Magento vs Shopify vs Woo Commerce
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The showdown between ecommerce industries biggest names, which is Magento, Shopify and Woo commerce. These ecommerce giants have surpassed their competitors at an alarming margin. 50% of the ecommerce market share is owned by these three. The ecommerce needs vary and these platforms are structured accordingly to their different needs. Before picking a choice, one needs to take into account about different aspects. Now we are going compare these giants and give suggestions on which platform you should use and in which situations.
Table of content :
1. The better choice.
Effectiveness of seo
Scalability and performance
Support
Ease of use
Security
Customizability
2. Advantages
3. Disadvantages
4. Pricing/ cost
5. When to use the platform
Before diving in, lets first get to know more about these ecommerce giants.
Magento
If one wants an ecommerce platform which can be easily customized then magento is the best option. It began in 2007 and currently around 500,000 users have chosen this platform. Magento involves two services, one is open source, which means a website can be made freely and the other one is magento commerce, where all hosting services can be used with a payment option. Currently magento has around 250,000 ecommerce websites with a 10% share in the top 1 million ecommerce websites in the world.
Shopify
It was once called as ‘ snowdevil’, an online store which began in 2004. In 2007, it became an ecommerce platform. A net sales of 100 million $ were acquired by the retailers. In 2009 820,000 merchants are currently using shopify. Shopify has proven to become a platform which can be easily used by non-technical folks for signing up and getting their online store running. The interface is not complicated to learn, which makes shopify a massive success among users today.
Woocommerce
If you are already a word press users, then building an online store gets much easier in this platform. Woocommerce holds the largest market share. Almost 3 million stores are being run by the woocommerce, which makes upto 29.1% of all ecommerce stores. Essentially woocommerce is a word press plugin where one has to install after getting a domain for a word press website. If one needs to get their online store running smoothly in woocommerce then you need to know the basics of html and css.
1.The better choice
Magento
Magento comes with advanced seo features with inbuilt analytics. Seo friendly urls and meta descriptions are generated by magento. Site maps are automatically generated in websites, automates and image resizing. With the right skill sets, you can easily customize your websites according to your needs. Magento had a massive seo score of 100/100 which was revealed in 2007. To improve your shares ranking, use magento seo guide.
Shopify
As the first ecommerce store, shopify has definitely optimized seo but there is no room for customizations which is a problem. Certain businesses require some seo practices but if shopify doesn’t allow it then you wont be able to carry them out.
Woocommerce
With plenty of plugins and extensions available in woocommerce it provides a great seo. Settings can be changed according to the needs of the users.
Winner : Tie between Magento and Woocommerce.
Magento Shopify Woocommerce
2.Scalability and Performance
Magento
Even with high website traffic, thousands of products can be accommodated by using magento. Magento management system helps those who have big business or future expansion plans. They don’t have to go in search of other software. With the easy scalability magento offers one can easily control the resources a server requires, depending on the traffic, which means no slowdown in speed or website crashes can be experienced by the user.
Shopify
When it comes to shopify its all about the site speed and performance but when compared to the other two, it doesn’t do well when it comes to scalability. If one wants a growth in business and a smooth scalability then shopify plus is the better option.
Woocommerce
Woocommerce is extremely helpful if an individual has a background in coding but for those inexperienced individuals. Scaling their websites poses a problem, so woocommerce is not a suitable option for them.
Winner-Magento
Magento Shopify Woocommerce
3.Support
Magento
Magento’s community revolves around 300,000 members with both amateurs and certified members contributing to the communities. If one faces any issues, help is not difficult to find although the direct customer support is not as prompt as one would want.
Shopify
When it comes to shopify, their support will be available 24/7 and their responses to any solutions are quicker. In order to contact customer service, it can be reached through live chat, email or phone.
Woocommerce
Woocommerce is a word press plugin and the word press community is huge. Codings and plugins created by others can be easily benefited to improve your websites functionality.
Winner-Shopify
Magento Shopify Woocommerce
4.Ease of Use
Magento
If one wants to maintain a website in this platform, one must possess a good amount of knowledge in PHP, cloud hosting, html otherwise it can be difficult to run a website on magento.
Shopify
In shopify, one does not require a deep knowingly in the development of website and coding because it already exists in the platform. The only thing the users must worry about is designing and setting up of their store.
Woocommerce
It is easy to use woocommerce with its free themes and plugins but some cases, it does require customization and that is when woocommerce gets tricky.
Winner-shopify
Magento Shopify Woocommerce
5.Security
Magento
With efficient developers and hosting services at your disposal then security will not be an issue. Magento was the first platform ever built and it highly focuses on providing higher level of security. It releases security patches and security extensions and plugins.
Shopify
This platform is quite secure and reliable because it hosts globally. Shopify helps in maintenance and regulates it. A free ssl certificate is provided and pci compliance is taken care for you.
Woocommerce
Instant updation happens everywhere for bug fixing and security so the users don’t have to worry about security. Woocommerce constantly supervises and helps in minimizing threats. Also in order to protect your website from viruses and hackers, woocommerce provides extra security plugins.
Winner- Magento.
Magento Shopify Woocommerce
6. Customizability
Magento
Magento is the platform that offers customizations. One can develop their website as they want to be. Ranging from theme feautures, seo settings, layouts and more.
Shopify
In this platform, the users can only use those featured themes that is already introduced in shopify. It is not customizable.
Woocommerce
In woo commerce, plenty of customization can be added such as change in features of the theme, website content. Users can access css, php, html type code but if the use has knowledge on how to use it then it gets much easier.
Winner- Magento
Magento Shopify Woocommerce
7.Advantages
Magento
Freedom to pick a hosting service of your choice
If one wants to manage their store at its best, then managed magento hosting is the best for security, scalability and monitoring service.
From same admin panel, multiple websites can be hosted
Latest update, magento 2 comes with better caching and considerable amount of site speed.
Shopify
Has built an app to sell and add products, track visitors and connect with customers using your mobile phone.
According to the type of your business, one can select a theme accordingly. There are over 1000 plus templates and paid themes
Woocommerce
Users can choose from over 1000 themes offered by woocommerce. One can also benefit from plugins made for word press websites which allows to boost the speed.
Any type of product can be sold through woocommerce, etc- physical, digital subscriptions and booking appointments.
8.Disadvantages
Magento
Involves higher cost
Learning curve
For an efficient site development, developers is highly required
Implementation of themes can be tricky
More resources needed to run properly.
Shopify
Not effective as compared to the other two
More growth in business will lead higher subscription cost and more function is needed.
Monthly subscription can be avoided if you use magento or woocommerce open source
Usage of third party payment gateways can lead to additional transaction fee.
WooCommerce
Not the first ecommerce platform
Website speed sometimes decreases when image takes time to load.
Constant updation takes place in word press which makes it incompatible with new version For customization, coding is required
Development takes longer
Not as scalable.
When to use these platforms
Magento
1.If you are a medium to a big enterprize.
2.If complete control over security and customization is needed.
Shopify
Individuals and small scale businesses can use shopify. Even if you don’t have knowledge on coding and are not into customization of themes then shopify is your choice.
WooCommerce
If you have a word press hosted domain then it would be best to choose woocommerce. Its easier to install and it doesn’t cost you a nickel. If you have coding knowledge and interested in modifying themes and codes then your best pick would be woo commerce because it can be easily customized and lot more cheaper than shopify.