Magento or Shopify – Make Your Choice

As much as the community edition is popular among small businesses, Magento enterprise is equally preferred by big organizations. An open-source eCommerce platform, Magento over the years has surely made life easier for online businesses.

Developers can execute and customize its core files, extending the features and functionality by integrating plugins and trusted extensions published by independent developers.

The Enterprise edition gives you the liberty to go with added features in the original software itself. You also get the advantage of technical support, general maintenance, installation at the setup, and random troubleshooting of issues.

Newer versions of the software have been released over time to boost user experience, improved layout, enhancing business conversions, and promote expansion.

The improved tools have really helped users worldwide to take their business to the next level.

Another notable eCommerce platform that has been making waves during the last few years is Shopify. It has received some noteworthy mentions at Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and even from some of the popular tech magazines.

The user interface has been defined as neat and clean, imbibed with user-friendliness.

With the launch of an API platform and app market, developers have also been able to create applications for online stores in recent years.

Shopify has increased its visibility across Apple mobile devices and has clearly come out as one of the popular platforms for both small-scale owners and large companies.

Businesses often have a problem in selecting the right platform for their online stores. Shortlisting the two out of many seems to be a lesser problem than making the final choice as both the platforms offer some great features and advantages.

The infographic below aims to ease that out and showcases what each platform has to offer. Take a look –

Infographic Transcript

Magento Vs Shopify

Know What Works for You!

Ecommerce Platforms Enabling Individuals & Businesses to Go Online.

Features

Magento	Shopify
Inventory Management	Inventory Management
Larger Pool of Themes & Templates	Limited Pool of Themes & Templates
Greater Number of Apps & Add-ons	Lesser Number of Apps & Add-ons
Multi-lingual Capabilities	Doesn’t allow Multi-lingual Directly
Blogging Functionality via Plugins	Blogging Functionality an Integrated Feature

Ease of Use

Magento	Shopify
Simple Interface	Simple Interface
Installation & Set-up is Complex	Easy Installation / Set-up
Hosting is Required	Hosting is Included in Shopify Package
More Flexibility Due to Open Source Nature	Closed Platform with Restricted Flexibility

Support

Magento	Shopify
No Support in Community Edition	24×7 Support Availability
Deal-with-it-Yourself	Communicate via Email, Phone & Chat
Community Support from other Developers	Powerful Support Center Answers All Queries
Vendor Support only in Enterprise Edition	Peace of Mind at all Times

Hosting & Security

Magento	Shopify
Set-up Your Own Hosting	Takes Care of Hosting
Cheaper Packages Might Not Help	Free Domain Name
May Require a Dedicated Server & CDN	SSL Certificate & Level 1 PCI Compliance
PCI Certified & SSL Security Support	Automatic Backups

Marketing

Magento	Shopify
Enriched with SEO Features	Enriched with SEO Features
Absence of Social Media Properties	Social Media Flexibility
Comprehensive Newsletter Subscription	Ordinary Newsletter Subscription Service
Built-in Extensive Promotion Options	Promotion Options are Limited
Analytics & Statistics – Detailed Reports	Simple & Easy Analytics Reports

Cost & Pricing

Magento	Shopify
Free Community Edition	No Set-up Fees. Trial Option Before Buying
Domain + (Hosting May Cost $5-$100/Month)	Plans Starting From $9-$299/Month
Transactional Fees as per Payment Gateway Use	Default Gateway. Any Specific is Chargeable
Enterprise Edition Costs $18000/Year	No Bandwidth Fees
Paid Themes are available as low as $1	Paid Themes are Expensive Starting $80

Final Word

Magento

Magento is an open-source platform offering more flexibility. Complete control to create an eCommerce site the way you wish.

Built-in marketing functionality is superior. More apps that can be used for additional functionality.

Absence of support with Community edition. If you need it must, then purchase the Enterprise edition.

Shopify

Shopify is easy to use solution. Saves you the time and the hustle so you don’t have to think about hosting.

Provides you with amazing support via phone, email & chat. Available round the clock.

A closed platform so no customization. Also, not many apps on the App Store.