Trying to decide which eCommerce platform is best between Shopify and Magento 2?
Well, you’re not alone. Lots of businesses struggle with this decision because both of these platforms are two of the most popular in the market nowadays.
On one hand, Shopify is an all-in-one, easy-to-use eCommerce solution to build online stores for small-to-large businesses.
Magento 2, on the other hand, is an open-source platform that is free to install and use. Although, you’ll have to pay for the web hosting, additional security, and extensions, which will explain later.
So, how can you know which platform is best for your eCommerce business?
Fortunately for you, we’ve performed extensive research and calculated scores based on important factors like cost, customer support, sales tools, and more.
And in this post, we’ve shared everything you need to know for deciding which eCommerce platform is best for you.
Without any further ado, let’s dive right in!
1 – Pros & Cons
When it comes to comparing two things, it’s best to start with the pros & cons.
Shopify Pros
- Shopify comes with in-built multichannel selling which allows you to sell on Facebook, Instagram, eBay, and Amazon.
- Shopify has around 10 free mobile responsive theme options plus 64 premium themes starting from $140 USD.
- Shopify store has an extensive range of apps using which you can easily extend the functionality of your store.
Shopify Cons
- Shopify enforces additional transaction fees unless you use Shopify Payments.
- There is a probability of getting carried away with installing a lot of unnecessary paid apps for extending your store’s functionality.
Magento 2 Pros
- Magento probably has one of the largest communities. That means you can easily find a comprehensive answer for any query on Magento Forum.
- Magento 2 has unlimited flexibility to design your store as long as you know how to code.
- Magento 2 is not only suitable for startups but is also ideal for medium and large eCommerce businesses.
Magento 2 Cons
- Magento 2 isn’t quite beginner-friendly so if you don’t know how to code, you won’t be able to maximize its power to the full extent.
- It’s somewhat difficult to find a hosting provider for Magento 2 as there aren’t many hosting providers in the market that support Magento. However, you can consider using SiteGround as it supports Magento hosting.
2 – Ease of Use
Picking a platform that is difficult to use will definitely make it impossible to create the eCommerce store you want.
Between Shopify and Magento 2, Shopify is undoubtedly far easier to use. It’s basically a drag-and-drop website builder that you can easily learn to use and customize your eCommerce store by simply moving elements how you want.
Magento 2, on the other hand, has a steep learning curve compared to Shopify. In other words, you’ll have to learn to interpret the jargon and acquire coding skills to build an eCommerce store you want or hire an agency to build the store for you.
In a nutshell, anyone can learn to use Shopify and build an eCommerce store while Magento 2 is for web developers only. However, Magento 2 is more flexible than Shopify as it lets you customize your store however you like.
3 – SEO
SEO, also known as Search Engine Optimization, basically helps to increase the number of organic visitors from search engines to your website or eCommerce store.
Now, when it comes to SEO, Magento 2 comes with tons of SEO guides as well as features to help you get started instantly. For example, you can edit image alt tags, customize URLs, etc. to help Google & other search engines easily find your web pages.
Recommended: Magento 2 SEO Extension for better search engine visibility & traffic
Shopify, on the other hand, mostly relies on apps for its SEO. Although, you can certainly edit page titles & image alt tags, but for the majority of SEO tricks, you’ll need to search for apps.
Overall, Magento 2 is far better than Shopify in the SEO department with a wider range of built-in SEO features and the ability to customize URLs.
4 – Sales Tools
As far as sales tools are concerned, both Shopify and Magento 2 have impressive tools at their disposal.
Let’s look at the sales tools both of these eCommerce platforms have under their hoods.
Shopify Sales Tools:
- Sell digital products
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Multi-channel selling
- Partnership with UPS, Canada Post, USPS, DHL Express
Magento 2 Sales Tools:
- Checkout customization
- Multi-channel selling
- Abandoned cart recovery
- Set fixed & percentage price discounts
In short, both Shopify and Magento 2 have spectacular built-in sales tools. But, Magento 2 has far more options through its third-party extensions.
5 – Pricing
The main difference between Shopify and Magento 2 is that Shopify is a hosted platform, while Magento 2 is self-hosted.
A hosted platform basically takes care of all your hosting needs for you. Simply put, all hosting costs are directly included in the monthly subscription plan with almost no extra expense.
Magento 2, on the other hand, although is free to install. But you’ll have to pay for web hosting, security, development, extensions, and your domain.
Similarly, Shopify also has an app store to extend your store functionality, and its apps cost a few hundred dollars.
To sum it up, both Shopify and Magento 2 platforms vary massively in terms of cost depending on the number of third-party extensions or apps you choose to install in order to extend your store’s functionality.
Ending Note
This finally concludes the battle royale between Shopify and Magento 2.
You now have all the important information you need to decide which platform is right for your business.
We hope that you found this post helpful. If you still have any doubts or questions, feel free to contact us anytime.
And if you decide to go with Magento 2, we would be more than happy to assist you with our best-in-class Magento 2 Development service.
Do you want to migrate your existing Shopify store to Magento 2? Get the Shopify to Magento 2 Migration Service Today!
