The short answer
If you already take payments through a Square till, Square Online is usually the simplest way to start selling online, because stock and sales can share the same system. If you're outgrowing Square, or need more flexibility with design and apps, Shopify (with Shopify POS if you want the till side unified too) is the more capable option, at a higher ongoing cost. WooCommerce is the cheapest to run month to month, but it needs a plugin to talk to any till and someone willing to keep WordPress itself maintained. There's no single winner. The right choice depends on what's already on your counter.
Start with the till you already have
Most independent shops don't choose an online platform in isolation. They choose it alongside a till that's already taking card payments and tracking stock, and the two systems need to agree on what's actually left on the shelf. Picking a platform that doesn't talk to your till at all is how a customer ends up ordering something online twenty minutes after it sold in person. See our general guide to a shop's website not bringing in orders for how that plays out at checkout.
So the first useful question isn't "which platform is best" but "what do I already use to take payment in person, and does this new platform get on with it?"
Square Online: simple, and often enough if you're on a Square till
If your till is already Square, Square Online is built to sit next to it rather than beside it. Products, stock levels and sales can live in one place, so a sale on the counter and a sale on the website pull from the same number instead of two separate spreadsheets that drift apart. It's a sensible starting point for a shop with a modest number of products that wants to get online without taking on a second system to manage.
Where it tends to run out of road is design flexibility and the app ecosystem: once you want a specific checkout feature, a particular shipping rule, or deeper control over how product pages look, Square Online's templates can feel limiting. Check Square's own pricing pages for current transaction fees and plan tiers before deciding, since these change and we'd rather send you to the source than quote a figure that's gone stale.
Shopify and Shopify POS: more shop, more to pay for
Shopify is the platform most shops end up comparing everything else against, and for good reason: a huge app ecosystem, strong checkout conversion out of the box, and templates that look professional with little design work. If you want the till and the website properly unified under one system, Shopify POS extends the same platform onto a physical till, so stock, sales and customers live in exactly one place rather than two that need syncing.
That unification costs more each month than a basic online-only plan, and it's worth being honest about that trade-off before committing: Shopify plus Shopify POS makes most sense once a shop has outgrown a simpler setup, not as the automatic first choice. Shopify's own pricing page has current plan and transaction fee details, since these are reviewed and changed periodically.
WooCommerce: cheapest to run, but you're the one running it
WooCommerce runs on WordPress, so there's no monthly platform fee from WooCommerce itself, only hosting and whichever plugins you add, including the one that connects to a till. For a shop comfortable with (or supported for) ongoing WordPress maintenance, that usually works out as the lowest running cost of the three over several years.
The trade-off is maintenance. WordPress needs updates, security patches and backups kept current, and a till integration on WooCommerce is a plugin bolted onto a plugin, which is more fragile than a platform built around unifying the two from day one. It suits a shop that already has, or is happy to pay for, someone keeping WordPress properly maintained. Our guide on choosing a website platform covers WordPress's maintenance needs in more general detail, outside e-commerce specifically.
Fees, stock and who maintains it, compared
| Square Online | Shopify (+ POS) | WooCommerce | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works with a Square till | Built in | Needs Shopify POS instead of Square's till software | Needs a till plugin or a separate system |
| Design flexibility | Template-based, limited | Wide app and theme ecosystem | Fully flexible, but you (or we) build it |
| Ongoing platform cost | Monthly plan, check Square's current pricing | Monthly plan, higher with POS, check Shopify's current pricing | No platform fee; hosting and plugins only |
| Who maintains it | Mostly handled by the platform | Mostly handled by the platform | Needs active WordPress maintenance |
| Best fit | Already on a Square till, modest catalogue | Outgrowing a basic setup, want the till unified too | Lowest running cost, maintenance is covered elsewhere |
Transaction fees and plan prices change on all three platforms, so check each vendor's own pricing page for the current figures before deciding. We'll talk you through what applies to your situation on a free call.
Which we'd pick for three kinds of shop
A shop with a Square till, a few dozen products and no plans to grow the catalogue much: Square Online, because it's already most of the way there. A shop that's outgrowing a simple setup, wants more design control, or is ready to unify till and website properly: Shopify, with Shopify POS if the till needs replacing too. A shop focused on keeping monthly costs as low as possible, with someone (us, or in-house) happy to maintain WordPress: WooCommerce.
None of these are permanent decisions. Moving platform later is possible without losing your domain or your Google rankings if it's planned properly, though it's extra work worth avoiding if you can pick the right one now.
When to get help, and what we'd do
If you're starting from nothing, a full online shop on whichever platform fits your till is our web-shop component: products, payments, stock and delivery set up properly from the start, with your till connected where that's realistically possible. If you've already got a shop on one of these platforms but checkout, speed or stock sync are the problem rather than the platform itself, web-refresh usually gets you there faster and cheaper than rebuilding. Either way, we'll tell you honestly on the free call whether switching platform is actually worth it, rather than assuming it is.
See our website service for how a project like this runs, or look at a worked example of an independent shop launching on Shopify to see what the steps actually look like week by week.
Frequently asked questions
Can I switch from Square Online to Shopify later without losing my Google rankings?
Yes, if it's done properly: keeping the same URLs or setting up correct redirects from old product pages to new ones is the part that protects your search rankings during a move. It's extra work, which is why picking the platform that fits now is worth the time upfront.
Do I need Shopify POS if I already have a Square till?
Not necessarily. If the Square till is working well and you don't need Shopify's wider features, Square Online keeps both systems talking without replacing hardware you already own. Shopify POS only earns its cost once you want everything on one platform.
Is WooCommerce really free to run?
The software itself has no licence fee, but hosting, a till-integration plugin, and ongoing WordPress maintenance all cost something, either in money or in your own time. "Free" refers to the platform, not the total cost of running a shop on it.
Which platform is easiest for someone who isn't technical?
Square Online and Shopify are both built for non-technical day-to-day use, with WooCommerce needing a bit more comfort with WordPress, or a maintenance plan, to feel equally hands-off.
How do I know if the till is actually the thing holding my shop back?
If stock keeps drifting out of sync between the counter and the website, or you're manually updating both every day, that's a strong sign the platform and till aren't working together. If stock is fine but orders are still low, the issue is more likely on the page itself, covered in our shop website not converting guide.