, iPhone, Android, and desktop computers
  • Video meetings and conferencing
  • Call logs, call recording, call routing, auto attendant, IVR, and more.

Plus, you can share the same number with different team members.

Contact management features make it super easy to follow up on calls and don’t let the leads slip away.

You can also integrate your own CRM software or use Nextiva CRM for better lead management.

Basically, you can run your own small cloud-based call center at the fraction of the cost with highly advanced features to save you time and resources.

RingCentral Features

When it comes to features RingCentral gives tough competition to Nextiva.

They offer all the business phone features that a small business would need and then some more.

  • Unlimited calling for the US and Canada.
  • Free local and toll-free phone numbers.
  • SMS and voicemail support
  • Team messaging
  • Voicemail to text alerts
  • Video meetings and conferencing
  • Desk phone support
  • You can receive calls on the go using your phone or laptop
  • Real-time call analytics

RingCentral offers all common VoIP phone features like call forwarding, number sharing, call waiting, call management, and more.

It also has integrations for popular CRM software like Salesforce, Zendesk, and more.

Ooma Features

Ooma Office offers a bunch of features in their VoIP plans that will help you grow your small business.

However, some features are available in their more expensive plans. For instance, you can only get access to the Desktop app and text messaging with their PRO plan.

Following are the features you can expect to get based on the plan you choose:

  • Local and toll-free numbers
  • Unlimited local calls to the US, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico
  • Call features like recording, call waiting, voicemail, and more.
  • Microsoft Dynamics, Office 365, and Google integrations are available
  • Salesforce Integration (only with Pro Plus plans)

While Ooma offers the most commonly requested features for a VoIP provider, it does lack several features offered by the other top contenders.

Winner: Nextiva

Available Integrations

Integrations help you connect your VoIP phone service to other apps and platforms that you may already be using.

Many businesses need integrations with CRM software like Salesforce, Zendesk, Hubspot, and more. This helps them easily manage customer relationships and can keep track of leads without losing them.

Let’s see how our top contenders stack up when it comes to integrations.

Nextiva Integrations

Nextiva offers comprehensive integrations suitable for all types of small businesses.

Nextiva integrations

It has ready-to-use integrations for all the top CRM software, productivity suites, team communication apps, and more.

This includes Salesforce, Zendesk, HubSpot, Zoho, Microsoft Outlook, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, and more.

RingCentral Integrations

RingCentral offers an extensive set of integrations as apps and add-ins that you can add to your account.

RingCentral Integrations

They offer several apps for Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Dynamics, and more.

Their integrations also cover the top CRM software that you may already be using including Salesforce, Zoho, HubSpot, and more.

Ooma Integrations

Ooma does not offer as many integrations as Nextiva or RingCentral. Their Pro plan offers integration with Google and Microsoft Office 365.

You’ll need to upgrade to their Pro Plus plan to unlock Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 integrations.

Apart from that, you can still use it with your own CRM software but it will be less efficient to track contact history and manage leads within your phone or CRM software.

Winner: Nextiva

Customer Support Options

Unlike traditional phones, VoIP phones are a relatively new technology so many small businesses may need a little bit of help to make the most out of it.

This is why customer support is an important aspect to consider when choosing your VoIP phone service provider.

Let’s compare how our top contenders stack up in terms of customer support options.

Nextiva Customer Support

Nextiva customer support is available through 24/7 live chat, email tickets, and phone.

Nextiva customer support

Plus, they have a comprehensive knowledge base that covers all the commonly asked questions by users.

Finding answers in the knowledge base is fast and easiest way to fix things on your own. However, if you need to speak with someone, then you’ll find their phone and live chat support agents friendly and helpful.

Customer support representatives know their stuff very well and wouldn’t mind going to great lengths to help you out.

RingCentral Customer Support

RingCentral offers support through 24/7 phone, live chat, and email tickets. They also have an extensive library of articles, how-to guides, manuals, and more.

RingCentral customer support

Support response times are fast and representatives are well-trained and highly helpful.

Ooma Customer Support

Ooma offers the same customer support options as the other contenders on the list.

This includes 24/7 live chat support, email tickets, self-help articles, and phone support.

Ooma support

Winner: Tie

Mobile App Comparison

With many businesses switching to a remote or hybrid work model, it is important to consider the mobility of your VoIP service.

This allows remote teams to stay in touch and never miss a call even when away from the desk.

All three of our contenders offer mobile apps for Android and iOS devices. Let’s see how their mobile apps perform against each other.

Nextiva Mobile Apps

Apart from laptop and desk phone systems, Nextiva also offers apps for iOS and Android smartphones.

Nextiva mobile app for iPhone

These apps come with a sleek and easy-to-use interface that allows you to easily make and receive calls, text with team members, manage contacts, and more.

RingCentral Mobile Apps

RingCentral also offers mobile apps for Android and iOS smartphones. These apps are highly intuitive and allow you to easily manage calls while on the go.

RingCentral mobile app

Additionally, RingCentral offers separate apps for Meeting Rooms, which is their video conferencing platform.

Ooma Mobile Apps

Ooma doesn’t offer desktop apps for its Essential plan but it does offer mobile apps for all small business plans including the Essential plan.

Ooma app for Android phones

The app provides easier contact management, and call and text functions. However, user reviews indicate that it does not work very well for many users.

Winner: RingCentral

Conclusion: Nextiva vs RingCentral vs Ooma – Which is The Best Small Business VoIP Provider?

We believe that Nextiva is the best small business VoIP phone provider on the market.

It offers competitive pricing, a ton of features, the best call quality, lower rates for international calls, and a wide range of numbers to choose from (local, international, toll-free, vanity numbers, and more).

→ Click Here to Get Started with Nextiva ←

Note: WPBeginner users can use our Nextiva Coupon to get 20% off when they sign up.

RingCentral comes as a very close second. They offer many of the features offered by their competitors and a slightly better mobile app experience. You can use our RingCentral coupon to get a discount.

We hope this article helped you compare Nextiva vs RingCentral vs Ooma to find out which one is the best VoIP service. You may also want to see our pick of the best email marketing services for small business, or see our article on how to get a free business email address.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post Nextiva vs RingCentral vs Ooma: Which is Better? (Compared) first appeared on WPBeginner.

Squarespace vs WordPress – Which Is Better? (Pros and Cons)

Opinion, squarespace, squarespace vs wordpress, wordpress and squarespace comparison

Are you looking for a Squarespace vs WordPress comparison to figure out which one is better?

Squarespace and WordPress are two popular website builders that allow you to easily make a website without coding.

In this article, we will compare Squarespace vs. WordPress with the list of pros and cons for each platform. Hopefully, it will help you decide which one is better for your needs.

Comparing Squarespace vs WordPress

Note: This comparison is between Squarespace vs self-hosted WordPress (not WordPress.com). See the difference between self-hosted WordPress vs WordPress.com.

Since we want to create the most detailed WordPress vs Squarespace comparison, we have broken down the article into multiple in-depth sections.

We will look at each section and see which platform offers the most benefit to a beginner-level user.

Ready? Let’s get started.

Ease of Use and The Learning Curve

Most business owners and beginner-level users are not familiar with HTML, CSS, and other code-related things.

They want a website builder that is beginner friendly and helps them make a website without hiring a developer.

