Finalizing the right platform for your online store is very important. It actually creates the roots of your store that allow it to flourish and emerge as a successful eCommerce business.
If you are about to kickstart your business or planning to change your current platform, you are going to find a plethora of options to choose from. The two among such are Magento and Shopify.
Such eCommerce platforms compete with each other for being the best eCommerce platform, but, both are entirely different from each other.
Magento & Shopify Popularity As eCommerce Platform
Magento has expanded its roots being in demand for years, whereas Shopify is widely known as the biggest competitor in recent years. With the emergence of Magento 2, an upgraded version of Magento has been pushed more towards the top. It’s well-accepted as an ideal solution for businesses of all sizes.
Today, through this post we will put some light on Magento vs Shopify, will look at the most important features and fundamentals, and more to ease you while choosing the best eCommerce platform for your business.
Let’s first put an eye on the popularity of these two platforms.
Since its birth in 2004, Magento has been the widely-known platform for eCommerce stores. Although Shopify has witnessed a surge in the use over the last few years. Now, it’s used to develop 21% of all sorts of eCommerce stores.
Shopify has carved its name as an easy-to-use platform that anyone can use easily. Although Magento is a one-fits-for-all website builder, it notices its share of users. Still, Magento is incredibly popular amongst the eCommerce owners and strengthens 1.2% of the internet that accounts for approximately 12% of all eStores.
Intro To Magento 2
A new and improved Magento 2 took the place of Magento 1 in June 2020 and came with a wider range of amazing features. Magento 2 holds the caliber to locate various issues that users were facing with Magento 1, even made it easier to use.
The improved features of Magento 2 make it a perfect option for all-sized businesses, specifically if you hold technical knowledge or have access to a skilled developer. There are about 2,367 extensions that are compatible with Magento 2, offering limitless ways to upgrade your sites with the must-have features.
Major Features That Are Beneficial for An eCommerce Store
- Large User Community: The Magento Forum has a complete and perfect answer for just about anything.
- Perfect for Medium to Large Business: An advanced platform that’s best for the businesses holding their web development teams or that holds money to spend on hiring a skilled developer.
- Very Flexible: There are no boundaries to how you can sketch your store until you know to code.
Benefits of Magento 2 for An eCommerce Website
- Magento has an excellent community with a bulk of users’ support.
- It’s a flexible platform with a plethora of customization options.
- Moreover, Magento comes with a good range of themes to choose from.
- Phone support is available.
- No extra coding knowledge is required for Magento Commerce
- It is open-source and also free to use.
Drawbacks of Magento
- Not for the Beginners: Being a beginner, you will need to know how to code and software demands the use of web development languages that are not much beginner-friendly.
- Hard to Install: Not like the other open-source software, Magento is tough when it comes to finding a hosting provider that will support it.
Magento Pricing
If you are already using Magento, then the price of Magento eCommerce web hosting will rely on where you pick to host. In general, with Magento and Magento Commerce Cloud, there is not a fixed price, as everything is customized as per the needs of your online store.
Magento Is Suitable for Which Type of Businesses
Perfect for medium to large businesses, Magento is best for the businesses that already hold their team of developers, or have a budget to hire one.
Intro To Shopify
An easy-to-use eCommerce platform, Shopify is best for building online stores. You need to pay a monthly fee, and it will support both high-volume and small businesses.
A hosted solution, Shopify has a flourishing user base and meets the needs of the retailers who are not much concerned about the technical aspects. To use Shopify, you need to pay its monthly fee to get its hosting infrastructure. You can develop dynamic eStores on Shopify within minutes.
Major Features Of Shopify That Are Beneficial for An eCommerce Store
- Multichannel Selling: With Shopify, you can sell on Instagram, Facebook, Amazon, and eBay.
- App Store: The Shopify app store has a wide range of apps that may help you to enhance the functionality of your website.
Benefits Of Shopify
- Comes with various fascinating responsive store themes to pick from.
- A complete eCommerce builder.
- Known to be an amazing app store for enhancing the functionality of your website.
- Easy to use eCommerce platform.
- Offer better customer support.
- Arrives with various payment and checkout options.
- Holds a large community of dedicated fans.
Drawbacks Of Shopify
- Transaction Fees: Only e-commerce platform that enforces its fees, unless you employ Shopify Payments.
- Cost of Apps: It’s not affordable when it comes to installing paid apps.
Shopify Pricing
Shopify, a hosted platform looks after all your hosting issues. Moreover, all the hosting charges are included in your monthly plan, with no hidden or extra charges or effort.
Shopify Is Suitable for Which Type of Businesses
Altogether, Shopify is best for one who is looking to sketch a simple website that needs little maintenance and commitment. This makes Shopify a perfect choice for the newbies with a limited budget or technical knowledge for in-depth builders.
Magento vs Shopify Comparison (Features, complexity, and pricing)
| Magento | Shopify | |
| Ease of Use | The learning curve is slightly steep | Easier |
| Themes | Narrow & LittleExpensive | Wider & Cheaper, No need for coding for customization |
| Sales Tools | Less-impressive range | The more-Impressive range offers a plethora of built-in tools |
| Marketing Features | Rely on its market apps for marketing features. | Built-in feature that allows advertising on social media. |
| Apps & Add-Ons | Coding knowledge is required to install extensions, which comes with risk as designed by anyone. | Easier to use, and polished apps. |
| Pricing | Customized, depends on needs. | Charge monthly fee. |
Wrapping Up
Well, it’s just a matter of need as none of the eCommerce platforms is the winner. Only one platform can’t come with all the features and functionalities. Both Shopify and Magento come with their strengths and weaknesses. You are required to decide and emerge with the one that suits your business model.
