Back in 2022, Magento was ranked 8th in the list of “ecommerce platforms used by the top 1 million sites”, notably losing out to Shopify in 4th place. Despite this, some users claim that Magento is still undeniably their preferred choice – probably because it used to rank much higher and earned its stripes as a user favorite for a longer period of time. But we have to ask – is loyalty and sentimentality the only thing keeping you from Magento, or could you benefit from switching to Shopify?
That’s why we’ve made an effort to make Magento vs Shopify comparisons in terms of pricing, third-party integrations, themes, usability, marketing and functional features, security, and other factors. This way you can make an informed decision about whether Magento is right for your business needs or if you should look elsewhere. So let’s dive in!
What is Magento?
Magento, an open-source platform that enables online stores to establish their operations, was created in 2008. Although Magento, Inc. is the original developer and owner of the solution, it was acquired by Adobe for $1.68 billion in 2018. Prior to being absorbed by Adobe, Magento was owned by eBay and Permira. Currently, there are two versions of the solution available: Magento Community and Magento Enterprise. The former is designed for smaller businesses, while the latter is intended for enterprise-level companies such as Land Rover, Timex, Sigma Beauty, Cox and Cox, Graze, Tennishub, Neom Organics, and others. It’s worth noting that all of these websites were built on Magento 2.
What is Shopify?
Originally developed in Canada’s Ontario region, Shopify had been around since 2006, making its mark well before Magento. It wasn’t until the early 2010s, however, that Shopify started to see true success with the ecommerce platform. Like Magento, Shopify also provides two different options: Shopify and Shopify Plus. Navigating the two respective markets, the former is designed for medium to small businesses whereas the latter is more appropriate for larger enterprises. In recent years, the platform has even expanded its services to deliver last-mile logistics. According to brand representatives, 2021 saw an impressive 1.7 million businesses using Shopify and an impressive reach across 175 countries, with a reported total annual revenue of 4.6 billion US dollars.
Magento vs Shopify: Pricing
Platform cost
If you’re in the market to find the perfect pricing plan for you, then Shopify is certainly a great choice. With its Basic plan at an incredibly affordable price of just $29 a month, its Standard (Shopify) plan at $79 and its Advanced version costs $299 a month, you’re sure to find a plan that works for your budget. Just remember, if you subscribe to an annual plan you’ll get an additional 10% discount!
But if you’re looking for an even more advanced plan with features that go above and beyond what you need, then you need to look at the Shopify Plus plan. This plan, however, starts at an impressive $2000 a month if your monthly revenue is up to $800,000, but this fee can increase up to staggering amounts if your monthly income increases dramatically.
Not to be outdone, however, Magento also provides an option with its community version, which is absolutely free but will require web developer assistance or an in-house solution to set it up. This may cost anywhere from $25 to $200 per hour when working with an agency, and $20 to $200 per hour when hiring a freelancer, or an estimated $60,000 to $120,000 yearly.
But if you go for the more expensive enterprise version, you can expect to pay for it and the cloud subscription which ranges from $22,000 to $190,000 yearly, depending on your sales revenue. But no matter which version you choose to go for and how much you have to pay for it, it all depends on your current financial situation and what your business requires.
Hosting cost
Did you know that web hosting is not included in Magento’s offering? To use their services, you will have to set aside another budget for hosting. Cloudways cites that the average hosting service may cost around $40 each month, but the price could go higher if you choose the right hosting provider.
Take Digital Ocean, for instance, the prices start at $12/month up to $96/month (not far off from Linode’s prices). Similarly, Vultr also ranges from $13/month to $100/month. As for the more expensive options, you can expect to shell out between $36.51/month up to $274.33/month for AWS and $33.18/month up to $225.93/month for Google Cloud.
When it comes to Shopify, however, things are quite different! It doesn’t charge its users a single cent for web hosting. It’s only for its Starter plan users, otherwise, all Shopify plans come with unlimited hosting.
