Shopify vs Magento: eCommerce Platform Comparison (2023)

Are you finding yourself in a quandary when it comes to choosing the perfect eCommerce platform for your online business? Choosing the right platform is paramount and spending your valuable time on this is of utmost importance.

You can think of Shopify as the self-driving mode in a Tesla. You can just sit in the car and throttle your way to your destination without worrying. You can confidently leave your hands off the wheel for some time with Shopify. Magento on the other hand, is more like the manual mode of a car and you’ll have to get your hands in the dirt a bit. It requires a little coding knowledge to fully utilize the eCommerce platform.

We ourselves made a detailed eCommerce comparison blog among four major platforms. But we know what most people are going after when it comes to choosing the best eCommerce platform. It's mostly between the two heavyweight contenders in this world – Shopify and Magento. In this Shopify vs Magento eCommerce platform comparison, We’ll delve into these two alone and we’ll discuss the pros and cons of each to help you figure out which is better for your business.

We’ll break down our Shopify vs Magento blog into three simple sections to help you understand the differences between them.

1. The Basics
2. Feature
3. Pricing

Shopify, often dubbed as the “go-to" platform for beginners, is a fully hosted eCommerce platform solution. This simply means that Shopify takes care of all the technicalities like the hosting, and software required to run your online store. For those who may not have a strong technical background, this can be a game-changer.

Shopify stands tall when it comes to simplicity and user friendliness. Even if you’re a rookie in the world of eCommerce, you’ll find it relatively easy to use the Shopify platform. Shopify offers a range of pre-designed templates and themes, making the process of creating a visually appealing storefront easy and a breeze. You don’t have to drop a sweat about server management, software updates, or security protocols, as Shopify handles all of that for you!

It's pretty clear and evident that Shopify can be your go-to when you want to set up your eStore quickly without going through much hassle.

Magento provides a bit more versatility in terms of your eCommerce setup. It offers two main variants to choose from: Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce. Let’s talk about the differences quickly here.

Magento Open Source: This version is open-source and free to use. However, it requires you to obtain your own web hosting and install the software yourself. While this may sound more complex compared to Shopify's fully hosted solution, it also offers greater control and flexibility. It's an ideal choice if you wish to have complete control over your hosting environment. Hence, the reason many mid to enterprise-level eCommerce players choose Magento over Shopify.

Magento Commerce: Magento Commerce, in contrast, takes a different approach. It is a hosted solution that runs on the Adobe Commerce cloud. This means that, it is just like Shopify and it takes care of hosting and infrastructure management, letting you focus more on your business and less on the technicalities.

Settling for Magento over Shopify completely depends on the needs of your eCommerce store and your business. So, choose accordingly.

You can always give us a call to book a free 30 minute consultation to help you choose the best one suited for you!

We have come to the exciting section of our Shopify vs Magento blog! When it comes to evaluating the features offered by these eCommerce platforms, it's like comparing a treasure box of tools, each designed to empower your online business in its unique way. Let’s take a look at the capabilities of both these eCommerce platforms.

Shopify stands out for its simplicity and user-friendliness. But hey, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t have anything to show off to Magento! Here are some unique capabilities of Shopify that have earned its respect in the world of eCommerce.

It’s important to note that the availability of these features varies according to the Shopify subscription plan you’re choosing.

• No additional transaction fees for using Shopify payments.
• Auto email sending option to encourage users to complete the purchase
• Blog space to post interactive articles and engage with customers.
• Auto handling of country and state tax rates
• Customizable mobile app to manage your orders, products, staff, and customers
• Advanced marketing capabilities like social media integration, SEO optimization, loyalty programs, gift cards, discounts, and more.
• Over 7000 Apps in the Shopify app store to extend the store functionality.
• 24/7 support to the help desk, forums, and eCommerce universities.

Magento offers a plethora of impressive features that cater to the needs of businesses aiming for excellence in the eCommerce sphere. Here are some of the notable features that set Magento apart:

• One-page checkout for quick and easy checkout
• Robust SEO capabilities, including customizable URL structures, meta tags, and sitemaps.
• Built-in tools for managing product reviews, ratings, and customer-generated content
• Advanced product catalog management with support for configurable products
• Allows multiple store management from One Admin
• General payment such as Paypal, and Braintree integration with 300 more global payment gateways.
• Ability to create and edit reports with 100 predefined reports and 9 report dashboards.
• Supports multiple currencies, languages, and tax rates (including EU fixed product taxes).
• More than 4500 extensions to expand the business in the Magento platform
• A thriving community of developers and a vast knowledge base for troubleshooting, customization, and continuous improvement of your Magento store.

Shopify offers subscription plans with flexible billing cycles, including monthly, annual, and biennial options. Additionally, Shopify provides a 14-day free trial without requiring credit card information.

Shopify plans that you can pick based on your business size and goal to meet the target are,

• Shopify lite at $9 per month.
• Basic Shopify, at $29 per month plus a 2.9% plus 30 cents fee on all online credit card purchases.
• Shopify at $79 per month. The credit card purchase fee is 2.6% plus 30 cents
• Advanced Shopify at $299 per month. The credit card purchase fee is 2.4% plus 30 cents
• Shopify Plus – is specifically designed for high-volume merchants and large businesses.

The Shopify Plus plan is highly customized and will be priced based on your specific needs. You can contact Shopify directly to get a quote.

Also note that except for Shopify lite, for other plans Shopify charges an extra 2% fee if you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments. Plans and prices can be viewed on the Shopify website directly.

In contrast to Shopify, Magento does not display its pricing openly on its website and instead provides personalized quotes.

The average price range for Magento open source ranges from $100 to $500 a year including the hosting fee for your eCommerce store. The pricing for Magento commerce varies drastically depending on the specific requirements of your website. You’ll have to separately for the license if you’re settling for this package.

To determine the exact pricing that aligns with your specific business needs, you'll need to reach out to the Magento sales team. Nevertheless, you have the option to obtain Magento by providing your basic information, which allows you to download it for free.

To conclude, as we said earlier, Shopify is like Tesla in the eCommerce platform sphere where you can kickstart your eCommerce journey pretty quickly. So, If you’re just starting out your business, it absolutely makes sense to go for Shopify as your preferred platform. Once your business grows, which it will, You can consider migrating to Magento if your business requires many customizations.

However, if your business is anywhere between mid to large size and requires much customization, you can go for Magento without any hesitation.

Still confused? Don’t hesitate to give us a quick call! We’ll walk you through the differences and help you make the right decision for your business!