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WordPress vs Shopify vs Wix: Which Is Right for a Small Business in India?

Yearly costs in rupees, UPI, payment gateways, GST invoices, SEO and ease of use: a fair look at WordPress, Shopify and Wix for Indian small businesses.

By Daily Web Digest Editors
7 October 2026 · 10 min read
In this guide
  1. The short version
  2. What a year really means.
  3. Indian payments: UPI, gateways and cash on delivery.
  4. GST invoices
  5. Ease of use
  6. SEO control
  7. Space to develop, departing on a later day.
  8. Side-by-side comparison
  9. Which is the one you should choose?
  10. Before you pay
  11. Wrapping up
  12. Sources

Whether you are operating a small business in India and you would like a decent site, you would keep on hearing the name, WordPress, Shopify and Wix. Each of them is capable of providing you with a good-looking site. The differences occur subsequently: in the annual statement of bills, UPI payments, GST invoices, and the extent to which upkeep is required in the site.

This is a guide that makes such comparisons. In October 2026 prices were checked, and affiliated links are absent.

An explanation of names WordPress in this context refers to the free WordPress.org software on hosting that you lease, and the free WooCommerce software in case you sell products. Wordpress.com is another hosted system and is not in this case.

The short version

  • Local service business (salon, clinic, tutor, CA, interior designer): Wix is easiest to do due to its simplicity; a basic WordPress site is typically the cheapest in the course of several years.
  • Small online store: Shopify because you need selling tools that simply work and can absorb its fees; WooCommerce because you are money conscious and at ease with dealing with maintenance; Wix because your online store is small or you accept bookings as well.
  • Content-led business (blog, publication, course creator, consultant who wins business based on articles): WordPress.

What a year really means.

Prices lower than list prices charged per year, excluding 18% GST, displayed on the Shopify India, Wix and Indian hosting pricing page in October 2026. Discounts vary, and pricing page varies with time, so on the day when you make the purchase, visit the pricing page.

WordPress (self-hosted)

The WooCommerce and software are free. You pay for:

  • Hosting. The lowest end WordPress hosting plans available in India are typically marketed at ₹69/249 a month, although that price is often subject to a three/four year prepayment. Renewal was ₹289-649 a month on one huge host. Budget roughly ₹1,000–₹3,000 a year at introductory rates and ₹3,500–₹8,000 a year at renewal rates.
  • Domain. Frequently offered at no charge the initial year together with hosting, and then about 1,000 to 1,500 annually on a .com.
  • Optional extras. Some high-end themes or a backup service, or time spent by a developer when it fails.

Shopify

  • Basic: ₹1,499 a month billed yearly (₹17,988 a year), or ₹1,994 a month billed monthly.
  • Grow: ₹5,599 a month billed yearly (₹67,188 a year).
  • New stores currently get a 3-day free trial, then ₹20 a month for the first three months.
  • In addition to a domain, any charged applications, and a transaction charge on Indian gateway orders (below).

Wix

  • Light: ₹250 a month (₹3,000 a year). Does not receive online payments.
  • Core: ₹500 a month (₹6,000 a year). Takes payments and has a simple online booking and store.
  • Business: ₹900 a month (₹10,800 a year).
  • Business Elite: ₹1,800 a month (₹21,600 a year).
  • Yearly plans have one year free domain. At the time we looked, Core and higher were half price the first term.

Two example budgets

Scenario (a year, at list prices, excluding GST) WordPress Shopify Wix
No taxes or Google payments Service business, questions only. About ₹1,000–₹5,000 for hosting and domain Basic 17,988, most of which will be spent on what is not necessary in the store. ₹3,000 on Light
Small store has been selling 50,000 helping online every month through the gateway. Approximately 2000-9000 to host and domain, and a paid plug-in. ₹17,988 plan, plus about ₹12,000 in Shopify's 2% third-party fee, plus apps ₹6,000 on Core or ₹10,800 on Business

The gateway fee of the gateway itself (approximately 2 plus GST at the gateways we visited) is charged on all platforms, and thus is not included in the table. An additional fee that Shopify levies on gateway orders is what is notable, as on these figures, it costs the plan approximately two-thirds.

Indian payments: UPI, gateways and cash on delivery.

Shopify. Shopify offers its own payment gateway, Shopify Payments, but this is not present in India, so the Indian stores integrate with a third-party one. The Payments provider directory in India has: Razorpay, PayU, PhonePe, Paytm, CCAvenue and Easebuzz which provide UPI plus cards and netbanking. The bad news is that Shopify applies its own third-party transaction fees to those orders: 2% to Basic, 1% to Grow and 0.6% to Advanced. According to the help centre, manual methods like cash on delivery do not obtain this fee at Shopify.

Wix. You must have a plan that accepts payments (Core or higher). The help centre of Wix has prepared the guide about Razorpay and Cashfree Payments in India, in 2024 Wix introduced Airpay, Easebuzz and Nimbbl as additional options. Cashfree on wix encloses the methods as BHIM, Google Pay and PhonePe. The plans page of Wix does not show a Wix fee on sales: as far as we could trace you only pay the fees of your gateway.

WordPress with WooCommerce. Freeplugins are available in the WordPress.org directory where UPI has been supported by razorpay, Cashfree, PayU and PhonePe. razorpay, Cashfree, PayU and PhonePe actively publish free WooCommerce plugins in the WordPress.org directory. There's no platform fee. WooCommerce features cash on delivery.

