The fundamental difference

WooCommerce is an e-commerce plugin built on top of WordPress. Everything belongs to you: the code, the database, the server, and the plugin stack. There are no limits to what you can build, but there is also no safety net. B2B functionality does not exist in the core; you have to build or plug in customer-specific pricing, quotes, and ERP integration yourself, and maintain them thereafter.

Marcando approaches this from the other side. Your client's ERP remains the source of truth. Products, customer-specific pricing, volume discounts, inventory, credit limits, and orders are linked bidirectionally, and that integration is our product: we build and maintain it. B2B is built into the foundation, not added as a plugin layer.

In both cases, the project remains yours: your design, your stack, your client relationship. The difference lies in how much you have to assemble yourself and who keeps it running afterward.

Building on the API

On paper, both options seem quite similar: both offer a documented API and both support a headless front-end in your stack. The difference lies in what the API returns and who builds the rest.

The WooCommerce REST API v3 is mature and broad: products, orders, customers, coupons, refunds, and batch endpoints. It is also REST, with all that entails: a maximum of 100 objects per page, pagination via the Link header, and a product overview that typically requires multiple endpoints and a significant amount of unused JSON. Since WooCommerce 10.9 (June 23, 2026), there is a native GraphQL layer generated from the core PHP classes, but it is experimental, must be explicitly enabled, requires PHP 8.1 or newer, currently covers only products and coupons, and comes with no guarantee of backward compatibility. Those who want production-ready GraphQL on WooCommerce today use WPGraphQL with WooGraphQL: a strong, mature stack, but one that is third-party, comes with session and cart token quirks, and leaves the maintenance responsibility on your plate.

Now for the core of the matter. If you ask WooCommerce "what does this item cost for this specific customer," that price must first exist in WooCommerce in the form of a B2B plugin price rule, fed by a synchronization from the ERP that you build. If you build directly against an ERP API, you get raw lists back: all items, all price lists, all discounts, all warehouses, after which the resolution logic, the data layer, and the sync become your work.

And it is not an either-or situation. If your client wants to keep WordPress for their site, content, and SEO, that works perfectly with Marcando as the underlying commerce API: WordPress for the pages and content, Marcando for items, customer-specific pricing, inventory, and orders from the ERP. You don't have to choose between the CMS you know and a B2B foundation that you don't have to maintain yourself.

With Marcando, that puzzle has already been solved and is maintained for each ERP. One call provides one usable answer: price, volume discount, inventory, and credit. If you don't want to build everything yourself, you can use our building blocks like Checkout and Promotions in your own front-end. Ready-made solutions are also available for projects without a development budget.

Customer-specific pricing

This is the sharpest difference. WooCommerce has no native concept of a business customer with their own pricing: by default, every visitor sees the same price. You build that using a B2B plugin that adds roles, customer groups, and dynamic price rules. For a client with three or four price levels, this works excellently and is quick to set up.

It becomes difficult for wholesalers where every customer has their own contract prices, volume discounts, and time-bound agreements in the ERP. You then translate that reality into thousands of price rules in the WooCommerce database, plus a synchronization process to keep them up to date, plus queries that must remain performant under that load. With Marcando, that same price is resolved live from the ERP, without a second copy and without replicating price rules.

Documents: quotes, invoices, credit

In B2B, quote → order → invoice is your client's daily process. WooCommerce has nothing for this in the core, but B2B plugins fill this gap significantly: B2BKing offers quote requests with PDF generation, a purchase order and invoice gateway, and per-customer credit limits. In that regard, WooCommerce is better equipped than the average comparison suggests.

The downside: these are features of a plugin, not the source system. The source of truth for invoices and credit limits lives in your client's ERP, and the plugin holds its own copy. With Marcando, invoices, payment status, and available credit come directly from the ERP.

Relevant here: since January 1, 2026, structured e-invoices via Peppol have been mandatory for B2B transactions between Belgian VAT-registered companies. In the Marcando model, your client's ERP remains the invoicing system that carries that obligation, while the portal displays the invoice and payment status.