Let’s see how both WordPress and Squarespace stack up in this category.

WordPress

WordPress is the top choice among users who want to start a blog or small business owners building a DIY website.

WordPress is the best website builder on the market. More than 43% of all websites on the internet use WordPress

While WordPress is fairly intuitive and easy to use, there is a slight learning curve.

Beginners will need to familiarize themselves with WordPress terminology and concepts such as the difference between posts vs pages, categories vs tags, and understanding themes and plugins.

The default WordPress content editor is fairly easy to use.

It comes with blocks to add common content elements to your pages so that you can build beautiful layouts with media-rich content.

WordPress block editor

Despite the slight learning curve, in our experience, most users quickly adapt to WordPress.

Need an even more flexible way to create pages?

WordPress gives you access to drag-and-drop page builder plugins like SeedProd. This allows you to create your own custom designs from scratch without writing code.

SeedProd a popular WordPress page builder plugin

Squarespace

Unlike WordPress, Squarespace does not come with a lot of choices.

This lack of choice makes it very simple and user-friendly. Even absolute beginners can quickly write content and publish it.

Squarespace editor

Squarespace also uses a block editor similar to WordPress. Adding images, videos, and audio files is simpler than WordPress.

There are plenty of content blocks, and each block has multiple layout control choices.

Squarespace lets you customize your templates and pages using a visual editor.

However, you are limited to the options available in the customizer, since it is a controlled environment.

Conclusion

Squarespace fares a little better than WordPress out of the box in terms of ease of use for absolute beginners. However, its limited features might not be ideal for all business owners.

On the other hand, WordPress users will get a lot of options right from the beginning, which might be confusing at first, but it is a lot more flexible in the long run.

Winner: Tie

Costs of Using Squarespace vs WordPress

Knowing how much each platform cost is important in making a business decision.

Let’s look at how much Squarespace costs vs. how much WordPress costs.

WordPress

WordPress itself is free. You are free to download, use, and build upon WordPress. It is open-source software with a GPL license which gives you all the freedom and control.

In order to build your website with WordPress, you will need to register a domain and signup for a web hosting account.

Depending on your needs, you can choose a shared hosting plan, VPS hosting, or even managed WordPress hosting.

Shared hosting plans work for most personal and small business websites.

See our guide on how to choose the best WordPress hosting.

The cost of web hosting and domain name vary depending on your hosting provider. You are in charge of how many resources you need for your website and how much you will pay for it.

For instance, you can start with Bluehost. They are offering WPBeginner users 60% off and a free domain name with SSL certificate.

Bluehost website
→ Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←

If you can spend a little more, you can upgrade to SiteGround.

One of the reasons for WordPress’ popularity is that the overall cost of building your website with WordPress is very low.

Apart from that, you can change your hosting plan as your site grows. This means you will only pay for the resources you use, so it’s easier to control the cost of your website.

We have a detailed article on the cost of building a WordPress website and how to keep it under budget.

Squarespace

The personal plan for Squarespace starts from $16 per month (billed annually) or $23 month to month. That’s a little more than a shared hosting plan for WordPress.

Squarespace pricing

However, unlike a shared WordPress hosting service, this Squarespace plan comes with limited features.

You can only add only two contributors to your site, and you cannot sell products.

Whereas you can start an online store with WordPress for less than that.

Squarespace business plan starts from $23 per month (billed annually) or $33 month to month.

It includes eCommerce support, but they charge a 3% fee on each transaction. This is separate from the fee charged by your payment processor.

The business plan comes with unlimited contributors, pages, and additional advanced features.

They also have separate plans for online stores starting from $27 per month with no additional transaction fee.

Conclusion

As an open-source platform, WordPress beats Squarespace with flexible pricing plans available from a variety of web hosting providers. Squarespace pricing is higher than WordPress and with less flexibility.

The cost depends on how many resources you use, and you get access to all WordPress features right out of the box.

Winner: WordPress

Design and Templates

WordPress and Squarespace come with ready-made templates and design tools to make it easy for you to create a custom website.

Let’s see which offers you more choices and tools to create well-designed websites.

WordPress

WordPress offers access to thousands of free and premium themes (website templates). These templates are highly customizable, allowing you to use your website logo, colors, upload your own images, and more.

Many WordPress themes come with multiple layout choices, a drag-and-drop editor, sliders, photo galleries, and tons of other features.

No matter what kind of web design you need, you will find hundreds of professionally designed templates for the job.

WordPress themes

Many beginners find this abundance of choices a bit overwhelming. Here are some of our expert picks of the best WordPress themes for different kinds of websites.

For more on this topic, see our article on how to choose the best WordPress theme for your website.

Alternatively, you can also start with the SeedProd. It is a drag-and-drop WordPress website builder that allows you to design a custom WordPress theme from scratch without coding.

Squarespace

Squarespace offers ready-made website templates neatly organized into different categories.

There are Squarespace templates for all popular website categories, with professional designs that look good on all devices.

You can easily select a template for your Squarespace website and modify it using the built-in customizer.

Squarespace templates

However, this is a big area where Squarespace seriously falls behind.

The number of pre-made templates is very limited, and your design options are also limited to the set of features available in the Squarespace customizer.

Themes come with a limited number of layout choices with each template. You can still tweak colors, fonts, website logos, and other things, but these templates are not as customizable as WordPress themes.

Conclusion

WordPress comes out as a clear winner in terms of design choices, customization options, and flexibility. Squarespace offers great-looking templates, but they are limited in numbers and are not very flexible.

Winner: WordPress

Extensions and Integrations

All website builders come with a collection of built-in features. As your website grows, you would want to add more features and connect your site to work with third-party tools and services.

Let’s see how WordPress and Squarespace perform in this regard.

WordPress

The real power of WordPress comes from its massive ecosystem of plugins. These plugins are like apps for your WordPress site that you can install to add new features or change the default behavior of your site.

There are currently more than 60,000+ free WordPress plugins listed in WordPress.org plugin directory alone. There are also thousands of premium WordPress plugins available from third-party websites.

Free WordPress plugins

If you can think of a feature, there is a good chance that you’ll easily find a WordPress plugin that does it.

WordPress plugins are so robust that many of them are full-fledged platforms with their own add-on plugins and a thriving community built around them.

We have a list of the essential WordPress plugins that every website should have.

Then you have specialized plugins to create ecommerce websites, build membership communities, sell online courses, and more.

To learn more, see our article on how to choose the best WordPress plugin.

Because WordPress is the most popular website builder, most third-party services and tools have their own WordPress plugins which integrate their services to a WordPress website.

WordPress also has integrations available for all popular social media platforms.

All top email marketing services, SEO tools, live chat software, and lead generation tools offer seamless integration with WordPress.

Squarespace

Squarespace comes nowhere close to WordPress when it comes to extensibility and integrations.

They do offer a very limited set of extensions and integrations. However, unlike WordPress, Squarespace doesn’t have powerful APIs that developers can build upon.

Squarespace extensions

The available integrations are often limited in functionality and you cannot use them as freely on Squarespace as you can do on WordPress.

For eCommerce, you can use their built-in platform, but you cannot extend it in any way.

Squarespace lacks the functionality to allow custom websites you might need for your online business idea.

