Magento 2 vs. Shopify: Which Is The Right Platform for Your e-Commerce Business?
If you are looking to start a new online store, choosing the right platform is very important. There are various...
If you are looking to start a new online store, choosing the right platform is very important. There are various e-commerce platforms available in the market.
However, Magento 2 and Shopify are the most prominent players in the market. These two platforms are always in the race; however, both come with totally different features and tools.
There is a head-to-head competition between Shopify and Magento2; Magento released another upgraded version Magento 2, which comes with additional facilities and features. Let us discuss the detailed features and differences of Magento 2 and Shopify in this blog. This will help you to select the best platform for your needs.
Magento 2 vs Shopify - Let us focus on the popularity of both platforms:
Magento started in 2004, and it was the most popular platform for an e-commerce store. But Shopify gained popularity in the past few years. Today almost 21% of e-commerce stores are built-in Shopify platforms. Shopify is well known as an easy to use eCommerce platform. Anyone can quickly build an online store using the Shopify platform. On the other side, Magneto 2 is famous as a one-stop solution for all your need. Almost 12 % of online stores are built on Magento 2.
Magento 2 vs Shopify - Let us check out the coding part :
When it comes to the coding part, both Magento 2 and Shopify are totally different. Magento 2 uses PHP language while Shopify is based on Liquid – coding language. Shopify is using Liquid – a proprietary code source, while Magento 2 is open source. When you are developing your e-commerce store, coding language plays an important role. As Magento 2 is an open-source and free platform, you can customize the code as per need. However, we can't do the same for Shopify. So it makes Shopify the best eCommerce store builder for simple online stores, while Magento 2 is ideal for complex and tailor-made online stores.
Magento 2 vs Shopify- Let us check out the hosting part:
Good hosting is a very crucial factor for a successful online store. Site speed, storage, and number of products is depending on hosting. Magento 2 is a self-hosted platform; on the other hand, Shopify hosting is offered by the company. For Magento 2, you need to have a hosting service from a third party like AWS, Azure, Digital Ocean, Hostgator, etc. Magento 2 users can choose their hosting solution as per need. However, in Shopify, you don't have an alternative.
Magento 2 vs Shopify - Let us check out the cost involved with these two platforms:
Cost is a prominent factor while choosing the right platform for online store building. Based on the budget available, you can select the optimal platform. Shopify is a SAAS – software as a service, which means users need to pay monthly fees for accessing Shopify software. It comes with a free 90 days trial option and then basic, premium, and advanced plans. Shopify's advanced program offers many high-end useful features like gift cards, abandoned cart recovery, advanced reporting, etc. The basic plan comes with limited features.
On the other side, Magento 2 is open-source free software. It also comes with an enterprise edition, and the cost is depending on the features and needs.
Magento 2 vs Shopify - Let us compare Themes:
Creative and attractive themes are significant for a successful online store. Shopify and Magento 2 both platforms come with free and premium themes. There are currently 65 + themes available with Shopify, while Magento 2 comes with thousands of different themes. Both platforms have responsive themes. Today, mobiles are getting widely used, so a mobile-friendly theme-based online store is a must for success.
Shopify theme allows necessary customization such as color change, images, font change, etc. you won't be able to customize it much. However, Magento 2 comes with a wide range of designs. You can have drag-and-drop editing suitable for coders and non-coders. You can create a beautiful online store using Magento 2 themes.
Magento 2 vs Shopify - Payment Processors:
Payment processing is one of the vital parts of an online store. The payment processors should be comfortable and secure for online shopping, then only customers are happy. Shopify and Magento 2 have easy payment processors. Shopify comes with its payment processor with zero transaction fees. You need to pay for credit card transaction fees. Shopify supports many payment gateways, almost 100 +. You need to pay transaction fees imposed by gateways like amazon pay, apple pay, or PayPal.
While Magento 2 supports more than 150 gateways, you need to integrate these gateways to access the marketplace. You can directly sell through Amazon using Magento 2 based online store.
Magento 2 vs Shopify - Capabilities and Scalability:
Let us compare the capabilities of these two platforms. Capability means the ability to adapt to the add-on extensions. Magneto 2 can excel free as well as paid add-on extensions. Currently, Magento 2 can support more than 2300 extensions. This offers you unlimited options to upgrade your e-commerce website as per need.
