Store and site platforms:
who carries the technical burden?
Salla, Zid, Shopify and WooCommerce. All of them work, and the difference is not in the advertised features but in where responsibility sits and what payments cost.
You either rent the platform or own the store.
If your customers are in the Gulf and you want to sell quickly, a local managed platform solves payments and shipping on day one. If you want the lowest ongoing cost and full ownership, WooCommerce is free on your own hosting — in exchange for maintenance being your responsibility. The line item that flips the maths either way is payment fees.
Start here.
Which store platform should you choose?
Salla, Zid, Shopify, WooCommerce. Who carries the burden, and the fees people forget.
Start hereHow to create a website, in order
The order matters more than the choices. Domain to launch, and what not to pay for.
Read the guideIf you read nothing else.
Payment fees outgrow the subscription
A subscription is a fixed number; payment fees are a percentage of every sale. As sales grow, the comparison inverts.
"Free" describes the plugin, not the store
WooCommerce genuinely is free, but it needs hosting, a domain, and your time.
Local integration is half the store
A gateway that accepts mada and a courier that understands Saudi addressing — without those you will not sell easily.
Chose WooCommerce? Hosting is your next decision.
A WooCommerce store needs more memory and performance than a blog. We bought 12 companies and worked out the four-year cost.