Conclusion

WordPress is the clear winner with an incredible ecosystem of thousands of plugins and integrations at your fingertips.

Squarespace, on the other hand, has very few integrations and many of them are very limited.

Winner: WordPress

E-commerce Comparison – Squarespace vs WordPress

Are you building an online store? Let’s compare the eCommerce functionality of WordPress vs. Squarespace.

WordPress

WordPress allows you to integrate and use any payment processor or platform.

Many WordPress plugins allow you to easily accept online payments using credit cards via Stripe, PayPal, Google Checkout, 2Checkout, Payoneer, Skrill, and even Bitcoin.

Selling products in WordPress with WooCommerce

WordPress has plenty of eCommerce plugins that can turn your website into an online store within minutes.

The world’s most popular eCommerce platform, WooCommerce, is a WordPress plugin.

WooCommerce comes with its own ecosystem of WooCommerce add-ons and thousands of WooComemrce ready themes.

There is no limit on how many products you add to your website, how you display them, or how you sell them.

You can run your own affiliate program and use all the tricks to grow your sales without any restrictions.

Squarespace

Ecommerce features are quite limited on Squarespace. You can only use Stripe and PayPal for payment processing, both of which are only available in select countries.

There is no other payment system available, which restricts your ability to accept payments from a larger global audience.

For a growing business, starting with such limitations is not a great idea.

Ecommerce in Squarespace

Apart from that, you can only sell products in Business or Commerce plans. Due to transaction fees, Squarespace users need to upgrade to an eCommerce plan to save on that.

Let’s say you want to sell only one product, you will still have to pay for the Business plan, and the yearly costs of hosting a site with just one product to sell will be way higher than a shared hosting plan or VPS for WordPress.

As for third-party services, there are very few external services that you can integrate with your Squarespace site.

This affects how you promote your website and the things you can do to make more sales and grow your business.

Conclusion

WordPress is way ahead of Squarespace when it comes to running an eCommerce website. The limitations of Squarespace can affect the growth of an online business.

The neat part about WordPress is that you can also use it alongside Shopify. See our comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce.

Winner: WordPress

Data Portability

When signing a business agreement, you always have safety clauses such as, if you’re not happy, then you can leave without any hassle.

This concept extends to online businesses as well, and it is called data portability.

If you’re not happy with the platform, then you should be able to take all your work and move it somewhere else.

Let’s look at how WordPress and Squarespace compare in data portability and the freedom to switch.

WordPress

WordPress comes with built-in tools to easily export all your data.

Not just your content and images, but you can also back up your themes, plugins, and the entire database. See our list of the best WordPress backup solutions.

Exporting data in WordPress

You can then easily move this content to any other Content Management System you want. You can store your content anywhere else and change web hosts at any time you want.

Squarespace

Just like everything else, the export feature on Squarespace is also very limited.

You can only export certain parts of your content in an XML file. This includes your pages, galleries, and one blog page with all its posts.

Your product pages, album pages, text, audio, and video blocks will not be exported.

Conclusion

The content you create on your site is yours, and you should have the freedom and tools so that you can move it elsewhere.

WordPress again beats Squarespace with easy-to-manage tools to export your entire site.

Winner: WordPress

Languages and Internationalization

We live in a global world and many businesses cater to a multilingual audience in different geographical locations.

Let’s see how Squarespace and WordPress handle languages, multi-lingual content, and geographical locations.

Multilingual support

WordPress

WordPress is fully translated into dozens of languages. Users on a WordPress site can choose their own language from their profile settings.

Most WordPress themes are translation-ready and all popular WordPress plugins are also translated into many languages.

You can build a WordPress website in any language you want. You can even translate WordPress yourself if your language is not yet available.

WordPress does not come with multi-lingual functionality out of the box. However, there are excellent plugins to create multilingual websites that are SEO-friendly and incredibly feature-rich.

Squarespace

The Squarespace platform is fully translated into six languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese). It also partially supports a few more languages.

You can change your site language and choose a different timezone / country.

You can only use currencies supported by Stripe or PayPal for your store products.

You can create multilingual pages by basically duplicating your pages. You will have to manually create a site structure or different sites for each language (You will be billed for each site separately).

Alternatively, you can pay for Weglot, a third-party service to manage translations. Pricing for Weglot starts at $9.99 per month for one language.

Conclusion

WordPress is way ahead in terms of languages and localization options. Squarespace again comes out as very limited and not suitable for creating multilingual websites.

Winner: WordPress

Summarizing Squarespace vs WordPress Comparison

WordPress is a far superior platform to Squarespace when it comes to building a website. Our CMS market share report shows that WordPress powers over 43% of all websites while Squarespace is only used by 2.1% of websites.

Here is a quick breakdown of pros and cons of both platforms.

Pros of using Squarespace

  • Easier to use for small websites
  • Polished user experience
  • Hassle-free website setup
  • Customer support via Twitter, Live Chat, and email support.

Cons of using Squarespace

  • Costs higher than a website on shared hosting
  • Limited design choices
  • Limited set of features
  • Limitations put you at disadvantage in growing your business

Pros of using WordPress

  • Easy to use with a slight learning curve
  • Incredibly flexible to create any kind of website
  • Massive collection of themes and plugins
  • Truly powerful eCommerce platform
  • Can be started at a very low cost
  • Community support via online forums

Cons of using WordPress

Weighing the pros and cons, we can confidently say that WordPress is a better platform to start a website.

The freedom to grow your website as you see fit is important for all businesses.

You should not trade that for any cost. WordPress provides this freedom at a much lower cost than all other platforms.

Frequently Asked Questions about Squarespace vs WordPress

Following are some of the most commonly asked questions about Squarespace vs WordPress.

1. Is WordPress better than Squarespace?

Yes, WordPress is better than Squarespace because it gives you more freedom and flexibility to build any kind of website.

Squarespace is easy to use but it offers a free limited set of features and flexibility. It is comparable to platforms like Wix or Weebly which are also fully hosted site builders with similar limitations.

2. Is WordPress better for SEO than Squarespace?

Yes, WordPress is better for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) than Squarespace. With WordPress you can use SEO plugins like All in One SEO for WordPress, which allows you to add powerful sitemaps, schema markup, meta title and descriptions, and more.

With Squarespace, you are limited to the SEO functionality baked into the platform and cannot extend it.

3. How can I move my site from Squarespace to WordPress?

Squarespace offers limited export options but you can still switch from Squarespace to WordPress. See our tutorial on how to easily move from Squarespace to WordPress for step-by-step instructions.

4. Squarespace vs WordPress which one is better for bloggers?

WordPress is the better platform for bloggers. It started out as a blogging platform and still has the best blogging tools than any other site builder on the market.

We hope this article offered you a side-by-side comparison of WordPress vs Squarespace. You may also want to see our complete WordPress review for a detailed overview of the platform.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post Squarespace vs WordPress – Which Is Better? (Pros and Cons) first appeared on WPBeginner.

The Ultimate WordPress Review – Is It the Best Choice For Your Website?

