WooCommerce development for stores that need to own their data

Yes, with the right infrastructure. WooCommerce handles tens of thousands of products when the database is indexed properly, object caching is enabled and order storage uses HPOS. Catalogues fail on WooCommerce because of shared hosting and unoptimised queries, not because of a platform limit. Size is an infrastructure question, not a platform question.

Almost always, yes. The usual causes, in order: no object caching, too many plugins loading on every request, unoptimised images, legacy order storage, and an undersized database. Most of these are configuration rather than code, which means the fix is usually faster and cheaper than a rebuild. We audit before quoting any performance work.

Yes, completely. WooCommerce is GPL-licensed software running on hosting you control, and the database with your products, customers and orders is yours. No vendor can change your checkout, raise a platform fee, or restrict an export. That ownership is the main reason to choose WooCommerce, and it comes with full responsibility for maintenance.

At minimum: PHP 8.2 or later with adequate memory, MySQL 8 or MariaDB 10.6+, Redis or Memcached object caching, a CDN, a staging environment, and automated backups with a tested restore. Shared hosting typically lacks object caching and staging, which is the most common reason a WooCommerce store performs badly.

Yes, and for anything beyond trivial customisation it is the right approach. Custom logic belongs in a versioned plugin rather than a theme file, so it survives theme changes and can be code-reviewed, tested and rolled back. We write a custom plugin when the alternative is stacking third-party plugins that partly overlap.

Someone must own it — that is the trade for self-hosting. In practice: apply core, plugin and theme updates on a defined schedule with staging tests first; remove unused plugins entirely rather than deactivating them; enforce strong admin authentication; and keep automated backups you have actually restored from at least once.

Yes. WooCommerce Subscriptions handles recurring billing, and WooCommerce Memberships handles gated content and member pricing. Both are mature and widely deployed. The thing to plan for is failed-payment handling and dunning, which is where subscription revenue is usually lost — not in the initial setup but in the recovery flow afterwards.

Stay if your store depends on custom logic, you value owning the database, or your extension costs are one-off licences rather than monthly subscriptions. Move if nobody on your side owns maintenance, and you would rather pay a platform fee than carry that responsibility. It is an operational decision more than a technical one.

Build costs are broadly comparable for equivalent scope. The difference is what comes after: WooCommerce has no platform subscription and no platform transaction fee, but you pay for hosting and maintenance. Shopify bundles both into a monthly cost. Over three years the totals often land closer than either camp claims.

Yes, starting with an audit rather than a quote. We review the plugin inventory, custom code, hosting configuration and update history, then report what we found before proposing work. Inherited stores frequently contain undocumented logic in theme files, and finding it first is cheaper than discovering it mid-build.