Considering Shopify, you have limited add-on extension support. You will get all essential extensions and support in Shopify; however, if you want to upgrade the system with specialized extensions suitable for your online store, in Shopify, it is not possible. Magento 2 is an open-source platform, so you can also develop your own extensions and integrate them with online stores. Magento 2 extensions are effortless to use and integrate for non-coders also. It offers more advanced features like gift cards, coupon codes, wishes lists, order status, related products, customer dashboards, and so on.
As the market grows over the time, scalability of your e-commerce platform is again an essential factor. If you are looking for a new and small-budget online store, Shopify could be an excellent option. It offers a simple and easy way to build a quick online store with all essential basic features.
Magento 2 is suitable for a scalable business, which is willing to switch to a higher end. Magento 2 can handle high-level extensions with more traffic. If you are looking to develop a high-end and scalable business that you want to upgrade as per market changes, Magento 2 is the best choice.
Magento 2 vs Shopify - Development and maintenance:
If you want to develop an online store on your own without any external technical help, then Shopify is easy to use. You can quickly set up your online store and easy to use and maintain. However, with the help of add-on extensions, Magento 2 is a more comfortable handling platform. Many ready made extensions are available in the market, so no – coding is required to use these Magento 2 extensions. Magento 2 offers an admin panel that is user-friendly and simpler. With this panel's help, you can check the reports, manage the payment processing part, sort out the customers and products, etc.
Magento 2 vs Shopify - Support and maintenance:
Magento 2 is an open-source platform with robust and active community support. More than 250,000 Magento active developers are contributing to this forum. So you can take the help of this online community if you are stuck somewhere. Anyone can go through the help section and access support from the Magento community.
On the other side, Shopify offers great 24/7 customer support to users. It is a part of their paid service subscription. So when you are paying for Shopify, you are also purchasing the support services from them.
Magento 2 vs Shopify - Security:
When you are developing online stores, security is an absolutely mandatory factor. There are thousands of websites getting hacked every day. So it would be best if you made sure that the best security systems are embedded with your website.
While comparing Shopify and Magento over the security features, Shopify comes with SSL encryption and PCI compliance. Shopify also gives you additional support to secure the customer data and sensitive information. On the other side, you can decide the level of security in Magento 2. It offers you the flexibility to enhance the security features. Magento2 gives you robust security with regular software update patches. So, in short, Magento 2 provides better safety and security to your online store.
Magento 2 vs Shopify - SEO:
A strong SEO helps you to attract more traffic to your online store. A survey says more than 85% of users search online for the product, and almost 75 % won't go beyond the first page of Google search. So to stay ahead in the competition, SEO is a must factor. Shopify is more dependent on the apps for its SEO. It allows users to edit the page titles and alt tags but still doesn't provide excellent SEO.
is better in the SEO context; It offers many SEO guides, features like headings, page URL,s titles, meta descriptions, and more. You can edit the image alt tags to help search engines to find your web page and products easily. Magento 2 offers pretty excellent built-in SEO features. So in Magento 2, you can get complete SEO optimization for your marketing purpose; Which drives the organic as well as paid traffic towards the online store.
Magento 2 vs Shopify - Speed and Performance:
For any eCommerce store, the speed and performance of the website is a critical factors. Users won't like to wait for loading the online store. In fact, they lose interest in shopping if your online store is taking too much time to load. If your online store's performance is low, then users' probability of coming back to your online store is inferior. So an excellent speedy online store is a must for attracting users and converting them into customers.
Shopify offers hosted solutions, so it provides standard speed and performance for all online stores. However, you won't be able to control the loading time and speed of your store. If at all you have any issues, you need to contact the Shopify support team.
offers great flexibility and control over the hosting part. You can control the speed and performance of the website by choosing the right hosting server. You can accelerate the performance of your online store by making necessary changes and adjustments. Magento 2 platform with an excellent hosting service provider can give you a speedy, stable, and customized online store. So Magento 2 offers you better speed and performance for your online store as compared to Shopify.
So, Magento 2 Vs. Shopify; What is Better?
We have seen different factors that you need to consider while choosing your online store's correct platform. Depending on your budget, business objectives, and experience, finalize the platform between Shopify and Magento 2.
If you are looking to start a new and small online store with affordable pricing and steady average performance, Shopify is a good option. However, if you are looking to excel in your business and want to stand ahead in the competition with a unique online experience and customized store for users, then none other than Magento 2 is a winner. If you want to make your brand local with unlimited features and robust and tight securities, then go for Magento 2; if you need more information about best-in-class Magento 2 development, contact Ambab for more details.
