WooCommerce or Shopify: online shop costs calculated for Finland

In Finland, an online shop platform costs between 0 and 32 euros a month, but that isn’t the deciding factor. Payment processing costs several times as much as the platform itself, and there is one specific factor in Finland that turns the cheapest option into the most expensive: Finns pay via online banking, and Shopify Payments does not support this. This article includes a calculation that takes all costs into account: for a sample shop with 50 orders per month, WooCommerce costs around €206 and Shopify Basic around €229 per month.

List prices for platforms

Platform	Monthly fee	Card payment fees
WooCommerce (WordPress)	€0 — the software is free	depending on the payment provider
Shopify Basic	€32 (€24 with annual billing)	1,6 % + 0,25 €
Shopify Grow	€92 (€69 with annual billing)	1,5 % + 0,25 €
Shopify Advanced	€384 (€289 with annual billing)	1,4 % + 0,25 €

WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin, so with it you’ll only pay for the server and maintenance. Shopify includes the server cost in its price.

What price comparisons don’t take into account

Finnish consumers usually pay in online shops via online banking, MobilePay or by invoice — not primarily by card. Shopify Payments does not support Finnish online banking payments. In practice, this means that a Finnish Shopify merchant needs to use a domestic payment processor alongside Shopify, typically Paytrail or Svea.

This results in two charges: the payment processor’s own fee structure and the additional fee charged by Shopify for using an external payment service. At the Basic tier, this is 2 per cent of every order paid for in this way, and it only decreases at higher tiers.

Paytrail’s published prices as a basis for comparison: S package €14.90 per month, transaction fee €0.50 + 3.25 per cent. M package €59 per month with lower transaction fees.

Calculation: 50 orders per month, average spend €60

This is the typical scale of a start-up Finnish online shop: a turnover of €3,000 per month. Let’s assume that customers pay using a domestic payment method, as is customary in Finland.

Expense item	WooCommerce	Shopify Basic
Monthly fee for the platform	0 €	32 €
Hosting and maintenance	69 €	included
Paytrail S, monthly fee	14,90 €	14,90 €
Paytrail, 50 transactions	122,50 €	122,50 €
Shopify surcharge for an external payment service: 2 per cent	—	60 €
Total per month	206,40 €	229,40 €

The transaction fee is calculated as €0.50 + 3.25% × €60 = €2.45 per order. The maintenance fee of €69 is the monthly cost of our online shop package; cheaper hosting options are available, but in that case you’ll be responsible for updates and backups.

The difference isn’t dramatic — around €23 a month — but it’s the opposite of what you’d expect from the list prices. And if you accept card payments from abroad, the calculation flips the other way round. That’s the whole point: the platform’s monthly fee is the smallest variable, and payment processing fees are the biggest.

Set-up fee

On top of the monthly costs comes the cost of building the shop. Prices in Finland vary:

Implementation method	Set-up fee
Build it yourself using a ready-made theme	0–300 €
From the creator, a standard shop	2 000–6 000 €
From the office, integrations	8 000 € →
From us, up to 100 products	from €2,900 + €69 per month

The set-up cost isn’t just about the design. Most of the work involves configuring product details, delivery methods, tax rates and payment methods so that the shop is up and running from the very first order.

Which one should you choose?

Price isn’t the deciding factor, as the prices are very similar. It comes down to these factors:

The situation	Selection
You mainly sell to Finland using domestic payment methods	WooCommerce
You already have a WordPress site	WooCommerce
You want to own a shop and be able to move it	WooCommerce
Sell abroad using a card	Shopify
You don’t want to be responsible for updates at all	Shopify
You’ll need the shop next week	Shopify

The biggest difference lies not in the technology but in ownership. WooCommerce is hosted on your own server and can be moved elsewhere. Shopify is a hosted service: it works without you needing to know anything about servers, but the existence of your shop is tied to your subscription.

Two things you simply have to sort out in Finland

• Prices are displayed inclusive of tax. The price shown to the consumer must include VAT. The standard VAT rate in Finland is 25.5 per cent. This is a setting on both platforms, and it is worth checking before placing your first order.
• Distance selling information. Delivery terms, 14-day right of withdrawal, official company details and privacy policy. These are not provided as standard on either platform.

It’s also worth checking whether the Accessibility Act applies to your shop — it specifically applies to online shops, but micro-enterprises are exempt. We’ve gone through the details in our article ‘Accessibility requirements: does the law apply to your online shop?’.

In demand

Is WooCommerce really free?

The add-on is free and open source. You pay for the server, the payment gateway and any extensions. In Finnish e-commerce, the most common paid add-ons are payment methods and delivery options, including collection points — these can cost from a few tens to a couple of hundred a year. As your business grows, your server will need to handle a greater workload, and this is reflected in the price.

Can a Shopify shop be migrated to WooCommerce at a later date?

Oh dear. Products, customers and orders need to be exported and imported into WordPress. The tricky bit is the design, which needs to be redone, and redirecting URLs so that search engine visibility isn’t lost. The migration is therefore possible but not free — it’s worth bearing this in mind when making your choice.

How long does it take to set up an online shop?

Technical set-up is quick, taking just a few days. What takes time is the product data: images, descriptions, dimensions, weights and stock levels. In a shop with a hundred products, this is typically what determines the schedule. We can have a demo of the online shop ready within eight working days, and the full launch takes 4–5 weeks — but this schedule can only be met if the product details are already in place.

Does a small shop need a payment gateway, or is a bank transfer enough?

Technically, a bank transfer is sufficient and free of charge. In practice, however, it discourages purchases: the online shopping experience is easily interrupted if payment requires you to log in to your own bank and copy a reference number. If you only have a few orders a month, a bank transfer is a sensible way to start. After ten orders, the payment gateway’s monthly fee pays for itself.

How much does Shopify cost in Finland?

The list price for the Basic plan is €32 per month, or €24 when billed annually. In Finland, this effectively involves an additional domestic payment processor, as Shopify Payments does not support online banking payments, and on the Basic plan, Shopify charges 2 per cent of each order paid via a third-party payment service. In the example above with 50 orders, the actual monthly cost is around €229.

Which payment methods should you offer in a WooCommerce shop in Finland?

Online banking, MobilePay, card payments, and invoicing or instalment payments. The most common solution is a single add-on from a domestic payment service provider, such as Paytrail, which provides all of these at once. The contract is drawn up directly between the merchant and the payment service provider, and the costs are as shown in the calculation above: a monthly fee and a transaction fee per order.

How do you set up VAT in WooCommerce?

In WooCommerce’s tax settings, you can choose whether to enter prices inclusive or exclusive of tax. In retail, prices are entered inclusive of tax, meaning that the price displayed in the shop is the amount the customer pays. The standard tax rate of 25.5% is added to the tax table for Finland, and products subject to the reduced rates of 14% and 10% are assigned their own tax categories. It is advisable to check the settings using a test order before opening the shop, as an incorrect tax rate will only become apparent on the invoice.