Opinion

You may have heard that WordPress is the most popular website builder platform, but maybe you aren’t sure if WordPress is the right choice for you. Unlike Wix, Weebly, or Squarespace, WordPress is actually 100% free. This is why if you searched for “WordPress review”, you would hardly find anything useful because bloggers often tend to write reviews for products that they earn a referral commission from. To help you make the right business decision, we have created the ultimate WordPress software review with pros and cons of using WordPress, so you can decide if WordPress is the right choice for your website.

The ultimate WordPress review - Is it the right choice for your website?

Because our WordPress review is extremely detailed, we have added a table of contents, so you can jump between different sections.

  1. What is WordPress?
  2. What Kind of Websites You Can Make With WordPress?
  3. How Does WordPress Really Work?
  4. What Are The Pros and Cons of WordPress?
  5. Who Should Use WordPress? Is WordPress Right For You?
  6. How to Get Started with WordPress – The Right Way
  7. Mastering WordPress Skills

1. What is WordPress?

WordPress is the world’s most popular website builder. It powers more than 31% of all websites on the internet, that’s millions of websites all over the world.

It’s important that you don’t confuse the WordPress.org content management software with the WordPress.com blog hosting service.

Our WordPress review is for the popular self-hosted WordPress software that everyone loves and use (not the WordPress.com hosting service). We recommend WordPress.org because it gives you full access to all WordPress features out of the box. For more details, see our side by side comparison of WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.

From now onwards, when we say WordPress, we are talking about the free WordPress.org software.

WordPress started as a simple blogging platform back in 2003. Since then it has evolved to become a content management system and an application development framework. In simple words, you can easily build any type of website using WordPress. To see how WordPress changed over the years, please see our article on the evolution of WordPress user interface.

WordPress is an open source software which means it is free for everyone and anyone can download and install it. Now you may be thinking, why is WordPress free? What’s the catch?

It is free as an in freedom. You can use it for any purpose, and no one can suspend your website due to censorship or a terms of service violation. You also have the freedom to customize WordPress to your needs without any restriction.

But like all websites, you will need to register a domain name and web hosting.

Based on your needs, you may have to purchase premium WordPress themes or extensions that will have additional costs. For a complete cost breakdown, see our article on the real cost of making a WordPress site.

That being said, now let’s take a look at what you can do with WordPress and how does it actually work.

2. What Kind of Websites You Can Make With WordPress?

WordPress is extremely flexible which is the main reason why it is a popular choice to build a website. You can use WordPress to build almost any kind of website imaginable!

You can use it to start a blog, make a small business website, create an online store, build a membership site, sell online courses, run a marketplace, and more.

No matter what kind of website you want to build, chances are that there is probably an existing WordPress plugin (extension) for that. In case, you don’t find a plugin, you can easily hire from thousands of developer to make it for you.

Here’s a list of the most popular types of websites people are making with WordPress.

3. How Does WordPress Really Work?

Unlike other website builders, WordPress keeps design, content, and functionality separated from each other. This allows for data portability.

WordPress keeps content, design, and functionality separate

In other words, you can add content regardless of the design you are using, modify the design without changing your content, and add new features without affecting the other areas.

Let’s dig deeper into that.

1. Adding Content in WordPress

WordPress stores content in a database and media files like images in a separate folder. Mainly you will be adding content to your website using the post editor.

WordPress post editor

Post editor is a simple WYSIWYG editor with some basic formatting features. It comes in two forms.

First, you have the Visual editor, which is a WYSIWYG style editor, and then you have the Text editor which is a plain text editor where you can add formatting by writing HTML in your content.

By default, WordPress content editor does not have any fancy drag and drop features to customize your content design as you write it. However you can use one of the popular WordPress drag and drop page builders should you need it.

2. Managing Design and Appearance in WordPress

WordPress uses a powerful templating engine to manage the appearance of a website. This templating engine allows developers to create a set of templates called ‘Themes‘. There are thousands of pre-made WordPress themes available in the market.

WordPress themes

Each WordPress theme comes with a stylesheet and basic template files to display different sections of a typical WordPress website.

Depending on which theme you are using, it will come with its own settings which you can use to customize the appearance of a website. Some themes may have a lot more options than others.

Customizer

There are thousands of free and paid WordPress themes available that you can use to build a website. These themes allow you to use your own colors, layout combinations, and logos.

You can also hire someone to create a custom WordPress theme from scratch, but it would cost significantly higher than using a free or premium WordPress theme.

Alternatively, you can use a drag and drop page builder like BeaverBuilder or Divi to create a custom theme without hiring a developer.

3. Extending WordPress with Add-ons

WordPress has become a platform for many developers to write their own add-ons for WordPress. These add-ons are called Plugins.

Plugins are like apps for your WordPress site. Just like apps on your mobile phone, you can install WordPress plugins to add new features to your website.

WordPress plugins directory

At the time of writing this article, there are more than 55,000 plugins available in WordPress.org plugins directory alone. This means if you can think of a feature for your website, then there is a very good chance that there is already a plugin for that.

Some WordPress plugins are simple and only add a specific feature. Other plugins add a large set of features and functionalities. There are even WordPress plugins like WooCommerce, the most popular eCommerce solution, which have their own ecosystem of WooCommerce plugins and themes. Such plugins are like a platform built on top of the WordPress platform itself.

To learn more see our article on WordPress plugins and how do they work.

Some of the best WordPress plugins that we recommend for every website are:

4. What Are The Pros and Cons of WordPress?

Just like everything else in the world, WordPress has its own advantages and disadvantages which you may want to consider before making your website.

Pros of Using WordPress

The advantages of using WordPress to build your website deserve an entirely new article (See why you should use WordPress). Here is a summary of pros of using WordPress for your website.

  • WordPress is free and gives you complete control of your website. You own and control all your website files and data. You are not tied to a web hosting company and can move your website anywhere you want.
  • It gives you access to a huge collection of extensions, add-ons, and plugins to extend your website. This enormous access to professional applications allow you to make anything you want.
  • You are in charge of your website, so you can keep it simple and only add new features as your website grows. You can make your website super fast and use all the neat SEO best practices to bring new users.
  • Super easy to customize with thousands of website designs and templates to choose from. Each of them comes with different customization options, allowing you to create truly unique websites.
  • Due to its popularity, almost all popular third-party tools already have integrations available for WordPress. So your email marketing software, lead generation tool, SEO tools, CRM software, and payment gateways will all work with WordPress.

Cons of Using WordPress

WordPress is not perfect. It has some disadvantages that you may want to keep in mind when choosing your platform.

  • You are in charge of your website. This means you are also responsible for security, making backups, and installing updates. You can automate all these tasks, but they would still require your attention unless you’re using one of these managed WordPress hosting companies.
  • WordPress does not come with a built-in drag and drop website builder. It takes some time for most beginners to get familiar with it and learn the basics. However you can use one of the popular drag and drop page builder plugins for WordPress.
  • You do not need to learn coding to use WordPress. However, some basic knowledge of HTML and CSS will make things a lot easier. Most beginners acquire these basic skills as they use WordPress.

5. Who Should Use WordPress? Is WordPress Right For You?

The beautiful part about WordPress is that it adapts to your needs. It can be as easy and simple as you want, or as complex and sophisticated as you need it to be.

Since you are completely in charge and in full ownership, you can make things simple, control the cost, and efficiently run your website.

Over the years, we have helped thousands of beginners learn WordPress, and we have seen them quickly graduate to the intermediate or even advanced level.

