How to Choose an Ecommerce Platform for Your Startup

Compare Shopify, Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, and WooCommerce to find the right platform for selling physical goods, digital products, or subscriptions. Covers transaction fees, customization depth, and merchant-of-record models.

Key Decision Criteria

Product Type

High Priority

Physical goods with inventory, shipping, and variants: Shopify or WooCommerce. Digital products (ebooks, courses, software): Gumroad or Lemon Squeezy. Subscriptions and memberships: All four support recurring billing, but Lemon Squeezy handles tax as merchant of record.

Tax and Compliance Handling

High Priority

Selling digital products globally means collecting and remitting VAT, GST, and sales tax in dozens of jurisdictions. Lemon Squeezy acts as merchant of record, handling all tax obligations. Gumroad also handles VAT. Shopify requires Shopify Tax or third-party apps. WooCommerce puts tax entirely on you.

Total Cost of Ownership

High Priority

Gumroad takes 10% flat per transaction. Lemon Squeezy charges 5% + 50¢. Shopify Basic is $39/mo + 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction. WooCommerce is free software but hosting, payment plugins, and maintenance cost $30-100+/mo. Calculate based on your actual revenue.

Customization and Ownership

Medium Priority

WooCommerce runs on WordPress—you own everything but manage hosting, security, and updates. Shopify offers a balance of customization through themes and Liquid templating. Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy are opinionated with limited storefront customization but fast setup.

Questions to Ask Yourself

Are you selling physical products, digital products, or both?

Physical products with shipping: Shopify is the clear leader with inventory management, shipping label printing, and fulfillment integrations. Digital-only: Gumroad or Lemon Squeezy get you selling in minutes. Both: Shopify with digital delivery apps, or WooCommerce with plugins for each.

How much revenue do you expect in the first year?

Under $10k: Gumroad's 10% fee is simpler than a monthly subscription. $10k-$100k: Lemon Squeezy's 5% or Shopify's flat monthly fee start making more sense. $100k+: Shopify's percentage fees are lower overall. $500k+: WooCommerce's zero platform fees pay for the hosting and maintenance costs.

How important is storefront design and branding?

Shopify has thousands of professional themes and a full storefront builder. WooCommerce inherits WordPress theme flexibility. Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy offer clean but limited storefronts—they're better as checkout pages linked from your own site than as standalone stores.

Do you want to handle sales tax and VAT yourself?

No: Lemon Squeezy or Gumroad as merchant of record handle all tax obligations globally. Yes, with help: Shopify Tax automates calculations but you file returns. Fully DIY: WooCommerce with tax plugins. For digital products sold internationally, merchant of record saves significant accounting headaches.

Red Flags to Watch For

Platform takes a revenue percentage above 10%

Gumroad's 10% is already at the high end. Any platform taking more than that is overcharging. Calculate your effective rate including monthly fees, transaction percentages, and payment processing. Switch to lower-fee options as revenue grows.

No abandoned cart recovery

70% of online shopping carts are abandoned. Automated abandoned cart emails can recover 5-15% of that revenue. Shopify includes this on all plans. Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy have basic recovery. If your platform doesn't offer this, you're leaving money on the table.

Locked into proprietary ecosystem with no migration path

Your product catalog, customer data, and order history must be exportable. Shopify allows CSV exports and has migration apps. WooCommerce data is in your database. Verify you can export everything before building your store on any platform.