Gone are days when to start your business, you had to begin with building your brick and mortar store. Nowadays the internet has made this entire process a lot easier and even better, by introducing a revolutionary concept that is eCommerce, which is growing every day. In fact, according to Internet Retailer analysis – eCommerce itself contributed to 14.3% of the total sales in the year 2018. So, if you are building your own web store and wondering about the eCommerce platform to choose from, you are in the right place. As per our experience in this sector, we know that choosing the best from the multiple available options for the eCommerce platform is a challenge and if contenders are so close, like in this case, it is Shopify and Magento, the task becomes even more convoluted. Hence, we are aiming to show you the complete picture, so that you could choose your option wisely, in spite of just cherry-picking the gem on the basis of other choices.

6 Elementary Differences Between Magento and Shopify

According to Shopify Conference, holding the third position after Amazon and eBay, Shopify has become one of the best online retailers in the U.S. In fact, today approximately 820k merchants are using the Shopify platform for their website, worldwide. Magento is also the choice of nearly 250,000 merchants which indicates its demand as well, as stated by the Magento community. Hence, to come to an effective decision, let’s dive deeper to understand the technical nitty-gritty and variances between both the platforms.

Cost

The first thing that strikes out before buying a product is the expense related to it, so is the case with the eCommerce platform. Magento is an open-source software solution with no setup cost whereas Shopify is commercial software that comes with monthly charges. This cost might vary according to the selected plan, even in case of Magento if you switch for a more advanced version, you have to pay for it. The cost of Shopify plans vary from 29 USD per month to 299 USD per month and the paid version of the cost of Magento website starts from 120K USD which can oscillate according to your customized services. Hence, considering the paid version, Shopify has an edge over Magento.

Web-Hosting

Purchasing the plan is not sufficient, you need to host the website as well. Shopify itself provides the hosting services, so you need not worry about web hosting charges or figuring out a good web hosting provider whereas in the case of Magento you have to the third-party to host your website. Hosting accompanies many challenges, for example, discovering a decent hosting provider as it is liable for the scalability of the item, speed of the site, etc. and another challenge that comes our way is the cost associated with web hosting which ranges from 10$ to 100$ or even more. On that account, Shopify clearly comes out as the winner here as it saves us from this struggle.

Usability

Usability is a contrasting factor between Shopify and Magento. Shopify is known for its user-friendly behavior and its functionality is comparatively easier than Magento. In fact, no specific technical skills are required to use Shopify whereas for Magento you need to be technically sound to use it. So, you will either have to take technical training or appoint a specialized person for this. Also, due to this complexity, the time required to understand and get a grip on this software is also a major point of concern. Therefore, Shopify, due to its amazing user interface, comes out on the top in this criteria as well.

Payment gateway

Shopify, being self-hosted, provides the user with its own payment gateway called Shopify Payment as well as 100 more other gateways inbuilt in it. Shopify charges no transaction fees for the payment made through the Shopify payment processor whereas that’s not the case with the other payment options such as Paypal. If the user chooses Paypal then he/she is charged with approximately 3% to 4% per transaction. Magento comes with a comparatively fewer inbuilt payment gateway which is a disadvantageous factor for it. So, if the user needs more payment services, he has to buy it from Magento Market which might seem like a distressing task to the users. As they will have to go through the number of available gateway options and settle on a choice which is more feasible to buy. So, with the greater inbuilt payment services and hassle-free experience, Shopify is more suitable than Magento.

Inventory Management

Inventory Management in Shopify is a straight forward task as you can do this directly from your dashboard due to which anyone can get a hold on it very easily. Though both the platforms allow keeping unlimited units in the inventory, however, the management of these units differs in both of them. Though Magento is packed with really advanced features, however, you might face website speed issues with managing your larger inventory and because of the third-party hosting, you will have to figure out the solution yourself. Thus, by taking care of these issues at its end Shopify once again gets a thumbs-up.

Support and Assistance

Shopify excels in support and assistance services as compared to Magento as it provides 24/7 assistance to its users. If you face any problem while using Shopify, you can easily reach the support team through phone calls, email or live chats. Magento, on the contrary, does not offer any such services rather you are dependent on the technical forum to get your answers, which is a major setback.

Conclusion

Though both Shopify and Magento are genuinely amazing and powerful platforms, Shopify gives more prominent convenience with its outstanding performance. So, if you are a beginner or intermediary and planning to set up your business online, Shopify would be an appropriate solution to build your website. And, if you are looking for the platform for a large enterprise-level with technically sound employees, you can go for a Magento based website. Though Magento has its advantages and can be a choice of an enterprise, however, it is not feasible for the beginners and intermediaries. Hence in the light of this fact as well as considering the differences in the above discussion, Shopify can be a great pick for you. If you are still on the fence and unable to make a choice, you can contact our Ace experts.

Magento vs Shopify - Ace Infoway