# Commerce platforms we build on

> The commerce platforms SmartaStudio builds on — Shopify for hosted convenience and WooCommerce for full self-hosted control — and how we choose between them.

URL: https://www.smartastudio.com/stack/commerce

_What powers the store — hosted or fully your own._

The commerce engine decides how you sell: how the checkout converts, how much of the infrastructure you own, and how deeply the store weaves into your content. We build on two, chosen by how much control versus convenience a business wants.

Selling online comes down to one early decision: hand the hard parts to a platform, or own them. Shopify is hosted — the checkout, payments, compliance and uptime are handled, and we build a bespoke storefront on top. WooCommerce is self-hosted on WordPress — total control of the data, the checkout and the content, with no platform fees, run on hosting we tune and maintain. Both can be beautiful and fast; the right one depends on whether you value convenience or control.

## What a commerce platform is — and what actually matters to you

A commerce platform is the engine behind an online store: the product catalogue, the cart, the checkout, payments and tax. Every option can display products and take money — so, as with a CMS, the surface features rarely decide it. What matters is how well the checkout converts, how much of the running of it lands on you, and how freely the store can bend to your brand and your data.

Those questions pull in different directions. A hosted platform trades some control for reliability and low overhead; a self-hosted one trades convenience for total ownership and no platform fees. Getting that trade right for your business is the whole job — and it is the decision we work through with you before a line of code is written.

## Hosted vs self-hosted commerce

The commerce decision is really this one. Both routes can produce a fast, bespoke store — they differ in who carries the infrastructure and how much you can change.

### Hosted (Shopify)

- The platform runs checkout, payments, compliance and uptime.
- Reliable and fast to market, with a high-converting checkout.
- Transaction fees apply unless you use Shopify Payments.
- Best when you want to sell without running infrastructure.

### Self-hosted (WooCommerce)

- You own the store, the data and the checkout, on WordPress.
- Endlessly customisable, with no platform transaction fees.
- Performance, security and scaling are your responsibility — so we manage them.
- Best when content and commerce belong in one system you control.

## How we decide with you

One question leads: how much do you want to own versus hand off?

- **Convenience or control?** — Want the platform to run the plumbing? Shopify. Want to own every part of it? WooCommerce.
- **How content-led is it?** — If content marketing and commerce must live together on WordPress, WooCommerce fits naturally.
- **What is the ops appetite?** — No appetite for hosting and maintenance points to hosted Shopify; happy for us to manage it points to Woo.
- **How do fees stack up?** — At higher volumes, avoiding per-transaction platform fees can tip the maths toward WooCommerce.

## Our chosen commerce platforms

- [Shopify](https://www.smartastudio.com/stack/commerce/shopify) — Hosted commerce that just works — customised, not reskinned.
- [WooCommerce](https://www.smartastudio.com/stack/commerce/woocommerce) — Fully custom commerce, built into WordPress.