Magento vs. Shopify: Which eCommerce Platform Will Best Complement Your Online Store?

Choosing the best eCommerce platform for your eCommerce store is not a choice to be made loosely, whether your company is small and looking to expand quickly or a large enterprise brand looking to expand into new markets.

Can't make up your mind between Magento and Shopify?

You're not alone!

When you're looking at your choices, you'll come across these two popular names: Magento and Shopify.

It makes sense to compare these two major players in the game to make a crucial decision. They not only account for a sizable portion of the market, but they also demonstrate exciting developments as they adapt to an evolving industry.

Continue reading to learn more about the differences between each option and which one would be the best eCommerce platform for your company's needs.

Setting & Starting An Online Store

Taking your company online is the only way to stay relevant in a dynamic economy and cater to changing customer behavior. The longer it takes to set up your online store, the more market shares your company loses, not to mention the losses you've been losing for months due to an oversaturated warehouse.

As a result, when comparing Magento and Shopify, the simplicity of setting up an online store is the essential factor to consider. It's not easy if your eCommerce platform forces you to rely on outside organizations, outsource support, or waste time reading countless how-to guides to learn a little coding.

Magento vs. Shopify- Overview

Magento started as an open-source project. Since the level of development needed to leverage its actual capabilities necessitates a large budget, it has historically been used by larger companies.

Magento has on-premise and cloud-hosted versions, but many companies prefer SaaS models because they include regular updates, including security fixes.

It's worth noting that specific Magento updates necessitate merchant migrations, such as the latest migration of Magento 1 stores to Magento 2 or another eCommerce platform.

Currently, in the eCommerce space, Shopify is a market leader. It is feature-rich, simple to use, and assists companies in quickly getting up and running. Companies new to eCommerce may want to start with Shopify stores. Magento is still preferred by more developed companies and businesses looking to expand due to its extensibility and versatility.

Magento vs. Shopify: Pros and Cons

Let's start with a quick overview of the pros and cons of each platform. Both Magento and Shopify offer several benefits, but they also have areas where they fall short of your eCommerce site.

Recommendation:  Top 6 Must-Have Magento 2 Extensions That Will Drive Your Sales

Shopify Pros & Cons

Magento Pros & Cons

Magento vs. Shopify: Feature Comparison

• Online Store Functionality: Shopify and Magento have basic store functionality that is easy to use and manage. When compared to Magento, Shopify is much easier to set up and use.

• Inventory Management: Both Shopify and Magento store allows you to have an infinite number of items. You can also sell unlimited products using both platforms. Both platforms make it simple to create objects and collections, but Shopify has a significant competitive advantage because it seamlessly integrates with dropshipping inventory apps.

• Shipping Charges: Both platforms have versatile and practical choices for calculating shipping costs. Shopify combines with some dropshipping software and more precise shipping calculators, which can be helpful if you want to be as accurate as possible with your clients.

• Multilingual Capabilities: Shopify does not have multilingual capabilities. Third-party Shopify applications are available for building entirely multilingual stores. Another choice at Shopify is to custom code the theme to be used in several languages. Magento has a benefit here as well, with more multiple languages support built-in.

• SEO Capabilities: Both platforms have comprehensive SEO capabilities to assist you in driving more organic traffic to the site through search engines. They are nearly identical in terms of SEO features and benefits.

• Customization Capabilities: Both platforms have a robust customization framework that allows you to modify the raw code directly, giving you complete control over the design and appearance of your shop. Shopify performs better in this area because it offers a convenient, menu-driven method for quickly changing the critical aspects of your store, such as fonts, colors, and so on.

Magento vs. Shopify: Apps and Add-Ons

While Shopify and Magento both have a lot to offer, you'll want to ensure you can extend the functionality of your website with additional apps and add-ons.

Apps and plugins from Shopify and Magento will help you improve the performance of your website. With links to various community plugins, you can convert your site into a group version.

Magento vs. Shopify: Themes, Templates, and Design

Both Shopify and Magento have an extensive range of themes and templates to customize the look and feel of your online store to match your goods and preferences.

Shopify has fantastic and entirely customizable themes to choose from front-end presentations. On the downside, though there are a few free themes available, the majority of Shopify's choices will cost you money.

