WordPress and Shopify development agency: how to choose one

You need a site that brings in more enquiries, orders or bookings. You also have a long list of agencies that all say they build on WordPress and Shopify. The portfolios look polished, the proposals arrive in different formats, and the evidence you need is rarely in the pitch.

Choosing a WordPress and Shopify development agency gets easier when you stop comparing pitches and start comparing proof. This guide gives you a vetting method for any shortlist, with no list of names to follow. You write your scope, ask each agency for proof on your platform, confirm who owns the code, and check what happens after launch.

The result is a shortlist of two or three agencies and a clear way to pick one. It suits owners, directors and heads of department in the United States, Spain and Latin America, from a small team to a larger company. You do not need to read code, only to ask the right questions and know which answers to trust.

Define your WordPress and Shopify agency scope#

Before you contact anyone, write one paragraph that says what you are building, what it must do for the business and which systems it connects to. That paragraph filters out poor fits in the first call. A team that excels at brochure sites may struggle with a store of 10,000 products, and the reverse is also true. Four types of work cover most briefs.

Theme build or custom theme#

A marketing or corporate site on WordPress is usually a theme build. Ask whether the agency starts from a page builder, a starter theme or a custom theme with Gutenberg blocks (the building units of the WordPress editor). The answer tells you how easily your team can edit pages later. Our WordPress platform page shows how we approach this work.

Plugin and WooCommerce work#

Custom features such as booking rules, quotes, memberships or CRM sync call for a plugin. A store on WordPress adds WooCommerce. These jobs need people who write to the coding standards documented in WordPress Developer Resources. For store-specific vetting, read our guide to choosing a WooCommerce development agency.

Shopify theme and Shopify Plus#

Shopify work usually means a Liquid theme (Shopify's templating language), apps and store operations. Shopify Plus adds checkout customization, several storefronts and automation for larger catalogues. The reference a good agency works from is Shopify Developer Docs. See how we work on Shopify stores if you want an example of what that covers.

Headless builds with Next.js#

A headless build keeps WordPress or Shopify as the place where content and products live, and serves the storefront with a Next.js application. It can give you more control over speed and design. It also means two systems to run, so ask who looks after both after launch.

Reading directories and rankings critically#

Directories, forums and AI assistants are useful for one thing: finding names. They are weak at telling you who will do good work for you. In our own checks, ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini repeat a handful of well-known agencies and cite directories and forums.

What assistants and directories show#

Ask an assistant for the best agency and you get the same few names, usually large and long-established teams. Those names come from what is most written about online. That is not the same as what fits your budget, your platform or your country. Claude itself adds a warning in its answers: rankings often come from the agencies themselves.

Who pays for a ranking#

Many best-agency pages are written by an agency, sponsored by one or built from paid listings. Some review sites let agencies choose which clients are invited to leave a review. That does not make every ranking false. It means you should ask how a list was built before you trust its order.

Reviews that carry evidence#

A five-star score tells you little. A useful review names the platform, the problem, what changed and how the agency behaved when something went wrong. Look for details you can check: a live site, a launch date, a named role. Prefer one specific review over twenty generic ones, and ask the agency for a reference you can call yourself.

Criteria to compare a WordPress and Shopify development agency#

Once you have five or six names, compare them on the same criteria. The funnel below shows the order we suggest. Each step removes the agencies that cannot show evidence, so the final decision is between two.

Agency vetting funnel

1. 01Write scopeOne paragraph on your goal
2. 02Collect names5 to 6 agencies from referrals
3. 03Request proofLive sites on your platform
4. 04Check termsOwnership and support
5. 05Pick finalists2 agencies, paid discovery

Five-step vetting funnel that narrows many agencies to two finalists: scope, names, proof, terms and paid discovery

The table works as a scoring sheet. Give each agency a score from 1 to 3 on every row, and write the evidence beside the number.

Platform depth with proof by platform#

Ask for proof on the platform you will use, not a general portfolio. A strong WordPress team can show a plugin it wrote or a theme built on blocks. A strong Shopify team can show Liquid sections, an app integration or a Plus checkout. If an agency builds both, ask to meet the people who will work on your platform, since a shared logo does not mean a shared skill.

Code quality and review habits#

You can judge code quality without reading code. Ask who reviews changes before they go live, how the team handles updates and whether it follows the standards in WordPress Developer Resources or the Shopify theme guidelines. Teams that work in a repository with version history can show what changed, when and why. That history is also what lets a new team take over later.

QA and release process#

Good QA is a routine, not a final week of clicking around. Ask where changes are tested, who approves them and how a bad release is undone. Agencies that use a staging site, a release checklist and a rollback plan break fewer things on launch day. Ask also whether you can review the work on the page itself and send feedback there, instead of in long email threads.

Performance budgets and Core Web Vitals#

A performance budget is a speed target the agency agrees before design starts. Google publishes the thresholds for a good experience, and the agency should commit to them for your key pages. The figures below come from web.dev Core Web Vitals, measured at the 75th percentile of real visits.