Themes and apps
If you’re looking to use Shopify themes, it’s easy to find a range of free options on the platform. However, they can cost anywhere from around $180 to $350 if you decide you want to opt for the paid version. The Shopify App Store has over 6000 different apps to suit all needs, but they tend to cost at least around $20 per month to access, so it’s difficult to give a proper range in pricing. On the other hand, Magento themes vary in pricing, with the cost of different projects ranging anywhere between $0 and $500. As for app extensions, Magento offers both free and paid options, with some costing $0, and others costing as much as $700 and a variety of pricing options in between.
Setting up a store
When starting your own Shopify store, you can choose to do it yourself or hire experts. It’s important to make sure that any professional you use is backed by Shopify, either as a partner or a specialist on their marketplace. Professional fees vary from project to project, with some basic setup charges ranging from $100 to $27,000 and more complex projects costing even more.
Magento requires a web developer for setup and will cost anywhere from $20,000 – $30,000 for simpler projects, around $30,000 – $50,000 for complex projects and up to $100,000 for the most complex projects. The cost may differ depending on the developer and the location and, of course, the features and functions you need.
If you’re planning to move your MAGENTO store to Shopify, the cost will be estimated somewhere between $500 and $42,000, depending on complexity, data needs and the infrastructure you require. Prices may also vary depending on the developer you choose.
Credit card and payment processing fees
If business owners want to use Shopify Payments, then the company guarantees there are no transaction fees. However, if a third-party payment provider is involved, then the Basic plan will be charged at 2%, the Shopify plan at 1%, and the Advanced plan at 0.5% in addition to the transaction fees.
An extra cost is incurred when accepting major credit card services like Visa or Mastercard. The Basic plan requires 2.9% plus thirty cents, the Shopify plan 2.6% plus thirty cents, while the Advanced plan is 2.4% plus thirty cents.
Like Shopify, Magento also offers no transaction fees when using the platform. Though if implemented through third-party payment providers, then a fixed percentage of the standard rate (which usually is 2.9% plus a few additional cents) is required with no setup fee.
Please note: Services such as Mastercard often require a designated minimum number of monthly transactions, for example the Magento Marketplace currently has a £105 minimum monthly fee.
Magento vs Shopify: Themes and Templates
Now that we have evaluated the pricing associated with our Magento vs Shopify debate, it is time to move on and evaluate the themes and templates available with each platform.
Shopify boasts of an impressive collection of themes, with around seventy available to users. A select few are free, while the majority are affordable; costing only up to $350. Both platforms offer highly versatile, responsive themes, tailored to a wide range of products. Nevertheless, due to Shopify’s expansive variety specifically catered to niche industries and their ability to allow user integration with social platforms, we have come to the conclusion that Shopify is the clear victor in this section. Additionally, all their templates are mobile optimized, allowing for convenient user experiences on such devices, as not all Magento themes are optimized for mobile.
Magento vs Shopify: Apps & Extensions
Making the process of running your store with either Shopify or Magento easier to use and understand, each company offers a number of apps and extensions. Shopify has some incredibly sophisticated apps available on their app store, with over 6,000 to choose from. Magento, sadly, has significantly fewer, at somewhere closer to 4,000. However, it should also be noted that when it comes to the extensions Magento offers, there may be more of a learning curve involved due to their open-source design.
Concerning the options available, it’s fair to say that Shopify probably offers the more comprehensive choice. Of course, our recommendation is that you take the time to check out both the Magento marketplace and the Shopify app store, so you can decide which solution’s apps and extensions are the best fit for your business.
We must also point out that both Magento and Shopify feature a selection of free and paid apps, so whatever your budget there should be something to suit.
Magento and Shopify marketing and functional features
Inventory handling
Both Magento and Shopify clients can depend on their individual answers for oversee stock flawlessly. They both excel equally in this area:
- Allowing users to browse a catalog indefinitely.
- Allowing users to store an unlimited amount of items.
- Making shipping an integral part of its service.
- Having extensions for fulfillment on the platform.
However, the similarities end here:
- Shopify is easier to use than Magento.
- Shopify lacks personalized product delivery assistance.
- If you don’t use a server that can handle Magento, Magento will have problems running (since Shopify hosts its own websites, they fix any problems themselves).
SEO
SEO is a vital factor of marketing activity to which most businesses must pay attention. In fact, some companies depend heavily on SEO to succeed in getting noticed by their target audience. So, what unique SEO possibilities can Shopify and Magento offer?