Maintenance and security: the real difference in cost

With WooCommerce, you are not maintaining one thing, but a stack: WordPress core, WooCommerce itself, the theme, the B2B plugin, the ERP middleware, and every extension around it. An average production WordPress site runs thirty or more plugins.

The numbers are not trivial. In 2025, 11,334 new vulnerabilities were found in the WordPress ecosystem, 42% more than the year before, with 91% in plugins and only a handful in the core. The median time between public disclosure and the first massive exploitation is five hours. Nearly half of the vulnerabilities had no patch available at the time of disclosure. Of the sites hacked in 2025, 78% were running at least one outdated plugin.

That is not an argument against WooCommerce; it is an argument for pricing management correctly. A B2B portal with an ERP integration is mission-critical infrastructure, and its maintenance belongs in a contract with a fair price. Agencies that fail to do this are carrying the risk for free.

At Marcando, that layer is our job: the platform, ERP integrations, updates, security, and roadmap are all included in the client's subscription. Your seniors build what sets you apart, not what you have to maintain. It also makes your proposal more competitive: no risk premium for custom integration and no open-ended maintenance costs, just a predictable subscription.

When should you build on WooCommerce?

• Your client wants ownership and no lock-in: their own code, their own data, their own hosting, and the ability to migrate independently.
• Content and SEO are a growth channel. WordPress remains unbeaten in that regard.
• The project is primarily B2C or D2C.
• You require maximum technical freedom: no platform limitations, everything is customizable down to the database level.
• There is no ERP, or the ERP is simply an accounting package that only needs to receive orders.
• You have WordPress expertise and a management contract in-house to keep the stack secure and up to date.

When should you build on Marcando?

• Your client's ERP is the source of truth, and it should stay that way.
• Every customer has their own pricing, volume discounts, and credit terms that must be accurate in real time.
• Quotes, invoices, and approval workflows are part of the daily process, and the definitive data for these belongs in the ERP.
• Sales representatives place orders on behalf of customers.
• Your client primarily operates in B2B, possibly with some DTC on the side.
• You want to avoid a stack of plugins, security headaches, and integration maintenance in your fixed costs.
• Your client wants one predictable license fee instead of a sum of hosting, plugins, and management costs.

What else you should know

To be fair, this is also part of the picture.

• Freedom. WooCommerce is more open than Marcando. If something isn't possible with the standard version, you can write a plugin. With us, you work within a platform that uses an API and building blocks; it's spacious, but bounded.
• Ownership. Your client owns a WooCommerce installation; with Marcando, they are renting a platform. Their data remains in their own ERP, which limits dependency, but it is not open source.
• Scale. Marcando is a Belgian company of 13 people with 200+ clients. WordPress and WooCommerce are a global ecosystem with thousands of developers. Continuity is a valid question for both you and your client; ask us, and we will provide concrete answers.
• Ecosystem. ±20 extensions compared to thousands of WordPress plugins. If the project relies heavily on marketing, content, or conversion tooling, you are better off with WooCommerce.
• B2C. Marcando can handle B2C and DTC, but it is less optimized for them. Primarily B2B with some DTC on the side: perfect. Primarily a consumer brand with content marketing: build it on WooCommerce.
• Checkout. We host it. You can embed it as a component in your own front-end, but you cannot rebuild it entirely from scratch.

Conclusion

WooCommerce and Marcando represent two sides of the same trade-off. WooCommerce gives you everything and leaves you to assemble and maintain it all yourself: the B2B layer, the ERP bridge, performance, and security. Marcando gives you less freedom but a stronger foundation: the ERP as the source of truth, B2B built-in, and the integration as a product.

For a client that demands ownership, wants maximum technical freedom, or lacks a true ERP, WooCommerce is the logical choice. For a wholesaler or manufacturing company where the ERP is the source of truth and every customer has their own pricing, you build on Marcando and save your hours for the work the customer actually sees. There is a partner model with financial incentives for agencies that build on it or refer clients.

Are you unsure about a specific project? Run it by us, even if the answer turns out to be WooCommerce. Schedule a call

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