Shopify vs WooCommerce vs Squarespace: Best Online Store for MedSpas & Private Practices
Your online store is how clients buy your medical-grade skincare, professional supplements, or wellness programs. Picking the right platform means a smooth experience from consultation to checkout. Change platforms later, and you'll rebuild everything from client data to search ranking. Shopify, WooCommerce, and Squarespace are common choices, each with different costs, control levels, and setup complexity for your private healthcare practice.
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The quick answer
Use Shopify if you want the fastest way to sell medical-grade skincare, professional supplements, or digital wellness programs with a top-tier app ecosystem. Choose WooCommerce if you already use WordPress, need full control over your client portal and product inventory, and have technical help. Use Squarespace if your online store is secondary to a clean, professional website and you only sell a few branded items or simple program enrollments.
Side-by-side breakdown
Shopify is built specifically for online sales. It manages payments for supplement sales, inventory of skincare products, shipping for lab kits, and even subscriptions for membership programs natively. Its App Store has thousands of tools, letting you add features like appointment booking integrations or advanced loyalty programs. Expect transaction fees unless you use Shopify Payments. Plans start at around $29/month.
WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress. You own your site, client data, and code. There are no platform fees, only standard payment processing costs. The catch: you handle your own website hosting, security updates, and general maintenance. Its plugin ecosystem is vast but needs more technical skill to manage. This is best for functional medicine doctors or PTs with an existing WordPress site and technical support.
Squarespace offers an integrated store with its website builder. It's the simplest setup and focuses on a beautiful design, perfect for showcasing your clinic. It doesn't have the extensive app options of Shopify or the deep customization of WooCommerce. Best for MedSpas or nurse practitioners selling a small number of gift cards, branded merchandise, or a few popular skincare products. Plans start at about $23/month.
When to choose Shopify
Shopify is the right choice for almost any private healthcare practice or MedSpa looking to grow significant revenue from online product sales. It handles scale, whether you're processing 10 supplement orders a month or 1,000 sales of advanced lab test kits. Its payment system, tools for recovering abandoned shopping carts (like those for high-value aesthetic products), and shipping integrations for products like cold-chain probiotics are market-leading. If you plan to build a serious online product or program business, start here.
When to choose WooCommerce
Choose WooCommerce if your private practice already has a WordPress website, you have in-house technical support or a dedicated developer, and you want to avoid Shopify's monthly fees as your product sales grow. WooCommerce becomes more cost-effective for practices with high online sales volume because it doesn't charge platform transaction fees. It's also ideal for highly customized online stores, like those needing to deeply integrate product recommendations with a custom patient portal.
When to choose Squarespace
Squarespace is the right choice for private practices, like a boutique physical therapy clinic or a small aesthetics practice, that primarily offer services but sell a limited number of products or digital items as an extra income stream. If you're a functional medicine coach selling one online course, a MedSpa offering gift certificates, or a physical therapist selling branded resistance bands, Squarespace's combined website-and-store setup keeps things simple and easy to manage for busy practitioners.
The verdict
For a MedSpa or private practice aiming for strong growth in product or program sales: Shopify. For an existing WordPress site with technical resources that needs custom integration for client data and products: WooCommerce. For a service-first practice needing a clean website with simple product sales: Squarespace. Do not pick WooCommerce thinking it's easier than Shopify – it offers more flexibility, not a simpler setup.
How to get started
Start a Shopify 3-day free trial. Add your top 5 best-selling skincare products or most popular supplements, connect a payment method like Stripe, and process one test order for a digital download like a diet plan. Shopify's setup is guided, and most private practices can have a basic store running within a day. Only consider WooCommerce if you have a clear need for deep customization on your existing WordPress site or dedicated IT support to manage your online infrastructure.
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Shopify
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can I migrate from Squarespace to Shopify later?
Yes, but product data migrates more cleanly than customer data and order history. Migrate early if you plan to grow — the longer you wait, the more historical data you risk losing.
Does Shopify charge transaction fees?
Shopify charges 0.5-2% transaction fees if you use a third-party payment processor. These fees disappear if you use Shopify Payments. Standard card processing fees apply regardless.
Is WooCommerce really free?
The plugin is free. Hosting, SSL certificate, a premium theme, and essential plugins typically cost $20-50/month. Add payment processing and you are in a similar range to Shopify Basic — but you own everything and there are no platform transaction fees.
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