WooCommerce vs Shopify in Serbia — which is better for your online store

'WooCommerce or Shopify?' is a question we get almost every week. Short answer: WooCommerce for Serbian businesses that want control and lower monthly costs, Shopify for global sellers who want fast launch without technical worries. But the real answer is: it depends on what you sell, to whom, and what growth you plan.

WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin — you self-host (from €5/month), paying only for hosting, domain, and the plugins you use. In Serbia it works well because it integrates easily with local payment providers (Banca Intesa, UniCredit, NestPay, Corvus). SEO is excellent because you have full control over URL structure, schema markup, and performance. Downside: technical overhead — updates, security, and performance are your responsibility.

Shopify in Serbia has one problem: payment systems. Shopify Payments does not work in Serbia, so you must use third parties (Stripe, PayPal, Braintree) that charge a transaction fee on top of Shopify's monthly subscription (from $29/month to $299/month). For businesses selling in the EU and USA — Shopify is excellent. For the local Serbian market — costs grow quickly.

Headless e-commerce (Next.js frontend + Medusa or Payload as backend) makes sense for sellers with 500+ SKUs, complex filters, B2B pricing, or the need for a custom checkout. Performance is dramatically better (Core Web Vitals), and the architecture is more flexible. Development cost is higher, but long-term TCO is lower than Shopify Plus.

Our recommendation: up to 200 products and the Serbian market — WooCommerce. Global sales or a fast MVP without an IT team — Shopify (without the Serbian market as primary). Complex catalogue or B2B — headless. Feather Studio works with all three options, including migrations — see our e-commerce page or get in touch.