A Comparison of Shopify & Magento

Shopify and Magento are two of the most popular eCommerce platforms in the world. They're both incredibly powerful platforms that give businesses the ability to create beautiful, professional-looking stores with just a few clicks of their mouse. But how do they differ? Which one is right for your business? Let's dive in!

Overview

Shopify was initially founded by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake as a snowboarding eCommerce site called SnowDevil. They renamed it Shopify in 2006 after realizing that their software could be used by any type of business looking to create an online store.

It’s a hosted solution, meaning you don’t need to worry about hosting your site or keeping up with updates. It takes care of all the technical aspects so that you can focus on selling products and increasing your traffic.

Shopify makes it easy to get started without having to spend too much time installing software or hiring developers.

Meanwhile, Magento was created by Roy Rubin who wanted to build a platform that would allow him to build his own eCommerce site faster than he could build it himself with open-source CMS options like Drupal or Joomla!.

Magento’s flexibility allows you to build pretty much anything you can imagine, so it’s no wonder that some larger companies choose this platform for their online stores. However, this freedom comes at a price: security breaches and technical errors in your store could cost you valuable time trying to figure out what went wrong.

Pricing

	Magento Pricing	Shopify Pricing
Monthly	×	Lite Plan: $9 Shopify Basic: $29 Shopify: $79 Advanced Shopify: $299 Shopify Plus: starts from $2000
Themes	Free – $499	Free – $180
Hosting	The price depends greatly on the Magento hosting provider you choose	Hosting costs are included in every monthly plan without extra expenses, except Shopify Lite.
App	Free – $15,000	Start from $15/month
Developer	Up to you	×
Domain	$10 – 15/year	Free or you can purchase domains through Shopify at $14/year
Transaction	(Stripe) 2.9%+30¢	Shopify Lite: 2.4% Basic Shopify: 2% Shopify: 1% Advanced Shopify: 0.5% Shopify Plus: 0.15%

 

Shopify’s cheapest plan, the Shopify Basic plan, is $29 per month. The next cheapest plan is Shopify Unlimited which costs $79 per month and comes with unlimited products and orders. For growing companies, there’s Advanced Shopify at $299 a month.

Shopify is a hosting platform any hosting cost and security certificates are already included within your monthly plan, with no extra effort or expense required from you.

However, they do charge transaction fees. The credit card purchase fee is 2.6% plus 30 cents for the Shopify plan and 2.4% plus 30 cents for the Advanced Shopify plan. They also have Shopify Plus which is designed specifically for high-volume merchants and large corporations. Its price is not fixed and you will have to contact Shopify for a quote.

Magento is free to download but it doesn’t include web hosting, security, extensions, and your domain (about $10-15 per year). They also don’t have fixed pricing. You have to contact its sales team for a quote based on your business.

You can always test out both platforms before deciding which one to use by signing up for their free trial versions. Shopify gives users 14 days of free trial whereas Magento gives users 30 days of free developer account upon registration.

Both offer different pricing models because they’re two very different platforms. Because Magento is an open-source platform, the costs will completely depend on your requirements, while Shopify has three fixed price plans which may seem cheaper on the surface, but you’ll also need to pay for apps and themes.

Ease of Setup

In terms of ease of setting up, Shopify wins. This is due to the fact that Shopify offers a drag-and-drop feature for creating your online store. Magento requires you to learn how to code in order to get your site up and running.

Although this may not seem like much at first glance, it can be quite confusing for beginners that aren't familiar with HTML or CSS languages.

However, if you want more customization options, Magento has got you covered there as well. The power behind their platform allows for endless possibilities when it comes to designing and building a website from scratch. 

hey also offer support for third-party extensions which means there’s even more potential than what would normally come with a standard installation without any additional purchases required beforehand.

But before we get too excited about all those bells and whistles: they're not free! In fact, they're pretty pricey compared to what might cost with other CMS platforms out there today.

SEO

Both platforms have comprehensive SEO tools are very comprehensive. For example, Shopify has a built-in SEO tool that prompts you to check on things like:

• Your keyword optimization
• The internal linking structure of your website (links between pages)
• Page load time optimization

Magento doesn't have as many built-in SEO tools as Shopify does. However, Magento does offer some third-party extensions that help with optimizing your site for search engines like:

• Yoast Seo Pack extension

Both Shopify and Magento let you easily change the page title and description to define how your store displays in search results, add alt text to images to help search engines understand what they are. You can also buy SEO apps from the Shopify App Store and Magento Marketplace.

Design and Functionality

Both Shopify and Magento allow you to build your own store from scratch. However, Shopify offers a wide variety of pre-made themes that are fully customizable so that you can have a website up and running in no time.

Themes allow you to change the overall look and feel of your website quickly and easily without having any knowledge of programming languages such as HTML or CSS.

On the other hand, Magento’s design templates are more limited but they offer more functionality through extensions that can be purchased separately.

Shopify uses Liquid templating language which makes it easier for developers with less coding experience than those who use PHP or other server-side scripting languages like Joomla because it lets them manipulate data using simple tags instead of writing code blocks in order

Magento comes 6 ready-made themes starting which can cost up to $499. Magento themes are more flexible, allowing you to customize everything from scratch. However, this will require a deeper understanding of code.

Apps and Extensions

One of the best features of Shopify is its app store. In fact, there are over 1,000 apps and add-ons available for you to choose from. This means you can find just about anything you need to help your store run smoothly.

Many of these apps are free while others cost under $15/month. They include mobile-friendly designs, payment processing services, shipping solutions, and more.

Magento offers fewer apps than Shopify does but they tend to be more advanced and user friendly

With Magento's open-source system it's easy for third parties to develop their own products—and this has led to an impressive number of options for eCommerce websites.

Customer Service and Support

Shopify has 24/7 support, but Magento does too. Shopify offers a forum for users to post questions and get answers from fellow merchants, while Magento has a similar feature. If you’re looking for live chat support, both options are available in their respective communities.

Once again, the two platforms are neck and neck when it comes to customer service—and that’s a good thing for small business owners who want their customers happy!

Which should you go for?

When it comes to deciding which platform is best for your e-commerce business, there are a few key questions you need to ask yourself.

• Are you looking for an easy-to-use platform with a low learning curve? If so, Shopify may be the right choice for you. With its drag-and-drop editor and simple content management system (CMS), getting started with Shopify is quick and easy. Plus, Shopify has built-in features such as product reviews, customer newsletters, and sales reports that make managing your store even simpler — no coding needed!
• Do you need extensive control over your system’s functionality? If so, Magento might be the perfect option for your needs. The full-page editor in Magento allows users to add custom modules or plug-ins that allow them more control over how their store functions — including adding social media buttons or creating custom shipping rates based on the location or size of their products.

Final words

This article was written to help you decide if Shopify or Magento is the right platform for your business. We've examined both platforms and highlighted the key differences between them so that you can choose which one meets your needs best.

Take some time to think about what type of e-commerce website you want for your business. Think about the features and functionality that will be most important for your customers, as well as how much time each tool will take to learn or set up before launching into production mode. We hope this content has provided some clarity on whether either platform may work better than others in certain situations, but ultimately it's up to each person's unique needs!