Choosing the platform for your online store isn’t a decision you can take lightly. It defines how much you’ll pay each month, how easy it’ll be to collect payments with your market’s payment methods and, above all, how fast your business can grow without the platform becoming too small for you.
Tiendanube, Shopify and WooCommerce are the three options you hear about most in the Spanish-speaking world, but they serve very different business profiles: Tiendanube is the regional option for Latin America, Shopify is the global giant and WooCommerce is the one that offers the most freedom and control. This guide compares the three according to your stage, your market and your budget.
The factor that changes everything: your target market
Before comparing features, there’s a key question: where are your customers? That answer weighs more than any feature table.
- Currency and exchange rate: if your platform charges in dollars and your business bills in a local currency, the monthly cost goes up with every devaluation — a fixed cost becomes an exchange-rate risk.
- Local payment gateways: in Latin America, Mercado Pago dominates the market; in other regions, other gateways are what people actually use. Having native integration with those of your market isn’t a luxury, it’s what makes selling possible.
- Local logistics: shipping carriers vary by country. Being able to offer shipping with your market’s main carriers without complex configuration is a real competitive advantage.
- Tax requirements: electronic invoicing, local billing regulations and taxes — every market has its own rules, and not every platform handles them equally well.
Tiendanube: the regional platform for Latin America
Tiendanube was born in Buenos Aires in 2011 and today has more than 180,000 active stores in Latin America — it’s the undisputed leader of the regional market.
Pros:
- Prices in local currency: it charges in Argentine pesos, Brazilian reais, Mexican pesos, etc., protecting you from exchange-rate volatility.
- Native integration with the regional ecosystem: Mercado Pago, local logistics carriers and electronic invoicing come ready from the dashboard, with no plugins.
- Low learning curve: an SME can have the store running in days, with support in Spanish and Portuguese that understands local problems.
- A real free plan: there’s an option with no monthly fee, ideal for validating the idea before investing.
Cons:
- Limited customization: the checkout and purchase flow have restrictions — if you need complex business logic (B2B, price lists, advanced bundles), the platform falls short.
- Reduced app ecosystem: around 300 apps, versus more than 16,000 for Shopify.
- Per-sale commission: even on paid plans, it charges between 0.5% and 2% on each sale depending on the plan.
- Scalability ceiling: for high-volume stores or deep ERP integrations, it’s designed for SMEs, not for enterprise operations.
Shopify: global power with a dollar cost
Shopify is the largest ecommerce platform in the world, with more than 1.7 million active stores in 175 countries — the option for those thinking big or with international ambitions.
Pros:
- Massive ecosystem: more than 16,000 apps in its App Store for almost any feature you need.
- High customization: more flexibility than Tiendanube for store design and logic, with the option of headless architectures via Hydrogen.
- Robust global infrastructure, with native multi-currency and multi-language tools if you sell to several countries.
- Real scalability: from a small store to an enterprise operation with Shopify Plus, without Tiendanube’s customization ceilings.
Cons:
- Prices in dollars: plans start at around USD 39/month, and if your local currency devalues, the real cost rises with the dollar.
- Transaction fee: where Shopify Payments isn’t available, an additional 0.5% to 2% applies on each sale.
- Less native local integration: gateways, shipping and tax requirements for each country usually require third-party apps that add cost and complexity.
- Support in English first: it’s 24/7, but to resolve local tax or logistics questions, Spanish-language support doesn’t always understand your country’s context.
WooCommerce: total control with technical responsibility
WooCommerce is an ecommerce plugin for WordPress, open source and free — but the real cost is in hosting, premium plugins and, above all, the time of someone technical to maintain it.
Pros:
- No per-sale commission: you only pay your payment gateway’s fee, never a percentage to the platform.
- Unlimited customization: being open source, any aspect of the store can be modified, with total control over code and data.
- WordPress ecosystem: more than 55,000 plugins available, with integration with practically any tool.
- Excellent for SEO: control over URLs, metadata and content structure superior to any SaaS platform.
Cons:
- Requires technical knowledge: you need to understand hosting, security and updates, or hire an agency to do it for you.
- Ongoing maintenance: WordPress, plugin and theme updates can break things, and backups and security are your responsibility.
- It can become slow without proper optimization — caching, CDN, image compression and robust hosting.
- Initial development cost: building a professional store requires investment in design and development before selling the first product.
Comparison table: Tiendanube vs Shopify vs WooCommerce in 2026
| Feature | Tiendanube | Shopify | WooCommerce |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | From $0 (with commission) + premium plans in local currency | USD 39-399/month | $0 (plugin) + hosting USD 10-50/month |
| Commission per sale | 0.5% - 2% depending on plan | 0.5% - 2% (without Shopify Payments) | 0% |
| Billing currency | Local currency (ARS, BRL, MXN, etc.) | US dollars | Varies (hosting and plugins) |
| Local payment gateways | ✅ Native integration in Latam | ⚠️ Via third-party apps | ✅ With plugins (any gateway) |
| Local tax requirements | ✅ Native integration (Latam) | ⚠️ Via third-party apps | ✅ With plugins (any country) |
| Local shipping | ✅ Native regional carriers | ⚠️ Via third-party apps | ✅ With plugins (any carrier) |
| Customization | Medium (themes + editor) | High (Liquid + apps) | Total (open source) |
| App/plugin ecosystem | ~300 apps | 16,000+ apps | 55,000+ plugins |
| Support in Spanish | ✅ Excellent, regional team | ⚠️ 24/7 but in English first | ⚠️ Community, no official support |
| Ideal for | Latin American SMEs, first steps | Global brands, scalability, multi-country | Businesses with a technical team, total control |
How to choose according to your case
If you’re starting out and selling in a local market (especially Latin America): Tiendanube. It’s the fastest, most affordable and simplest option for the region — it integrates payment gateways, shipping, invoicing and Spanish-language support without complications, with a free plan to validate the idea with no initial investment.
If you need advanced features or sell in several countries: Shopify. When Tiendanube’s ecosystem falls short or your market is international, Shopify gives you flexibility, apps and customization capacity in exchange for a higher cost in dollars.
If you have a technical team and need total control: WooCommerce. With well-managed hosting, security and updates, WooCommerce offers a freedom no SaaS platform can match: no per-sale commissions, total ownership of the code and practically unlimited scalability.
There’s no “best” platform in the abstract — there’s the one your business can sustain today and the one that won’t hold you back tomorrow.
The right platform depends on where you sell, how much SEO weighs in your strategy and how much technical capacity your team has to sustain it over time. If you have doubts about which one suits you, we can help you evaluate it according to your specific business.