Here is a simple checklist to see if WordPress is right for you:

  • You want to make a professional business website without spending a lot of money
  • You can easily follow simple tutorials to learn the basics
  • You want to grow your business online with complete freedom
  • You want to make a blog, portfolio, or a personal website and use it to make money online

If you agree with any of the above statements, then WordPress is the perfect platform for you to build a website.

Who should not use WordPress?

While we sincerely believe that WordPress is the best platform for anyone who wants to make a website, we understand that some users may not actually need WordPress, and would be fine with another solution.

Here is a simple checklist to see if you don’t need WordPress:

  • You just want to run a blog and have no plans to make money or use any third-party services.
  • You are fine with limited features as far as you never have to write code, make backups, or worry about updates.
  • You just want a small website, and you are not worried about growing your business online or using the website to make more sells.

If you agree with any of these statements, then you can use another platform. See our list of best blogging platforms and website builders to find a platform that may suit your needs.

We also have a quick comparison guide of WordPress vs other popular platforms:

6. How to Get Started with WordPress – The Right Way

To start a self-hosted WordPress.org website, you will need to register a domain name and purchase website hosting.

We recommend using Bluehost. They are offering our readers a FREE domain name + free SSL + 60% discount on WordPress hosting. Which means you can start your website for as low as $2.75 per month.

← Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost offer →

Bluehost is one of the largest hosting companies in the world, and they are an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.

Once you have purchased hosting, head over to our guide on how to make a website for step by step instructions.

7. Mastering WordPress Skills

While WordPress is easy to use, you may want to ask a question or need some help every now and again. The good news is that there are plenty of free resources to help you with that.

WPBeginner itself is the largest free WordPress resource site for beginners. Here are our resources that you can use to learn WordPress (all of them are completely free).

  • WPBeginner Blog – This is where we regularly publish new WordPress tutorials and how-to guides.
  • WPBeginner Videos – These step by step videos will help you learn WordPress FAST.
  • WPBeginner on YouTube – Need more video instructions? Subscribe to our YouTube channel with more than 100,000 subscribers and 10 Million+ views.
  • WPBeginner Dictionary – Familiarize your self with the WordPress lingo and improve your WordPress skills.
  • WPBeginner Blueprint – Check out plugins, tools, and services we use on WPBeginner.
  • WPBeginner Deals – Exclusive discounts on WordPress products and services for WPBeginner users.

If you have a WordPress specific question, then you can also reach out to us using our contact form.

We hope this WordPress review helped you understand the pros and cons of using WordPress. You may also want to see these actionable tips to bring more traffic to your new website.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post The Ultimate WordPress Review – Is It the Best Choice For Your Website? appeared first on WPBeginner.

Wix vs WordPress – Which One is Better? (Pros and Cons)

Opinion, squarespace, weebly, wix

Are you trying to decide between Wix vs WordPress to build your website? While WordPress is the most popular website builder in the world, it is not the only option. Wix is another popular builder that allows you to easily create a website. In this article, we will compare Wix vs WordPress and highlight the pros and cons. Our hope is that with this Wix review and comparison, you will be able to decide which platform is right for you.

Wix vs WordPress - Which one is a better platform

Note: This article compares Wix vs Self Hosted WordPress.org NOT WordPress.com. See the difference between self-hosted WordPress.org vs WordPress.com sites.

We have broken down this comparison into 5 categories:

  1. Costs
  2. Ease of Use
  3. Design
  4. Flexibility
  5. Ecommerce

Let’s see how Wix and WordPress stack up into each of these categories.

1. Pricing and Costs

The cost of building a website is an important factor when choosing your platform. The total costs of developing and maintaining your site will entirely depend on your needs. Our goal is to make sure that you can do whatever you need within your budget.

Let’s compare the pricing of Wix and WordPress to find out which one gives you more bang for the buck.

Wix:

Wix offers a basic website builder for free. However, there are two major downsides to it. First, it adds Wix branded advertisements on the top and bottom of your website. Second, you cannot use a custom domain name for your site, so your site address will be: username.wix.com/sitename

Apart from that, the basic plan does not offer necessary add-ons such as Google Analytics, Favicons, eCommerce, etc. To remove ads and get additional features, you’ll have to upgrade to one of the premium plans they offer.

Each Wix premium plan has different storage and bandwidth limitations. You can pay monthly or choose a yearly plan.

Wix premium plans

The best value plans on Wix is the Unlimited plan ($12.50 / month), and if you want an eCommerce store, then you need the eCommerce plan ($16.50 / month).

This cost does not include any apps that you later choose to use on your website.

WordPress:

The WordPress software is available for free for anyone to use. We often get asked about why is WordPress free and what’s the catch?

Well, the biggest catch is that you need your own domain name and web hosting to install it. There are several WordPress hosting providers that you can choose from. See our guide on how to choose the best WordPress hosting.

Depending on your budget, you can start with a basic plan with a WordPress hosting provider like Bluehost that will cost you $2.75 per month and includes a free custom domain name. If your budget permits, then you can use a managed WordPress hosting provider like WPEngine which costs $29 per month.

The cost of a WordPress site will increase if you decide to use premium WordPress themes or plugins. However, there are thousands of free WordPress themes and plugins available that you can use to reduce costs. You can add any feature to your WordPress site using a plugin without upgrading your hosting plan.

For more information, see our guide on how much does it cost to build a WordPress site.

Conclusion:

WordPress beats Wix with flexible plans available from a variety of web hosting companies. The cost depends on how much resources you use, and you are free to use your WordPress site in any way you want.

Ease of Use

Most beginners don’t want to spend too much time learning new skills. Both Wix and WordPress allow you to create websites without learning to code.

Wix:

Wix comes with powerful and easy to use tools to build your own website. It offers a simple drag and drop interface where you can select any element on your site and start editing it in a WYSIWYG interface.

Wix Editor

You can drag and drop items anywhere on your site, rearrange things on your pages, write content, and add media in a user-friendly environment. Many beginners would find this feature a blessing as it saves them from dealing with code.

WordPress:

WordPress comes with a visual editor to write your content and theme customizer which allows you to edit your theme properties in a WYSIWYG environment. However, by default WordPress does not come with a built-in drag and drop page builder.

WordPress post editor

To get the full control of the appearance, users will have to familiarize themselves with different sections like navigation menus, customizer, visual post editor, etc. This means that WordPress requires a small learning curve for beginners.

On the other hand, there are thousands of themes that make customization really easy.

Conclusion:

Wix is clearly the winner here. Users don’t need to spend much time to learn the platform or install any plugins before they can start building their website. On the other hand, they will need to understand WordPress basics and may need to install plugins to build their site.

However you can use powerful WordPress page builders like BeaverBuilder or Divi that offers a lot more power than standalone Wix builder.

Deisgn and Layout

Your site’s design and layout play an important role in your success. Every site owner needs a design that’s not only good looking, but also user-friendly and makes their brand stand-out.

Wix:

Wix comes with more than 500+ pre-made templates to choose from. All Wix designs are fully responsive and written in HTML5. Using the built-in tools, you can further customize your site design, change the layout, and rearrange items as you see fit.

Wix Templates

There are designs available for every kind of site. Templates are divided into categories like business, eCommerce, hobbies, arts & crafts, personal, etc.