Ask for a report from a launched site, not a test on a demo. Then ask what the agency does when a page misses its target after launch. Plugins on WordPress and apps on Shopify are the usual cause, so a good team tells you what each one costs in speed before adding it.

Code ownership and support after launch#

Two questions decide how you feel a year after launch: who owns what was built, and who answers when something breaks. Most shortlists skip both because they feel like paperwork. They are the part that protects the money you spent.

Who owns code, accounts and data#

The contract should say that you own the code written for you, the repository, the theme files, the domain, the hosting account, the Shopify store and the analytics. Third-party plugins and apps keep their own licences, and a good agency lists them for you. Ask for admin access to every account in your own name from day one, not at handover.

What post-launch support covers#

Support after launch should be a defined service. It might include security updates, backups, bug fixes, small changes and a monthly review. Ask what is included, what counts as a new project and how requests are sent. A single place for requests, files and invoices shows which agencies run support as a process and which run it from memory.

Response times in writing#

Ask for response times in writing, by type of issue. A checkout that fails should get a faster answer than a typo on an About page. We reply in under 2 hours on business days, and any agency should be able to state its own number. A promise you cannot find in the contract is a hope.

What a WordPress and Shopify development agency costs#

Price depends on scope more than on platform. The bands below are illustrative orders of magnitude in US dollars, to help you check whether a proposal is in the right range. Your market, your country and the agency's model will move them. The full breakdown is in our guide to what a custom WordPress website costs.

Small projects#

A small project is a clear, bounded job: a corporate site on a proven theme, or a Shopify store with a tuned theme and a standard catalogue. The risk here is a scope that grows quietly. Ask the agency to list what is included, and what would count as extra.

Medium projects#

Medium projects add custom features, such as quote forms that feed your CRM, booking rules or a product configurator. Integrations are the main cost driver, because each connected system has its own rules and failure modes. Ask who maintains those connections after launch.

Large and custom projects#

Large builds include Shopify Plus with custom checkout logic, WooCommerce with heavy catalogues and orders, or a headless storefront on Next.js. Here a paid discovery phase pays for itself, because it turns assumptions into a written plan. Expect a range from the agency, not a single number, until discovery ends.

What moves the price#

Four things move the price more than the choice of platform:

• The number of custom features and how unusual they are.
• The number of systems you connect, such as an ERP, a CRM or a warehouse tool.
• The amount of content or product data to migrate and clean.
• The level of support and speed you need after launch.

Red flags and 8 questions to ask#

You can hear a lot in a 30-minute call if you know what to listen for. These are the signs that call for more questions, followed by eight questions that show how an agency works.

Red flags in proposals and calls#

None of these is a verdict on its own. Each one is a reason to ask a follow-up and let the answer decide.

• A fixed price with no written scope, or a scope that lists pages but no outcomes.
• Portfolio pieces that cannot be opened, or work built on a different platform than yours.
• No named people who will do your work.
• Reluctance to give you repository or admin access, or a contract that keeps the code with the agency.
• A launch date with no staging, testing or handover step.
• Support described as available whenever needed, with no hours or response time.
• Rankings and reviews as the only proof.

Eight questions for every shortlist call#

Bring the same eight questions to each call and score the answers side by side. For a longer list, see our guide to questions to ask a web development agency.

• Can you show two live sites built on my platform, and what you did on each?
• Who exactly will work on my project, and who will I talk to every week?
• Who owns the code, the repository, the accounts and the data from day one?
• How do you test and release changes, and can I review them on a staging site?
• What performance targets will you commit to for my key pages?
• What does support cover after launch, with hours and response times?
• How does handover work if I move to another team later?
• Which two clients can I call as references?

Score each answer from 1 to 3, add the totals and compare. The numbers matter less than the gaps. An agency that hesitates on ownership or handover deserves a second conversation before you sign anything.

How werun.dev works with you#

You can compare werun.dev with any agency using the same criteria. We build sites that sell on WordPress, Webflow, Shopify and Next.js, we have looked after 200+ sites over 12+ years, and we reply in under 2 hours on business days. You set the goal, and we build the way there.

During a project you click anything on your site with Client Feedback and ask for a change. You follow requests and invoices in the client panel and read a written monthly report. There are three ways to work together.

Score us with the same table. Ask us for work on your platform, a performance report from a launched site and the support terms in writing, exactly as you would ask anyone else.

Where to start this week#

You can finish the first half of this method in a week, with no budget and no calls. Start with the paragraph that defines your scope, because everything after it depends on that.

1. Write your scope in one paragraph: type of build, business goal and connected systems.
2. Collect five or six names from referrals, directories and your own network.
3. Send each agency the same request: proof on your platform, ownership terms and support terms.
4. Hold a short call with the eight questions and score the answers.
5. Pick two finalists and pay for a short discovery phase before you commit.

If you would rather talk it through, tell us your goal. Look at the engagement options, pick the one that looks closest, and we will reply in under 2 hours on business days.

Frequently asked questions#