As a benchmark to be used, the pricing at Razorpay will have the following elements: 2% platform fee on domestic UPI, cards, netbanking and wallets and 18% GST on the platform fee. Other gateways have varying prices, compare before you register.

GST invoices

None will supply you with a complete GST invoice setup right away, so count on an add-on.

  • Shopify explicitly states that it does not generate GST compliant bills; you can choose hundreds of apps in the Shopify App Store or an external invoicing service. Shopify also applies GST to its own charges on Indian stores unless you set GSTIN in billing options and the exemption only applies to invoices raised after you do so.
  • Wix allows you to charge taxes and the Wix App Market has GST invoice apps specific to India. One that we examined is a free plan of 20 invoices and paid plans starting at around 368 a month.
  • WooCommerce has tax settings and due to the WordPress.org directory, there are free and paid GST invoice extensions. Determine the last update time of a given plugin and subsequently use it.

Ease of use

Wix is the least effortful to begin when you want to have an interest in the appearance of the site. Drag where you please and you have Wix on hosting, security and updates on the job.

Shopify is the simplest to operate a shop on a day-to-day basis. Goods, inventory, invoices and discounts and shipping rest in a single sale-oriented admin. The themes are store oriented though the design of pages is not as free-form as Wix.

WordPress is the most complex to learn. It is okay to use block editor after being accustomed to it, however, you are tasked with updates, backups and security or paying someone else. The hardening guide authored by WordPress itself recommends maintaining core, themes and plugins as one of the first things to do.

SEO control

The three deal with the fundamentals. You have control over page titles, meta description, URL slugs and image alt text, and each has a built-in sitemap. They all also allow you to edit robots.txt: WordPress via direct file editing or via a plugin, Wix via its Robots.txt Editor, and Shopify via a theme template which it terms as a non-supported customisation.

The differences lie at the farlows:

  • WordPress is the most controlable: custom URL structure, custom schema markup and SEO plugins to refine.
  • Part of the URLs used by Shopify, including /products/ and /collections/ are fixed. The prefixes you can change with the slug but not the prefixes.
  • Great Features: Wix allows you to customize product page and blog post prefixes in SEO settings and enables it to create redirects.

None of the platforms will rank your site. Valuable information, a responsive mobile site and a full Google Business Profile are much more important than the builder. It is reasonable to start with Google free SEO Starter Guide.

Space to develop, departing on a later day.

Shopify is easily scalable: Adding more staff pages, more warehouse locations and reduced purchasing charges on higher plans, and extensive app marketplace. You can export products to CSV as well in the event that you quit. The cost trade-off is price; Grow is almost four times more expensive than Basic.

Wix has superior plans and a distinct agency product, Wix Studio. But Wix says that your site has to be on its servers, and cannot be transferred to another host. You are able to export the product lists; the design you would have to re-created.

WordPress ranks with the least ceilings. You have the option of upgrading to larger hosting size, and bringing along practically everything including the entire site. Growth is an expense primarily of your time or one of the developers.

Side-by-side comparison

WordPress + WooCommerce Shopify Wix
Initial price (annual billing, exclusive of GST) Free; hosting from ₹69-249/mo on extended intro rates. Basic ₹1,499 a month Light ₹250 a month; Core ₹500 a month to accept payments
Online sales online platform fee. None 2%, 1% or 0.6% on gateway orders, by plan; none on COD None mentioned
Indian gateways and UPI. Razorpay, Cashfree, PayU, and PhonePe plugins. Razorpay, PayU, PhonePe, Paytm, CCAvenue, Easebuzz and more. Razorpay, Cashfree and others.
GST invoices Plugins Apps (not built in) Apps
Ease of use Difficultest; you uphold it. Simplest to operate a store. Simplest to design pages.
SEO control Most Good; constant prefixes in URLs. Good; editable prefixes
Moving away later Easiest Exporting of products to CSV. Site can not abandon Wix.

Which is the one you should choose?

Local service business

If you have a polished site you would prefer. Pick Wix, and subtle hosting considerations are not part of your thoughts at the moment. Light includes an inquiry-only site; Core includes online bookings and payments, which is appropriate with salons, coaches and clinics. Choose WordPress when you desire the cheapest long-term price and know your way around it or have someone at your side. Shopify is more than you require herein.

Small online shop

Choose Shopify when selling is the entire idea and you would like stock, orders and checkout to operate without the need to touch them. Calculate the third party fee: most of the orders will be prepaid using a gateway, which pays. Choose WooCommerce when there are tight margins and you are at ease with maintenance. Pick Wix (Core or Business) when your catalogue is small, you also make bookings or design matters than advanced store features.

Content-led business

Pick WordPress. When you are doing business based on articles, guides or courses, the option of site structure, the choice of the plugin, and the ability to switch-hosts to an alternative outweighs the additional maintenance. Later you can add a shop using WooCommerce.

Before you pay

  • Check the renewal price, but not the first-year price.
  • Enquire your gateway to see which methods (UPI, cards, wallets, EMI) you can use on your account, and what each costs.
  • Prior to first sale, you need to determine how you are going to issue GST invoices.
  • Own your territory in an account that you have control over, and you will be able to change its platform in the future.

Wrapping up

There is no one winner. Wix is the easiest to use when you have a service business, Shopify is the easiest to use when you have a product shop where you can cover its fees and WordPress offers the most control and the lowest cost of running when you are able to look after it. Divide the numbers mentioned above by your annual total and first see what you get with a free trial or free plan.

Sources

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