One big disadvantage is that once you have selected a template, you cannot change it. You can modify it and customize it as much as you want using only the built-in tools, but you cannot switch to another template.

WordPress:

There are thousands of free and paid themes available for WordPress. Free themes come with limited support, but they also go through a strict review process. Paid themes generally offer more features and come with premium support options.

WordPress themes

WordPress themes range from small personal sites to full-fledged eCommerce sites. Most themes come with built-in customization options of their own. You are also free to further customize them using your own child themes and plugins.

Users can download free themes from WordPess.org directory. For paid themes, there are several WordPress theme shops like Themify, CSSIgniter, StudioPress, and more. See our list of the best commercial WordPress theme shops.

Furthermore, you can hire a developer or learn to create a completely custom theme for your company.

Conclusion:

WordPress has a much larger range of themes and design layouts than Wix. WordPress users can also easily switch themes or customize them as much as they want without any restrictions.

Plugins and Apps

Plugins and Apps are third-party extensions that you can use with your platform to add more features. Wix calls them apps, and in WordPress ecosystem, they are called plugins.

Let’s compare apps and plugins available on both platforms and what you can do with them.

Wix:

Wix comes with nearly 200+ apps that you can add to your site. These apps offer a wide range of features like adding contact forms, gallery, comments, email list and so on.

Wix App Marketplace

Most apps are free or have a lite version. Other apps require monthly payments and vary in prices. Even though there is a limited collection of apps, they cover most commonly requested features by site owners.

WordPress:

At the time of writing this article, there are more than 55,000+ free plugins available in the WordPress.org plugin directory alone. Not to mention, premium plugins available on other marketplaces.

WordPress plugins

The saying goes: if you can think of it, there’s probably a WordPress plugin that makes it happen.

Whether you want to create a contact form, install Google Analytics, build a membership website, or sell online courses, there’s a plugin for that.

You can do just about anything you like with WordPress. There are plenty of plugins both free and paid which you can utilize on your site immediately.

Conclusion:

WordPress easily beats Wix in this area as well. Even though Wix’s app library is growing, it is still limited in comparison to the huge choice available to WordPress users.

Ecommerce

Selling things online is another important feature that most beginners look for. Let’s see how WordPress and Wix compare in eCommerce.

Wix:

Wix offers eCommerce with their paid plans. This means users with the free plan cannot run their eCommerce store on Wix without upgrading to a paid plan. With the WixStores, you can only accept payments using PayPal or Authorize.net.

There are a few third-party apps that you can use for selling things online, but those apps would cost you even more money with their monthly fees. Not to mention you have limited payment gateways and limited functionality.

WordPress:

WordPress makes it super easy to create your online store using WooCommerce, which powers more than 42% of all ecommerce websites in the world. There are also plenty of other eCommerce plugins available for WordPress that you can use to sell physical or digital goods, services, events, subscriptions, and more.

Most eCommerce plugins for WordPress even have their own dedicated themes and have plenty of themes designed specifically to work with those plugins. See our list of best WooCommerce themes for some excellent examples.

Conclusion:

If you want to build a proper online store and be ready for growth, then WordPress offers much more flexibility, freedom, and choices when compared to Wix.

Summary

WordPress is far superior to Wix as a web publishing platform for any kind of website. While Wix offers an easy to use website builder, you can accomplish a lot more with WordPress over the long run. See our guide on how to make a website using WordPress for step by step instructions.

We hope this article helped you compare Wix vs WordPress and learn their pros and cons. You may also want to see our actionable tips on driving traffic to your new WordPress site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post Wix vs WordPress – Which One is Better? (Pros and Cons) appeared first on WPBeginner.

Why You Must Avoid Nulled WordPress Themes & Plugins (9 Reasons)

Opinion

Recently, one of our readers asked us if it’s ok to use nulled WordPress themes and plugins? Nulled themes and plugins are pirated copies of premium WordPress products. In this article, we will explain why you must avoid nulled WordPress themes and plugins, specially if you’re serious about your website.

Why you must avoid nulled WordPress themes and plugins

What are Nulled WordPress Themes & Plugins?

Nulled WordPress themes and plugins are pirated copies of paid WordPress themes and plugins distributed unethically on the internet.

The folks redistributing nulled items argue that because WordPress and any derivative works (like plugins and themes) are licensed under GPL, it’s completely ok to copy and distribute it.

While that’s true, often this comes with big cost. Not only does it cause good WordPress companies to lose money, but most importantly it compromises the security and integrity of websites using these nulled WordPress themes and plugins.

Yes often these nulled themes and plugins are the reason why your websites get hacked.

Here are some of the top reasons why you must avoid using nulled WordPress plugins and themes on your website.

1. Security

WordPress security

Nulled WordPress plugins and themes are extremely dangerous for WordPress security. They are known to carry malware.

The malicious code can spread across different files to disguise itself which makes it hard to detect and fix when your website is hacked.

You could also lose your site data in the hack process. Last but not least, your site may get de-indexed from search engines for distributing malware.

2. Privacy

Privacy

Nulled WordPress themes and plugins can have different kind of malicious code hidden inside. This can include code that steals information from your WordPress site and makes it available to hackers on the dark web.

This information may include your username, email address, and passwords. If you run an online store or membership website, then the personal information of your customers can also be at risk.

These kind of hacks are hard to detect and may go unnoticed as your WordPress site keeps functioning normally.

3. Bad for SEO

Bad for SEO

Pirated WordPress themes and plugins can destroy your WordPress SEO completely. Nulled WordPress themes and plugins can add spam links to your website or hijack your users and redirect them to bad websites.

These activities are hard to detect by human eyes as the links are well hidden in the code. You will likely not be redirected when you are logged in to your WordPress account. However, search engines will be quick to notice that and penalize your website by dropping your search rankings or de-indexing your website completely.

You will have to spend months to recover your website’s SEO rankings and sometimes you may even have to make a new website from scratch.

4. Legal Issues

Legal issues

Many WordPress themes and plugins are open source, but some of them are sold with mixed licenses. This means that some parts of the code are protected by copyright laws and if you are using a nulled WordPress theme or plugin, then you don’t have legal permission to do so.

Pirated WordPress themes can result in data theft, data loss, or distribution of illegal material. All of these can lead to legal proceedings where you may end up paying huge sums to lawyers.

5. No Access to Updates

No access to updates

Most WordPress themes and plugins regularly release updates to fix bugs, add new features, and close security issues. Nulled WordPress themes and plugins cannot receive those updates because they don’t have a valid license key.

This leaves your WordPress site with an outdated version which may be buggy and insecure. WordPress itself regularly releases new versions and sometimes themes and plugins need to be updated to remain compatible with the latest changes. Since nulled theme or plugin can’t be updated, your website may start misbehaving or become inaccessible.

For details on WordPress updates, see our article on why you should always use the latest WordPress version and how to manage WordPress updates.

6. Support & Documentation

No access to support

Even the most experienced WordPress users need support and documentation to properly use premium WordPress themes and plugins.

Developers of these products spend a lot of their time on providing support and creating documentation for their users. They even hire support specialists to answer questions and regularly add new tutorials.

