Short answer: For most Israeli stores in 2026 the choice between Shopify and WooCommerce comes down to who runs the store. Shopify suits a team that wants hosting, security and updates handled for it and accepts an extra transaction fee on local gateways; WooCommerce suits a team that already lives in WordPress and is willing to maintain plugins. A custom or headless build earns its cost only when checkout, pricing or ERP logic does not fit either platform.
Key takeaways
- No Shopify Payments in Israel: Israel is not on Shopify's list of supported countries, so an Israeli store pays through a third-party gateway.
- A fee on top of the gateway: Shopify charges 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus for third-party payment providers, on top of the gateway's own rate.
- Hebrew is now native on Shopify: an October 2026 Shopify update improved right-to-left Hebrew across admin, storefront and checkout.
- Invoices are a separate system: neither platform issues Israeli tax invoices out of the box, so invoicing comes from the gateway or an add-on.
Payment gateways: the first filter
Check that the gateway you want works with the platform before comparing anything else. Shopify Payments is not offered in Israel, so Israeli merchants connect a local provider. Tranzila publishes a Shopify app with Bit as a paid add-on, and Allpay and PayPlus also list Shopify integrations. Every such sale carries the plan's third-party fee.
On WooCommerce there is no platform fee, and gateways ship WordPress plugins: Cardcom publishes one with card saving, subscriptions and optional invoicing. Check its update history before relying on it. The gateway questions themselves (installments, tokens, iframe or redirect) are the same on both platforms and are covered in this guide to payment gateway integration in Israel.
Shopify vs WooCommerce vs custom, side by side
| Factor | Shopify | WooCommerce | Custom / headless |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting and security | Included | Your hosting, your updates | Your infrastructure |
| Israeli gateways | Via apps, plus Shopify's fee | Via plugins, no platform fee | Any gateway API |
| Hebrew RTL | Native since Oct 2026 | Depends on theme | Built in from day one |
| Tax invoices | App or gateway | Plugin or gateway | Direct Tax Authority API |
| Best for | Small team, fast launch | WordPress-based content sites | Complex pricing, B2B, ERP-driven stock |
