Shopify vs WooCommerce
for shops in Malta.

Businesses in Malta sell online far more than the EU average. In Eurostat’s 2025 survey of enterprises with ten or more staff, 30.5% of Malta businesses made web sales through their own website or app, against 17.7% across the EU. Selling through marketplaces was much closer to the EU level, at 10.7% in Malta and 9.3% in the EU.

In other words, Malta businesses prefer their own shop to a marketplace. That makes the platform decision more important here, because your own shop carries your brand, your customer list and your margins. Getting the platform wrong usually shows up a year later, as a pile of monthly app fees on one side or a slow, unpatched site on the other.

Shoppers are demanding too. Eurostat’s 2025 figures show that people in Malta who bought online met more problems than the EU average, from slow delivery to sites that are hard to use. Our product page checklist shows how to prevent those on either platform, and our guide to e-commerce websites in Malta covers the rest of the shop.

On Shopify, the natural choice is Shopify Payments. Shopify’s help centre lists Malta among the supported countries, subject to its checks on your business and documents. If you use a different provider instead, Shopify adds its own third-party transaction fee on top of that provider’s fees. The fee depends on your plan.

On a shop selling €6,750 a month, that 2% on Basic is €135 a month, or €1,620 a year, before the provider’s own card fees. That is why almost every Shopify shop uses Shopify Payments. Its card rates depend on your plan and are shown on Shopify’s pricing page for your country, so check them when you sign up.

On WooCommerce there is no platform fee on sales. WooCommerce’s WooPayments lists Malta as a supported country, and Stripe has an official WooCommerce plugin. Stripe’s published Malta pricing is a good benchmark for card costs on a WooCommerce shop.

Most Maltese shoppers pay with a standard European card, so the 1.5% + €0.25 line is the one that matters most. Our payment gateway guide for Malta compares Stripe, PayPal, Shopify Payments and bank gateways in more detail.

Type your own figures: orders, average order, the Shopify plan price you see on its pricing page, and the hosting and care quotes you have for WooCommerce. The calculator compares running costs over the years you choose, including card fees and Shopify’s extra fee if you pick another provider. One-off build costs are left out, because they depend on your catalogue. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

If the two totals come out close, pick on the other points: who will run it day to day, whether you need custom features, and how much content you plan to publish. If Shopify comes out far ahead only because the WooCommerce care line is high, ask whether you really need that level of care for a small catalogue.

Whatever platform you choose, register the domain in your own name and keep the login. Our guide on who owns your website explains why this matters more than the platform itself.

• On Shopify you can export products, customers and orders as files and take your domain with you. The theme and paid apps stay on Shopify, so moving away means rebuilding the design.
• On WooCommerce you hold the database and every file, and you can move to another host or developer. Paid extensions keep working only while their licences are renewed.
• Moving between them is possible in both directions. The hard parts are keeping product web addresses so Google does not lose them, moving customer accounts, and redirecting old pages. Our website redesign guide explains redirects.
• Customer data falls under the GDPR on both. You are responsible for your privacy notice and for having a data processing agreement with the platform or host.

1. Do you already have a WordPress site with content that brings visitors? If yes, lean towards WooCommerce.
2. Who will run updates and test the checkout? If nobody, lean towards Shopify.
3. Do you need custom pricing, B2B price lists, bookings or unusual stock rules? If yes, lean towards WooCommerce or a custom build.
4. Will you use Shopify Payments? If you must use another provider, add Shopify’s extra fee to your sums.
5. How many paid apps or extensions will you need? List them and price them for three years.
6. How many products and variants? Both handle small catalogues well; big catalogues need good hosting on WooCommerce.
7. Do you sell in person too? Shopify’s point-of-sale tools may tip the balance.
8. What does the calculator above say over three years?

If you answer “it depends” to most of these, that is normal. A short call usually settles it in fifteen minutes once we see the catalogue.

• Shopify: Pricing (plans, card rates and third-party transaction fees) ↗
• Shopify Help Center: Supported countries for Shopify Payments ↗
• Shopify Help Center: Shopify Payments for Malta ↗
• WooCommerce: WooPayments in your country (supported countries) ↗
• Stripe: Pricing and fees for Malta ↗
• Eurostat: E-commerce sales of enterprises by size class (isoc_ec_esels) ↗
• Price Indication Regulations, S.L. 378.09 (regulation 5A), Laws of Malta ↗
• Directive (EU) 2019/882, European Accessibility Act, EUR-Lex ↗
• Regulation (EU) 2016/679, General Data Protection Regulation, EUR-Lex ↗