If you are using a nulled WordPress theme or plugin, then you are on your own. You cannot ask the developers to help you out when you need help. You also don’t get access to documentation and tutorials because those are only available to paid customers.

7. Access to New Features

No new features

As we mentioned earlier, WordPress themes and plugins are updated regularly and often these updates include new features. If you are using a pirated WordPress product, then you cannot get automatic updates, and you wouldn’t even know that there are new features available.

These new features can significantly improve your website and help you make more money online. However, you will be totally unaware of these changes and will be stuck with an outdated version.

8. Unethical use Discourages Innovation

No innovation

Now some may argue that it is a tiny piece of software, and I am doing this because I cannot afford to pay for it at the moment. However, this tiny piece of code is the result of someone’s skill, talent, and hard work. By using a nulled software, you are taking away money from those developers.

Developers not only spend their time on writing code, they also have to provide support, create documentation, make a website, hire support staff, and spend a lot of money to run their business. Using nulled software hurts their business, and they end up losing money.

These unethical practices may discourage developers from creating new innovative products that can benefit millions of users.

9. The Abundance of Free Alternatives

Plenty of free WordPress themes and plugins

There is no reason for anyone to use nulled WordPress themes and plugins. No matter which WordPress theme or plugin you choose, there is always more than one suitable free alternative available for them.

In fact, many premium WordPress plugins have limited free versions to help you get started. Need a contact form? Get started with the free version of WPForms Lite. Need Google Analytics? Try the free version of MonsterInsights.

For WordPress themes, take a look at our expert-pick of the best free WordPress themes that are just as good as a premium theme.

WordPress.org has thousands of free plugins and themes. Some of them are even better than many premium products. Most importantly, you can use them legally with no burden on your conscience and without affecting WordPress community negatively.

We hope this article helped you learn why you must avoid nulled WordPress plugins and themes. You may also want to see our article on the cost of building a WordPress website with tips on how to save money.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post Why You Must Avoid Nulled WordPress Themes & Plugins (9 Reasons) appeared first on WPBeginner.

Shopify vs WooCommerce – Which is the Better Platform? (Comparison)

ecommerce store with shopify, ecommerce store with woocommerce, online store, Opinion, shopify vs woocommerce, woocommere store

Are you thinking of starting an online store? Not sure whether you should use Shopify or WooCommerce? These are the two most popular eCommerce platforms in the market with their own advantages and disadvantages. In this article, we will compare Shopify vs WooCommerce to help you decide the best option for you.

Shopify vs WooCommerce

Since this is a detailed comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce, here’s a quick table of content:

Overview: Shopify vs WooCommerce

Before we start with our in-depth comparison of the two most popular eCommerce platforms on the web, it’s important that we cover the basics and highlight what makes these platform stand out.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is an all-in-one eCommerce platform that makes it easy for you to create an online store, accept payments, and manage your inventory all from a single platform without ever worrying about the technical aspects of managing a website such as web hosting, security, caching, etc.

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce plugin built for WordPress. It allows you to leverage the most powerful content management system (CMS) and use it to run an online store. Because of the open-source nature, you can customize every aspect of your store and easily build custom extensions.

The decision to choose between the two platforms depend entirely on your needs and skill level.

What to Look for in Your eCommerce Platform?

There are few things that you absolutely need to keep in mind when starting an online store. These key factors will help you decide which platform is better suited for your needs.

  • Budget – The initial cost of starting a fully functional ecommerce store.
  • Ease of use – It should be easy to use even for absolute beginners.
  • Payment Methods – It should have support for multiple payment methods (e.g. PayPal, Stripe, other merchant processors).
  • Integrations – Number of services and third party tools you can integrate to grow your business.
  • Scalability – The platform should be able to scale as your business grows.

These are the very basic requirements that all online store owners must consider. However depending on your need, you may also want to look at other options like shipping, inventory management, invoicing, taxes, etc.

Our goal with this article is to take an in-depth look at how Shopify and WooCommerce stand on these basic requirements, and which one of them is best suited for your needs.

Cost: Shopify vs WooCommerce

Cost is often the most important consideration for eCommerce website owners. You need to evaluate the cost of getting started while also keeping in mind the variable costs for add-on services and software.

The true cost of using Shopify

Shopify makes it super easy to start your online store. Their basic plan starts at $29 per month, and you can upgrade to the Shopify plan for $79 or the Advanced Shopify plan for $299 per month.

Shopify pricing

Each of these plans include domain name, SSL certificate, and web hosting.

The basic plan comes with enough features to setup a new online store. You can add unlimited products, 2 user accounts, unlimited file storage, and more.

However, this pricing doesn’t include third-party tools and addons that you will need to take your Shopify store to the next level. As your business grows, these costs will start adding up, and you’ll soon be paying a lot more than the basic plan.

Payments are another factor that affects your costs. Shopify offers their own Shopify Payments solution which costs 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction.

If you want to use third-party payment gateways or your own merchant account, then you will be charged a flat fee of 2.0% for all transactions. You can reduce this fee to 0.5% by using the Shopify Advanced plan which costs $299 per month.

These payment processing fees are fairly steep when using external payment gateways. However if you’re just starting out and want to use the Shopify payment solution, then the fees are fairly comparable to popular platforms like Stripe and Braintree.

The true cost of using WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an eCommerce plugin for WordPress.org (also known as self-hosted WordPress). It is open source and freely available as a WordPress plugin.

However, you’ll need a domain name, SSL Certificate, and a WordPress hosting account to start a WooCommerce store.

Typically, a domain name costs $14.99, SSL Certificate costs $69.99, and web hosting around $7.99 / month. This is not cheap, particularly when you are just starting out.

Thankfully, there are several hosting companies who are now offering specialized WooCommerce hosting plans which significantly reduces the cost.

Getting started with WooCommerce

Bluehost, an official WordPress and WooCommerce recommended hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a free domain name, free SSL certificate, and a discount on web hosting.

This will help you start your online store for as low as $6.95 / month.

→ Click here to Claim this Exclusive Bluehost offer ←

As you can see, the cost of starting a basic WooCommerce store is significantly lower than Shopify. WooCommerce also doesn’t charge you a percentage fee of your transactions which is a very nice perk.

But the WooCommerce costs start adding up as you purchase paid extensions. Your hosting costs will also increase as your online store grows.

However, one clear advantage of using WooCommerce is that you can often find free alternatives to the paid extensions. You can also keep your costs in control by only purchasing the tools and plugins as you need them.

With the amount of free themes and free addons available for WooCommerce, it’s definitely the winner when it comes to cost.

Winner: WooCommerce

Ease of Use: Shopify vs WooCommerce

Most users starting an online store are not web designers or developers. Even users who are familiar with basic concepts need a platform that is easy to use and gets out of their way.

Let’s see how Shopify and WooCommerce stack up in terms of user friendliness.

Shopify – Ease of Use

Shopify is a fully hosted platform which means you don’t need to install, manage, or update any software. You also don’t need to worry about security, performance, backups, and compatibility issues.

As soon as you sign up, it helps you pick a design for your website. After that, they walk you through customization, and then help you add products.

Shopify customization

Shopify comes with an intuitive drag and drop interface. Managing your products, sales, and inventory inside Shopify is a breeze.