Though Magento has limited themes, it also lets you customize and make design changes from the backend of your website.

If you want a large number of themes, Shopify is the best option. However, if you have the necessary expertise, Magento has a few more advanced features to consider.

Magento vs. Shopify: Ease of use

Shopify and Magento are capable frameworks for creating eCommerce stores. They have a well-thought-out user interface, making it simple for any user to run smoothly with an online store.

On one side, where Shopify has a wizard mode to help inexperienced users set up their stores quickly, users may find it inconvenient to set up the store on Magento.

Recommendation: Top 6 Must-Have Magento 2 Extensions That Will Drive Your Sales

Magento vs. Shopify: Costs

There are no setup costs for Shopify. They have a free trial period during which you can test and review their eCommerce networking platform's functionalities and performance.

Since Magento is free to use, the issue of setup fees does not occur.

In terms of cost, it isn’t easy to equate Magento and Shopify. With its monthly pricing, Shopify is probably more manageable, but Magento is more open.

The issue is that there is a slew of other, more significant costs to keep an eye on with Magento.

Magento vs. Shopify: User Experience

Shopify is widely regarded as more straightforward to use than Magento, making it the preferred platform for non-developers. Once you've signed up for the service, setting up a website is usually fast.

Magento, on the other hand, becomes a lot more familiar with the aid of ready-made plugins. Since there are easy fixes that already exist, no coding is needed with Magento.

Magento vs. Shopify: SEO

With similar SEO ratings, Shopify and Magento's SEO capabilities will assist in driving organic traffic to the website.

With that being said, Magento isn't wholly designed for SEO. If search engine optimization is a critical marketing tactic for your business, you'll almost certainly need the help of a Magento SEO company.

Magento vs. Shopify: Scalability

Shopify is a more basic tool at its heart, and it can be a great alternative if you're trying to create a website for a new, small store with minimal commitment.

On the other hand, Magento is known for its greater versatility and usability, making it a standard option for companies looking to switch platforms after hitting their limits with other platforms.

Magento vs. Shopify: Community & Support

Magento's broad and active community, which provides a variety of resources to users, is another major plus. Magento developers work hard to build valuable solutions to meet the specific needs of businesses worldwide.

On the other hand, Shopify has even more attentive customer service, with customers having access to support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Shopify goes above and beyond to help its customers, but this, of course, is included in the paid subscription bundle.

Magento vs. Shopify: Payment Processors

You can accept online credit card purchases and other orders from your customers in both Magento and Shopify.

Shopify has Shopify Payments which is a built-in payment processor. Magento developers and newcomers, on the other hand, have access to a variety of payment options, though they may take more effort to incorporate.

If Shopify may be the best choice for quickly and easily integrating your payment processor, Magento offers a few more choices for international payments.

Magento vs. Shopify: Payment Gateway Options

Shopify has a significant advantage over Magento, which supports much smaller payment gateways. Third-party add-ons, on the other hand, could be used to expand the number of payment gateways available in Magento stores.

The significant disadvantage of Shopify is that you are effectively required to use the platform's built-in payment gateway. Third-party payment gateways charge fees, while Shopify's payment gateway has no transaction fees.

Magento vs. Shopify: Which eCommerce Platform Will Best Complement Your Online Store?

eCommerce is a highly competitive market. Although having an online store would allow you to reach out to your customers more quickly, you will still compete for their attention. 

As a result, you must choose an eCommerce platform that will help your company thrive.

Between Magento and Shopify, what fits best will be determined by your objectives, budget, and level of expertise. 

When deciding between Shopify and Magento, think about what matters most to you.

Overall, Shopify is the best option if you want to create a simple website that takes little time and effort to maintain. This makes it an excellent choice for new companies that don't have the budget or technological know-how to invest in a more comprehensive builder.

Magento is a better alternative for building an online store with more functionality and customization options. The enhanced features of Magento 2 make it an excellent choice for larger businesses, especially if you have the technical expertise or access to a developer.

About ManekTech

As a Magento and Shopify Development Company, we provide Magento development services and Shopify development services worldwide. 

We specialize in Shopify and Magento eCommerce development and designing for businesses of all sizes.

Our experts have decades of experience they put to use when you hire them. Taking insights into your business idea, our developers create a masterpiece targeted for your business growth. 

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