Shopify primarily relies on the aid of apps to proactively accomplish SEO duties. That is to say, you can download an app to assist you in populating keywords on your website to bump up your SEO ranking which makes it a breeze for you, as a user, to optimize SEO as part of your marketing endeavors.
Thanks to Shopify, you can also input custom meta tags, edit themes for improved readability, ensure fast load times and page speed — all these elements will substantially uplift your SEO performance. Furthermore, with the help of the SSL certificate that qualifies the website as trusted, your SERP (Search Engine Results Page) Position will be improved.
Likewise, Magento is similarly geared towards boosting your SEO status, by adorning it with basic SEO features. Conversely, the web performance of Magento isn’t the best and it does not enable publishing of blogs or editing of tags which could have an adverse effect on your SEO score.
But do not be discouraged, because it also has some fancy SEO elements such as a well-structured website, numerous apps to strengthen SEO, singular slug for one product, automated generation of sitemaps, 301 messages after any changes to URLs, and so much more.
Scalability
When it comes to setting up and operating a business, Shopify is a great corporate solution without the hassle or stress. Primarily intended to serve small to mid-sized businesses, its services and offerings speak to that same focus. Although it has limits to the allowable number of inventory locations (15 at most with an advanced subscription) and staff accounts, Magento is a viable alternative that requires a significant amount of time to get up and running, but is more appropriate for large operations. Of course, this debate is an entirely different topic when considering the features of Shopify Plus versus those of Magento.
Magento vs Shopify Plus
When comparing Shopify Plus to Magento, it’s evident that Shopify Plus totally outshines its competition. This is largely thanks to the unfettered freedom it provides to users, such as the ability to create almost limitless staff accounts, which is something that comes with restrictions on the standard Shopify plans. Not only is Shopify Plus unquestionably convenient, but it’s outstandingly secure as a closed source platform – plus, hosting prices start at a much more reasonable price of $40,000 per year if you opt for Platform.sh Cloud hosting. On top of this, Shopify Plus boasts a first-class plugin ecosystem, and with its ability to configure different kinds of digital stores, multi-channel support, and add-ons for omnichannel, there’s nothing Magento can do that can even come close, especially when you look at the time required to develop and upgrade.
Which has better support and security?
Shopify provides round-the-clock customer service for users who have queries or problems to address. Additionally, since Shopify is self-hosted, it is designed to work autonomously and address issues as they arise, quickly and as independently as possible, without relying on users to contact Shopify first.
On the other hand, Magento has a somewhat greater community support. Since it is created and maintained by web developers, users can contact someone who is experienced and well-versed in the Magento platform to have their difficulties resolved. That being said, Magento also has customer service available in the event they need help.
When it comes to security, Shopify takes precedence. While Magento may be more open-source, giving users greater freedom to be resourceful, this tends to come at a cost in terms of security. Shopify, however, meets the PCI DSS standards, adheres to PCI SSC regulations, deploys SSL certificates, and offers extra layers of protection like 3D password authentication and two-step verification.
Shopify Magento comparison: Usability
Shopify is a favorite option for many companies because of its lusciously easy user interface. With a few clicks, business owners have access to drag-and-drop features to customize templates, a grand selection of themes and apps, and can swiftly establish their operation. It’s no wonder why the solution has received a 4.4/5 rating on G2 from its audience.
Though Magento is quite powerful in terms of customization capabilities, it has a steep learning curve which requests users to obtain web developers, bringing it down in comparison to Shopify in terms of themes, plugins and user ratings (4/5 from G2).
Conclusion
For all the many reasons we discussed in this article, Shopify undoubtedly ranks as the better solution when compared to Magento. To briefly recap:
- It’s more affordable to develop, set up, and host.
- It has a wider variety of apps and extensions.
- The same is true for the number of themes and templates it offers.
- It even gave Magento a run for its money based on the marketing and functionality features.
- Plus, it also ranks better in ease of use.
- And it has better rankings from the same review site (G2).
It’s clear why the switch from Magento to Shopify might be a preferred way to go for many—given that Shopify can be better in terms of scalability and have an advantage with the Shopify Plus option.