One downside of this guided, polished, and highly optimized user experience is that it limits your control. You can only use the design and development tools provided by Shopify or addons available in their marketplace.

However, this is not as bad as it sounds. For most users, the large selection of extensions and themes available in Shopify, is more than enough to get started and grow your online store.

WooCommerce – Ease of Use

WooCommerce is not a hosted platform like Shopify. This means you will need to install WooCommerce, manage updates, keep backups, and make sure that your website is secure. There are plenty of free and paid plugins that can automate most of these tasks for you.

WooCommerce setup wizard

WooCommerce is super flexible when it comes to customizations. You have full control of the whole platform. You can add any functionality imaginable to your website with the help of more than 50,000+ WordPress plugins. However, there is no built-in drag & drop design builder. You can use one of the WordPress page builders like Beaver Builder, but it adds to your cost.

The biggest downside of the flexibility is that it comes with a learning curve and requires a more hands-on management of your website. You also have to signup for a merchant account or similar service like Stripe / PayPal. While the WooCommerce guided setup wizard is helpful, it does not come close to the onboarding and ease of use of Shopify.

Winner: Shopify

Payment Methods: Shopify vs WooCommerce

There are many payment gateways that you can use to accept payments online. Some payment methods may not be suitable for you, and others may not be available to your customers.

This is why it’s important that the platform you choose offer multiple payment options. Let’s take a look at how Shopify and WooCommerce compare when it comes to payment integrations.

Payment Options in Shopify

Shopify offers plenty of payment options that you can use to receive payments from customers. It has its own payments solutions called Shopify Payments (powered by Stripe) as well as all popular third party payment gateways.

Shopify Payments

The problem is that Shopify charges an extra 2% fees on each transaction made through third party payment gateways. This is on top of the transaction fees charged by the payment gateway. You can reduce the fee to 0.5% by paying $299 per month for Advanced Shopify plan.

Shopify Payments has flat credit card fees, but no other transaction fees. Credit card rates start from 2.9% + 30¢ for basic plan and get lower for other plans.

Payment Options in WooCommerce

WooCommerce offers PayPal and Stripe payments by default. It also supports all other popular payment service providers through add-ons.

WooCommerce payment methods

For payment gateways, WooCommerce even has support for many regional and less popular payment services. Since there is no barrier to entry, any payments company can create add-ons for WooCommerce and provide support for it.

As a self hosted platform, you are only charged transaction fees by your payment gateway or your bank. WooCommerce never charges you a % fee on your store transactions which is a major plus.

If choosing your own merchant account and using a third-party gateway is important for you, then you will save A LOT of money by using WooCommerce. But if you’re a small store and willing to use Shopify Payments which has the same credit card rates as Stripe / Paypal, then it makes no difference.

Winner: Tie

Integrations and Add-ons: Shopify vs WooCommerce

No matter how robust an ecommerce platform is, you’ll always need third-party tools and services to grow your store. For example, an email marketing software, lead generation tool, analytics tools, outreach services, etc.

Both Shopify and WooCommerce have a massive extensions directory, and they integrate with many third-party services.

Shopify Add-ons and Integrations

Shopify comes with a powerful API and an App Store where you can buy third party addons for your Shopify store. They have hundreds of apps in the store covering every feature you’ll want to add to your store.

Shopify App Store

For lead generation, they have integrations with software like OptinMonster which helps you grow your email list and reduce cart abandonment. They have apps for SEO, product reviews, discounts, countdowns, and more.

Shopify’s app store contains both free and paid apps. Free apps are usually created by third party services that have their own pricing, and the app only integrates your store to their APIs. Pricing for paid addons varies and most apps offer monthly subscriptions.

WooCommerce Add-ons and Integrations

WooCommerce extensions

WooCommerce is open source and built on top of WordPress. This gives you access to more than 50,000 free WordPress plugins and many more paid plugins.

You can use these addons to add payment gateways, lead generation, SEO, performance optimization, and almost any feature you can think of.

Due to the low barrier of entry, there are a lot more integrations and addons available for WooCommerce than Shopify. Almost all third party tools and service providers have their own plugins to seamlessly integrate with your WooCommerce store.

You can also hire a developer to create an integration or plugin just for your own website. However it’s important to keep in mind that WooCommerce is a lot easier to customize. Having personally gone through the process of submitting a plugin for WordPress and submitting an app to the Shopify store, we can say that the process is extremely harder on Shopify vs WooCommerce.

Winner: WooCommerce

Scalability and Growth: Shopify vs WooCommerce

You have probably heard the term “growth-pains” from various CEOs. As your business grows, you will need more resources to handle new challenges and goals.

Shopify and WooCommerce can both be scaled to handle large amount traffic and orders, but they’re not created equal. Let’s take a look at how these two eCommerce platform compare when it comes to scalability.

Scalability on Shopify

Shopify enterprise

Shopify handles the technical parts of your store which means you don’t ever have to worry about performance, security, and scalability. Once your business starts growing, you can simply upgrade your Shopify plans.

Their infrastructure can easily handle your growing business without you having to worry about downtimes, backups, updates, or security. They also offer enterprise services as part of the Shopify Plus plan.

This takes out the painful part of the growth, but it also adds to your cost of business. Your expenses will grow, and you’ll have to plan accordingly.

The good part is that your costs will be offset by you not having to hire / manage a technical team in-house.

Scalability on WooCommerce

WooCommerce Scalability

WooCommerce is a self hosted platform which makes you responsible for maintaining updates, backups, and security of your website.

Your starter WooCommerce hosting plan would run out of resources as your store starts getting more traffic.

The good part is that you have plenty of options to manage growth as you are in full control of your website. Starting with better management of resources with caching to upgrading your hosting plan to more powerful servers.

Your WooCommerce hosting costs will increase, but you will have better control on resources, and you can make sure that you are not paying for resources that you don’t need. You can use a managed WordPress hosting provider like WP Engine or LiquidWeb to help scale your WooCommerce store.

Despite the control that WooCommerce offers, some business owners simply prefer a hassle-free solution.

Winner: Shopify

WooCommerce vs Shopify: Which is the Best eCommerce Platform?

Shopify and WooCommerce are both powerful platforms to start your eCommerce store. It truly comes down to your personal skills and preferences.

Shopify is a lot easier to use. It doesn’t require you to install anything, and you can get started quickly. Setting up payments is easier, and they have easy to understand pricing plans.

The disadvantage of Shopify is that you don’t have full control of everything. Your costs can go high with transaction fees, add-ons, and integrations. Your upgrade options are limited to select plans, and you cannot manage costs on pay as you grow basis.

WooCommerce is open source and gives you full control of your website. It costs a lot lower to start an online store with WooCommerce specially with these WooCommerce hosting companies.

The disadvantage is that you’ll have to maintain the software. It comes with a bit of learning curve. However, millions of beginners are already using it, and they get over the learning phase quite quickly.

If you are looking for a cost-effective solution, and you want to have full-control of your online store, then WooCommerce is the best platform for you.

If you want something that’s completely hassle-free that has infinite scalability, then Shopify is the better platform for you.

We hope this article helped you compare pros and cons of Shopify vs WooCommerce. You may also want to see our guide on how to choose the best website builder.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post Shopify vs WooCommerce – Which is the Better Platform? (Comparison) appeared first on WPBeginner.